ASHEVILLE - The heat is about to be turned up a notch in Asheville, as a celebrity television chef partners with one of the city's own for a one-night-dining experience.
On Sept. 16, the Richard Blais x William Dissen Pop-Up will be held at The Market Place Restaurant, 20 Wall St., downtown.
Blais co-mentors and judges Fox's "Next Level Chef" reality cooking competition alongside Nyesha Arrington and host Gordon Ramsay. He's also competed on Bravo's "Top Chef" and won "Top Chef All-Stars." He's also a restaurateur and cookbook author.
Dissen, a 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Chef, also owns The Market Place, which recently celebrated its 47th anniversary; Dissen has owned it for the past 17 years. The farm-to-table establishment
was a James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurant in 2024.
Blais and Dissen met and bonded over a shared interest in seafood sustainability and in advocating for a better food system and policies, as members of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Blue Ribbon Task Force. The collective of chefs, scientists, conservationists, and seafood professionals promotes sustainable seafood and stronger federal fisheries management.
“Richard and I have known each other through our work with Seafood Watch for years, and we’ve always had a great friendship and mutual respect,” Dissen said in a news release. “Getting back in the kitchen together in Asheville is something I’m really looking forward to. We wanted to have some fun with the menu, but also showcase the way both of us think about food.”
The dining event aligns with Blais's visit to North Carolina as a competitor in the PGA Tournament Pro-Am, which features professional and amateur golfers, Dissen told the Citizen Times.
It's also ahead of the Biltmore Championship Asheville, a professional golf tournament scheduled for Sept. 17-20 at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove in Arden. The chef collaboration is unaffiliated with the PGA Tour event.
What's on the Richard Blais x William Dissen Pop-Up menu?
Dissen told the Citizen Times that he and Blais will be working in the kitchen during service and interacting and meeting guests in the dining room during the pop-up event.
The three-item pop-up menu will be offered as a special addendum to The Market Place's summer menu.
The contemporary menu was written with the chefs' culinary and personal backgrounds in mind, incorporating and celebrating seasonal harvests and fresh catches.
The featured dishes are intended to meld Blais' Californian and Dissen's Appalachian/Southern styles and influences.:
- Tuna Tartare Tostada. The rich in flavor dish will be served with a mango "yolk" and avocado.
- End of Summer Corn Fritter. Marking the late-summer harvest, the crispy fritter will be served with a fragrant lime leaf aioli.
- Fish n’ Chips “California English.” The geographical mash-up will be prepared with avocado tartare sauce, curry gravy, mint-flecked smashed peas, and finished with a mint-and-malt vinegar vapor.
Dissen is the author of "Thoughtful Cooking: Recipes Rooted in the New South," where diners can find 80 recipes with “thoughtful tips” for preparation, preservation methods, stories about Dissen’s life and career, and his philosophies on food.
In 2021, Dissen served as a U.S. culinary diplomat, traveling to Doha, the capital of Qatar, through the Arts Envoy Program, a cultural diplomacy initiative, to showcase Appalachian and Thanksgiving foods.
For more, visit marketplace-restaurant.com and follow @marketplace.avl on Instagram.
Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Co., covering the food and beverage industry, including the James Beard Awards, Michelin Awards, restaurant openings, closings and other hospitality industry news and events. Tips, comments, questions? Email tkennell@citizentimes.com or follow @PrincessOfPage on Instagram. Sign up for AVL Bites and Brews, our weekly food and drink newsletter here.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Celebrity chef Richard Blais to co-host restaurant pop-up in Asheville
