Meadowlark’s Aaron Braun: Our food says, ‘You are going to love eating this’
A local chef nabbed second place at the American Culinary Federation and the Ohio Pork Council’s annual Taste of Elegance Competition that was held in downtown Columbus in late January.
Erin Vasicek, who opera testhefoodblogThe Spiffy Cookie, was one of the judges. In a blog post on her website she wrote: “Taste of Elegance is a friendly competition working to promote and educate Ohio Chefs about pork and the Ohio pig farmers that raise them with the overarching goal of the participating chefs promoting pork in their individual locations. Three chefs competed and prepared an appetizer and entree, both featuring pork. The winner was selected based on taste (50 points), appearance (30 points), and originality (20 points). While only one could come in first, every chef won a piece of the prize with awards going to The Chef Par Excellence (1st place $1000), The Superior Chef (2nd place $500), The Premier Chef (3rd place $250), and of course The People’s Choice Award as chosen by the reception attendees.”
Aaron Braun, Sous Chef at Meadowlark Restaurant, took home second place at the competition, as well as the coveted People’s Choice Award.
On Braun’s cooking Vasicek wrote: “Chef Aaron Braun (The Meadowlark) … started his Southern California meets Ohio menu off with an Al Pastor style roasted pork belly served atop a fresh fried cornmeal sopa with grilled pineapple and pick- led red onion. The entree was a pickled pork butt braised in stewed tomatoes and served with verde sauce and cotija cheese over cheddar grits. His pork preparations were very tender, I really enjoyed the blend of genres, and I though his presentation was the most approachable.”
Three months after participating, Braun was invited to attend the Midwest Pork Summit in Iowa City, Iowa, with chefs from all over the Midwest for a three-day summit exploring pig farming, breeds, butchering, pork cooking techniques and more.
Reflecting on the experience Braun says, “(I) brought back the latest industry wisdom on butchery cuts, brining techniques, breed development for flavor, and now I’m kind of obsessed with cooking and serving the best pork and pork dishes I possibly can. After spending a day at Brenneman’s Farm, meeting the family, seeing the respectful way the pigs are raised and the dedication to sustainability — they grow everything the pigs eat — I feel it’s the least I can do.”
Here is a Q&A with Braun, who graduated from Hocking College with a dual degree in culinary arts and business, about his experience and about what he’s currently up to in the Meadowlark kitchen. night paste.” That’s all I’m sayin’. Tomatoes are on their way out, so the pasta will change to house made Italian sausage and rapini with plenty of parmesan for fall.
Are there any changes happening with the Meadowlark menu?
We are transitioning our menu items from warm weather to cooler weather right now. We do not roll out an entire seasonal menu at one time. We change dishes as seasonal items become available, when we think a dish has been on long enough, and when we try What is your culinary something new and can’t background? wait to put it on the menu.
Dayton is my hometown. In the last couple weeks we IstartedatBillK n app’sat15 have gone from peaches to as a dishwasher, then moved pears, soon we’ll be going to the line and learned all the from tomatoes to turnips, stations.Iworkedatacouand from grilled meats to ple of restaurants in Athens, braised meats … Currently, Ohio, while I was in culinary we are working on lamb and school, and then I worked duck dishes for the holiunderagreat chef at Crescent days. Shellfish is at its best Tavern in Put-In-Bay. After a during winter months, so year, I packed my bags and we’ll be getting into that. We headed to San D iego,w here are getting our first home- Iworked f orChefAmyDiB- grown potatoes and baking iase, which really expanded squashes this week. Stay my knowled gea nd skills, my tuned! dedication to the craft, and developed my palate. What do you think makes Meadowlark a destination What was your favorite restaurant? dish from the Pork SumWe want you to get a welmit? comethatmakesyouwant
My favorite dish right now to come back. That first sip is the shaved pork loin sandof a hand-crafted cocktail wich wit h chimi churricr eam th at makes you go, “Aaahhh, cheese and zucchini-radish yessss.” Food that you keep slaw. It was created as part thinking about after, and of the Market Basket Cook- want to come have again. ing Chal lenge — the culmi- We want your friends to say, nating event of the three-day “let’s meet at Meadowlark!” Pork Summit. I was tasked Your kids to say, “Mom and with inventing a roasted Dad, take us to Meadow- pork loin sandwich using lark!” If we are doing our simple, everyday ingredijob on all those fronts, we ents, surrounded by more ge t t o be lucky enough to be than 40 chefs in an amazing, people’s idea of a destinastate-of-the-art kitchen. The tion restaurant. The vibe of sandwich was really wellMeadowlark is comfortable, received. Creating in that environment was exhilarating and I’m glad to have the chance to bring the sandwich home to Meadowlark to share. At the restaurant, we put it over the top by including freshly fried pork rinds on the sandwich. This bad boy has some crunch!
