12/20/2023
Avery, head chef and co-owner at MATIA and Monti on Orcas Island, believes in supporting local farmers wherever possible. Wholesale buyers can place orders through the San Juan Islands Food Hub every Fri-Sun with products delivered on Wed.
As a summer job when he was a teen, Avery worked at The Market Chef and The Front Street Ale House on San Juan Island. He loved working with food, and the experience of seeing farmers bring food to the back walk-in and it making its way to the menu for the day. He grew up with a garden, picking berries and nettles near the water, learning a lot about seaweed and wild plants, and enjoying meals with his family. This developed into a strong connection to food. After college, he took a job at the Cask and Schooner on San Juan Island as a dishwasher and received mentorship from then-chef John Hamilton. At the same time, a lot of Avery’s friends were getting into sustainable agriculture and farming. Being a chef was a great way to collaborate.
From 2011 onward he made the choice to invest in being within the islands and learning about local agriculture while working in restaurants. In 2015 he moved to Orcas and got a sous chef job at Hogstone's Wood Oven (now Houlme), continuing to hone his skills and getting to know the islands better. Those things working in tandem got him to where he is now, head chef and co-owner of Matia and Monti with Drew.
When Avery designs a dish he doesn’t set out with exactly what he wants to make. Instead, he chooses to serve what’s best and go backwards from there. A lot of restaurants are starting to move toward this model. His professional relationships with farmers afford him a dialogue to say, “Hey, what do you have? How much are you going to have of it?" And then, “How are we going to celebrate those ingredients because that’s what’s available and abundant?” As opposed to one dish on the menu that remains the same. There’s variation as often as day-to-day. Having lived in the islands for ⅔ of his life, Avery tries to identify the growing seasons and have personal relationships with farms so that he can see what’s available and who has the best products, to make the menu come alive. Working with farmers is all part of fitting the pieces together.
Having local food on the menu is something that is increasingly important to patrons, a means by which there’s some semblance of autonomy for local businesses, and supports communal spirit by investing in the local economy. When he can, Avery buys local, but there are many aspects to balance such as meeting seasonal demands. This can also mean extending to regionally local foods to fill out a menu in a weekly scavenger hunt, but he always starts with food that’s as nearby as possible.
This year, in partnership with San Juan Islands Food Hub wholesale, Avery has purchased from island farmers: Amanda of Sweet Earth Farm, Derek and Abe of Watmough Bay Farm, Faith and David of Midnight's Farm, Mike and Terresa of Sundstrom’s Little S, Lori Ann of Aurora Farms, Meike and Mike of Stonecrest Farm and Graziers, Zach of New Hannah Farm, Mary Jane of Redwing Farm, Amy and Eric of Lum Farm LLC, Andre of Sunnyfield Farm, Sasha of Joon Farm, Guard and Lisa of Fir Oak Farm, Sarah and Adam of Oak Knoll Farm, Libby of Baba Yaga Farm, and Susan and John of JBS Farm
Become a wholesale buyer on the Food Hub today: https://sjifh.com/wholesale-buyer-application/
Photo by Visit San Juans.
