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3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories SOU students create thought-provoking art App Finder: Best science apps Volunteers show gratitude by sewing quilts for National Guard SOU students targeted in Drive Less campaign GMO opponents ask for seat at defense table Education SOU students create thought-provoking art SOU students targeted in Drive Less campaign Speech and debate team claims Jean Ward title SOU board names officers, committees Parent files complaint against Ashland schools Environment Grant will help restore 'legacy' oak habitat in Southern Oregon and Northern California Mt. Ashland Ski Area crew dips to five Mt. Ashland Ski Area announces layoffs The top five conservation success of 2014 Protestors want Keystone pipeline plans stopped Business Where do Ashland’s top chefs go to dine? 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Editor's Notes: Agonizing uncertainty in runaway case Wolves in our woods Editorial Our View: The benefits are mutual Wolves in our woods Our View: Bricks remodel is a smash Our View: Bravo to MovieMaker nod Other Views: Allow wilderness burns Letters Letters to the Editor, Feb. 6 Letters to the Editor, Feb. 4 Letters to the Editor, Feb. 2 Letters to the Editor, Jan. 28 Letters to the Editor, Jan. 27 Guest opinions Guest Opinion: A message to my health care colleagues Guest Opinion: Experts couldn't answer pipeline questions Guest Column: A Koch and bull story Guest Opinion: A New Year’s resolution you can keep: starting “the conversation” Chris Honoré: Modern media: the unreliable narrator Revels Latest Stories Ashland's First Friday Art Walk showcases new exhibits by regional artists Listings for Varsity Theatre and Ashland Street Cinemas Best Bets : Feb. 5-12 Steep Ravine, T Sisters play the Unitarian Fellowship 'A Most Violent Year' is a taut, cerebral film Theater Looking inside yourself and finding a character is magic Classics, premiers highlight 2015 season for OSF Roy Orbison tribute hits high note Music Frisell brings fine-tuned act to Armory The Farr Side: Trainor building a music niche A laid-back chat with Marilyn Manson Roy Orbison tribute hits high note Jeff Kloetzel at Belle Fiore Visual Art Ashland's First Friday Art Walk showcases new exhibits by regional artists Movies Movie review: New ‘SpongeBob’ movie mops up with surrealistic goofiness Movie review: The Wachowskis rebound with sci-fi epic ‘Jupiter Ascending’ Movie review: A slow but sturdy study of corrupt politics and fragile families in ‘Leviathan’ Listings for Varsity Theatre and Ashland Street Cinemas 'A Most Violent Year' is a taut, cerebral film Food and Drink Cruelest Month: Poetry Blog Lifestyle Latest Stories Looking Up: Venus, Mars passing each other Health Watch: Simple swaps for a healthy lifestyle In Good Faith: Don’t let Christianity be hijacked Marketta Gregory: Your dance matters Looking inside yourself and finding a character is magic Aging Happens Inner Peace Column Inner Peace Blog Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Photos Videos Blogs Business NEWS NOW SOU students create thought-provoking art ... Our View: The benefits are mutual ... Calendar: Friday, Feb. 6 ... SOU students create thought-provoking art ... Our View: The benefits are mutual ... Calendar: Friday, Feb. 6 ... TABLES TURNED Where do Ashland's top chefs go to dine? Simple seemingly trumps sumptuous By Jim Flint For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Jim Flint For the Tidings Posted Feb. 3, 2015 @ 7:02 pm By Jim Flint For the Tidings Posted Feb. 3, 2015 @ 7:02 pm Restaurant Preview Week --> Ashland’s annual Restaurant Preview Week showcasing the local culinary scene by offering specials, workshops and a drawing started last Monday and continues through next Monday. Dining... » Read more X Restaurant Preview Week Ashland’s annual Restaurant Preview Week showcasing the local culinary scene by offering specials, workshops and a drawing started last Monday and continues through next Monday. Dining guests and workshop attendees have a chance to enter to win a $25 gift certificate from one of the participating businesses, including Alchemy Restaurant & Bar at the Winchester Inn, Black Sheep Pub & Restaurant, Brothers’ Restaurant & Deli, El Paraiso Mexican Cuisine, Eleven, Larks Home Kitchen Cuisine, Liquid Assets, Omar’s Fresh Seafood & Steaks, Smithfields, Standing Stone Brewing Company and Taj Indian Restaurant. A brewmaster’s dinner is set for today, Wednesday, Feb. 4, at Omar’s.  Go to www.ashlandchamber.com/Food2015 to view details of restaurant specials and to download a raffle entry form. What do you think? Send a letter to the editor at www.dailytidings.com/sendletter .   » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2324,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> It’s no secret that Ashland has some great, even extraordinary restaurants. If a meal out is in the offing, there is no shortage of excellent choices. Chefs are known to be discriminating diners, but do they always eat luxuriously? Where do they eat on their nights off? We asked some of Ashland’s top chefs that question. Their picks were mostly places where they could enjoy a favorite ethnic food in a casual atmosphere. Chefs welcome the opportunity to experience a restaurant from the diner’s side of the table. These professionals also appreciate good eats not duplicated elsewhere. They are passionate about food. It only makes sense that they would search out the best places to eat. Read below about their choices and what they’re featuring this winter on their own menus. Bon appetit! • Chef Billy Buscher, Alchemy Restaurant & Bar (Winchester Inn), 35 S. 2nd St., 541-488-1115: Signature dish: “Our menu changes often, but we’re doing a seafood cioppino now that’s close to my heart. It’s a San Francisco dish that my grandmother adapted. She used to serve it every Christmas Eve. It has a nice piece of salt cod, dry sherry, tomato broth, clam juice, a seared U-10 (big) dayboat scallop, grilled prawn, razor clams, and cilantro. I salt the fish for 10 minutes then rinse, pat dry and baste with brown butter.” Favorite place to dine out: “I like La Tapatia in Phoenix. I lived in Mexico for six months and Tapatia’s food is authentic, reminding me of what I used to get in the little shops I’d go to in Mexico. La Tapatia makes their tortillas from scratch and they're great.”  • Chef de Cuisine Josh Dorcak, Amuse Restaurant , 15 N. First St., 541-488-9000: Signature dish: “I have to say, a lot of people come here just to order our truffle-roasted game hen. It’s a memory for them. We pan roast a de-boned game hen with truffle butter and white truffle oil. It goes with a lot of wines. We serve it with roasted fingerlings, barking moon kale and hen jus.” Favorite place to dine out: Kobe (Japanese cuisine) and Tot (southeast Asian barbecue). “I’m a sucker for simple, fresh food, and I like the quality of Kobe’s fish. I also go to Tot frequently and usually try one of their specials. They have specials nightly.”  • Chef Lynn Flattley, Coquina Restaurant, 542 A St., 541-488-0521: Her approach: “We’re seasonal, regional. We don’t do frozen or previously frozen seafood. We try to stay close to home when we buy. Right now we’re featuring Oregon quail and a favorite, Umqua Valley lamb shanks served with mashed potatoes, crimini mushrooms, sautéed rapini, and gremolata. We buy the majority of our produce from the growers’ market in season.” Favorite place to dine out: “Two places stand out. We love the Mexican food at La Tapatia in Phoenix. It’s transporting. We like the simplicity, no pretense, and such authenticity. And Tot is a favorite. I love the noodle dishes. Their balance of flavors hits all the marks.”  • Chef de Cuisine Franco Console, Lark’s Home Kitchen Cuisine, 212 E. Main St., 541-488-1700: Signature dish: “Our Southern-fried chicken breast is popular. It was inspired by our executive chef Damon Jones, who’s from the South. We dust it with our house flour and a mix of spices. It’s double beer battered and fried, served with buttermilk mashed potatoes, bacon pan gravy and green beans. An appetizer that people like is our sautéed Brussels sprouts, with house cured bacon, Oregon hazelnuts and a maple-mustard glaze.” Favorite place to dine out: “For me it’s Kobe. They keep it simple, consistent and fresh. I really like the tiger rolls. The bar menu is great, too, and the prices are good.”  • Chef James Williams, Omar’s Steak & Seafood Restaurant , 1380 Siskiyou Blvd., 541-482-1281: Signature dish: “We're known for our hand-cut steaks and prime rib. We extra-age our prime beef five to eight weeks. The enzymes have time to do their work and it makes a big difference. A seafood dish we've been doing is Romesco baked mussels with caramelized onions and red bell pepper, chorizo, tomato, clam juice and red wine, with the sauce reduced before we add the mussels and bake in the oven.” Favorite place to dine out: “We like Thai food and the owner-chef at Siam Thai Café in Medford came here straight from Thailand. She stays true to her ethnic roots. Nothing’s Americanized. The dishes are wonderful and the chicken coconut soup is delicious.” • Chef Joshua Ketner and Sous-Chef Harlan Brooks, Peerless Restaurant & Bar , 265 4th St., 541-488-6067: Signature dish: “We fly in Hawaiian fish all the time and feature whatever fish is running. Harlan and I bounce ideas off each other about how to prepare them. The mahi-mahi last week had a beurre blanc sauce with kalamata olives, capers, grape tomatoes, chives and hedgehog mushrooms, served with sautéed spinach and fresh picked watercress.” Favorite place to dine out: “When my wife and I go out,” said Ketner, “we like Elements in Medford. Their food has fresh, clean flavors. Last time we were there I had the short ribs and they were really, really good.” Brooks said he’s a pizza snob. “I like the pizza at Granite Taphouse. They have a great sourdough starter, and they know how to work the dough.” • Chef Neil Clooney, Smithfield’s Restaurant & Bar, 36 South 2nd St., 541-488-9948: Signature dishes: “For appetizers, it’s our roasted bone marrow. It’s not something you find everywhere. We garnish it with parsley, capers, house pickles and charred sourdough. It’s a delicacy. One of our popular entrees is our cider-braised pork belly with bacon-braised collard greens and mash potato. We serve it with grilled apple in the winter and grilled peach in the summer.” Favorite place to dine out: “I like Tot a lot. Their dishes are healthy, wholesome and satisfying.” Jim Flint is a retired editor and publisher living in Ashland. Reach him at [email protected]   By Jim Flint For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Jim Flint For the Tidings Posted Feb. 3, 2015 @ 7:02 pm » Comment or view comments /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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