EASLEY — Sometimes it takes a minute of conversation with someone to find out how rich their lives are and for Anne Young, local chef extraordinaire at Easley’s The Starving Artist, there is a rich story behind her upcoming participation in the upcoming Competition Dining Series.
For Young, the journey began at the tender age of nine following her first victory as a chef, baking her mother’s sugar cookies for a Catholic school contest which she won.
“I knew right then I wanted to be a chef, and that’s never changed,” Young said. “Since then there’s never been a doubt as to what I wanted to do.”
Originally from Baldwinsville, N.Y., Young went on to attend Baltimore Culinary College where she became a classically trained French chef, which will be a plus in the competition as far as Young is concerned. A few lessons in Rome and a six-month stint in Ireland helped to round out Young’s training before she landed in Easley four years ago.
What led Young to this competition and an opportunity for Easley and Pickens County to shine?
“I was talking to my son (John Henry Heflin) and reading one of the weekend magazines, food trends and restaurant articles, when I saw the piece about the contest and entering,” Young explained. “I said ‘I could do that’ and we printed out the application and here we are.”
Heflin and restaurant owner Vicki Ciplickas then worked the application over and submitted it, with Young being invited to compete.
The Competition Dining Series is scheduled for Aug. 3 through Sept. 7, hosted by Larkin’s Sawmill in Greenville. It will be judged by members of the audience, giving the competition a slight twist. Voting is tabulated by digital votes, with special guest judges, and the ticketed audience being treated to a six-course meal of each chef’s design.
The contestants will be provided a box of ingredients and given a time limit to produce a meal with the only restriction being chefs are not allowed to make any signature dishes regularly featured on their menu. For some this will be an issue, while Young sees this as a possible advantage for her.
“For me, we change our menu on a weekly basis depending on what’s available at the market instead of changing seasonally, so I have to be ready to create every week,” Young said. “Unlike other restaurants, our menu changes instead of staying the same, which means I have to get creative all the time, which I love.”
Young will be assisted by Chris Champion, a graduate of The Citadel, and Aaron Gollach, a culinary arts student at Greenville Technical College throughout the competition with her first appearance scheduled for Aug. 3.
With the contest looming, you may think Young would begin to feel the nerves of competition, but not this time.
“I’m psyched to get started. Not because I have to win, just to show what I can do,” she said. “The biggest challenge is going to be cooking for the audience size and knowing how many will be there. That’s going to make a difference. Really, I just want to have fun.”
While there are a lot of rules and requirements in the competition, Young really has only one requirement she would like to have met before the opening bell.
“I really hope they have music in the kitchen,” she said. “I don’t like to cook without Earth, Wind, and Fire.”
