CHRONOGRAM MAGAZINE - Arts. Culture. Spirit

FOOD & DRINK - November Issue

"Haute Home Cooking

CIA Grads Forge a Regional Culinary Identity

by Peter Barrett and photographs by Kelly Merchant, October 28, 2010

The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park currently spends around $1 million a year on local food for its classes and restaurants. Stephan Hengst, director of communications at the CIA, says that 30 area farms currently supply the school—between 40 and 60 percent of the food is regionally sourced—and that “local food is woven through he curriculum at all levels.” That investment is now paying dividends in the form of high-quality restaurants run by CIA alumni who have chosen to open their own establishments throughout the valley.

Ira Lee (everybody calls him “Lee”) graduated from the CIA in 1994 and opened Twisted Soul In Poughkeepsie in 2007. Lee grew up in Bedford Hills, and his parents cooked soul food exclusively. Upon arrival at the CIA, he says, “I wasn’t used to any of what we were making; it was all new.” His lack of prior experience in the world of food has had an effect on his mature style; the menu borrows freely from traditions around the world, creating playful and compelling dishes that ignore boundaries and treat any good idea as fair game for remixes and mashups. After spending six years in Mexico, teaching and running a restaurant, Lee traveled extensively all over the world—Central and South America, Europe, and Asia—voraciously learning the techniques of every country on his tour. Now his journeys are limited to one trip a year “strictly for food; I’m on a mission.” Each year he chooses a different country and visits the markets and talks to vendors and chefs, searching out ingredients and ideas. His soul food roots are also showing themselves more overtly in some recent preparations, like a fried chicken noodle bowl that quickly became a best seller.

The casual setting and street-food vibe of the fare belies the serious skill involved in its conception and execution; everything is made from scratch, and there are a lot of flavors and textures at work in every dish. Arepas, small corn cakes traditional in Venezuela and Colombia, serve as foundations for a variety of globally inspired toppings: pulled pork, jerked tofu, or Ethiopian-style tofu. The arepas’ crisp exteriors and soft insides make them an ideal substrate for the rich and spicy bites that are Lee’s trademarks. Korean-flavored chicken wings are sticky, savory, and with just the right level of heat, but some celery kimchi and miso-tofu dipping sauce (instead of the plain white rice with which they are served) would really take the Buffalo-Seoul riff to a fully realized place. Empanadas, noodles, dumplings, steamed buns, bubble tea: Twisted Soul is every ethnic joint you love rolled into one. The nature of the food means that many ingredients come from afar, but it’s impossible to order badly, and the price is right."

                    Chef Ira Lee

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