Traditional Southern food elicits thoughts of warm, comforting dishes that are rich in flavor and made with a homemade quality. Popular dishes include fried chicken, buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy, beans and cornbread, pit barbecue and Cajun-Creole cuisine.
These traditional, homestyle dishes will long represent Southern food, but a new food movement is bringing another connotation to Southern-style cooking.
“The James Beard Foundation is at the center of America’s culinary community, dedicated to exploring the way food enriches our lives.
“In 1955, Beard established the James Beard Cooking School. He continued to teach cooking to men and women for the next 30 years… He was a tireless traveler, bringing his message of good food, honestly prepared with fresh, wholesome, American ingredients, to a country just becoming aware of its own culinary heritage.
“When James Beard died at 81 on January 21, 1985, he left a legacy of culinary excellence and integrity to generations of home cooks and professional chefs. His name remains synonymous with American food.”
High South cuisine is a style of cooking that takes the farm-to-table concept and drapes a cloth napkin across its lap. High South cuisine brings locally grown and created ingredients into the kitchens of some of the most adept chefs in the country, who happen to be in Northwest Arkansas.
Although cultivated in the Ozark region, High South cuisine is being enjoyed by palates around the country. Last year, a handful of Bentonville chefs were invited to cook for guests at the historic James Beard House in Greenwich Village in New York.
This year, chefs in Bentonville hosted a similar evening on Nov. 8. The multi-course meal was hosted by chef Matt McClure of The Hive at 21c Hotel, who was joined by Tusk and Trotter owner and chef Rob Nelson, as well as Chef William Lyle and culinary director Case Dighero of Eleven at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
The Friends of James Beard Benefit Dinner supported the James Beard Foundation's general operating fund and scholarship program.
"The significance of the James Beard Foundation's involvement here in Northwest Arkansas is that we now join chef's from all over the country in a shared goal to solve our nation's food system problems," Lyle said.
The culinary team at Eleven has become a pioneer for High South cuisine.
"The farmers and artisans of the Ozarks are the driving force behind this newly coined cuisine. The chefs of the Ozarks have access to a copious variety of fruits, grains, vegetables and livestock all harvested within 20-30 miles of their front door. This is not the case for many chefs in other regions across the country, that is why it is important that we embrace this gift," Lyle said.
When Crystal Bridges opened in November 2011, a new prestige flourished in Bentonville. The museum introduced more than artwork -- it sparked a creative interest that reinvigorated the region.
Eleven illustrates their support of local businesses by using numerous local products.
For example, the award-winning black bean burger created by chef and owner Jerrmy Gawthrop of Greenhouse Grille will be featured on the winter menu.
Fayetteville-based, artisan pickle maker Garret Gunderson crafted a dill-version of his signature Gunderpickle, which accompanies sandwiches at Eleven.
Also, Northwest Arkansas expat Brant Williams won a city-wide contest in Philadelphia, and his winning Hmong-inspired hot dog is featured on Eleven's menu. The ¼ lb. dog is served on a poppy-seed-and-roasted-onion bun stuffed with Thai basil, cilantro, mint, mung bean sprouts, fresh jalapenos and topped with a hoisin--
NAN Dining Guide Cover on 11/21/2014