In the days leading up to Dish Fest, we’re presenting our readers with exclusive chef interviews so they can learn the stories behind the Best Dishes being served at the inaugural festival.
In less than 24 hours, a cerulean-clawed crustacean snatched from the waters off Maryland will be on your plate at this family-run Ahwatukee eatery. Chesapeake Bay Bistro serves the whole crab steamed with traditional Old Bay seasoning, or shelled and fried Virginia-style during a season that runs May to October. Chesapeake’s chefs James and Yolanda Brown have lived on the East Coast and in California, so they know a thing or two about coastal cuisine, and they’re sharing it with diners at Dish Fest this weekend.
What is the origin story of your Best Dish?
The origin is it comes out of Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Area, the Virginia area. It’s something we grew up eating – blue crabs, all up and down the Eastern Seaboard.
What are the most important elements of a Best Dish?
Taste, texture and presentation. It’s a mix of the three, I would say.
What is your favorite food memory?
Growing up eating sea bass (and) all types of seafood I ate growing up living on the Eastern Seaboard. Sea bass, softshell crab, oysters, that type of stuff is popular. We enjoy eating seafood boils, things of that nature.
Who is a fellow chef or restaurateur that you admire?
Marcellus Kennedy. He’s a classically trained chef and has worked at different restaurants (in San Diego) from Coronado to La Jolla. He trained me and now he’s a food service director here in the Phoenix area.
What are you most looking forward to about Dish Fest?
Exposing our dish to new clients and opening people’s palates to East Coast seafood along with our real menu portion dishes that we serve. The whole concept was to merge Eastern seafood like blue crabs, crab cakes, oysters and softshell crabs with Southern Californian seafood, where my wife and I have lived the last 30 years – ahi tuna, shrimp and things like that. We came up with the concept to merge the two so there are healthier options, grilled seafood and then those from the Eastern Seaboard who like fried (seafood), hence Chesapeake Bay. We merged the two together.
