These days I would not cross the street for the most famous chef on the planet, whichever one of dozens he might be. But nearly 20 years ago my consort and I heard Edna Lewis was cooking in Brooklyn and headed straight to Gage & Tollner on Fulton Mall, certain the reward would be a meal for the memory books.

It was a different time, but Edna Lewis was a very different celebrity chef. Regional American cooking had only recently been codified, and she was to Southern cooking what Alice Waters was to Californian, what Paul Prudhomme was to Cajun. Continue reading →