Pull up a seat at our table for a dinner with a fellow lover of using traditional methods and the best, most flavorful ingredients available. Chef Vishwesh Bhatt will be joining us for a very special event celebrating his newly-released cookbook, I Am From Here: Stories and Recipes from a Southern Chef (W. W. Norton, 2022).

Bhatt’s food draws from his Indian heritage while celebrating traditional Southern ingredients, and his new book is filled with his inventive and unpretentious recipes that capture this evolving American South. 

“He uses traditional Southern ingredients, like catfish, grits, or mac and cheese—but he prepares them using flavors and techniques of his native India. … It’s food rooted in the Southern past, while also pointing to where the South is going, as a strong economy attracts immigrants from all over.” —Maria Godoy, NPR Senior Editor and Correspondent 

He’ll be cooking a selection of favorites for us—some of which are much-loved favorites from the menu at Snackbar in Oxford, Mississippi, where he’s the executive chef—and telling us the stories behind them throughout the evening. You’ll also have the opportunity to purchase a copy of I Am From Here and have it signed.

More About Chef Vishwesh Bhatt

A native of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, Vishwesh Bhatt has made his home in Oxford, Mississippi, for more than twenty years. As the executive chef of Snackbar, where he has cooked for the last twelve years, he was nominated for People’s Best New Chef by Food & Wine, won the 2019 James Beard Award for Best Chef: South, and was inducted into the Fellowship of Southern Farmers, Artisans, and Chefs.

I Am From Here Dinner with Chef Vishwesh Bhatt

Monday, September 26th at 7 pm

Menu

Plated Appetizer

Tomato Chutney (V)
Served over black eyed pea griddle cakes.

Plated Salad

Grilled Okra Salad (V)
With locally harvested corn and tomatoes.

Family Style Entrées

Pork Country Captain
Simmered in a curried tomato sauce with bacon, bell peppers, carrots, chiles, and currants.  

Catfish Parmesan
Breaded and fried, topped with tomato sauce, SarVecchio parmesan, and fresh herbs.

Eggplant Okra Caponata (V)
Local eggplant simmered with Texas pecans, okra, green olives, capers, onions, and tomatoes

Crispy Smashed New Potatoes  (V)

Plated Dessert

Austin’s Nashoba County Peanut Pie
Served a la mode.