With stints at fire food & drink, Parallax, Chinato and Lola, chef Jeremy Esterly has cooked in some of Cleveland's most critically lauded and commercially successful kitchens. He was half the brains behind Dim and Den Sum with partner Chris Hodgson, and most recently took the culinary reins at Paragon, a casual bar-restaurant in Euclid. Despite a series of high-profile cooking gigs, Esterly – for better or worse – has avoided the trappings of regional culinary celebrity, focusing on food and family, not image. His passion for cuisine is unfettered, if indelibly emblazoned as colorful curios on his left and right forearms: one a zombie truffle slicer chasing a truffle, the other inspired by an 18th-century butcher diagram of a pig with the script cuisiner meurt – loosely translated as "cook or die." Esterly explains how his formative years down South gave him a unique food appreciation back North, why he made Cleveland home, life after having a daughter, his dream restaurant and his favorite farmers.
OhioAuthority: You're not from Cleveland, but it's certainly become your adopted home. What brought you here?
Jeremy Esterly: I was born in Akron. My family moved to Alabama … I lived in a town called Athens. We moved when I was in third grade. I spent most of my childhood there. I learned to love the style and depth of the cuisine in the South. I moved to Vermont to go to culinary school [at New England Culinary Institute] and moved back to Cleveland to extern with Doug Katz at fire. I spent the next four years working under Doug, developing my skills and affinity for locally sourced products. I worked my way up to chef de cuisine and was able to develop my cooking style. I love to reinvent classic comfort foods and absolutely love everything southern cuisine.
OA: What are some of the differences and similarities you see between Alabama and Ohio, particularly Cleveland, in terms of cuisine?
JE: Similarities in cuisine are limited! Ohio and Alabama have great farms. I think Ohio has much better food and Alabama is finally starting to. When I think of modern southern food, I think of Charleston, South Carolina. I also think of Five & Ten in Athens, Georgia, and Holeman & Finch Public House in Atlanta. Frank Stitt has been the chef to be in Alabama for years, and I respect his food. I can't forget about John Besh and Donald Link as well.
OA: What are some of your southern favorites?
JE: Favorite southern dishes include: bbq, frogmore stew, anything with catfish, stewed greens with hamhocks, blackeyed peas with a grilled ham steak, chicken fried in lard… I could go on for weeks.
OA: Not long after being promoted to chef de cuisine at fire, you left to launch Dim and Den Sum with Chris Hodgson. What did that experience teach you about striking out on your own?
JE: Working on Dim and Den Sum enabled me to combine my love of Asian and southern cuisine. At first, we were worried that Cleveland wouldn't embrace this "fusion," but were quickly proven wrong. I left the truck after a few months because I was missing out on quality time with my newborn daughter, Saige.
