It’s the swoon-worthy ingredient chefs use to flavor savory tarts and anchor seasonal veggie entrees. Mushrooms are to culinary professionals what Star Wars is to sci-fi fans. Simply sautéed in butter, white wine and garlic, or nestled within complex, exotic flavors, mushrooms are limited only by a chef’s imagination. And for diners who obsess over mushroom dishes, there is no shortage of creativity and choice at restaurants on OpenTable. We asked mushroom-obsessed chefs to weigh in on how they like to eat and prepare their favorite fungi. Here’s what they said.

Daniel Gorman of Henley, Nashville, Tennessee
“My favorite mushrooms are morels — and it is quite the year for them! They have a great earthy flavor with ridges that hold on to any incredible sauce. They are so versatile as well, great for sauces, stuffing, frying, sautéing, and even as just an elegant garnish. We use them everywhere in our menu at Henley and the dish I am in love with using them this year is our duck and dumplings. We are currently using white and green asparagus with sautéed morels — the perfect combination.” Make a reservation at Henley.

Marc Dym of Little River Inn Restaurant, Mendocino, California
“My favorite mushroom is the chanterelle because the flavor is so incredible, the mushroom is so versatile, and the chanterelle can be foraged almost any time of year in Mendocino County, where we have an annual Mushroom Festival. My favorite way to prepare it is in our wild boar and golden chanterelle ragu.” Make a reservation at Little River Inn Restaurant.

Rochelle Daniel of Fat Ox, Scottsdale, Arizona
“King trumpets are a versatile, underutilized mushroom that’s available year-round and reasonably priced. They’re a bit larger with a density that holds up to most dishes and cooking methods, including grilling. King trumpets are savory and mild, so they’re a great vehicle to convey the flavors you want. We use them in multiple dishes at Fat Ox, including our hokkaido diver scallops, and crispy skin salmon entrees as well as our Rosso Crest di Gallo pasta and the Rosewood Ranch skirt steak tagliata. To prepare trumpets, we cut them in half and score them, so they hold more sauce, sear in a pan with tallow fat and garlic purée. Then we deglaze with Grand Marnier, chicken stock or veal stock, amd then finish it with butter and sherry vinegar.” Make a reservation at Fat Ox.

Miheer Shete of Jump, West Toronto, Ontario
“Our mushroom lasagna dish is completely focused on different types of mushrooms, all of which have different textures. We have used five types of mushrooms in this and the filling is a take on mushroom duxelles. The mixture is made with different types of mushrooms, shallots, garlic, thyme, white wine, and cream and blended to a coarse, meat sauce-like consistency. We use six layers of pasta sheets and every layer features the mushroom mixture, buffalo ricotta, parmesan cheese, and honey. On the top layer, we finish the lasagna with a white truffle cream sauce, which gives the dish a tiny hint of truffle flavour.” Make a reservation at Jump.

Matt Sigler of Il Solito, Portland, Oregon
“I opt for the humble cremini mushroom to lend an earthy, umami flavor and meaty texture to my braised chicken thigh Marsala. Pan sautéing is one of my favorite ways to get flavor and texture out of mushrooms. I quarter them, rather than thin slicing, so that they don’t get lost in the sauce and are a nice contrast to the velvety polenta. The menu is a nod to nostalgic dishes I grew up eating. This Marsala, in particular, reminds me of a dish my uncle used to make with portabellas, white Worcestershire, sour cream, and lots of black pepper – despite many efforts to recreate the dish by my dad, Uncle Pat’s was always the best.” Make a reservation at Il Solito.

Jesus Delgado of Tanta, Chicago, Illinois
“I serve a vegetarian take on one of my favorite classic Peruvian dishes, pastel de choclo, or corn cake. Traditionally made with corn pudding and layered with meats, my version features sautéed brown beech mushrooms, one of my favorite types, due to their rich flavor and texture, to provide the meatiness. The dish is layered in a small casserole dish and baked and finished with sautéed choclo, the large-kernelled corn from Peru. As a native of Lima, this dish brings back wonderful childhood memories for me.” Make a reservation at Tanta.

