CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Gary Needham said he had an inkling when he cracked the eggs at the Bluegrass Kitchen while whipping up a sample dish for owner Keeley Steele that this restaurant might be the spot for him.
Gary Needham says his specials will pair items perhaps unfamiliar to diners, such as the fish called escolar, with local produce. Here, the fish sits atop mashed potatoes and a sauce made with yellow tomatoes from Capitol Market.
"They were so orange - organic eggs," the 53-year-old recalled. "I knew she cared about the ingredients.
"And then I went to the farmer's market and got more interested."
Needham, a chef whose name is followed by what he likes to call the "OTJ" designation - "I'm on-the-job trained" - came to the Bluegrass about a month ago. He's the product of a 37-year career that has taken him to well-known restaurants in California, Vermont, Washington, D.C., and big cities, including San Francisco and Chicago.
Most recently, he won rave reviews at the Silver Oak American Bistro and the Bourbon BBQ in Ridgewood, N.J., where he was co-owner and chef.
The New York Times' David Corcoran in 2006 had this to say about Silver Oak and specifically, Needham:
"Fun, in gargantuan proportions, is what you're in for at this tiny eight-month-old bistro. Before Silver Oak came along, people in this cosmopolitan village might have thought they had seen just about every type of restaurant; they didn't know what they were missing."
Steele likes to think Needham and she met at just the right time.
Bluegrass emphasizes fresh, local fare. Beyond that, Steele said she is open to suggestions.
"It just has to taste good," was her charge to Needham.
"I also told him I wanted to push our customers a little bit."
As in grilled octopus, tentacles and all? That was on the menu a couple weeks ago.
"It sold out," Needham said.
Grilled goat? Also a hit.
Along with the established lunch and dinner menu, Needham is ramping up the excitement with specials that might include an interesting fish his Charlotte supplier is able to track down, produce bought at the Capitol Market or Monroe County farm co-op or beef from Jackson County's Sandy Creek Farms.
"I just love this farmer's market here," he said. "Every morning I go there and get inspired for the day, what I'm going to make."
On this day, squash from Capitol Market becomes a bowl for a gratin and the whole thing is served atop homemade rustic ribbons of pasta with giant polka dots that come thanks to coloring from squid ink. He calls it deconstructed ravioli.
Beautiful market tomatoes are pureed into a coulis that serves as a beautiful base for porcini-encrusted esolar, sometimes called white tuna, and white truffle mashed potatoes.
Soft shell crabs have a crispy breading that includes pumpkin seeds and stand atop a Cajun-flavored capanato and white bean puree.
The dishes are fancy, but not intimidating. It may be soft-shelled crab that you eat shell and all, but it stands on a comforting mound of familiar vegetables. The squid ink pasta begs to be tried when it's casually plopped on homemade pasta.
Dessert brings on the comfort in comfort food, with giant towering cupcakes and rustic tarts made with West Virginia blackberries or peaches.
Needham says he didn't worry a bit about serving up octopus to a West Virginia crowd.
His only impressions of West Virginia before he came were "all the jokes from Kentucky people."
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Gary Needham said he had an inkling when he cracked the eggs at the Bluegrass Kitchen while whipping up a sample dish for owner Keeley Steele that this restaurant might be the spot for him.
"They were so orange - organic eggs," the 53-year-old recalled. "I knew she cared about the ingredients.
"And then I went to the farmer's market and got more interested."
Needham, a chef whose name is followed by what he likes to call the "OTJ" designation - "I'm on-the-job trained" - came to the Bluegrass about a month ago. He's the product of a 37-year career that has taken him to well-known restaurants in California, Vermont, Washington, D.C., and big cities, including San Francisco and Chicago.
Most recently, he won rave reviews at the Silver Oak American Bistro and the Bourbon BBQ in Ridgewood, N.J., where he was co-owner and chef.
