Cooking Demo at Dearborn with Chef Nicholas Harary

Dozens of food fans showed up at Dearborn Market on June 9 to get a close-up look at how Nicholas Harary works his magic. The master chef and his wife own Restaurant Nicholas in Red Bank, an award-winning venue currently celebrating its 10th anniversary.

With the help of his little buddy, four-year-old Nicholas Jr., Harary prepared two unique dishes in front of the audience as he explained each step of the process.

The first dish was watermelon sashimi, a dish Harary thought up after a fortunate chance meeting of two unlikely ingredients.

"I was at a barbecue at my sister's place and we had a fruit salad with watermelon," Harary recalled. "Somehow, a bit of watermelon and a bit feta cheese wound up on my fork at the same time, and I was inspired to come up with a savory dish using watermelon."

He sliced the watermelon into little rectangles and arranged them to look just like red chunks of tuna sashimi, and then Nicholas Jr. sprinkled feta cheese and black pepper on top. Everyone in the audience was given a taste.

The next dish that Harary demonstrated was a soft-shell crab, lightly fried, and served atop a salad of jicama and red pepper with a sauce made from herbs and an orange juice reduction. One lucky audience member chosen at random got to eat it.

Harary chose Dearborn to hold the demonstration at because he buys much of his restaurant's produce fresh from their farms.

Afterwards he signed copies of his new book, "Restaurant Nicholas: The Cookbook," which is for sale at Dearborn Market.