Sunday Supper Series: Chef Travis Milton at Barter Theatre Stage II Cafe

February 24, 2019 @ 5:00PM — 7:00PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Two icons of local culture together for one night only

Sunday Supper Series: Chef Travis Milton at Barter Theatre Stage II Cafe image

Get your tickets now before they sell out

There are currently no tickets available for this event, but you can still make a donation.

Share:

Join us for the third in a series of Sunday Suppers with the region's most creative chefs. These are intimate dinners that feature multiple courses with wine pairings, and your ticket is all-inclusive.

Thanks to our sponsors, Blue Ridge Beverage, dinner guests get a behind-the-scenes look at some of our top local restaurants and the opportunity to get to know the chefs behind our local food renaissance. Come hear about their process, learn about local food and traditions, and expand your definition of "local cuisine."

We are delighted to bring Chef Travis Milton to Barter Stage II Cafe while his new restaurant is being built!

The evening's menu is below. Please note that some food allergies can be accommodated with advance notice--call 276-623-5266 if you have special dietary restrictions.

All attendees of the Sunday Supper series will receive an invitation to attend a special cocktail hour at the Grand Finale dinner on August 4, 2019, so mark your calendars. $10 of every ticket sold goes back to fund the Virginia Highlands Festival's programs in our community, as do any donations you choose to make in addition to your ticket purchase.

Advance ticket purchase is required, so don't wait. Space is extremely limited.

Please note that price INCLUDES tax and gratuity. If you would like to make an additional donation to the Festival to support our community programs, that option will be available upon checkout.

Thank you again to our Culinary Arts sponsor, Blue Ridge Beverage, for making these programs possible.

MENU

First Course: Duck marinated in sweet tea and Szechuan peppercorns, sorghum and malted popcorn steamed bun, carrot sprouts, cilantro and Virginia peanuts
Wine: Louis Martini Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Second Course: "BLT" Ridge Valley Farms beef bacon/pastrami cured, fresh tomatoes, gem lettuce on salt-rising bread with Duke's mayonaise
Wine: Talbott Kali Hart Chardonnay

Third Course: Wood-fired Mountain Valley trout with candy roaster squash, cantaloupe and cattails
Wine: Nicewonder Vineyards Viognier 2016

Fourth Course: Foie gras pound cake with pickled berries and sour cream frosting
Wine: Kim Crawford Rose

Listen to Travis describe the menu by clicking here: https://media.sparemin.com/embed-video/videos/9d/0...


About our Chef

Hailing from rural Southwestern Virginia, Travis Milton spent his childhood in a true Appalachian kitchen, learning the proper method for shucking beans, preserving produce through canning, and planting gardens-all under the tutelage of his great (and great-great) grandparents. A reverence for the traditions and heritage of Southern cooking was instilled in Milton from his earliest days spent behind the counter of the Village, a restaurant in Castlewood, Virginia, owned by his great grandparents.

Milton moved to Richmond to attend school and started cooking on his own in his early teens, initially just as a way to make money doing something familiar. Soon, jobs in the kitchen became more than just income, and before long Milton was staging in kitchens across the country, like Todd Gray's Equinox in D.C. and Chris Cosentino's Incanto in San Francisco. When Milton joined his friend and fellow Virginian Jason Alley to work as chef de cuisine at Comfort in Richmond, he realized his ability to combine the memories of his family's kitchen with the techniques of his mentors, creating composed and modern Appalachian dishes.

It was with these two culinary traditions in mind that Milton left Comfort and embarked on his dream of a genuine Appalachian restaurant. What started as an idea for one restaurant evolved to three: Milton's at the Western Front in Saint Paul, Virginia, and the forthcoming Shovel & Pick and Simply Grand at The Sessions Hotel in Bristol, Virginia. His first Appalachian-centric restaurant, Milton's at the Western Front, opened in February 2018 as a meat-and-three. The menu includes not only staunchly Appalachian items such as Chili Buns and Pepperoni Rolls, but will also feature dishes like Hungarian Goulash, reflecting the rich food culture of the Eastern European immigrants who settled in Southwestern Virginia.

Outside his restaurants, Milton is at the forefront of the grassroots effort working to preserve the heritage of the Appalachia kitchen. A conversation among fellow Appalachian chefs on a Facebook thread turned into the creation of the Appalachian Food Summit, for which Milton serves on the board of directors. He also works to highlight the rich history of the area in conjunction with the Central Appalachian Food Heritage Project, the Clinch River Valley Initiative, and the Virginia Food Heritage Project.

Milton spends much of his free time traveling to Virginia farms and fostering relationships with purveyors across the state. When not in the kitchen, his favorite place to be is sitting on his front porch, enjoying his whiskey collection and listening to Whitney Houston.