Thursday, August 13, 2009

Local Chef Heads West, Young Man

One of my favorite local chefs, Eric Cohen of Julep, is cooking here no more. He will be moving to San Francisco Monday and I am sorry for a lot of reasons. First he was probably the most underrated chef in town. His take on new Southern was always a pleasure, whether it was the baby back ribs (had them again last night), that yummy corn and roasted leek oyster stew or the smoked trout, I always appreciated the quality of his food.

But mainly it's that Eric and his main squeeze Melissa are friends and I have enjoyed wine and conversation with them, including my birthday. This will be much more difficult once we are on opposite coasts. On the plus side, they have already invited me to come out and stay with them and what kind of idiot would refuse a free place to stay in San Francisco? Plus I expect it'll be great fun to do some food exploring with Eric as a guide there. As for Melissa, well, she always said that the more time she and I spent together, the greater likelihood that we'd be arrested. True that.

So I ate Eric's creations at Julep last night and savored every bite; then spent the rest of the evening drinking and talking with my soon-to-be transplanted friends. I know Eric will succeed wherever he ends up, but I will miss long evenings talking with these guys. But I do envy them their excellent adventure to come.

No comments:

Post a Comment