Who We Are

Read more about
Chef William S. Dissen

We are a group of cooks, farmers, waiters, cheese-makers, organizers, ranchers, winegrowers and dishwashers who share a common philosophy about how we eat and in a larger sense, about life.

We believe in the importance of working locally, not just using ingredients from our surrounding area, but also in our contribution to the community. The success of our restaurant has always been closely entwined with the health and progress of our community. For 30 years we have supported the arts, local-needs and education programs.

Our clients have returned over the decades, we hope in part because we have always tried to treat them as family… and friends. Some might say, our food tastes good, perhaps even memorable. Each day, we do our utmost to prepare and present fresh food in a creative manner with a craftsman’s hand. Working in the most sustainable way possible is important.

The Market Place has been a fixture in downtown Asheville since 1979. Though it’s beginnings rose in the streams and mountains of western North Carolina – a place of mountain trout and small farms it also has a hand and heart inspired by traditions far from our borders. This mélange of local food prepared with other worldly traditions of the table may have helped the Market Place garner national attention but the keen reverence for the heritage and roots of Appalachia has always remained at the center of what we do.

We hope you notice.

Our Farmers

There is no cuisine without gardens and farmers. The words “local” & “organic”, seen only in grassroots grocery stores, and markets, 20 years ago, are now common at our local tailgates and farmer’s markets, thanks to the demand we’ve created. This transition to locally grown foods has helped to provide support to local farmers, enhance our regional economy, and rekindle our love affair with great food.

Since my early days exploring the gardens & barns of my grand parents farm, I have realized the necessity of locally grown food. The fields and farm animals of Appalachia have educated me, as a chef and a locavore, to truly appreciate the meaning of “sustainability”. These basic needs represent the honor of what we strive for in our daily cooking here at The Market Place.

The tradition of “farm-to-table” is central to our kitchen. Today we are fortunate for the wonderful tailgate markets, which we visit twice a week in season. Also for the other wonderful producers that delivery to our doorstep – Sunburst Trout, Spinning Spider Creamery, Spring House Meats, The Nichols Farm, Blue Hill Farms and the local gatherers, like Alan Muskat ‘The Mushroom Man’. The circle broadens into Tennessee, now that Tom Michaels is producing Tuber melanosporum in his hazelnut and oak orchards – the Perigord truffle.

In the pages that follow here, a few of the stories of the people we work with on a daily basis, following the season, and in the bigger picture, the circle of life.

Full Sun Farm

Vanessa Campbell is a philosophy major and former congressional aide on Capitol Hill, Alex Brown was a Ph.D candidate studying poison dart frogs in Ecuador. Independently, they made major changes in their life direction, and ended up together in the western region of Buncombe County, North Carolina. Together they farm 5 acres of bottom land in the Sandy Mush area, a bucolic and wonderfully lush valley backing into the Great Smoky Mountains. Each served an apprenticeship in the Ecological Horticulture Program an U.C. at Santa Cruz. Vanessa from 1992 – 1994 and Alex in 1998. Alex served his internship at Full Sun, the two now married with two children, Ada and Bell, their farm is self-sufficient, focusing on certified organic vegetables.

Learn more about Full Sun Farm at Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project.

Hickory Nut Gap Farm

Jamie and Amy Ager are fourth generation farmers of Hickory Nut Gap Farm. Both were environmental studies majors at Warren Wilson College. Hickory Nut Gap Meats at Hickory Nut Gap Farm turns out grass fed beef and lamb, pasture raised pork and chicken, as well as free range eggs.

I have teased Amy and Jamie that they are the ‘GQ’ set of modern farmers – put them in a business dress or suit and they would fit right in anywhere on ‘the street’ in NY, Chicago or Atlanta. Instead, they chose to stay home and farm. Eight years after they made that decision, their success speaks for itself. It hasn’t been all roses – definitely a lot of poison ivy along the way. The great thing is that their enthusiasm hasn’t waned one bit.

The most important thing to keep in mind, the product they are raising is a totally different kind of meat than what, over the past 20 years, we have grown accustomed to eat. As will all true acts of dining – you must slow down a moment, close your eyes as you taste this meat and contemplate the taste of real food.

Learn more at the Hickory Nut Gap Farm website.