Chef Matt Gallaher, left, of Emilia, and Chef Joseph Lenn of J.C. Holdway raised more than $40,000 for hurricane relief on Monday night.
Wow. Magic happened in downtown Knoxville this past Monday. And it was in a cool, refined restaurant that is normally closed on that day.
Chefs Joseph Lenn, the owner of the restaurant, J.C. Holdway, and his friend and fellow downtown chef, Matt Gallaher, owner of Emilia on Market Square, put their heads and hearts together and came up with a special idea to honor their mutual mentor, Chef John Fleer of Asheville, North Carolina.
Lenn’s wife, Laura Lenn, a distinguished lecturer in the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, was a behind-the-scenes mastermind, tending to details and logistics to pull the evening off as the chefs worked their culinary wizardry.
Guests were welcomed with a choice of two signature cocktails: a Frozen Saturn made with gin, left, or a Smoky Mountain Sour, featuring rye whiskey. Both were made with ingredients donated by Stanton Webster and Post Modern Distillery.
Fleer, a nationally known chef who now owns acclaimed Rhubarb restaurant and The Rhu bakery in Asheville, worked closely with both Chefs Lenn and Gallaher during time he spent with each of them at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee. The city of Asheville, his base of operations now, was heavily impacted by Hurricane Helene which made landfall in Florida two weeks ago before dealing a devastating blow to Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. It left Rhubarb without running water and it remains temporarily closed.
In the meantime, Chef Fleer has poured his talent and energy into helping the non-profit World Central Kitchen provide food and water to his local community. It was in a show of support for that effort, that chefs Lenn and Gallaher staged a five-course dinner with wine pairings on Monday. The tickets, which cost $300 each, sold out in two minutes after the event was announced on Facebook the Wednesday prior. All employees who worked the dinner did so for free, even contributing the tips they earned that night to the benefit fund. The total at the end of the evening was more than $40,000 raised for World Central Kitchen.
For those of us in attendance, the result was just bewitching, with all five courses vying to be voted “best bite” of the night. At our table, we threw up our hands when trying to decide which bite was best. Everything was that good!
The crowd poured in at 5:30 for a cocktail before being seated for dinner at 6.
Cassidee Dabney, left, the executive chef at The Barn at Blackberry Farm, with her friend Laura Lenn, a force behind Monday’s event. Laura describes herself as the CFO of J.C. Holdway: Chief Flower Officer! Ha.
From left, Andrea and Todd Flanders with Walter Witt and Sarah Steffan, executive chef at Blackberry Farm’s Bramble Hall.
Mitchell Moseley, left, poses with Judith Foltz and Alan Carmichael in front of beautiful flowers on the host stand.
From left, Tina Rolen, Steve Drevik, and Erin Donovan.
Jacque Hawks, left, with Laura Lenn, center, and Gay Lyons.
Great faces to see behind the bar: Hayden Hall and Leah Smith!
R.J. Hinde, left, and John Winemiller.
From left, Adam Marks, general manager of J.C. Holdway; Keith Kirk, general manager of Emilia; chef-owner Joseph Lenn of J.C. Holdway, and server Andrew Woodland of J.C. Holdway.
Chef Matt Gallaher was ready for the evening to start! He prepared the first two courses.
Alan Williams, left, and Alan Carmichael share a laugh before dinner service starts. Williams is the step-father of Chef Matt Gallaher.
A lovely set table prior to seating.
OK. Let’s go!
Seated, from left: Kevin McHale, Judith Foltz, Alan Williams, R.J. Hinde, John Winemiller, Rebecca Williams (Chef Gallaher’s mother), Gay Lyons, and Maria McHale.
From left, Karthik Krishnan, Avery Krishnan, Charley Bible, Patricia Bible, and Paula Chesworth.
The chefs stopped by to chat with that table.
From left, Amy Kleumper, Rhonda Freeman, Matt Garrett, Leigh Garrett, and Nathan Kleumper.
From left, Thuy Vu, Roy Milner, David Painter, Kevin Rudder, Kendra Rudder, Andy Oakes, John McDonald, and Sebastien Demoiny.
