The balmy evening and beautiful venue were a perfect setting for the creation of some of the most toothsome gourmet food ever to grace the Knoxville scene. Guests were asked to sample each dish and give it a rating between 1 and 5. With 28 dishes in total, this was no small task for the brave souls who participated! The concentration on the part of the voters was intense: The entrée and dessert that received the highest collective scores would win their creators the coveted honor of being a Knoxville Top Chef.
Proceeds from the sales of tickets for the event went to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee, an organization that feeds more than 165,000 people each year, including more than 66,000 kids (see page 82 for more on Second Harvest’s mission, and how you can help).
FIRST PLACE
Josh Shupe—Downtown Hilton
You can only eat one thing for the rest of your life:
Tacos!
Chef Shupe pursued a cooking career directly after high school in Oak Ridge and received his formal training at the prestigious institute Le Cordon Blue in Atlanta. He is inspired by seasonal ingredients, like the cranberries and vine-ripened tomatoes that brighten his current menu, and by the people around him. If he could cook for any person in the world, he would like to cook for President Obama. Shupe is currently creating culinary masterpieces at the Downtown Hilton.
SECOND PLACE ENTRÉE
Mario Navarro: Meksiko Cantina
If you were a spice, you would be:
A chipotle pepper
Chef Navarro started cooking early with help from both of his grandmothers in his hometown of Culiacan on the Pacific coast of Mexico, and he was a natural: the first thing he remembers cooking on his own was pickled poblano pepper stuffed with tuna and seafood ceviche—very impressive! His grandmothers continue to inspire him, as do memories of the many seafood vendors on the Altata beach in his hometown. He loves to offer real, authentic flavors in his Mexican cooking at Meksiko, and he takes inspiration from the cuisine of other countries such as Spain, Italy, and the Caribbean to create fusion dishes.
SECOND PLACE DESSERT
Deron Little: Seasons Café
You can only eat one thing for the rest of your life:
Stuffed veal chop
As a “wee lad,” Chef Little had the opportunity to be introduced to the culinary world under the tutelage of master-chef Bill Bixby—one of only 18 master-chefs in the world at that time. He later honed his craft through an apprenticeship at a 5-star hotel in Orlando, Florida, and was a culinary instructor himself in Greenville, South Carolina. After working in the restaurant industry for 34 years and in five different states, Little has settled in Knoxville and begun enlivening the East Tennessee dining scene. He now serves up a constantly changing yet consistently delicious array of traditional dishes with a twist at Seasons Café.
THIRD PLACE DESSERT
Ed Bates: Puleo’s Grille
You can only eat one thing for the rest of your life:
Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Growing up in Lexington, Kentucky, Chef Bates learned to cook from his grandmother, a Mrs. McCoy (of the Hatfield-hating branch, no less). He was the youngest of eight siblings and, he confides, got plenty of extra attention. He started working in the restaurant business at age 15 and found he was a natural-born cook. His specialty in the kitchen is his ability to whip up the perfect food pairing for any wine. Still, Bates is a firm believer in authority—whenever there’s a dispute in the kitchen at Puleo’s, he pulls out his old Cook’s Bible.
Jeff Carter: Dancing Bear Lodge
If you were a spice, you would be:
Thyme
Hailing from Mobile, Alabama, Chef Carter came to Knoxville almost a decade ago to work under Chef John Fleer at Blackberry Farm in Walland. He was inspired to become a chef by cooking with his father, and the first dish they created together was Monkey Bread (a warm, gooey breakfast pastry). His goal is to create unpretentious comfort food in a rustic setting that will warm the hearts of his guests, and he loves working at the Dancing Bear Lodge, where he says cooking just feels like making an extra-big family meal.
Jeffrey DeAlejandro: The Crown & Goose
Describe your cooking style in three words or less:
Against the grain
A member of the first class of the Culinary Institute at the University of Tennessee, Chef DeAlejandro learned his love of cooking from his mother and grandmother. They cooked together “a ton,” he says, and he made his first solo pancakes before the age of 10. He traveled throughout the United States. as a college baseball player and also lived for a time in London. DeAlejandro cites his travels as further inspiration for the menu at The Crown and Goose, where he has been working since it opened four years ago. His best-kept secret is that if you look hard enough, you’ll always find a case of PBR somewhere in his kitchen.
