Chef Bryan Gregg has earned deserved praise for his Southern-influenced food.
ON DAY 6 of our best choices in American cuisine, we offer ...
ESCAPE
Jersey scallops are less of a secret than they once were, but their sweetness and texture still often surprise those who live outside the state.
Chef Bryan Gregg,
of Escape So the main ingredient was not a concern for chef Bryan Gregg, as he packed his icebox to be shipped to New Orleans this summer, in preparation for a national seafood challenge.
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What did worry him? The hang time for the fragile ingredients: the yarrow tips, the wood sorrel, the oxalis blossoms. As soon as you clip them, they start to die. And you won't find them in Louisiana. (Gregg forages locally for many of his specialty ingredients.)
Gregg didn't win the grand prize (that went to a chef from Alaska), but he did win the seafood showdown, a surprise-ingredient competition featuring sweet potatoes. Gregg's dish for the main contest -- seared scallops (from Viking Village), with a creamless creamed corn and Jersey chanterelles -- is a clean, straightforward favorite at Escape and is on the menu every summer, as long as the corn holds.
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Gregg has earned deserved praise for his Southern-influenced food (using Jersey seasonal ingredients) in the extremely competitive restaurant town of Montclair.
But Gregg also earns points for his frequent collaborative dinners to raise money for cancer research.
• Escape | 345 Bloomfield Ave., Montclair | (973) 744-0712 | escapemontclair.com
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