From left, Todd and Andrea Flanders, Lauren Chiles, Walter Witt, Sarah Steffan, Gerald Witt, and Cassidee Dabney.
From left, Mia MacLean, Corey Jay, Larsen Jay, Betty Sue Sparks, Doug Sparks, Adrian Jay, Brian Bloomfield, and Alexander Jay.
From left, Stephanie Tipton, Judith Rosenberg, Steve Drevik, Erin Donovan, Tina Rolen, Alyson Ferine Gallaher (Chef Gallaher’s sister-in-law), and Mary McCall.
Dinner started with Chef Gallaher’s Benton’s country ham-wrapped sturgeon. It was accompanied by “fish fry” white beans and a parsley and lemon salad. Every table got a basket of those fantastic yeast rolls.
Keith Kirk poured some wonderful 2022 Weinbach, Schlossberg, Riesling from Alsace to accompany.
The second course, also from Chef Gallaher, was aged Arborio risotto with Benton’s bacon and heirloom tomatoes. (The top photo is how it was served. The bottom picture is after I cut into it.)
It was paired with a 2019 Dei Vino de Montepulciano.
Chef Lenn had the next course: grilled sweet-tea brined pork loin, mustard gnocchi, collard greens, candy roaster squash and sorghum vinaigrette. Sweet tea brining is a technique that Chef Fleer pioneered.
Wine pairing was a 2019 E. Guigal Chateauneuf du Pape.
J.C. Holdway sommelier Jason Drotar discussing the wine.
Chef Lenn’s koji-cured New York strip steak with eggplant puree, charred green beans, and Romesco sauce.
Wine was a 2022 Leviathan from California.
Cute pic of my friends John Winemiller and Rebecca Williams.
I got up to stretch my legs for a minute, and I saw this!
And this!
And here’s what was on the table when I returned! Apple galette with J.C. Holdway vanilla ice cream and salted caramel! Yum-yum! I understand my friend Shannon Meadows of Mountain Meadows Farm donated the fruit for this stand-out dessert!
Here are the wines that were served. All were delish!
Shout-out to everyone who worked in the kitchen on Monday. From left, Andy Grigsby, Matt Gallaher, Joseph Lenn, Jason Wilson, Danny Pasillas, Austin Agent, Nick Lester, and Seth Roberts. Great job, folks!
The chefs signed a few autographs.
But, the fun wasn’t over. There were eight items that were to be raffled off! Throughout dinner, the servers were selling raffle tickets for $50 each. When you purchased a raffle ticket, you could then put it in one of eight bowls that corresponded with different donated items. There were five nice bottles of wine along with a fried chicken picnic basket with the food to be provided by Chef Gallaher, a wine tasting for six donated by sommelier Jason Drotar, and a J.C. Holdway burger night for four donated by Chef Lenn.
The winner of the chicken picnic even got to keep the cute picnic basket!
A J.C. Holdway cap was part of the burger night give-away!
Dino Cartwright volunteered to handle the raffle announcements!
Server Domingo Pasillas, right, helps draw the raffle tickets.
Steve Drevik is a winner!
Chef Lenn shakes up the tickets!
Matt Garrett looks excited with the outcome of that one!
Chef Gallaher holds the bowl while Chef Lenn draws the winner.
Sarah Steffan, center, actually won the item. But Gerald sure looks happy!
It was a great night! Here are the staff members who worked for free on Monday: Austin Agent, Maggie Biggs, Ken Delaney, Jason Drotar, Stephen Griffin, Andy Grigsby, Hayden Hall, Grace Keffer, Nick Lester, Adam Marks, Parkes Osborne, Daniel Pasillas, Domingo Pasillas, Seth Roberts, Leah Smith, Miranda Van Hoose, Jason Wilson, and Andrew Woodland, all of J.C. Holdway; and Keith Kirk of Emilia. Thanks, everybody!
Staff members who worked the Monday event. (Photo provided by J.C. Holdway.)
Here’s an excellent article about the evening: click here.
WBIR did a nice report: click here.
So did Compass Knox, whose correspondent, Gerald Witt, attended the dinner as a guest. I would link to it, but it’s behind a paywall.
