Chef Alex Gass started cooking with his mom, aunt, and grandmother for church. His first job was at Big Ed’s Pizza in Oak Ridge. He opened a couple of Aubrey’s for Randy Burleson, went on the road with rock bands, returned to Burleson’s Bistro by the Tracks, then cheffed for five years at Walnut Kitchen in Maryville before starting Fire & Salt.
Bartender Giana Maldonado welcomed guests with her concoction “Wishful Thinking,” made with vodka, apricot liqueur, pomegranate liqueur, lemon, honey, and sprinkled with edible redbuds. “I wanted it to be front forward, springy, and kind of tangy,” she told them.
Oak Ridge Mayor Pro Tem Jim Dodson, who was Chef Alex Gass’s art teacher at Oak Ridge High School, pointed out his collection of brightly painted guitars mounted on the wall. The Oasis Jazz Trio provided atmosphere as the Fire & Salt staff passed hors d’oeuvres.
Cityview Publisher Nathan Sparks introduced Gass as an Oak Ridge native who, in his time cooking for rock tours, has been backstage with more talent than you can imagine—Elton John, Chris Stapleton, Widespread Panic, Van Halen. Gass is a picture of perseverance, making his mark at Walnut Kitchen in Maryville and taking the big chance of starting Fire and Salt in his hometown.
Gass described the Pork Belly Porchetta appetizer as “one of my favorite pork belly dishes to make.” Moist and tender, it was enlivened by fresh garlic, thyme, rosemary, and oregano, served with Old Fashioned Chow Chow and Seven Deers Farm Red Man Hot Sauce Reduction and paired with a straw yellow Lunae Vermentino Colli di Luni, that, says its maker, “opens with fresh and bright fruit, citrus, wild flowers, and notes of acacia blossom honey.”
Chef introduced his entrée, Smoked Elk Striploin, by noting that he’d been “getting back into hunting this year,” curing and smoking meat for his family. He served the elk with goat cheese and potato gnocchi, rosemary sous vide carrots, frisée, Extraterrestrial Fungi Mushrooms, red wine sauce, and fresh herbs. “The elk is so lean,” said diner Marcos Garza. “It was smoked to perfection.” The pairing with a Presqu’ile Syrah from California’s Santa Maria Valley, balanced the leanness of the elk with flavors of blackberries, dried herbs, bacon fat, and lavender.
Gass adapted a Dark Chocolate Bonet, a custard dessert from the Piedmont of Northern Italy, to include Amaretto cookie, crushed almond, orange fluid gel “providing a nice citrus pop,” chocolate glaze, and crushed cocoa puree paired with a delightfully sweet Masseria Borgo Dei Trulli, Primitivo, from Puglia, Italy.
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