From Left to right: Susan Wilson, Elizabeth Dotson, Benjamin DeMange, Mason Baumgarner, and Allison Sharp
Lunch may still be the main attraction at Village Pantry of Cashiers, but don’t mistake it for the whole story. As the popular café celebrates its second anniversary, co-owners Elizabeth Dotson and Ben DeMange continue to find new ways to surprise their regulars. New menu additions, an expanded wine program, booming catering and wildly popular pop-up dinners have given guests plenty of reasons to keep coming back.
This summer brings fresh offerings, including a lobster roll, a grilled Monte Cristo and a hearty vegetarian melt. Longtime favorites remain firmly in place, from Dotson’s Louisiana-inspired gumbo and shrimp po’ boys to her unexpectedly popular vegan Tom Kha soup. The house-made chicken salad has become a local phenomenon, with Village Pantry selling 89 quarts in just four days. Expanded take-and-bake selections, a full wine and beer program, and a busy catering schedule continue to broaden the restaurant’s appeal.
But perhaps the biggest surprise at Village Pantry isn’t found on the lunch menu at all.
Last winter, over a series of Thursday evenings, the bright café underwent a dramatic transformation. The lights were dimmed, the room took on the feel of an intimate supper club, and Dotson and DeMange unveiled a succession of themed prix fixe dinners that quickly became one of the season’s most sought-after reservations.
Guests weren’t told what would be served. They simply trusted the chefs.
“It was a surprise,” Dotson says. “We wanted to show people what we were capable of and thought it would be fun for the chefs and staff to do something unusual.”
What began as a creative experiment quickly became one of Cashiers’ hardest reservations to secure. What followed became a culinary passport. “Thai Night” featured coconut and lemongrass-poached halibut, green mango salad and green curry tiger prawns with purple sticky rice. “Old Las Vegas” revisited classic American fine dining with shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, beef tenderloin Oscar and Cherries Jubilee. Dotson’s own Louisiana heritage inspired “Bayou Meets Blue Ridge,” complete with Gulf oysters prepared three ways, turtle soup finished with sherry, New Orleans barbecue shrimp and Bananas Foster bread pudding.
Created for the quieter winter months when many local clubs close, the dinners gave year-round residents something new to anticipate. Dotson sourced specialty ingredients from Asian markets and shipped Gulf oysters directly from Louisiana. By the final dinner, more than 100 people were waiting for reservations.
Among the early enthusiasts was chef Scott Alderson, who called the inaugural evening “Cashiers’ newest dining destination,” praising everything from the oysters to the polished service before offering perhaps the highest compliment of the night: “These kids can cook.”
The popularity has ensured the experiment won’t end with winter. Dotson says Village Pantry plans to host two surprise dinners for regular guests later this summer before reviving the pop-up series this winter, with themes inspired by whatever captures the chefs’ imaginations.
Village Pantry has built its reputation one lunch at a time. Now it’s quietly proving that, given the chance, it can transform an ordinary Thursday evening into one of the most memorable dinners of the season.
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