New Executive Chef Takes Residence At Local Chop & Grill House
August 15, 2018
Fresh Meat
New Executive Chef Takes Residence At Local Chop & Grill House
By SHELBY MERTENS
Daily News-Record 8/15/18
HARRISONBURG — As the executive chef of Bella Luna Wood-Fired Pizza, Colin Auckerman made it a priority to use produce and meats from the dozens of farms just a stone’s throw from Harrisonburg.
Now, Auckerman is bringing his culinary chops and farm-totable expertise to Local Chop & Grill House, 56 W. Gay St., as the new executive chef. He started in June after 4½ at Bella Luna.
“It seemed like a progression in a way for me to expand my resume and hopefully bring some more interesting things to the Valley,” Auckerman said. “I just want to try to bring ... some things that maybe Harrisonburg hasn’t seen.”
Auckerman comes with 12 years of experience working in restaurants in Virginia and West Virginia, most of which were Italian. His new gig is a chance to expand outside of Italian cuisine.
Jeff Hill, one of the managing partners of Chop House and the Joshua Wilton House, said he knew Auckerman was the right fit for the job because of his experience with local ingredients. Auckerman previously worked at the Chop House in 2012.
“I kept up with his progress at Bella Luna and always had a lot of respect for his craft, more so for his passion,” Hill said. “Colin was always my preferred choice because he was known. He knew all the local farmers already, but more so, he was on the same page of what we wanted to do. I want to expand our program here. I want to stay on the front of the food scene in this whole area, and we clicked with that.”
Logan Evans, the general manager of Chop House, said Auckerman hit the ground running.
“From my eyes, as far as the transition of him coming straight on has been, for lack of a better word, flawless,” Evans said. “He has brought great energy and knowledge to the staff, both front and back of the house, a great vibe. He always keeps a positive can-do attitude and on top of that he brings a positive energy.”
Auckerman, 32, grew up in Bridgewater and had his first jobs in fast food and at James Madison University.
“Then, I started working at Luigi’s [Pizza] on South High Street right out of high school and realized that I enjoyed cooking,” he said. “They were doing stuff from scratch, which was something I hadn’t seen before.”
He then started working in the building that Chop House is in now when it was Downtown 56. After that, he moved to Charlottesville in 2007 and worked at a couple of restaurants there. From Charlottesville, he moved to Charleston, W.Va., for two years and moved back to Virginia in 2012 to work at the Chop House. After his first stint at Chop House, he worked for a year at Palladio, a northern Italian-inspired restaurant in Barboursville, before getting hired at Bella Luna.
He’s enjoyed doing something different at Chop House.
“It’s been kind of refreshing after 4½ of making pizza. It’s still fairly similar asfar as, we use a lot of the same farmers,” Auckerman said. “It’s actually been interesting because I’m able to buy things that I was never able to utilize at Bella Luna from farmers who I had been working with for years.”
Auckerman wants to introduce new items to the menu, including more fresh seafood. In the last few weeks, the restaurant has served items as specials, some of which will be permanent. One of the specials was crispy Rappahannock oysters, crusted with cornmeal and served with sesame and ginger slaw and pickled ginger aioli.
“We started to do some fish specials. We’re going to try to bring a little bit more fish to the menu,” he said, which will also include trout, rockfish and catfish.
Hill said diners can also expect to see more variety on the menu, as well as more Virginia beef and pork chops.
“We’re going to do some variations on things. You’re going to see a unique spin on meatloaf. We’re going to have some fun with it. … They’ll be a lot more options,” he said. “We want to get back into special wine dinners, beer dinners, cider dinners, get back into some fun stuff that I think the public is going to like.”
New Executive Chef Takes Residence At Local Chop & Grill House
By SHELBY MERTENS
Daily News-Record 8/15/18
HARRISONBURG — As the executive chef of Bella Luna Wood-Fired Pizza, Colin Auckerman made it a priority to use produce and meats from the dozens of farms just a stone’s throw from Harrisonburg.
Now, Auckerman is bringing his culinary chops and farm-totable expertise to Local Chop & Grill House, 56 W. Gay St., as the new executive chef. He started in June after 4½ at Bella Luna.
“It seemed like a progression in a way for me to expand my resume and hopefully bring some more interesting things to the Valley,” Auckerman said. “I just want to try to bring ... some things that maybe Harrisonburg hasn’t seen.”
Auckerman comes with 12 years of experience working in restaurants in Virginia and West Virginia, most of which were Italian. His new gig is a chance to expand outside of Italian cuisine.
Jeff Hill, one of the managing partners of Chop House and the Joshua Wilton House, said he knew Auckerman was the right fit for the job because of his experience with local ingredients. Auckerman previously worked at the Chop House in 2012.
“I kept up with his progress at Bella Luna and always had a lot of respect for his craft, more so for his passion,” Hill said. “Colin was always my preferred choice because he was known. He knew all the local farmers already, but more so, he was on the same page of what we wanted to do. I want to expand our program here. I want to stay on the front of the food scene in this whole area, and we clicked with that.”
Logan Evans, the general manager of Chop House, said Auckerman hit the ground running.
“From my eyes, as far as the transition of him coming straight on has been, for lack of a better word, flawless,” Evans said. “He has brought great energy and knowledge to the staff, both front and back of the house, a great vibe. He always keeps a positive can-do attitude and on top of that he brings a positive energy.”
Auckerman, 32, grew up in Bridgewater and had his first jobs in fast food and at James Madison University.
“Then, I started working at Luigi’s [Pizza] on South High Street right out of high school and realized that I enjoyed cooking,” he said. “They were doing stuff from scratch, which was something I hadn’t seen before.”
He then started working in the building that Chop House is in now when it was Downtown 56. After that, he moved to Charlottesville in 2007 and worked at a couple of restaurants there. From Charlottesville, he moved to Charleston, W.Va., for two years and moved back to Virginia in 2012 to work at the Chop House. After his first stint at Chop House, he worked for a year at Palladio, a northern Italian-inspired restaurant in Barboursville, before getting hired at Bella Luna.
He’s enjoyed doing something different at Chop House.
“It’s been kind of refreshing after 4½ of making pizza. It’s still fairly similar asfar as, we use a lot of the same farmers,” Auckerman said. “It’s actually been interesting because I’m able to buy things that I was never able to utilize at Bella Luna from farmers who I had been working with for years.”
Auckerman wants to introduce new items to the menu, including more fresh seafood. In the last few weeks, the restaurant has served items as specials, some of which will be permanent. One of the specials was crispy Rappahannock oysters, crusted with cornmeal and served with sesame and ginger slaw and pickled ginger aioli.
“We started to do some fish specials. We’re going to try to bring a little bit more fish to the menu,” he said, which will also include trout, rockfish and catfish.
Hill said diners can also expect to see more variety on the menu, as well as more Virginia beef and pork chops.
“We’re going to do some variations on things. You’re going to see a unique spin on meatloaf. We’re going to have some fun with it. … They’ll be a lot more options,” he said. “We want to get back into special wine dinners, beer dinners, cider dinners, get back into some fun stuff that I think the public is going to like.”
