Mike Lata
Executive Chef of Fig in Charleston, SC
September 26 - 28, 2008

Our final culinary weekend in 2008 will visit us from historic Charleston, South Carolina where Food Is Good. Chef Mike Lata is a self-taught chef whose passion for food and talent for cooking was inspired at an early age while growing up in New England. Lata developed an appreciation for home-grown, home-cooked food during his childhood spent helping his Polish grandparents in their garden in Massachusetts. He officially began his culinary career traveling from restaurant to restaurant along the East Coast, working in various kitchens in Boston, Martha’s Vineyard and later down south in Louisiana and Georgia. After working for the Brennan family at BACCO in New Orleans, Lata relocated to Atlanta, where he became Chef de Cuisine at Jean Banchet’s Ciboulette. It was not until Lata landed in Atlanta that he had to make a conscious decision about his cooking philosophy and what type of chef he ultimately wanted to become. Lata made a determined effort to work with local farmers, ranchers and suppliers whose dedication to natural, sustainable agriculture was evident. While at Ciboulette, he launched an unprecedented campaign to integrate a great deal of local product into his cooking and became a self-appointed spokesperson for the Georgia Organic Growers Association. This farm-to-table philosophy and European style of cooking based on the highest quality seasonal ingredients would become cornerstones of his career to follow. Lata joined the Charleston dining scene ranks in 1998 as Executive Chef at Anson, where he held the reigns for four years. Soon after his arrival, Anson was granted a five star review by the Charleston Post and Courier, and Lata hosted the first out-of-house James Beard event in the state of South Carolina. It was also during these years that Lata’s active endorsement of local farmers helped guide the conscience of the Charleston culinary scene toward the appreciation of locally grown, seasonal foods. While at Anson, Lata began a dialogue with then-Manager Adam Nemirow about a concept for a restaurant that fit with both men’s philosophies and styles. They seized the opportunity to turn their dream into a reality, and began cooking up plans for their new restaurant, FIG, which they opened in 2003. Since opening FIG, Lata has continued to garner praise from numerous local and national publications, and he has returned as a host of two more dinners at the James Beard house in New York, among other honors. A James Beard Award nominee in 2007 for Best Chef in the Southeast, Lata is a hard-working, enormously passionate chef who strives to refine and improve his cuisine every night, strongly believing that high-quality, fresh and seasonal ingredients are paramount for creating dishes that are clean, simple and delicious. Lata’s European style and Lowcountry sensibilities combine to produce dishes that are wholly unique and truly special.

For more information on culinary weekends, please call 866.451.6750 or 662.451.6750.