Look for a blend of art and food at this ‘best kept secret’ Wilmington restaurant

Wilmington native Chip Pridgen has been working in restaurants since he was a teenager at New Hanover High School. Over the years, he moved from the popular seafood spot to work in a variety of environments, from film food service to country clubs, from here to Bald Head Island and Charleston.

In 2019, he took over the kitchen at CAM Café in Cameron Art Museum, at 3201 S. 17th St, Wilmington. And, after a brief pandemic related closure, he returned in 2021.

For the chef and musician, working and creating dishes and menus that are inspired by the artwork around him has been a good fit. In addition to regular lunch service, weekend brunches and Thursday dinner hours, Pridgen will also develop menus for exhibition openings, special events and quarterly wine dinners.

The next one, set for March 20, is inspired by “The Work of Their Hands” exhibit that explores quilt-making and the evolution of textile art.

“When I know what the next exhibit is, we start thinking and putting it together,” Pridgen said.  In this case, classic Americana is the theme. One of the dishes will be a play on Hoppin’ John with lump crab meat, followed by a scallop and fennel salad with a blood orange vinaigrette.

“The main course is going to be a barbecue spice rubbed Colorado lamb medallions with potato gratin and an espresso demi,” he said. “And we’ll give it a quick, gentle smoke to give it that flavor.”

Dessert is a CAM Café version of the classic chocolate chess pie. Museum executive director Heather Wilson is already thinking about which quilts will pair with each of the dishes.

“What happens is during cocktail hour, we’ll walk around and talk about how everything ties together,” she said.

This confluence of art, wine, food and music isn’t just for entertainment.

“When people eat here, they’re doing good. They are supporting an art non-profit.,” she said.

"We are not funded by the city, county or state... We had a major funding cut this year,” Wilson said. “I understand the only way we can survive is to bolster earned income. Serving selling craft cocktails, and Chip’s delicious food helps us to serve the community. And there are very few places like that.”

The café and bar are located in the center of the museum with walls of windows that look out over the courtyard, and more outdoor seating. The restaurant has been a part of the museum since it opened on S. 17th Street in 2002. But there are things people don’t understand about CAM Café.

They sometimes (wrongly) believe that you have to be a museum member to eat at the restaurant, Wilson said. And Pridgen recently heard someone call the eatery one of the area’s best-kept secrets.

Pridgen said he learned versatility during his career, to helping open Cape Fear Seafood with Evans Trawick to working at local country clubs. He enjoys the daily work, especially preparing omelets for brunch, but events are a special creative challenge, he said.

One recent dinner celebrated the acquisition of two works into the permanent collection.

“It was a four-course dinner with dishes like a red snapper with a curry beurre blanc and a take on surf-and-turf with a petite filet with a crab cake,” he said. “The other dish a risotto with was enoki mushrooms and a king mushroom that we cut to look like scallops and added a roasted red pepper cream sauce for color.”

It was a good match for one of the works -- Judy Chicago’s Return of the Butterfly. The feminist artist is known for vibrating color and form.

The museum works with Urban Sketchers Wilmington NC to create illustrations to go with the dishes. And the pairing continues to the wine and bar offerings, too. A special cocktail called Sonflower, for example, coincides with an exhibition with South Carolina artist Charles Edward Williams and is named after one of the works. It has bourbon, honey, champagne and lemon juice and is available through May,

Pridgen recently updated the menu at CAM Café. In addition to favorites like the shrimp and grits, and daily quiche special served with a house-made hollandaise sauce, you can find a fried green tomato caprese sale, a "Smashed" cabernet mushroom Swiss burger and a black bean cheeseburger.

"Another thing people might not know, is that if you come for dinner on Thursdays you get free admission to the museum. It’s the perfect date night," Wilson said.

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Allison Ballard is the food and dining reporter at the StarNews. You can reach her at aballard@gannett.com. 

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: CAM Cafe restaurant blends art and food in Wilmington's Cameron Art Museum