The New York Times' David Corcoran in 2006 had this to say about Silver Oak and specifically, Needham:
"Fun, in gargantuan proportions, is what you're in for at this tiny eight-month-old bistro. Before Silver Oak came along, people in this cosmopolitan village might have thought they had seen just about every type of restaurant; they didn't know what they were missing."
Steele likes to think Needham and she met at just the right time.
Bluegrass emphasizes fresh, local fare. Beyond that, Steele said she is open to suggestions.
"It just has to taste good," was her charge to Needham.
"I also told him I wanted to push our customers a little bit."
As in grilled octopus, tentacles and all? That was on the menu a couple weeks ago.
"It sold out," Needham said.
Grilled goat? Also a hit.
Along with the established lunch and dinner menu, Needham is ramping up the excitement with specials that might include an interesting fish his Charlotte supplier is able to track down, produce bought at the Capitol Market or Monroe County farm co-op or beef from Jackson County's Sandy Creek Farms.
"I just love this farmer's market here," he said. "Every morning I go there and get inspired for the day, what I'm going to make."
On this day, squash from Capitol Market becomes a bowl for a gratin and the whole thing is served atop homemade rustic ribbons of pasta with giant polka dots that come thanks to coloring from squid ink. He calls it deconstructed ravioli.
Beautiful market tomatoes are pureed into a coulis that serves as a beautiful base for porcini-encrusted esolar, sometimes called white tuna, and white truffle mashed potatoes.
Soft shell crabs have a crispy breading that includes pumpkin seeds and stand atop a Cajun-flavored capanato and white bean puree.
The dishes are fancy, but not intimidating. It may be soft-shelled crab that you eat shell and all, but it stands on a comforting mound of familiar vegetables. The squid ink pasta begs to be tried when it's casually plopped on homemade pasta.
Dessert brings on the comfort in comfort food, with giant towering cupcakes and rustic tarts made with West Virginia blackberries or peaches.
Needham says he didn't worry a bit about serving up octopus to a West Virginia crowd.
His only impressions of West Virginia before he came were "all the jokes from Kentucky people."
"What I found is that people here are more open to the artistic food experience than most cosmopolitan cities," he said. "In big cities, everybody's a critic.
"Here, they just want good food, served with love."
Needham grew up in Louisville, Ky., in a family that loved to eat. His dad built Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants. His mom loved to entertain and took French cooking classes.
"We're still all together and we're still cooking," Needham said of his family.
Married and divorced, he took on a somewhat nomadic chef's life, learning skills on the job.
"My study is mainly ethnic cuisine of the world," he said.
Earlier this year, Needham said he grew tired of living so far from his family. He sold his partnership in the New Jersey restaurants and came home to Kentucky to spend time with his children and grandchildren.
"I got to know them," he said. The job search this time was for a quality restaurant, preferably closer to them. Bluegrass got the nod over Robert Redford's Sundance Resort in Utah.
"I was more interested this time in the people I was going to work with," Needham said.
He's a couple hours from his family. And he's got ready access to anything he wants to cook.
"There's so much great local stuff here - it's a chef's dream," he said.
Bluegrass seats 55, though it's in the process of a small expansion of both kitchen and seating areas. Still, it tends to serve 120 or so on a busy night, a customer base that will allow Needham to give personal attention to the dishes.
Besides his own pasta and baked goods, he plans soon to make his own sausage. The local produce and meat will complement seafood from out of state. And more adventures are on the horizon.
"We've got more weird stuff coming down the pike," he promised.
Sea cucumber, anyone?
Ready for a taste?
- Bluegrass Kitchen is open every day and serves dinner six nights a week.
- It is located at the corner of Washington Street East and Elizabeth Street.
- Hours are 11 a.m. to 9ish (their wording!) Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10ish Friday; 10 a.m. to 10ish Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
- Call 304-346-2871 for more information.
- Needham says he visits the Capitol Market nearly every day, where the available produce inspires his specials. By early afternoon, the dinner specials are hand-written and ready for Bluegrass Kitchen owner Keeley Steele to run upstairs, lay them out on the computer and print them out.
