Platelist: Chef Mike Lata

Dec. 7, 2010 — -- Chef Mike Lata may be the headliner at his restaurant, Fig, but his sous-chef, Mother Nature, rules the kitchen.

Each fall, winter, spring and summer, the menu at the Charleston, S.C., restaurant changes to reflect what's being pulled fresh from local soil, seas or pastures.

"I couldn't imagine being in this business and not having that connection to the seasons," said Lata, winner of the 2009 James Beard award for Best Chef in the Southeast.

Seasonal, local delicacies are harvested from Lata's own backyard, the South Carolina coastal area known as the Low Country. Dishes are anchored to the region with names like John's Island Tomato Tarte Tatin, Keegan-Filion Farm Chicken Liver Pate, Caw Caw Creek Suckling Pig Confit and Anson Mills Farro Piccolo.

While each season has its highlights, Lata is usually ready to move on to the next one, especially in mid-winter when cabin fever sets in.

"In February or March when you see a turnip you want to kick its a** because you're tired of cooking winter vegetables," Lata said. "Then you get to experience the renewal of spring. When springtime comes around the restaurant entirely changes."

Lata grew up as a latchkey kid in Massachusetts, often creating his own meals. When the family visited his paternal Polish grandmother, he was thrilled to pick vegetables in her garden and help her prepare them in her kitchen.

"I'd pick the beans while she boiled the water and got the pasta ready or whatever. And we would go from there. Everything was so detailed and so wonderful. And you could tell. It was a joy every time she would make something," Lata recalled.

Over the years, he dabbled in a variety of businesses, from flipping burgers, to hauling trash to the dump. He gained a strong work ethic from his father and an appreciation for the learning that comes only from one's own mistakes.

"My father has a great work ethic and he taught me a lot," said Lata. "At first, he preached to me a lot about things I didn't understand; things like taking the time to do something right the first time."

Lata attended college briefly to study broadcast journalism but soon quit. "I realized my heart was into cooking," Lata said. He held down a series of restaurant jobs from Martha's Vineyard to Atlanta.

"I got my first chef job when I was 23," Lata said, recalling his days in Atlanta. "My shift didn't start till four. I realized there was so much to learn, with the butcher in the daytime and pastry chef in the daytime, that I would just go down there and ask, 'Can I be in the kitchen? I won't punch in.' I did that for a year every day."http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Platelist/platelist-chef-mike-latas-recipes/story?id=12122507

Try some of chef Lata's recipes HERE