THIRD PLACE ENTRÉE
Kirk Emery: Sequoyah Grille
You can only eat one thing for the rest of your life:
Peanut butter & jelly
Having once cooked for culinary legend Julia Child, nothing fazes Chef Emery now. A native Knoxvillian, he moonlighted as a cook in the Marines before heading to culinary school at L’Academie de Cuisine in Gathersburg, Maryland. Despite an education in haute cuisine, however, he confesses that a spoonful of peanut butter would win any cooking competition that he judged, and that he has a secret recipe for donuts in his kitchen at Sequoyah Grill. Ideally, he would aspire to have the people who have cooked with him take a little of what he has taught and keep cooking on their own—especially his two sons.
Gerry Gardner: Latitude 35
Describe your cooking style in three words or less:
Rich, comforting, playful
Though he’s an East Tennessee native who learned to cook at his mother’s knee, Chef Gardner brings a global outlook to his dishes and loves to add a little something surprising to his gorgeous Southern-inspired food—such as including Granny Smith apples with his scrumptious Ultimate Grilled Cheese. The secret behind his success: his two daughters, who like nothing better than to “mix stuff” with Daddy after work. Gardner’s restaurant, Latitude 35, is entering its third year on Market Square.
Cameron Kight: Crù Bistro & Wine Bar
If you were a spice, you would be:
Cayenne
Chef Kight’s first dish? At age 8, he made the crêpes from the iconic cookbook Joy of Cooking to surprise his parents with breakfast in bed. “Nobody spit them out,” he recalls—and, after this great success, he has been cooking ever since. He thinks of cooking more as chemistry than as art and loves to throw together the best, freshest ingredients to see how they react together—especially fresh peppers. Who would have thought Chipotle Meatloaf would go over so well? Kight is currently the sous chef at Cru Bistro.
Jeek Kim: Nama Sushi Bar
Assisted by Louis Moore, Nama Sushi Bar
If you were a spice, you would be:
Red pepper
Chef Kim loves to combine the taste of different countries—Japan, Thailand, Korea, France, and more—to create the unique flavors of what he calls “Japanese fusion.” A native of South Korea, Kim has been in Knoxville for five years now and says that the climate here is a lot like his hometown—but with less rain. His favorite person to cook for is his wife, though he doesn’t get to do so as often now that he has taught her to cook, as well! Though he’s enjoying working at Nama Sushi Bar for now, Kim would love to own his own restaurant in the future.
Amber Lloyd: The Orangery
Describe your cooking style in three words or less:
Flavor comes first
Mississippi native Chef Lloyd made it through three years of an architecture degree at the University of Tennessee before realizing that her true love was cooking. She had been working in the restaurant industry since age 14, but she fell in love with cooking at the sauté station. She has a passion for fresh herbs and colors. If she could cook for anyone in the world now, she wishes she could cook for her long-lost grandmother—but if you come by the Orangery, she’ll cook for you instead.
Chester Miller: Bistro by the Tracks
Describe your cooking style in three words or less:
Simple, delicious, accessible
At the upscale Bistro by the Tracks, Chef Miller prepares sophisticated dishes with grace. Although originally from Indiana, his menu (inspired by his mother, a restaurant manager, and Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking) now features fresh and local ingredients. He started in the restaurant business at age 14 as a line cook, and 30 years later his love for Southern cooking is apparent in the unique Bistro menu. Did you know he keeps a disco ball in his kitchen?
Shane Robertson: Northshore Brasserie
You can only eat one thing for the rest of your life:
Foie gras
When the going gets tough in Chef Robertson’s kitchen, he pulls out his copy of the official Chuck Norris fact book to lighten the mood. Robertson can easily understand his staff’s difficulties, since he worked his way all the way up the ranks of the restaurant world from prep cook to executive chef. He came to Knoxville in 2005 to open the elegant Northshore Brasserie. Though he loves Knoxville and says his regulars are “inspirational,” he would love to end his career as the chef-owner of a hole-in-the-wall restaurant serving tropical fish on a beach in the Caribbean.
Alex Shanks: Icon Ultra Lounge
Describe your cooking style in three words or less:
Original ethnic fusion
Chef Shanks started in the restaurant industry as a dishwasher while still in high school. Though he has no formal training, his cooking style springs from what he saw, tasted, and smelled while traveling extensively in the Eastern Hemisphere. He is now the executive chef of Icon, a new restaurant that will soon open at the top of the Sunsphere and will feature small, tapas-style dishes on the theme of “World’s Fare”—ranging from Indian Chicken Vindaloo to Vietnamese Nachos and beyond.
