Celebrating National Culinary Arts Month
Photos from Instagram (click on photos to follow)
Once upon a time I watched a boy walk into Ukrops to get a job where he ended up in the bakery. I watched that very same boy eventually move to New York to become an Executive Pastry Chef opening up Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurants across the world to working with Chef Daniel Boulud amongst other culinary notables. I also once sat on the phone with Ducati loving, celebrity pastry chef, Johnny Iuzzini while he was waiting to get Lasik eye surgery. Oh how I miss you NY. Anyway, I’ve known many a chef in my lifetime and despite the “rockstar” status of it all, I find the culinary arts to be one of the most intimate and passionate expressions out there.
I think my first real culinary discovery was Jimmy Sneed’s The Frog and the Redneck. His duck was magnifique! From there, my tastebuds kept maturing and I became a bit more adventurous with my palate. We were also blessed by a growing RVA restaurant scene. I remember on my 24th birthday, my dear friend Justin Cropper (Don’t Look Back South and Union Market) made me a red snapper dish at Lemaire that I still crave to this day and I remember my first meals at Mamma Zu, Helen’s, Comfort and Magpie. Memorable cuisine lasts forever, and chefs like the Longoven trio—Patrick and Megan Phelan and Andrew Manning, along with the likes of Brittanny Anderson (Brenner Pass), Caleb Shriver (RIP Dutch & Co), Lee Gregory (Alewife) and David Shannon (L'Opossum) have elevated our little city town to put RVA on the food heaven map.
Chefs have always fascinated me. It’s a spectator sport—watching them sit to come up with specials, calm and collected to then yelling across a kitchen while timing every meal to perfection, it’s pretty intense. There is also something about the way a chef’s mind works—how they create and craft. How they decide what is too little and what will never be enough, or how they masterfully cultivate a menu that will touch upon all the senses. It doesn’t have to be pretentious food either, I’ve had some of the best meals prepared in food trucks and as simple as chicken and rice (gotta love Portland’s food scene). I, however, can barely creatively make a sandwich, let alone an entire menu. The intimacy of food is something cherished. When you eat something that is equivalent to what love feels like, it’s magical. Covid took a big bite out of some of our establishments, but these resilient and talented chefs will find their way back into our hearts and mouths.
If you haven’t experienced these culinary artists and their dining rooms, I urge you to do so — like now. Thank you for making RVA the delicious, savory and beautifully presented food oasis it is. Can we eat now?
I think we can all agree, we are ready to be served up by RVA’s finest. I want to thank the talented chefs below, I know how busy they have been and I appreciate their time. Very excited to hear Heritage has reopened!
FIVE X FIVE
1. One word to describe your cooking?
2. Who is YOUR favorite chef in town?
3. What is your favorite dish to make?
4. What is your favorite herb or spice?
5. What's the one thing you make consistently at home that brings you joy?
Chef Mike Ledesma of Perch
1. Polarized
2. Chef Paul Ebling who brought French food to RVA
3. Whole fish out of 900 degree wood burning oven (crispy skin)
4. Aleppo pepper smoky sweet
5. Spam, eggs and rice
Chef Sunny Baweja of Lehja
1. Comforting
2. Tough one. There’s so many— Lee Greggory, Brittany Anderson, Caleb, Dale, Jason Alley, Patrick, David, Dale Reitzer and the list goes on
3. Chaat
4. Spice - Dried Pomegranate Seeds / Poeder and Kasoori Methi and Herb - Curry leaf & Cilantro
5. Whatever my two boys want me to cook. Anything from Pancakes to Chocolate Cake
Chef Joe Sparatta of Southbound and Heritage
1. Seasonal (market driven)
2. My Partner at Southbound Lee Gregory (owner of Alewife)
3. Okonomiyaki (as of late)
4. Thyme
5. Red Sauce
CHEF LAINE MYERS of ORO
1. One word to describe my food is “balanced.” I’m always striving for the perfect balance. With every flavor, every ingredient, every dish as a whole.
2. It’s too hard to name one favorite RVA chef, so I’ll recognize a few here. Carson Bledsoe, Chef de Cuisine at Metzger is doing great work with her team. She cooks seasonally and creatively, and I always look forward to eating her food. Another great duo (whom I waited too long to have my first dining experience), is David and Sariann from The Broken Tulip. Such a memorable meal, with a great cozy atmosphere. I found myself saying “that was a nice touch” all throughout the night from the spiced vegetable chips that were on the table as we arrived to the honey comb presentation with the cheese course toward the end of the meal. I will think of that night fondly for a long time. Lastly, I want to give acknowledgement to my favorite pastry chef in town, Olivia Wilson, who by the way is just as strong on the savory end of things. She has a strong background in terms of her training, and ran a successful pastry program at both Metzger and Brenner Pass + Chairlift. I often think of her as the pinnacle of skill in the kitchen. Very very excited to see what she does next!
3. My favorite dish to make would be something that uses minimal ingredients and allows the main component’s flavor to shine. I’d probably have to say sungold tomato spaghettini, prepared a la minute in the pan by sweating sliced garlic and sun golds together until the garlic is translucent and the sungolds have split and allowed their juices to form a sauce. Finish with some buttery olive oil and an aged parmesan reggiano, and you’ve got one of the best meals of Summer. This will actually be one of my menu items for this weekend’s Oro pop up menu!
4. My favorite herb/spice is always evolving, but right now I can definitively say whole green coriander, or Mexican oregano.
5. The one thing I make consistently at home that brings me joy is a tomato sandwich. Honestly really anything that’s heavy on the tomatoes while they’re in season whether that’s a salad with a punchy vinaigrette, or baked into something like a frittata. Another consistent year round favorite is a charcuterie board. I love all of the condiments that we tend to go overboard on in my house. Pickles, honey, ferments, mustard, fruit, baguette, olives. They’re a conglomerate of my favorite things.
Chef Skip Frazzano of Chez Max
1) Unpretentious
2) Evan Campbell
3) St the restaurant Dover Sole
4) Salt
5) A large Sandwich. So many options.