Jay Veregge - Executive Chef, Big Water Grille

One of the greatest things about going out and eating at a fine dining restaurant is experiencing the centuries of culture that is now the sum of that dish sitting in front of you. The dish above is a great example of this. Growing up and spending a large portion of my culinary career in California, I can’t help but to be influenced by all the asian cuisine, flavors and ingredients that run rampant in my home state.

The dish shown in the picture above is one that I often hesitate to serve because it is so simple, yet my customers can never get enough of it. Seared Rare Ahi Tune with a Saki-Soy and Wild Spring Mushroom Broth, people always rave that it’s one of the best fish dishes that they’ve ever eaten. Although this is a dish that I created years ago, I can’t really take full credit for it.

After all, the flavor combinations of sake and soy mixed with a little carmalized ginger goes back centuries in Japanese culture. That’s why as a chef, I have gotten more inspiration from little hole in the wall ethnic eateries than all the great fine dining restaurants that I’ve ever eaten at combined. Not to take anything away from the great fine dining chefs of the world; all I’m saying is that behind every great chef is a love for ethnic “peseant” food.

Coq Au Vin, Pates and Duck Confit: this is what the peseants of France ate because it was what they could afford. Now, these foods are stapels of some of the finest restaurants in the world.

Why are these dishes so good. Because they’re backed by decades, centuries, maybe even milinias of tried and true flavors, techniques and culinary knowledge.

By eating at an establishment that stays true to it’s ethnic influences, one is truly able to understand culture through cuisine.