Drew Adams - Foraging and Feasting

“What I usually do, I’ll order a lot of seasonal ingredients and I'll just order them without any dish in mind. And we just get them in, just so we can start that creative process and I know that I'm not going to waste an ingredient. Because you know we're not going to throw anything away, so it kind of forces our hand to use it and that's we try and stay creative. And I go into farmer's markets every single weekend. And as far as steaks go, it's very straightforward. One of the things we learned that when people come here, they want to eat steak

What we covered in this episode

Chef Drew Adams grew up in Baltimore.
First food memory was getting soft shells out of the bay in front of his house with his dad and cooking him up
He went to culinary school at Johnson Wales and in Charleston.
His second food memory was after work in Charleston running over to McCrady's where Sean Brock used to be (before Sean) and he go sit at the bar and get the tasting menu.
Chef Jeremiah Langhorne at The Dabney has been one of his mentor.
Holding yourself accountable and if you're not happy with it then fix it!
Chef Damon Gordon was another of his mentor. He taught me a lot about precision.
At the Bourbon Steakhouse, he leverage his creativity in the fish dishes and the appetizers.
To shake up the menu at the restaurant, Chef Drew Adams cut the menu in half as far as steaks go within the first month.
He developed the Wagyu program at the restaurant. Working with farms from Kagoshima, Japan.
Special Wagyu from island of Shodoshima, Japan. Beef are fed with Olive mash. See article in the link section below.
His creative process and pawpaw. See information in the link section below.
He talks about his passion for foraging.
Foraging gives him a lot more appreciation for the product that he is working with.
Opportunities to access to products that are not readily available.
It's against the law to forage on national parks and there's a lot of national parks that in D.C. and along Maryland, Virginia borders. They go out there just to learn more about ingredients.
Important: foraging can be dangerous – not all plants or mushrooms are good for humans. Do not do it alone!
Chef Drew Adams talks about their “Foraging and Feasting Excursions”.
New trend: fermentation and his friend Chef Brad Deboy at Elle in WDC. See information in the link section below.
Best cooking tip for a novice: it is a lot of hard work! Do not stay at one place / job too long. Travel!
5 rapid-fire question!

Links to other episodes in Washington DC

Chef Johnny Spero – Reverie

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Chef Drew Adams talks about his passion for foraging

I started doing it [foraging] five, six years ago. The first thing I found were ramps in the spring and I just got excited about it. I like it because it gives me a lot more appreciation for the product that I'm working with. Really enjoy that part of it. Obviously you want to do everything you can to make sure you really showcase the product. Especially when you find it outside and you find it yourself. That's incredible. The more I learned about it, the more I never realized how much edible things were out there. I find something new each year and nature very fascinating to me.
It's like when you're younger, everyone wants to be that kid on the block who has that new toy. I want to be that kid! I like to use things that not many other people use. But there are very few people that use pawpaws in the city. And come spring, everyone uses ramps in the city but there's other things out there like ground nettles and different types of flowers that you can pick. There is this field that I go to in the spring that's covered in violets. I make violet syrups and candied violets. We use them as garnishes. So for me it's the smaller things in life that you really start to appreciate, the little things.

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Drew Adams – [You have to] hold yourself accountable and if you're not happy with it then fix it! Don't just settle for anything less and less than perfect.

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I learned a long time ago that in order to be good in this industry, you have to really enjoy what you do. And to enjoy what you do, you need to be able to have fun. – Drew Adams

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Chef Drew Adams – I think cooking TV shows sometimes gives a false impression of what this job entails. It's not always like everyone wants to be a celebrity chef. It's a lot of hard work.

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