Chef Katie Button comes to Atlanta

No value assigned“Nobody embraces Spain in the heart of America with more poetry, passion, and perfection than she,” said chef José Andrés of chef Katie Button. As one of the most active proponents of Spanish gastronomy, Andrés is only one of many singing Button’s praises. Along with her restaurants Cúrate and Nightbell in Asheville, Button’s accolades include Food & Wine magazine’s 2015 Best New Chef Award, James Beard semifinalist Best Chef Southeast 2015, and a finalist for James Beard’s 2014 Rising Star Chef Award. She was the first American to wait tables at the iconic elBulli restaurant in Spain, and this week she’s right here in Atlanta to promote her new cookbook, Curate: Authentic Spanish Food From and American Kitchen, and share her culinary skills. She’ll host a dinner at Cooks & Soldiers on Thursday and teach an intimate cooking class at Sur La Table on Saturday.

What spurred you to create a cookbook?

About three years ago, the editor was down spending some time in Asheville and came in and ate at Curate. Shortly after that, I received a phone call that he had loved his meal and the vibe in the restaurant so much that he wanted to produce my first cookbook. I was surprised but extremely flattered, and immediately began thinking about the potential project. He then sent the publisher down to dine with us at another date and he too loved his experience, and so after that it was a done deal!

How long did the process take?

Three years, primarily because the first year I was in the middle of opening my second restaurant, Nightbell, so I didn’t really get started on the project until the second year. It took a year of me writing the recipes and manuscript and completing the photography and then a year of editing, design, layout, and final publication. 

Can we talk about the beautiful forwards from chefs Ferran Adria and José Andrés? It is really evident that there is mutual love and incredible respect.  

First, I was so honored that both of them were willing to write a forward for my book. They are amazing chefs and the two of them have influenced my cooking and the way my husband beverage and service director Felix Meana and I run our businesses in such a big way. They are like family to us. So, the fact that they would support Felix and I in such a way really made us feel really good. 

Cúrate is always the first place I stop in Asheville, for its authentic tapas but also a sense of place. What is the inspiration behind the name?

The name means to cure yourself, and it actually came out of an email chain back and forth between Felix and I and my parents, who are our business partners. My mother was emailing important interesting key words to us and she sent the word curate in English meaning to preserve tradition, but Felix read it as cúrate in Spanish meaning to cure yourself and loved it. Not only did we love the fact that it implied that you would be cured by our Spanish tapas but also because it related so well to the Spanish tradition of cured jamon.

Can you pinpoint a favorite recipe from your time in Spain?

I remember eating Felix’s mother’s meatballs and swooning. I immediately asked her to share her recipe with me and she was extremely confused: “A recipe? I don’t cook with recipes.” And then she proceeded to show me how to make them, a spoon of this, a pinch of that, approximately this quantity of this other thing...and I furiously took notes so that I could try to replicate them. I ended up creating my own version of her meatballs for our restaurant and our cookbook. 

With your background in chemical and bioengineering, I can almost guess the answer to this, but do you think there is a place for the old and the new when it comes to Spanish cuisine?

Absolutely! I think when you can thoughtfully combine those two worlds you end up with something extremely unique but firmly rooted in Spanish tradition. 

Your book is aimed at the home cook. I loved the way you adapted recipes with items non-chefs would have in the kitchen, like using a cut soda bottle for stuffing casings with blood sausage. What do you think is the most important lesson a home cook can learn from this book? 

That creating delicious Spanish food doesn’t mean that you have to have access to exotic Spanish ingredients. Sure there is the blood sausage recipe and the squid ink recipe and the octopus recipe, but apart from those items the majority of the dishes in the cookbook use ingredients that are available at your grocery store.

Does your daughter have an adventurous palate?

For a toddler, yes! Haha. She will try most things, and really enjoys seafood. We are still working hard on getting her to like spinach and mushrooms though; right now they go in her mouth and then come right back out. 

What did you learn in the making of this book?

I learned the difference between what works in a restaurant setting and what works at home. In a restaurant it is much easier to prepare a bunch of smaller components and then throw them together when an order comes in, but at home you don’t want to have to create a bunch of smaller items in order to create your final dish. You want to just put everything into one pot or one plate and say “ta dah!” So it is a different mindset and it means that some of the dishes in the cookbook are better at home than they are in the restaurant, like the impact of a full loaf pan of flan turned out on a platter, or making the Brazo de Gitano, or braising a whole rabbit...all of those things would be more challenging in a restaurant setting. 

What’s next on the horizon? 

We are working right now on expanding Cúrate into the building next door. We are going to wrap the bar around and put in a sherry bar with cider, vermouth and sherry on tap. That section will have a limited snack menu of pintxos and montaditos so that you can grab a snack and a drink while you wait for your table or before you go to a movie at the Fine Arts Theatre across the street.  We are also expanding the kitchen and putting in some charcoal burning grills, which I am really excited about because it will allow us to add the smoky flavor of wood charcoal into our dishes. 

Really looking forward to your dinner at Cooks and Soldiers on October 27. Where else do you enjoy eating in Atlanta?

I love Kimball House, Cakes and Ale, Miller Union. Empire State South is a classic, and anything by Anne Quatrano — she is an inspiration for sure! And I’m really excited to try Staplehouse and Gunshow, two restaurants that I haven’t had the opportunity to try yet but I have heard wonderful things. 

Weds, Oct. 26: Book signing at Cover Books with bites from the cookbook provided by Miller Union. Register here.  

Thurs, Oct. 27: Five-course meal inspired by Cúrate at Cooks & Soldiers. Reservations here. 

Sat, Oct. 29: Cooking class at Sur La Table. Tickets here.