Q&A: UNCW chef is on the path to be the best in the country, again

In April, UNCW Dining Executive Chef Ryan Andress was one of 20 chefs in a regional collegiate culinary contest for the Aramark food service company.

The event took place over two days at Wilmington’s Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina facility at 1000 Greenfield St.  At the end, Andress won the gold medal.

It’s not the first time. Andress was also a winner at the regional, and national, competitions in 2019.

What’s it like to be an on-campus executive chef?

“I oversee the culinary team here,” he said about working at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. “That includes three dining halls, a full-service catering shop and a full-service bake shop.”

Andress started working at the university in 2004 and worked his way up from grill cook and prep cook to management. The staff includes a handful of chefs and hundreds of employees – and the preparation of thousands of pounds of food each day.

“Day to day, I do work with a lot of events, here with the chancellor and staff and with organizations like the Food Bank,” he said. He and the campus dining staff also coordinate weekly pop-up events for students (which are also available to the public).

“That could be for Earth Day doing a plant-based pop-up,” he said. “Or for doing a full special station for Grilled Cheese Day.”

How has campus dining changed over the years?

“It really is about the food, and making it the star,” Andress said. “Aramark stands behind the chefs. They offer continuing training at the CIA, the Culinary Institute of America... And I’ve done all three levels.”

The options have grown, too. In addition to what the staff make onsite, Andress also coordinates with national brands and other local subcontractors who have a presence on campus, including Shaka Taco and Tacklebox Kitchen from Chef Keith Rhodes.

What was your winning dish in April? And what’s next for the contest?

“There was a set list of ingredients that all of the chefs knew about, including black sea bass from the UNCW Center for Marine Science,” he said.

He chicken-fried the fish and dressed it with a red curry crema. It was served with garlic-herb potatoes and pickled jicama salad.

“And now, I get ready to go to San Antonio at the end of June,” Andress said.

As the regional winner, he’ll continue on to Aramark’s national competiton in Texas for the second time. This time, the ingredients will be a mystery.

“But I know they will be seasonal and local,” he said. “So, I’ll be researching.”

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Allison Ballard is the food and dining reporter at the StarNews. You can reach her at aballard@gannett.com .

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Q&A: UNCW chef is on the path to be the best in the country, again