8/14/2019 Mountain Xpress: Dissen does a James Beard Dinner by Jonathan Ammons

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Dissen does a James Beard Dinner mountainx.com /article/54004/Dissen-does-a-James-Beard-Dinner

By Jonathan Ammons on 11/05/2013 02:00 PM

In America, there are few words one can pair with the name of a chef that garner more resp ect than James Be ard.Whether a chef is a James Beard Award Winner, nominee or cooked at the James Beard House, it is a credentialthat instantly tells yo u that a chef is not just admired a nd resp ected in his or her hometown but has received recognitionon a national level.

The New York-base d James Beard Foundation has be en honoring chefs, wine p rofessionals, journalists and cookboo kauthors since 1986. Beyond the awards, the organization also turned the legendary food writers old brownstone homeinto the James Beard House, a gathering place for special dinners organized by great chefs from all over the country.

So when Ashevilles highly decorated Chef William Dissen was tapped to organize a dinner for the leaders of the BeardFoun dation, it wasnt just North Carolinians taking notice of his w ork this time. Dissen, a West Virginia native and CulinaryInstitute of America grad who took o ver T he Market Place restaurant from its founder, Mark Rosenstein, has a healthy

fixation with Appalachian cuisine. Utilizing a strict farm-to-table approach and a rich supply of locally sourced goods, hismeals are compose d a lmost entirely of ingredients from within 100 miles of the restaurant. We took some time to sitdown with Chef Dissen and find out how the dinner, which took place Oct. 20, went.

Mountain Xpress: So, how was the Beard House?William Dissen: Im still playing ca tch-up. It was a lo t of fun. The Beard House, for chefs, is very hallowed ground. Therehave been some really amaz ing peop le who have cooked there. So to have an oppo rtunity to cook there as well Iwas very humbled by the experience. Even just to reflect upon the people who have cooked there is really cool. And tobe asked to organize a dinner with some of these chefs theyre James Beard Award winners and television chefs.

What was the occasion for the d inner? A lot of these dinners are ope n for the public, but this one was a ctually a priva te event as a precursor to the James

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8/14/2019 Mountain Xpress: Dissen does a James Beard Dinner by Jonathan Ammons

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Beard Food Conference. So you had all of the funders for the foundation, as well as the executives and upper echelonfrom the organization. So I had the opportunity to cook for the president and vice president of the foundation.

So thats a prett y big deal.Yeah, its James Beard! As I was a young, up-and-coming culinarian reading about him he was kind of like the father of American food writing. He really helped bring America back out of the dark ages of cooking and show Europe and therest of the world that we a re not a bunch of dumb Americans were actually d oing rea l food here.

Yeah, thats really important because we Americans have such an embarrassing trend of creating great regionalcuisines and then putting them in a can o r a microwave or boil- in-bag p ackage.

And it is pretty coo l in our country that despite po lluting ourse lves for so many decade s, now I think our generation iscoming out of the haze and fog and saying, We want real food again. We dont want this processed junk, we want realfood, and we want it to taste p retty damned good . And I think its really nea t that there is this renaissance going on inour country about great food, and the masses are starting to grab hold of that concept too, from quick-service to finedining.

So how is your exp erience in New York affecting what you d o moving forward in your kitchen? Anytime you trave l as a chef and g et the chance to co llab orate with great chefs, it is a lways a lea rning experience. Alittle bit of research and development. It opens your eyes up to different formats, variables, philosophies about how youcook. Which allows you to be more creative and successful every day. But theres no need for any big changes after this. I think were going to stick to our guns.

The menu spanned several courses of hors doe uvres before easing into three courses and d essert. Clams, lamb- bellybroth, lemongrass tapioca, with sea-urchin tahini, followed by crispy sweetbreads, Western Carolina barbecue sauce,turnips, celery salad and blue-cheese dressing. If that wasnt enough, Malabar Coast-spiced Skuna Bay salmon,Hudson Valley duck biryani, Lucky's tomato raita and charred okra preceded a dessert of warm apple charlotte, crmefrache chantilly and caramel sauce.

Dissens team for the dinner included Top Chef favorite Sam Talbot, Andrea Reusing of Lantern in Chapel Hill, N.C., Emily Luchetti of Waterbar and Farallon in San Francisco, Ben Hall of Russell St. Deli in Detroit, Evan Hanczor of Parish Hall and Egg in New York City, and Hari Pulapaka of Cress Restaurant in DeLand, Fla.