Dancing Bear – Top Chefs 2025

Join Chef Jeff Carter at Dancing Bear Appalachian Bistro in Townsend for Top Chefs 2025! Chef Carter will serve up an Appalachian-inspired menu for the evening, which he has dubbed Flavors of Tuckaleechee: A Celebration of Indigenous Ingredients and Culinary Heritage.

This five-course menu honors the indigenous plants, animals, and culinary traditions of the southern Appalachians and will feature not only pairings of wine and cocktails, but beverages from The Brooklyn Brewery. Garrett Oliver, an industry pioneer and brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery who collaborated with Chef Carter on this food and beverage experience, will share the fascinating stories behind his craft beers, including those brewed with fonio, an ancient grain from West Africa. Guests will explore the rich flavors and histories that have shaped Tuckaleechee Cove for thousands of years and highlights the contributions of various Native American tribes and settlers who cultivated the land and shaped the region’s culinary traditions. The three judged courses include:

Appetizer: Blackberry glazed quail stuffed with Benton’s sausage and cornbread, confit quail legs, pickled corn and pepper relish, watercress-frisee salad, bacon vinaigrette, blackberry gastrique

Entree: Smoked mushroom & peppercorn rubbed venison striploin, sunchoke puree, roasted sunchokes, fermented honey glazed baby carrots, local oyster mushrooms, smoky venison-pepper jus, sunchoke chips

Dessert: Cruze Farm hot milk cake, Four Daughters Farm blueberries, sweet potato mousse, honeycomb candy, Sixmile Creek honey, sweet corn anglaise