Chefs Challenge 10: Berry Good

By Lesley Groetsch

As a relative newbie to the restaurant industry, every day draws me a little further along the learning curve. One thing I learned at the beginning of the latest chapter in my life is that every day is a chef’s challenge in this business.

Each day, our chefs, line and prep cooks, and dishwashers must meet and overcome an ever-changing set of challenges we call breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Every day, they craft extraordinary meals from seemingly mundane components. They tame fire, water, sharp objects, and incomprehensible machines; they master complex chemical reactions, and turn kitchens into artist studios.

During last night’s Chefs Challenge, six young professionals stirred, mixed, sautéed, fried, baked, chopped, balanced, garnished, and ultimately finessed their way through a series of dishes that did what food should do in this frighteningly homogenous world—inspire. Charged with incorporating strawberries into every course, two teams, Lexington Avenue Brewery and Chef’s Table, wowed a packed house at Cucina24, and ended the competition in a photo finish.

In the first course, Chef’s Table offered a crab cake dish that included my favorite morsel of the evening, a goat cheese-stuffed strawberry, fried to crispy perfection. I could live off of these, and I’m currently scheming to get my kitchen to make a batch for me. LAB followed with my favorite overall dish, strawberry silk snapper on avocado ceviche, under a little tower of smoked scallops, and cantaloupe circles with a lime and coconut gremolata. It sounds complicated, but the flavors blended together in sublime harmony. The strawberry was subtle, but tied all of the other notes together. In other words, this was not a dish that accommodated the secret ingredient; it demanded it.

Other standouts included:

-Chefs Table’s expertly executed risotto and pan-seared scallops. I couldn’t decide if I liked the prosciutto-wrapped strawberries, so I may have to try them again.

- The strawberry mole by LAB was terrific, and I wish it had played a bigger role in the team’s braised lamb tamale dish. It had a beautiful velvety texture and a strawberry-tinged, dark rust color.

- The LAB also prepared an almond strawberry shake with a candied mint leaf garnish. The name says it all.

- The super-rich chocolate fudge mousse with a hint of black pepper crafted by Chef’s Table had a little kick.

LAB won the competition by a nose (105 points, or 1.2 percent). If the Chef’s Table team members were disappointed, they didn’t show it. The six competitors clasped hands, laughed, and seemed to be winking at the irony of cooking for a competition. I had just learned what they’ve known for their entire careers: Every plate is a challenge, and every dish, every ingredient demands a commitment to inspire. They inspired.

—Lesley Groetsch co-owns Sazerac and Tingles Cafe with her husband, Jack, and their partner, Eric Booker. She is the mother of three beautiful girls and can be heard on her progressive talk radio show, Local Edge, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on 880 the Revolution.

www.TinglesCafe.com
www.SazeracAsheville.com
www.LocalEdgeRadio.com

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Chef’s Table
Chefs Josh Monroe, Brennan Martin, Jenn Monroe

Voted #3 Dish: Crab cakes and microgreen salad, and fried goat cheese-stuffed strawberries with pistachios and balsamic vinaigrette

Voted #1 Dish: Pan-seared scallops with Swiss chard risotto, balsamic strawberry reduction, and seared prosciutto-wrapped strawberries

Black pepper-chocolate fudge mousse with whipped mascarpone and strawberry compote

Lexington Avenue Brewery
Chefs Jason Roy, Mike Fisera, Nohe Weir-Villatoro

Strawberry silk snapper with avocado ceviche and smoked scallops, cantaloupe with lime and coconut gremolata

Strawberry-braised lamb tamales with avocado coulis, strawberry mole, and cumin-toasted strawberry chèvre with strawberry microgreen salad

Voted #2 Dish: Strawberry-citrus biscuit shortcake with strawberry gelée and St. Germain strawberry coulis, candied blueberries with strawberry whipped cream, and almond-strawberry shake with candied mint