Chef Scott Foster
September, 2009
By Michelle Duke
“A chef who cares enough about the food to guard its character with psychotic tendencies,” says Liam’s Restaurant’s website. A fitting description for Chef Scott Foster, whose enthusiasm for the artistry of food resonates in the keen focus he places on finding the finest sustainably sourced ingredients for Liam’s Restaurant’s seasonal menu.
Chef Foster’s passion for food has led him to Thomasville’s historic downtown district, where he and his wife, Rhonda, have operated Liam’s Restaurant since 2002.
Digging Up a Passion for Food
The road to Thomasville started like many in the industry, with a job washing dishes at a southwest Florida resort when he was 18.
“I went to work there, and I was simply amazed by watching the chefs – just the energy and the whole feel of the restaurant itself was just completely amazing,” he says. “It just sucked me in. Right then and there I knew I wanted to do it.”
After working in the industry for four more years, he completed a food management degree at Charlotte Technical Institute in Port Charlotte, FL. He went on from there to complete an apprenticeship with the American Culinary Federation.
“I did a three-year apprenticeship program and studied under certified chefs,” he says. “I had to have 6,000 hours of on-the-job training to go through the program.”
Chef Foster’s skills were honed even more in Boca Grande, FL, the small township of the exclusive Gasparillo Island. While on the island, he continued to develop his passion for superior ingredients.
“It really helped out. Since they got top dollar for their food, they were always able to bring in the prettiest ingredients.”
Having worked mainly in seafood in the early stages of his career, Chef Foster struggled at first to find his individual culinary style.
“I had to dig deep and find out who I was as a chef and which way I really wanted to go,” he recalls. “What I found out was I really enjoyed more of the smaller farmto- table-style cookery – sourcing from not only just local, but also from small farms across the country.”
Knowing exactly where his produce comes from and what goes into his meats was part of the allure.
“I was able to look at how they were raising the animals and the ingredients that were going back into the animals. It was just, to me, a gorgeous product,” he says. “It took a lot more weight off my shoulders as a chef because the ingredients already have so much going on.”
With this philosophy in mind, Chef Foster focuses on creating dishes with a simple plate at Liam’s Restaurant, which is named after his son. He believes in using only four or five ingredients at the most, allowing each component to speak for itself.
“I try not to manipulate the ingredients into something it would never be,” he says. “I always refer to a saying, ‘you can turn food into garbage, but you can’t take garbage and turn it into food.’ As a chef, there is always so much you can do to certain ingredients, but you’re never going to get past a certain point.
“By buying these ingredients that are just phenomenal, I’m able to bring [the dishes] up to a whole other level. At the same time, I have to represent those ingredients and not destroy them – and that’s so easy to do as well.”
Cooking in Thomasville
When he opened Liam’s Restaurant, Chef Foster and Rhonda, who also has an extensive background in the restaurant industry, decided they were at the point in their lives where they wanted to run a restaurant on their own.
“We wanted to be completely owneroperators, completely hands on,” he says. “I’m a working chef, and I really love being on the line. I come in at 7 o’clock every morning and I don’t get out of here sometimes until 11 at night.”
The interior of Liam’s Restaurant has a homey atmosphere and was designed to keep the charm of the building’s early 1900s character. Local artwork is displayed on the walls, which is an appropriate companion to the artistry of Chef Foster’s seasonal dishes that he creates in an open kitchen.
“The open kitchen allows the customer to see us working, so they can look into the kitchen and ask questions,” he says. “It creates more of that intimacy between the customer, the chef and the guys in the kitchen.”
At Liam’s Restaurant, Chef Foster focuses on seasonal menus created from small artisanal producers and serves only sustainably sourced organic foods. He keeps a very small menu but makes subtle changes – sometimes every week – depending on the seasonality of the ingredients.
“Right now, the local blueberries have just tapered out, but we’ve got the local figs coming in season. You only get them for four to six weeks, and then they are out,” Chef Foster says. “Local ingredients like that are vine ripe and brought to the farmer’s market, and that’s what I really love.”
Chef Foster makes sure to give praise to Rhonda who studied small, handcrafted farmstead cheese from around the world. Her passion for cheese is highlighted year-round at Liam’s Restaurant, which features several cheeses on its menu, including artisanal cheeses from nearby Sweet Grass Dairy.
The pair also focuses on educating their customers about the various types of cheeses and the cheese-making process. The restaurant hosts cheese tastings and winemakers dinners once a month to highlight wines and small craft beers from around the world to pair with the cheeses.
“There’s a uniqueness to it. We try to create great food and bring in the wines to create a wonderful atmosphere and tie it all together.”
Chef Foster likes to expand the palate of his south Georgia customers, some of who rarely get to experience dishes outside the realm of classic Southern cuisine. To do so, he and his wife expand their own palate by traveling around the country, experiencing the work of other chefs and bringing back fresh and new ideas to Thomasville.
“We love food, and we plan our trips basically around our dining itinerary,” he says. “It’s hard for us to go somewhere where there’s not great food. We want to hit those restaurants and see what’s going on and experience everything, and that’s what keeps us fresh.”
Chef Foster sees the importance in also including his restaurant staff in these travels.
“A lot of my staff has been here nearly since I opened up, and that’s what’s really great about it,” he says. “They’ve been a part of the process, and we travel together so they experience food with us. It sharpens their skills, and that makes us a better restaurant. They’re experiencing these things on their own, and that’s what we love to do.”
Continually educating his staff and his customers on the artistry of the farm-totable concept, Chef Foster has created an atmosphere at Liam’s Restaurant where it is clear that the focus is not only on the meticulously chosen ingredients that go into the dishes, but also on creating a uniquely distinct dining experience.
