TerraMae Appalachian Bistro is celebrating its one year anniversary on Jan. 30, at 6 p.m., with a unique event featuring five chefs from the surrounding Appalachian region to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Executive Chef Shelley Cooper's zest for Appalachian cooking with a flair has taken her all over the world, from her home town of Memphis to Hawkes Bay, New Zealand to Panama City to Bluffton, South Carolina and to Los Angeles. She trained under noted Southern chef Louis Osteen, so it's no surprise that her comforting yet elegant dishes are truly at home in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Those same Southern roots inspired Chef Shelley to invite five chefs from North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee who she has worked with on her culinary journey.
The guests include Bruce Lafone and John Campbell of Asheville, N.C., and Kyle Woodruff and Emily Clary Woodruff of Williamsburg, Va.
Rounding out the five chefs is Chattanooga's own Chef Rebecca Barron of St. John's Restaurant.
Each chef will have a chef's table with food and drinks for guests to sample. They will be accompanied by musical performers who represent the personality of each chef's region. $50 of each $115 ticket to the event and proceeds from the Silent Auction will go to benefit St. Jude's.
The unique format of the Anniversary Party is a natural extension of TerraMae's overall vision of taking recipes as old as, well, the hills, and making them something contemporary and brand new. Chef Shelley regularly takes humble fare like frog legs and chowchow and puts them together on a menu with nontraditional ingredients like scallops and Shell Point oysters. Her approach brings out the naturally playful spirit and inventiveness that is so essential to Appalachia life. Each chef will do the same, in their own way, on the night of the event, Thursday, January 30th at TerraMae restaurant on East 10th Street inside the historic StoneFort Inn.
In just one year, TerraMae has revived the region's roots for a new generation, celebrating everything from sunchokes to rabbit to moonshine. Just as Appalachia and Chattanooga have changed over time into something unmistakably one of a kind, TerraMae is sure to come even more into its own with amazing events like its one year Anniversary Party on Thursday, Jan. 30.