Katie Button found full flower in her love affair with food while living in Paris. These days, in Asheville, her background in France and the U.S. has found delightful manifestation at Curate.
Chef Katie Button was born in Conway and lived in Greenville, S.C., but grew up in Mountain Lakes, N.J. She started preparing meals for the family with her mother and eventually helping in her mother’s catering business.
“I was surrounded by excellent food and wonderful chefs when I was growing up,” she says. “I just never considered cooking as a career path.”
Her professional career began in academia. She graduated from Cornell with a B.S. in chemical engineering, then received a master’s in biomedical engineering from L’Ecole Centrale in Paris. She enrolled in the Ph.D. program in neuroscience administered by the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and already had a lease on an apartment in Washington, D.C., when she discovered Café Atlántico, one of the restaurants owned by José Andrés. She had grown devoted to markets and cooking while living in Paris, and a career in restaurants seemed to be luring her. She withdrew from graduate school and went to work at Café Atlántico.
“Looking back, I feel like fate had been giving me signs all along that this is where my passion lies, and that I should have been pursuing culinary arts all along,” she says.
At Café Atlántico, she fell in love with restaurants, food, cooking, and Félix Meana, a former service manager from elBulli in Spain – arguably the best restaurant in the world, and certainly one of the most critically acclaimed. (Ferran Adrià’s famous restaurant is now closed but is scheduled to reopen in 2014 as a think tank for food creations.) Button subsequently became one of 40 out of 8,000 applicants selected for an internship at elBulli. She spent her initial three months there as the first American server in the restaurant’s history, then entered a seven-month stage in the kitchen.
Button thus cites two of the world’s most illustrious contemporary chefs as her mentors. “José Andrés taught me the simplicity and clarity of traditional Spanish tapas and how to create a thriving restaurant group in the United States, and Ferran Adrià taught me how to organize and run a restaurant kitchen and manage a staff, as well as how to open up to new and unbelievable flavor combinations and techniques.”
In 2010, she returned to the United States, determined to open her own restaurant. She and her family investigated Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Winston-Salem, and Boone. But when they arrived in Asheville, they knew they had found the place they were seeking.
“It had something to do with the wonderful sense of community and the vibrant downtown surrounded by these beautiful mountains that really won us over,” Button recalls.
At home, she cooks simply, “primarily because I am never at home. To be honest, on my days off of work, we eat out.”
The Restaurant
Cúrate was reconstructed from Asheville’s former bus depot, built in 1927. The interior features local paintings and sculptures. Seating along a 38-foot marble bar allows patrons to observe the open kitchen. Prices are moderate, the ambience casual.
“I remember the day before we were going to open, having a major emotional breakdown moment,” Chef Button says. “Opening your first restaurant is like walking on stage in front of a huge audience, praying that you won’t trip and fall flat on your face.”
Button married Félix Meana in early 2012. He is service and beverage director for Cúrate. Button’s mother Elizabeth is director of operations, and her father Ted is financial manager and handyman.
The kitchen staff works closely with local farms. Lettuces and micro greens come from Jolley Farms, tomatoes from Gaining Ground Farm, and eggplant and beets from Ivy Creek Family Farm. Smokin’ J’s Fiery Foods bought and planted Padron pepper seeds just for Cúrate. Ground beef, pork, and oxtails come from Brasstown Beef and Hickory Nut Gap Meats. All honey comes from wild mountain apiaries.
Although open only since 2010, Cúrate has already garnered much media attention. Mountain Xpress published a feature article about Chef Button. Lisa Abend included Katie’s internship at elBulli in her book “The Sorcerer’s Apprentices.” She appears as well in the film “El Bulli: Cooking in Progress.” In spring 2012, Chef Button was named one of 30 semifinalists for the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star chef award.
Cúrate
11 Biltmore Avenue
Asheville, N.C. 28801
828-239-2946
curatetapasbar.com
Chef Randy Dunn is from Sparta, Tenn. He moved to the North Carolina mountains to open Roux. He says he loves “the eclectic vibe and the connection with the mountains, farmers, and farmers’ markets” in Asheville and the surrounding area.
He began cooking at about age eight, stirring the pot during jelly making while standing on a chair by the stove. Dunn cites his mother and grandmother as his earliest and strongest influences. He says he always knew he wanted to please people with his food. Although his education after high school began in civil engineering at Tennessee Tech, he decided to pursue a culinary program shortly before graduation and transferred to Johnson & Wales in Charleston, S.C.
His early experiences included making and delivering pizzas at a Pizza Inn, which taught him to work on someone else’s schedule. Then he worked at a KFC. Learning management skills while attending Tennessee Tech was another important aspect of his early development. He cooked during the summer at Young Life Camps, feeding 350 people three family-style meals per day.
After culinary school, he cooked at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, where he was able to focus on creativity and use his management skills. He climbed quickly to sous chef, then banquet chef. The restaurant achieved a Four Diamond rating from AAA. He then moved to Cambridge, Mass., to open The Hotel at MIT (now Le Méridien Cambridge). Dunn has also served as executive chef at the Doubletree Hotel in Detroit and as executive chef at the Birmingham Marriott. But he ultimately decided he wanted something smaller – more in the boutique mode – so he was attracted to the Hilton Asheville Biltmore Park.
The Restaurant
Roux takes its name from the key element in three classic French mother sauces, a basic starting point in much cooking. Chef Dunn terms the restaurant’s cuisine “inspired Southern.” Every dish starts with the best ingredients. “Take your time, build layers, and let the food speak for itself,” he advises. “Don’t underestimate simple.”
Restaurant personnel shop at the Biltmore Park Town Square Farmers’ Market on Wednesday afternoons to prepare specials for the weekend. Roux has formed partnerships with local vendors Three Graces Dairy, Sunburst Trout Farm, Cane Creek Valley Organics, Blue Ridge Bio Fuels, and City Market South. The restaurant is an active member of the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project. Staff members recycle cooking oil to make biofuel, use solar hot water, recycle all glass, plastic, and paper, and use natural filtered water to eliminate the use of plastic products.
The Hilton Asheville Biltmore Park has received a Four Diamond rating from AAA. It is a LEED-certified Silver property. A day spa provides services on-site. Weddings and large group meetings are readily accommodated in private banquet rooms, ballrooms, and conference rooms.
Roux
Hilton Asheville Biltmore Park
43 Town Square Boulevard
Asheville, N.C. 28803
828-209-2715
rouxasheville.com
Gambas Alajillo (serves 6)
1½ pounds raw shrimp (about 32 shrimp, 26–30 size), peeled, deveined, and butterflied
salt to taste
¾ cup mild or blended oil
6 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly smashed with the back of a knife
6 cloves garlic, sliced thin
6 dried arbol chili peppers, broken in half (or substitute pinch of chili pepper flakes)
6 bay leaves
1½ cups dry sherry wine
toasted bread
Season shrimp liberally with salt and set aside. Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add whole garlic cloves and sauté until they just start to turn golden brown. Add sliced garlic and stir until it is fragrant and a light golden brown also. Add chili peppers, bay leaves, and shrimp. Cook, stirring, until shrimp begin to turn pink but are not done. Add sherry and continue to heat until shrimp are just cooked through. Remove from heat. Using tongs, remove shrimp from pan and set aside. Return sauce to stovetop. Reduce slightly for 30 seconds and adjust seasoning if necessary. Remove from heat.
Divide shrimp among 6 small bowls. Garnish with 1 chili pepper, 1 bay leaf, and 1 whole garlic clove. Divide remaining sauce and sliced garlic among bowls. Serve immediately with toasted bread such as ciabatta to dip in sauce at bottom of bowls.
