The Charlottesville 29

In retrospect, the praise should have caught my attention more than it did. Especially given its source. Culinary director of Joël Robuchon for more than a decade, Christophe Bellanca has been Executive Chef of some of the world’s most acclaimed restaurants — not just Joël Robuchon, but L’Orangerie, Le Cirque and BLT Group. Kitchens like those are loaded with talented chefs. And yet, of Tarik Sengul, Bellanca said: “one of the best chefs I’ve ever worked with.”

The context was the June 2022 launch of Smyrna restaurant, which Sengul had moved from Charlottesville to New York to open with his friend Orhun Dikmen. For research for a preview article, I tracked down Bellanca, for whom Sengul worked at Joël Robuchon. Maybe I thought Bellanca’s words were hyperbole — or a kindness extended to a former employee. But, he lit up about Sengul – praising his technique, knowledge, and what Bellanca called “cooking sensibility.”

Eighteen months later, I understand what Bellanca meant. From my meals at Smyrna, Sengul’s talent has been unmistakable. The refinement and precision of his food reward close attention. And, Charlottesville has noticed — fellow chefs in particular.

No dish better captures this than Sengul’s gazpacho. Wait, gazpacho? Cold tomato soup? Plenty of home cooks make a decent one just by combining some vegetables in a blender. Voila. But, the cooking sensibility that caught Bellanca’s eye, Sengul elevates a humble cold soup into a dish that has captured the attention of Charlottesville.

Anatomy of a Soup

Like many chefs, Sengul changes his menu with the season. When Smyrna first opened in June 2022, for example, it offered a spring pea soup, served hot. But as the heat of a Virginia summer arrived, Sengul felt nature pressuring him to switch to something more refreshing. A gazpacho, he thought.

But, this is no ordinary gazpacho. When I asked Sengul for what inspired it, he cited research, restaurant experience, and his own palate memory. But, Sengul stressed, inspiration is just part of the process. Also vital, perhaps even more so, is proper execution, which Sengul says requires what he calls “structure.” That need for structure has prompted Sengul over the years to develop a checklist of “desirables and must-haves” for a new dish:

1. First, the ingredients must be appropriate for the season.
2. Second, the various flavors much complement each other.
3. Third, the dish must match the concept of the restaurant, yet at the same time possess a degree of uniqueness.
4. Lastly, the dish must be simple enough to be executed consistently and on a regular basis.

Tarik Sengul

For the gazpacho, Sengul followed his checklist. Once satisfied that he had a concept meeting all four requirements, he consulted his team —  Nadim Mukaddem and Drew Kuechler — for further refinement. Only then did the soup reach the menu.

For an item listed simply as “Gazpacho,” the steps required for its preparation may reveal why even our best home cooking can fall short of great restaurant dishes. Sengul’s team deseeds, peels, and quarters heirloom tomatoes. They deseed, peel, and dice cucumbers. They deseed, peel, and dice red peppers. They peel and roughly chop celery. They remove the germ from red onion. They remove the germ from garlic. They mix these ingredients all together, in Sengul’s precise proportions, add sherry vinegar and hot sauce, and marinate overnight.

The next day, they blitz it all in a blender, and pass it through a chinois for enhanced smoothness. Finally, for service, they garnish the soup with Caromont goat cheese, black pepper mignonette, cilantro, Fresno peppers and olive oil.

The result is far greater than its parts, a harmony of flavors that commands attention. While all four items on Sengul’s checklist are necessities, the one where great chefs often distinguish themselves is the second: combining ingredients and flavors that complement each other well. “Like music, food is a composition,” says Sengul. “It requires combining many different elements, prepared with the utmost respect, and focus on the task at hand to produce a sum greater than its parts.”

The reactions I’ve seen from diners tasting Sengul’s gazpacho suggest it does just that. They do that double-take people do when caught off guard and taken back by how delicious something is. When I went with a group of friends for a manly meat dinner, it was gazpacho that stole the show. And chefs swoon, too. “The tartness of the cherry with fresh heirloom tomatoes and the creamy Caromont goat cheese was put together wonderfully,” Bell’s John Shanesy said. “Three textures, each very important, and in harmony together.”

If you want to try the soup, you will have to wait. December now, it will be months for the soup’s season to come. But don’t worry. There’s plenty of stuff that reflects Sengul’s cooking sensibility in the meantime. And, it’s worth the wait.

The 2023 Dish of the Year is Gazpacho at Smyrna.