Say you're a professional chef and you've been honing your expertise for years. You've published a cookbook and scooped up several James Beard nominations. Your cooking is often praised in magazines and your restaurant has been hailed as one of the most important in the past 40 years. What else, you may wonder, is there to strive for?
How about an invitation to cook at the White House?
“I was like, you’ve got to be kidding,” Katie Button said when the call came from the White House. The chef and co-founder of the acclaimed Asheville, North Carolina, restaurant Cúrate will be the guest chef at a White House State Dinner this Wednesday. She was chosen to create a menu for the official visit of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. I recently spoke with Button about the upcoming dinner, how to prepare for an event like this, and her approach overall to food.
Robert Seixas: What does it mean for you to be asked to be the guest chef at the White House?
Katie Button: It’s definitely the pinnacle of my career. I was at work and got a note that the White House was getting in touch. What?! I learned I would be collaborating with First Lady Jill Biden on the menu. I prepared a tasting earlier for her, to see what she wanted. It's such an honor to share my perspective on food.
Is there a theme or direction that the menu will take?
I really wanted to dive into the best bounty of fall here in the U.S. And there will be ingredients that will hint at southern Appalachia, near Asheville. I really want American food, given that we are hosting here, to lean into intro-ing Aussies to our cuisine.
Are there any foods or ingredients that you have been asked to stay away from for this dinner? Like, “no cilantro!” or “no parsley!”
Not at all. I was given a lot of freedom, and the First Lady selected the best dishes by far at the tasting I created for her.
What moves you to cook a certain way?
It all starts with the products, and finding the best products. From there, little has to be done. Delicious food really starts with our farmers and producers.
Cúrate was named by Food & Wine as one of the 40 most important restaurants in the past 40 years. Why do you think that is?
A combination of things. Most people go to big cities to open their restaurants, but we chose to open in Asheville, which is a beautiful region. We are also super intentional on sourcing. Asheville is a super creative region, and we lean into that. Although we do Spanish tapas, we rely on regional flavors. Also, it also comes down to hospitality. Hospitality is created by every single person in our restaurant. It starts with prep cooks all the way to those who are polishing the glassware. We have to have this orchestration down, since we routinely are cooking for hundreds of people at the restaurant every day.
