Falling in Love with Fall Food

Learning to cook during the seasons was a new experience for me as a chef. All of my cooking and schooling took place in California, where all produce and proteins are available year-round.  In 2006, I decided to come back to the East Coast, and it was a shock to learn how difficult it was to get certain ingredients during the autumn months. Either the items were flat-out unavailable, or came at a high cost. I needed to adapt.

I started with some proper research on items available in the Fall.  Armed with this knowledge, I spent the next few months learning how to work with all the different autumn ingredients. Apples and apple cider are a new and especially wonderful treat for me. It’s been great creating dishes with the flavors of the East Coast, like Guinness beef stew and winter squash bisque. What I learned, in short, is that autumn is a time to eat hearty meals full of warmth, love, and strong flavors. This is made even better by sharing it with friends and family. Visit us in the Wharf for our seasonal prix fixe menus on Monday and Tuesday nights and see what has inspired me lately. You can see the weekly menu here.

I‘ve fallen in love with the flavors of the East Coast - I’m never looking back.