For a country guy, Chris Ferrier, a Kentucky native, has certainly climbed the culinary ladder of success. As the executive chef of the newly opened 2100 Prime restaurant in the Fairfax at Embassy Row (the former elite Jockey Club), he achieved a certain star status amongst his cooking peers.

But as Ferrier points out, despite the upscale decor, he is steeped in the farm knowledge he acquired as a youth. “In the summertime,” he said, “we were all there doing small farm chores. We even had grandma grab a chicken from the pen and getting it ready for dinner.” Noting that she was a fabulous cook, Ferrier reports that everything she grew ended up canned for her pantry stock, including the tomatoes that she had turned into tomato juice.