Chef Jeremy Ashby Ten Months “Inn”

Friends Drift Inn – Real Life A Baby Boomer in Appalachia

Hanging with Chef Jeremy

Ashby, that’s what I have always called him. I don’t know why, it just seems to fit my own sensibilities. To the world he is Chef Jeremy, the executive chef of Azur Restaurant and Patio in Lexington, Ky and co-host of WLAP’s Sunny Side Up Radio show. He advocates Farmers Markets. He promotes Kentucky Aquaculture. He is the poster boy for local foods, but delights in pairing them with global cuisine.

Chef Jeremy Ashby is my friend. There is something very special about this man with the boyish grin. He makes me laugh. He makes me think. Long conversations have included the trouble with food deserts, the blessings of heirloom vegetables, biotech, and the loathing of waffles. Sometimes we are at odds, sometimes so like minded we finish each other sentences.

It has been ten months since I met this kid, this thirty-three year old (well almost) who juggles the responsibilities of restaurateur, local food activist, media personality, husband and father. When I turned off the recorder after our first interview, I knew the story was not over.

I’ve watched him bounce like Tigger in the Azur kitchen pushing plates through the window with beads of sweat on his brow. I’ve seen him wow audiences with his culinary skills at the Incredible Food Show and at Woodford Reserve’s Chef Series.

I’ve observed him as he walked quietly through my garden, enjoying the mountain solitude. He nods with approval as I show him tomatoes grown from the Pine Mountain Settlement School seed swap we attended back in the spring.

We talk of Bill Best, a champion of heirloom seed saving who’s passionate talk at the Kentucky Fruit and Vegetable Conference rattled the rafters.

Last week, Chef Jeremy came to the big red barn to cook as a guest on Friends Drift Inn cable television show. We giggled and fired up the cast iron skillets. It was not Martha Stewart, but we sure had fun! It does not get much more down home than fried green tomatoes and frog legs. Giggles.

Recipes from Episode 5 Friends Drift Inn on Pike TV

I wrote a story about his visit for our local paper. You can read it here. As I view the finished video roll, it hits me, how far both of us have come in the last ten months. I do not even know if I would still be writing, still be blogging, still be doing anything beyond the edges of my garden if it were not for Chef Jeremy Ashby’s encouragement.