Lewis is the executive chef at Colonial Williamsburg, where he mixes locally grown products with a bit of history to help visitors step back in time. He arrived in Willliamsburg in 2006 and brought with him his interest in artisan cheeses, which he picked up while the head chef at the American Club resort in Kohler, Wis. He was trained at the Culinary Institute of America. What do you consider when you’re creating new dishes at Colonial Williamsburg?
It’s different than other restaurant experiences. People want to experience dishes that are a reflection of the period and are indicative of colonial dining. That becomes a strong part of the experience.
How do you determine what those dishes will be?
We have a research team that looks at recipes and the food that was available in the 18th century. For example, the Virginia ham. It’s really a reflection of the place. A lot of historical food was created in its style for preservation. It was created to last, and in doing so they created a style of food. Turning milk into cheese was done for the same reason. Much of what we eat today is a reflection of the need for people to make food last longer before we had our modern ways of doing so.
So how do you incorporate Virginia’s local history into the dining room?
We use foods that are indigenous to the area and they become points of flavor for the food. Peanuts, Virginia ham, crab, seafoods and fishes from the Atlantic were all things people ate in the 18th century that we still grow locally and eat locally. There’s a mid-Atlantic Southern style, too. Collard greens and other southern comfort foods. … There’s international flavors. Thomas Jefferson actually brought to Virginia what we now call Baked Alaska from his travels to France. Jefferson served it at Monticello.
Freeman Klopott
