CIC Chef Scott Stefanelli Knows Local

When Chef Scott Stefanelli and the students in the kitchen at CIC's downtown campus 181 Palmer restaurant cook a dish like the Pan-Roasted Grouper with Roasted Corn Succotash and Smoked Tomato Butter in the photo above, you can believe that they're cooking local. Suppliers include Crosby's Seafood for Wild American Shrimp and local fish, along with Mark Marhefka's Abundant Seafood, Dirthugger and Limehouse Produce for vegetables, and Keegan-Filion for chicken, eggs, and pork.

The Charleston City Paper's DIRT Magazine says: "For Stefanelli, it's not about the farm-to-table movement so much as it's about connecting his students to the food. 'The whole idea of the local foods movement is getting reconnected with food, which is so important for a cook,' he says. 'Too many cooks in a kitchen have no respect for what goes into picking nice greens out of the garden, making sure you're taking care of them and using them. And also there's the flavor ... when you have a good product you can approach it with more simplicity.'"

For the full story: http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/an-all-you-should-eat-supper-club-installment/Content?oid=4048508
food photo by jwkpec.com