The smell of vegetables roasting over slowly burning oak is quite possibly one of the most visceral aromas this world has to offer. There is a connection to the earth that is unrivaled when cooking naturally just feet away from where the harvest took place. Turning a farmer’s hard work into a cohesive menu and nourishing people with dishes that play off the season and terroir is my raison d’être.
It is true that there’s no safer home for a chef than their kitchen, a space where every single thing has its place and is in order. Mise en Place is a real thing in the culinary world; it’s accountability and respite from many hours worked every single day. For a few years now, I have chosen to make my kitchen on the banks of a creek, or in the middle of a cornfield. Is it insane? Yes. Is it efficient? No. Is it the most glorious thing once it all comes together, when 150 people gather on the creek banks or in the cornfield to bring a beautiful community together and partake in the fruits of so many people’s labor? Absolutely.