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A South You Never Ate at Chatham Vineyards on Oct. 28 will celebrate the foodways of Virginia’s Eastern Shore along with the culture and stories behind them. This progressive dinner of all tapas includes an open bar with Eastern Shore beer and Chatham wine and a signature surprise cocktail. Twelve chefs have committed their time to crafting two dishes apiece for the small plates that will showcase some of the Shore’s most distinct ingredients.
This is another in a Meet the Chefs series that will introduce an all-star lineup of creative cooks who have committed their time to make this an unforgettable farm-to-table experience.
The scoop on Walter Bundy
His bio in a nutshell: The chef and owner of Shagbark in Richmond was shaped by his early experiences on the Piankatank River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. He enjoyed its bounty of fresh fish and crabs pulled from by his own hands as well as the homegrown vegetables from a splendid family garden. The Charlottesville native trained under Chef Thomas Keller at the legendary French Laundry in Napa Valley and Chef Mark Miller at the Coyote Café in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He also helped open the Blue Point Restaurant in Duck, North Carolina, where he worked alongside Chef Sam McGann. Sam and the Blue Point had an incredible impact on him and served as one of the inspirations for his up-south cuisine at Shagbark. Prior to opening Shagbark in 2016, Walter was the executive chef of Lemaire in The Jefferson Hotel, honored as the 101st best restaurant in the country by France’s La Liste, the lone Virginia restaurant to receive that distinction at the time.
What Walter loves about Eastern Shore food, culture: “The Shore is a different place, especially in the winter. There aren’t many people around and often you’re out in the elements. A wood stove or a fireplace and a bowl of Brunswick Stew are pretty special. The simple things have a lot of impact. My dad and I used to hunt ducks there together all the time. My uncle has a farm in Cape Charles where I to fish for speckled trout. I’ve always loved to immerse myself in the outdoors, and the Shore is a great place to do that. For me it’s all about terroir and eating fresh, local produce dependent on the season. I’m a huge fan of Tom Gallivan’s Shooting Point Oysters. He start them in Nassawadox Creek and finishes them in the salty seaside water of Hog Island. All the ingredients from the Eastern Shore are so special and wonderful in their own way, and I treat them with the respect they deserve.”
His favorite Eastern Shore ingredients are …. “Other than Tom’s oysters, I love fresh spot, Hog Island figs, drum, Hayman sweet potatoes and sugar toads.”
