This salad is a homage to the first salad Alex was responsible for at Lyla Lila and a celebration of summer Georgia produce. Grilled radicchio's pleasant bitterness is balanced by a sherry-orange-yogurt dressing, pickled peppers, sweet Georgia peaches, and candied pecans.  

Gluten-free. Vegan option: orange-sherry vinaigrette

This raw fish dish was inspired by a tuna crudo he made at Lyla Lila and the Mexican culinary traditions of his kitchen colleagues. Raw snapper, sliced radish, compressed melon, and aguachile rojo (a spicy Mexican sauce of chiles, garlic, and lime juice). A cooling cucumber-avocado-lime sorbet tempers the heat of the aguachile. 

Gluten-free. Vegan option: oyster mushroom “crudo”

Alex’s roast potatoes are a science lesson. He adds baking soda to the water, which makes it alkaline—this breaks down the potato's skin, yielding a perfectly crispy roast. They’re paired with grilled maitake mushrooms and peperonata, an Italian dish of stewed sweet bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil. And if that weren’t enough, he tops the dish with an aji amarillo aioli, a Peruvian sauce of cilantro, lime, and aji amarillo (a medium-hot Peruvian pepper) blended into homemade aioli.

Gluten-free and vegan

Beef is Alex’s favorite protein, and this dish harkens back to one of his first ambitious dishes: red wine-braised short ribs made in his college dorm. Slow-braised until they surrender completely, the beef cheeks are deeply rich and fork-tender. 

This French pastry is made by caramelizing fruit in butter and sugar, topping it with puff pastry, baking it in the oven, and flipping it onto a plate so the fruit crowns the dish. Alex's version swaps the fruit for shallots, which turn silky and sweet as they caramelize -- a perfect partner for the braised beef. 

Gluten-free tarte tatin available. Vegan option: summer tomato braised corona beans, and basil salsa verde with creamy polenta, caramelized shallots (made creamy with lots of olive oil/coconut cream instead of butter and parm)

Alex's first private dinner party (a birthday party for his mom’s friend) ended with a showstopper: a two-layer pandan pavlova. Pavlovas are a meringue-based dessert with a crisp, delicate crust and a soft, marshmallow-like center. Alex is baking individual pavlovas out of pandan, a Southeast Asian plant whose fragrant leaves lend a flavor reminiscent of vanilla and coconut. In a nod to the opening course, Alex pairs the pavlova with homemade Georgia peaches-and-cream gelato and pecan caramel. Crumbled shortbread gives texture to the dish.

 Gluten-free without the shortbread. Vegan option: pandan pavlova with blood orange sorbet and coconut milk caramel