Jeff Carter & Tirra Cowan

Dancing Bear takes 1st Place overall & First Place Experience but also 1st in all three, appetizer, entree and desert!

Jeff Carter—fresh off his victory in last year’s Top Chefs competition and building on his background at Blackberry Farm, previous time at Dancing Bear, and years at Sunspot— doubled down with his Exploration of Italian Appalachia. The evening began with spring Prosecco cocktails and strolling bites of Benton’s bacon and lamb meatballs glazed with tomato jam, cucumber coins with bagna càuda, whipped goat cheese, and toasted hazelnut, and West Virginia pepperoni rolls. “My mother’s maiden name was Capellino and she came from Bluefield, West Virginia,” said Houston Oldham, VP of operations for Oldham Hospitality and son of the owners of Dancing Bear.

Pastry Chef Tirra Cowan created a heavenly dessert of buttermilk & cornbread tiramisu combined elderberry-soaked cornmeal sponge cake, buttermilk mousse, and sweet cream anglaise—all complemented by Limoncello Crème.

The first course of Appalachian Cioppino (fish stew) came in a bowl of smoked rainbow trout, catfish, crawfish tails, and mussels with Benton’s country ham, smoky tomato broth, soffritto, farro verde, grilled cornmeal sourdough, and chow chow. “I got a little bit of the chow chow,” said Angie Carter, the chef’s wife. “I thought, there’s Appalachia.”

Sommelier and Bar Director Michelle LaBorde introduced the three wines as coming from the same Valpolicella vineyard in Veneto, northern Italy. “They are very special,” said LaBorde. “A perfect match for Chef’s food. Three different styles and alcohol levels—the first at 12 percent, the second at 14.5 and the third at 16 percent.”

The Cioppino was tempered with a 2024 Massaro Norma, Classico DOC. The second course, a braised lamb leg pasta, warranted the notes of sweet spices and red fruit from a 2023 Massaro Norma Ripasso Classico Superiore DOC. It complemented the smoked lamb leg, Benton’s ham hock, local oyster mushrooms, roasted carrots, Italian apron Torchetti pasta, preserved lemon gremolada, and lemon oil.

Then came the third course, Five Expressions of Duck. “Duck broken down into different parts,” explained Carter. “A fun, entertaining dish for us to do.” The plate contained koji-dusted crispy duck breast, duck sausage roulade, duck liver mousse, duck confit, roasted duck with Madeira jus, duck fat parsnip purée, cider-kissed mustard greens, and cherry–sorghum gastrique. This demanded another Massaro Norma, a 2022 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG. “The fat of the duck will break down the high alcohol content,” said LaBorde.