Chef Jeremy Auspitz elevates the Chattanooga food scene
“I’m going to win, it’s not a big deal,” says Chef Jeremy Auspitz. He’s been prepping to go up against some of Chattanooga’s best chefs at Chattanooga Market’s FiveStar Food Fight. He’s somewhere between nervous, ecstatic, and totally Zen about his impending battle. Excitation seems to be his natural state of being.
Make no mistake, he has a lot to be excited about. When you think of the concept of a young, up-and-coming professional with a vibrant future who will change an industry for the better, Jeremy is its embodiment.
After several years of intensive study at some of Chattanooga and Nashville’s preeminent restaurants, Jeremy has accepted the helm at Alimentari Cucina e Bar. Serving up offerings somewhere between Italian and Southern gastronomy, Jeremy has begun his life’s journey of elevating Chattanooga’s cuisine.
At a glance, Italian couldn’t seem farther away from Appalachian cuisine. A closer focus unveils an amalgamation of the two cuisines, almost like looking in a mirror that’s just slightly off. A small wave or curve, yet it all looks the same…yet not. Italian is, above all else, ingredient-focused. Fresh, beautiful gifts of the earth treated with respect and love.
Appalachian cuisine and its bold vigor are no different. We are proud of the bounty of our area, and Jeremy is the fruition of this concept. At first, he may seem familiar, yet after digging into his rich psyche and history, a greater truth is revealed.
He is like a Neil Gaiman novel: his mannerisms and stature are at first unassuming, but after further consideration, his cadence grabs at you, entrancing you in a long and complicated history of love for craft and a food history that is deeply and immensely complex. His narrative is not one of old-school French chefs screaming from atop fiery pulpits.
He is inspired by his own raw sense of curiosity and his gift to Chattanooga is a breath of fresh air in a world of stagnant ideas. Allow him to take your hand and guide you through an enigmatic and fantastical-tasting journey.
“I always have new reasons or ‘A-ha’ moments that make me want to keep being a chef,” says Auspitz. He goes on to talk about restaurant saturation and a desire for a more healthy and chef-driven food community. He wants to see an elevated cuisine to call our own.
Chattanooga cuisine is still being defined, and Chef Auspitz will be at the forefront of the discovery. He is humble in saying that he doesn’t yet know what he is as a chef. His focus and the food that comes out of his kitchen beg to differ. An onslaught of well balanced and beautiful dishes flooded my table the two times I’ve dined at Alimentari.
“We need more places to open with intent and integrity, rather than merely saturating the market.” And right he is. Gourmands like him will bring recognition and James Beard awards to our door.
“The only time I feel at ease is in the kitchen,” he says, somewhere between jokingly and in earnest. It’s my favorite place for him to be as well. If he keeps sending me perfectly cooked muscles, homemade peach puree ravioli, and velvety, exquisite affogato, then I’m hoping his search for inner self ends up being more about the journey than the destination.
Jeremy didn’t win the FiveStar Food Fight this year. I didn’t realize at first that that wasn’t what he was talking about winning. He was talking about his life, world, community, and being the best that he can be. And at that, he is winning, unabashedly. So are all of us.