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In the Kitchen - with Damon Hersh at TRUE
Sitting in the richly furnished dining room downstairs at the Admiral Fell Inn, surrounded by their exquisite collection of Aubrey Boudine photographs and exposed bricks that were laid down more than 200 years ago, Damon Hersh commands the room. If the big Superman emblem on his wide belt buckle didn't tip you off, just a few moments of conversation will clue you in: this man is serious about his work.
Damon was born in New York City and raised in Bethesda. At 17, with a natural flare for languages (Damon speaks Spanish, Korean, French, German and "enough Russian to get my face slapped.") he joined the army to see the world. As he puts it, "I saw the world and I came back!" He enrolled at the University of Maryland to study journalism and political theory. Disenchanted with some of the University's policies, he left before graduating and enrolled at L'Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda, our area's most prestigious cooking school. This transition from serious academics to hands-on cooking felt natural to him, because to Damon, cooking is as much about communication as journalism could ever be. "I love food. I've eaten all kinds of food in my travels and I think of cooking as a sort of exploratory journey... with the traveling I've done and the multi-cultural exposure I've had, I like to bring these experiences back to the kitchen." Six months after graduating from L'Academie de Cuisine, Damon was holding down the position of Executive Chef at Louisiana Restaurant in Fells Point. Since then he's also worked at The Blue Pointe Grille in Ellicott City, and at Washington D.C.'s renowned Tosca, under Chef Cesare Lanfranconi. Running the kitchen at the Admiral Fell Inn presents a specific set of parameters since Damon's clientele includes tourists and business travelers as well as locals enjoying a night dining out. "I need to be able to provide a menu for Mary and John Q. Public - a wonderful meal for maybe $30 a person. At the same time, at the other end of the spectrum, I want to offer that really special $80 meal for the person who wants it." The Admiral Fell Inn is one of Baltimore's grand historic landmarks. Portions of the inn date back to the late 1700's and have been lovingly restored by its corporate owner, Harbor Magic (which also owns the modern Pier 5 Hotel and the Brookshire Suites, both located in the Inner Harbor area). Listed as one of the Historic Hotels of America in the National Trust for Historic preservation, over the years the Inn has served as a ship chandlery, a theater and a boarding house for sailors. They say "every room has a story" and it's reported that some rooms even have a ghost or two in residence! The food on Damon's menu, like the Panko-breaded chicken on our cover this month, reflects the warmth, ambiance and history of the Inn itself. "The menu here we call Regional American... I want to give a feeling of comfort food, like Ma or Grand Ma would have made -while at the same time bringing in my travel experiences and my classic French training... to put a new and fresh face on it - bring it forward into the present." "The restaurant is called TRUE and I mean to embrace the truth in the food. It all boils down to making a beautiful dish -maximizing the beauty of the raw ingredients in the most natural way -to incorporate the good products available from local growers... organic, free-range, hormone and antibiotic free -fresh ingredients." Damon admits this is a challenge at times. Cost is definitely an issue and the terminology and the legalities of the marketplace can be frustrating. "I get my bread from Lyon Bakery in DC. A fantastic bakery, great, great bread, all created by hand, all natural ingredients -but we can't call it 'organic' because it's impossible to trace the grains back three generations. I won't advertise it as organic unless we can be sure." Damon is just as serious in his dedication to FraternitÈ Gastronomique, the organization he founded in 2005. The "Frat" functions as a community in which ideas and experiences can be shared, professional camaraderie can flourish and collaborative efforts be spawned, but it's also the vehicle through which Damon strives to "give back." As he has expressed it: "Another focus of the group is to give back and teach the responsibility of charity and self-sacrifice. There are many charity events in the city. Many are catered. These are excellent opportunities for professionals in the culinary field to provide for others. My goal is to find like-minded culinary professionals who are willing to give for their art in order to create a vibrant and growing culinary and social community in this city." In 2005 the FraternitÈ Gastronomique held its first major fund raiser, "Ten Great Chefs Cooking For A GREATER Cause" held at Baltimore's Red Fish restaurant in Canton. The event raised over $15,000 to benefit head and neck cancer patients being treated at GBMC. This year's event was "Palettes," a full-blown, black-tie-optional, gala held last month at the Power Plant in the Inner Harbor. Palettes benefited the Baltimore School for the Arts and featured a five-course meal with matching wines and a silent auction. Professionally, Damon Hersh is as much a philosopher as a chef, never losing sight of his underlying sense of mission: "To eat is to survive. To share in that survival is to build family. As family grows, it forms a community. And, as communities join, they define civilizations... I believe that if you always hold a little awe and amazement at the sheer power of food, you will always love and prepare it to its maximum potential." -Bonnie North True The Admiral Fell Inn 888 South Broadway Fells Point Tuesday through Saturday 5pm to 10pm 410.522.2195 http://www.truedining.com ARCHIVES MAIN PAGE |
