Tonight's Episode: The Girl's Favorite Chef

We get asked all the time "Where is your favorite place to eat?" There are so many ways to answer that one: price point, style of food, occasion. One question we are asked a lot is a little easier to answer. "Who is your favorite Chef?" For The Girl it is Anson's Jeremy Holst. He is, after all, the man who taught her to like fish.

Chef Jeremy (Center) with cookbook author Michael Ruhlman (Left) and Zack (the guy who looks like a not-sleazy Ari Gold from Entourage) 

My favorite thing about dining with Chef Jeremy is just trusting in him and letting him decide what I'm going to eat. Menu? Who needs it. His creativity and technique are on par with any of our James Beard award-winning chefs. Here is our most recent dinner at Anson.

 

Not fair how pretty this is

First course is a crudo of scallops with beets, watermelon radish, and a cucumber-jalapeno sorbet. Not only a beautiful dish, but perfectly balanced and clean. The flavor profile was so well thought out it is scary. The sorbet has a clean flavor, with the essence of heat, that rounds this dish out perfectly.

What, no saltines? 

Next are oysters on the half shell with a ginger mignonette and a tomato gremolata. The ginger again gives you the thrill of spice without hurting your tongue, and the gremolata is cool and refreshing with the wonderfully briny oysters.

My type of finger food

For my "app" I went with the country paté ($12), with bread and butter pickles and pickled green beans, chow chow, and mustards and onion relish, and a kitchen sink, and a......Well, if you are a paté fan then this dish is money. I could take this on a picnic in France, pop a nice Bordeaux, and be happy. No flaws, only happiness.

Waste of toast, just need a fork

The Girl, true to her sick obsession, orders pimento cheese ($8). She packs it away into a to-go box so it will be her breakfast AND lunch the next day. I'm sure you could pay her in this cheese. 

Think local, eat a neighbor

Folly Creek clams? Apparently we have those. Cook in some white-wine and some andouille and you have yet another winning dish.

Scallops. 'Nuff said

Perfectly cooked scallops ($27). The Girl judges every chef on how they cook the little mollusks. Check out the tittle to this post to find out just how perfect they were.

Reason #4,493,603 why I can't keep Kosher

For my entree, Chef Jeremy sent out a Keegan-Filion Farms double cut pork chop with a cherry-pork jus ($24). The sauce was decadent, the vegetables perfect, and the pork was tasty as hell, though I like seeing more pink in my pork, but that's a personal preference.

Anson has many things going for it: location, a great wait staff, fantastic chef. I wish they would promote Chef Jeremy more. Go to their web page and there is not a mention of this talented chef with a bright future. I suggest you take a trip to Anson before the critics realize just how good their chef is and reservations become scarce.

The Scores:

Ambiance: 4/5

Food: 9.5/10

Service: 5/5

Value: 4/5

Overall: 22.5 out of 25  A Chef with immense talent, worth the visit so you can say you were there BEFORE he won a James Beard

#forkandtell
#Charleston
#Anson