June 17, 2010 James Beard Foundation Asks Mike Lata
Ask a Chef
Mike Lata, what are your favorite summer ingredients?
by JBF Editors
2009 JBF Award winner Mike Lata is the chef of the celebrated FIG (Food Is Good) restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina. We recently asked him about his favorite summertime foods.
“The local shrimp season usually kicks off around Memorial Day, and the first shrimp of the year are plump, fatty, and-oh-so tender white shrimp laden with sweet roe.”
“We don’t use tomatoes out of season, so when the first tomatoes arrive, we can’t help but flood the menu with them.”
“It’s tough to narrow the list of summer ingredients down, but I get to cover a few bases with succotash: butter beans, corn, sweet and hot peppers.”
“Being a damn Yankee, I was probably 25 years old before I had a boiled peanut, but the first time I had a fresh-dug, boiled green peanut, I decided there was no better way to 
eat peanuts.”
“I’m sure I’m in good company regarding these luscious, fleshy jewels of the South.”
