El Dorado County_Foothills_Style Magazine - November 2018

10 TOP CHEFS
Dean Hiatt
Poor Red’s Bar-B-Que, 6221 Pleasant Valley Road,
El Dorado, 530-622-2901, poorreds.com
Dean Hiatt might just be one of the last nice
chefs standing. Most chefs have a story or
two about how fiery the kitchen can get—in
more ways than one. Instead, Dean says he
watched chefs mistreat their employees
as he worked his way through kitchens
and vowed to never do the same. He also
supports what he calls “reverse farming”—
where local farms come to him and ask what
they can grow for the restaurant, instead
of vice versa, which puts less strain on the
environment.
First memory of food: My biological mother
left when I was younger, so it was just me, my
brother, and my dad. I remember watching
Julia Child with my dad—he’d take notes and
then make us dinner later.
Food philosophy: I like my food to tell a
story, especially a story of the landscape—so
if I serve venison, I also serve mushrooms; or
if I serve fish, I also serve nuts from the river.
If I wasn’t a chef, I’d be: I’m currently in
my third dream job—previously, I was a
firefighter and a musician. If I had to move
on from here, I’d be a police officer.
Top cooking tip: Coco Chanel says that
before you leave the house, you should take
one thing off—I think before you send out a
plate, you should take something off. Don’t
overthink or overcomplicate it.
The best thing I ever ate: Barbecue back
home in Texas.
One food I’ll never get behind: Sushi. I like
looking at it, but I just can’t eat raw fish.
Guilty pleasure food: I like to dip a
spoonful of peanut butter in chocolate
chips.
Favorite ingredient to work with: Sage. It
reminds me of home.
For dinner last night, I ate: I made sage
dirty rice with a sage-stuffed, baconwrapped
pork loin, and winter roasted
vegetables, and yes, sage.
Favorite food pairing: Some kind of root
vegetable and ribeye.
Favorite restaurant and dish: I love The
Independent Restaurant and Bar! Every time
I go, I’m always going to get their California
Chicken Sandwich; I have them take the
avocado off though—it’s a texture thing.
You’d never know it, but: I was homeless,
living in my truck in a parking lot in Las
Vegas trying to put myself through a culinary
education working under some chefs for not
a lot of money. I guess the dream was bigger
than anything else.
30 styleedc.com // NOVEMBER 2018 // /styleedc /stylemediagroup /stylemediagroup /stylemagedcf