What is your favorite Meadowlark dish?
My favorite dish on the dinner menu is the Pasta Puttanesca with shrimp. A classic dish that we do our own way, and the flavors really deliver. It’s made with local homegrown tomatoes and a super-flavorful mixture we make called “mid- friendly and neighborhood. We make everything from scratch, and the staff, both back and front of house, get excited about what we are cooking and serving. The enthusiasm transfers naturally to our guests. Foodwise, we are more domestic than cheffy, meaning that if you wanted to, you could cook most of what we do at home. Our food says, “You are going to love eating this!” Not, “Look at me, I’m a chef! Look what I can do!”
What is your favorite style of cooking?
I hav em y passions, for sur e.Ilov e cooking outdoors, and I love Southern food. I love using chiles and vege- tables in interesting ways, and I love cross-pollinating one culture’s flavor profile with another. Fusion got a bad name when cooks went too crazy with it, but when it works, it’s delicious.
Are there any Meadowlark events or special dinners t hatarenottobemissed?
We don’t do a lot of events, but we go all out for Restaurant Week (RW). The RW menus always feature all n ew dis hes, so we force ourselves to stretch out and do new things. Often we have athe me, which the bar team gets to tie into as well. For instance, a couple winters ago we did a Latininspired menu, featuring dishes like a “Grilled Baja Beach Bar Fish Platter” and some really tasty chargrilled skewers of pork al pastor. In July last year we did a RW menu called “Summer Food with a Touch of Nostalgia,” where we made deviled eggs but we battered and deepfried them, and had a traditional grilled chicken with Alabama white BBQ sauce and summer squash-cracker crumb casserole. It gave us achancetoworkw ith some American regional specialties, and really amp up the flavors and textures. We have a killer brunch. We grate potatoes and make hash browns from scratch. We ge t the best ,fr eshest eggs from farmer Dale Filbrun. We serve Steve Evans sausage patties and Nueske’s bacon. We serve more guests at brunch than any other meal, including Saturday night, and brunch is a blast to cook.
Wh a t ma kes food?
Good ingredients, making things by hand, truly want-
fo r good ingtocookforp eople, and proper use of salt.
What are your favorite new dining trends?
Handmade pasta and cheeses. Out with all the plastic. Less waste. What you can do with a Vita-Mix blender. Vegetables to the forefront. And how about Asian flavors in our own familiar places, like tacos and sandwiches? I could eat that everyday.
What wou ldyouliketosee happen with local dining in the region?
More independent restaurants, small, medium and large. Dayton is overflowing with chain restaurants. Chef (Elizabeth) Wiley (owner of Meadowlark and Wheat Penny) says that Dayton is like the culinary Bermuda Triangle — no matter what Jim and Nancy (Wendeln) Sims were married on October 10, 1953. To celebrate this joyous anniversary Jim and Nancy will be joined by their five children and spouses, 15 grandchildren (5 with spouses) and 6 great grandchildren for a long weekend of fun and family time. Jim and Nancy’s devotion and love are the foundation for their family. Congratulations Mom and Dad. is happening here, nobody outside Dayton ever knows or hears or cares about it. So we would like to see all of us raise the bar as a culinary community, and get some statewide as well as national attention.
Dayton Eats looks at the regional food stories and restaurant news that make mouths water. Share info about your menu updates, special dinners and events, new chefs, interesting new dishes and culinary adventures. Do you know of new exciting format changes, specials, happy hours, restaurant updates or any other tasty news you think is worth a closer look at? Email Alexis Larsen at alexis.e.larsen@hotmail.com with the information and we will work to include it in future coverage. Rosaline Howze on Oct. 7th 2018 turns 100. She lived most of her life in Springfield and Huber Heights Ohio. She now Lives in California with her family