This week’s selection of must-read choice bits keeps closer to home as writer Rachel Forrest hits a triple with articles on three hometown supporters of local food: on the nomination of Black Trumpet Bistro’s Evan Mallet’s for a James Beard Award, an announcement on the latest development of 3S Artspace’s farm-to-table restaurant, and how Chef Evan Hennessey is introducing UNH students to molecular gastronomy based on local ingredients.
Mallett named semi-finalist for best chef award
A week ago, one of chef Evan Mallett’s specialty microgreens suppliers told him he had been named a semifinalist for a James Beard Award in the category of Best Chef Northeast.
“After that, I checked e-mail, and there were e-mails from anyone I’d ever known in this business,” Mallett said.
Mallett, who previously was the chef at Lindbergh’s Crossing, bought the 29 Ceres St. restaurant with wife Denise in 2007. Now chef for his own restaurant, Black Trumpet Bistro, Mallett said the chance to receive one of his field’s most coveted honors came out of the blue.
“My initial reaction was one of disbelief. I feel I have yet to get to the point to where I think I deserve it,” he said. “That led to a weeklong period of reflection. There are so many chefs who are deserving of this. And there are chefs out there on the covers of magazines for whom that is validating and affirming in ways I don’t seek.”
3S Artspace partners with firm on “farm-to-table” restaurant
When 3S Artspace opens in mid-2012, just about all of the creative arts will be represented — music, dance, literary and theater in the performance space, visual arts in the gallery and the tastiest creative genre — culinary arts in a full service, farm-to-table restaurant called “Gather.”
3S Artspace, New Hampshire’s first nonprofit contemporary arts space, announced on Monday its partnership with Manchester-based E&C Hospitality Consulting Services, which is working with 3S to design and implement a sustainable restaurant model that fulfills the organization’s broader mission. The Artspace will be built in the former Frank Jones fermentation center off Islington Street.
“The name Gather embodies the essence of our restaurant concept in at least two ways,” said MJ Blanchette, 3S board member. “One of our key objectives is that the restaurant will serve as a community gathering space — a place where people will come together to discuss and exchange ideas over creative, nurturing food and drink. Gather also actively communicates the restaurant’s farm-to-table philosophy of sourcing and serving local food whenever possible.”
Inspirations from Earth, Water, Wind at gourmet dinner
Air into flavor, fiery heat, earthy aromas and cool water are the inspirations behind the next round of Gourmet Dinners put on by the hospitality management students at the Whittemore School of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.
On March 4 and 5, guests can take a journey through the essential elements in the whimsical multi-course Savor the Elements meal with Chef Evan Hennessey of Flavor Concepts, his catering company. The chef is well known for his finesse at the culinary wizardry and innovation known as Molecular Gastronomy and his work with the students, he says, has been a terrific experience.
“These techniques were very new to them,” says Hennessey. “It was like I was someone who popped off the ‘Top Chef’ show. They’d never seen it before in their work. They were very receptive. Foams, froths, air — it was a ‘wow’ for them. They’re excited to see all the stuff that looks easy on TV, thanks to (‘Top Chef’ contestant) Richard Blaze, but it’s not easy. You have to have an understanding of food to do this. You can’t just jump right to the molecular fun.”
