Meet Chef Chris March from Foxcroft Wine Co. SouthPark! Read more about his obsession with homemade icecream, his footwear of choice and what inspires his dishes.
What led you to become a professional chef?
I’ve always enjoyed cooking since a young age. I was always in the kitchen with my Mother and Grandmother and always enjoyed it. I grew up with Chef Justin Solomon and when we were in highschool we would get together to host dinner parties for our parents. We would create the menu, cook all the food, and we also made cocktails. We did this once a week and we would rotate houses. We were lucky to have our parents so supportive of our cooking that ultimately became a career for both of us. We ended up working together at the Carolina Inn and now we’re both at Foxcroft.
How would you describe your cooking style?
I mostly have a French cooking background but I’ve done a little bit of everything and like to incorporate some southern influences.
What do you cook for yourself at home?
I like to cook with my kids. We make a lot of pasta together and I try to teach them as we cook. My youngest wants to be a chef.
What is your take on the relationship between wine and food?
They go well together. When I’m preparing for a wine dinner I research everything first for at least a couple of weeks. I do that with everything. I make really good bread. Because I researched and researched until I’ve learned as much as I can. I try to find all aspects of all of it including science, techniques, regions, and culture. We often can’t get ingredients from other countries imported, so I always try to make something comparable to the food from that wine region.
What inspires your dishes?
My mood. I usually see what I have an abundance of and come up with something based on that so we can use all the ingredients we have in the walk-in.
What ingredients do you like to work with?
Anything really. There was a couple of months ago when I did nothing but homemade ice cream. I have fun with it and make things like fruity pebble icecream.
What do you think is unique about Foxcroft?
We’re a giant family here. Everybody is all on the same wavelength. We all poke fun and tease each other but we are all here for the same purpose. We’re all passionate. The Back of the House is passionate about food. The Front of the House is passionate about wine and how it pairs with food. All of our employees have stayed here a long time. It works really well.
Favorite kitchen tool / appliance?
A knife – it’s the tool I use the most. I do like the Paccojet but we don’t have one. It’s a tiny machine that makes icecream, in about 5 minutes. I had one at another restaurant and would make all the desserts and purées.
If you could choose your own wine dinner theme what would you choose?
Spanish. I’m cuban. My dad is from Cuba so I grew up with that kind of food and I know a lot about that. Any kind of Spanish cuisine really. There are so many flavors and there’s a lot of Spanish wine that compliments it really well. Anytime we do a Rioja dinner, that’s always fun.
If you weren’t a professional chef, what would you be?
Those career tests in highschool told me to be a hairdresser. I had all kinds of funky hairstyles like mohawks in every color in the rainbow.
What’s something not many people know about you?
Our regulars know me pretty well. There’s a group that comes every Friday and I usually try to make my way out of the kitchen to say hello. Guests come to wine dinners and come up to me at the end of the night to chat. But… Something not many people know about me is… my alter ego is spider man. I used to dress in a spiderman costume for fun. So at a get-together you’d wonder where I went and the next thing you see is spiderman climbing a tree. This was years ago but we still laugh about it now.
What’s your mantra?
Whatever you do take care of your shoes. You’re on your feet all day so if you don’t have good shoes you’re going to have back pain. I change my shoes every other day. I wear kitchen vans, Alegria, Dansko , and the Birkenstock clog.
