Frank Lee is coming to Greenville. I might be a little giddy happy. He’ll be the Guest Chef at High Cotton‘s upcoming Spring Harvest Social along side the restaurant’s new chef, Adrian Carpenter. The five-course prix fixe Wine Dinner takes place on April 10 and will feature wine pairings from the repertoire of The Country Vintner, known for French and South African wines, selected by Maverick Southern Kitchen’s Wine and Beverage Manager, Tony Norton.
If, for some reason, you have no idea who Chef Frank Lee is and why I am so excited to actually meet the man, let me fill you in. Frank Lee was “local before it was cool, and sustainable before it was sexy”. He’s the award winning chef behind Slightly North of Broad in Charleston and the Old Village Post House in Mount Pleasant. We went to the Post House last summer in hopes of meeting the chef, but he was, alas, out training another chef somewhere, so we missed him. (BA!) He’s the Grand Poobah of South Carolina chefs. Seriously. Lee is Vice President of Culinary Development at Maverick Southern Kitchens and is responsible for not only recruiting Chef Carpenter to High Cotton last fall, but also for training more than a handful of South Carolina’s top chefs. You’ll have to look a little hard to find a SC chef that hasn’t worked with him. Yes, I am excited. I sort of brushed by him, paparazzi style at Euphoria last year, and it never occured to actually go up and shake his hand since get a little star struck when I’m around the big dogs. (Here’s to courage!)
Fellow dinner guests next week will enjoy the talents of these two amazing chefs, combining Southern, regional ingredients and French techniques to serve up dishes such as Smoked Salmon Wrapped Crispy Oysters with piquillo pepper aioli, Skillet Seared Venison Strip Loin with buttermilk biscuit with blackstrap molasses, Yellowfin Tuna Ceviche with sweet potato, watermelon radish, aji amarillo chili gastrique… Mouth watering ? Those were just starters. The first course is a handcrafted Gnocchi Salad with asparagus, morel mushrooms, tender farm greens and champagne-herb vinaigrette. The second course is Wild Striped Bass with Ambrose Farms Spinach, preserved lemon, charred green garlic emulsion. Third course: Windy Hill Suckling Goat Confit with Anson Mills goat cheese polenta, baby carrots, spring onion gremolata, and natural jus. The last course is La Bella Farms Foie Gras Torchon with Grand Marnier compressed strawberries, Tyger River arugula, toasted brioche, and aged balsamico. Heavens. And then I hear some sweet indulgences will be passed around.
If you’d like to join me on April 10th at High Cotton for this truly exceptional night of wining and dining, call (864) 335-4200. Cost is $65 per guest, plus tax and gratuity. Tickets are going fast. Guaranteed.
Go up and talk to him. He is kind, funny and very friendly. A Southern gentleman!
I think I just might do that!