HIS STORY
Originally from Yakima, Washington, Chef Deron Little started cooking with a master chef at 15. He was a chef for hotels and country clubs, and a resident chef at Greenville Technical College in South Carolina before opening Tahoe South in downtown Greenville. He cheffed at Gettysvue and Fox Den country clubs before starting Seasons Innovative Bar & Grille in 2013.
The evening began with a choice of two “welcome” cocktails: a delightful Grey Goose Cucumber Mint Refresher (fresh lime juice, house-made cucumber simple syrup and club soda) or a smoked Buffalo Trace Old Fashioned with orange bitters, and porter syrup.
“This is a celebration of French culinary arts,” said Owner and Executive Chef Deron Little. “Classic culinary techniques are used on every dish that’s coming out.” The salad starter featured a quarter-head of Boston lettuce atop a blueberry citrus vinaigrette, with julienne of roasted red peppers and batonnet (“small stick” in French) of cucumber, Shippendad prosciutto, and a honey-reduction poached pear topped by a dollop of Gorgonzola blue cheese. A Rombauer Vineyards 2022 Carneros Chardonnay provided a crisp accompaniment.
The appetizer was Duck Three Ways—that is, duck presented three ways. A duck-bone consommé was topped with duck leg confit and a delicate poached quail egg, balsamic reduction and micro greens. Medallions of duck breast—“as tender as my wife Sheah’s heart,” according to Chef Deron—which had been cooked sous vide for five hours at 115 degrees, were served with a lively tomato leek jam. This course was paired with a Belle Glos Clark & Telephone 2021 Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir, one of several wines that Little discovered on a skiing vacation in California.
The entrée was Seared Grain-fed Bison Tenderloin wrapped in caul fat on a Peruvian (purple) potato croquette, topped with pickled exotic oyster mushrooms, and served with a tournée (seven-sided) zucchini with a rich veal gloss. “This creates a symphony with the wine,” said Chef Deron, introducing a 2019 Fox Creek Old Vine Zinfandel from Villa Toscano in Shenandoah, California.
The dessert was Chef Deron’s “twist on Baked Alaska,” a Mascarpone vanilla cheesecake with Ghirardelli chocolate lava, crowned with flaming meringue bathed—in a nod to our region—in 140-proof moonshine instead of rum. “You cut into the cheesecake and the chocolate just comes pouring out,” he said. This was complemented by another Villa Toscano gem, Erika’s Reserve Port.