Mathieu Masson-Duceppe of Jellyfish, Montreal, Quebec
“I combine lobster mushrooms, burrata, truffles, and meat caramel. I’ve said before veggies are cool and I love working with mushrooms. This week, it’s lobster mushrooms. We cook them always differently — smoked, pickled, seared, grilled and every way in between, depending on our inspiration.” Make a reservation at Jellyfish.

William S. Dissen of The Market Place, Asheville, North Carolina
“Maitake, otherwise known as hen of the woods mushroom, is meaty with an almost seafood crunch. Even people who don’t enjoy mushrooms usually like it and the quality is consistent. Our gratin recipe, including wild onions, is one of our best-selling appetizers. We have a partnership with a local tour company, No Taste Like Home led by Alan Muskat, that takes guests foraging, and we cook up whatever edibles they find. If it’s other edible mushrooms like chanterelles, we use them in the dish instead.” Make a reservation at The Market Place.

Austin Sumrall of White Pillars, Biloxi, Mississippi
“In the South, we have the great blessing of the ability to grow some of the best mushrooms in the world. I love to take advantage of what nature offers and have traveled to my family’s farm just outside of Liberty, Missouri, hunt for chanterelles. We would gather arm loads of the delicate beauties. One of our favorite ways to prepare them was a quick sauté with shallots, thyme, and butter on a crostini with goat cheese. Chanterelle season is very short and sweet, some say more of a moment than a season. In the White Pillars, we turn to mushroom cultivators, such as Tony and Leilani Rosenbaum of Shroomdom Farms. We use their mushrooms in our wood-fired flatbread with oyster mushrooms, Benton’s country ham, arugula, and housemade burrata cheese. And we are also serving them grilled with our beef filet, jumbo asparagus, heirloom carrots, and a hollandaise espuma.” Make a reservation at White Pillars.

Steven Mikulski of Pot au Feu Bistro, Providence, Rhode Island
“As Rhode Island’s only certified mushroom expert, people come to Pot au Feu Bistro in Providence for my soupe aux champignons. I work with fungi using their proper names based on the season incorporating craterellus fallax (black trumpets), boletus edulis (porcini), hydnum umbilicatum (hedgehog), agaricus bisporus (button), grifola frondosa (hen-of-the-wood), pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom), and hericium erinaceus (lion’s mane).” Make a reservation at Pot au Feu Bistro.

Clark Barlowe of Heirloom Restaurant, Charlotte, North Carolina
“I am probably best-known for my passion for wild mushrooms, having worked extensively with the state of North Carolina to develop a wild mushroom program for restaurants in the state. My favorite mushrooms to work with are lactarius indigo or blue milk mushroom, from which we make an ice cream that tastes like birthday cake. I also really enjoy the hericium erinaceus mushroom, more commonly known as lion’s mane mushroom, a fungi studied and found to regenerate dead brain cells in use to treat dementia and Alzheimer’s patients at Johns Hopkins University. At Heirloom Restaurant, we make vegetarian patties out of it. These mushroom cakes taste almost identical to crab and we refer to them as our ‘lightning cakes’ because this mushroom only grows on trees that have been struck by lightning.” Make a reservation at Heirloom Restaurant.

Albert Nguyen-Phuoc of VERGE, Los Gatos, California
“My favorite mushroom dish served at VERGE is the wild mushroom cobbler, including seasonal mushrooms, Humbolt Fog goat cheese, parmesan, cream, and fresh biscuit topping. When people talk about cobbler they think about sweet dessert. I then realized I could create a savory cobbler dish using California’s variety of year-round mushrooms, including shiitake, oyster, and cremini mushrooms mixed with a nice Humboldt Fog goat cheese to give it an earthy flavor.” Make a reservation at VERGE.

Richard Sandoval of Tamayo, Denver, Colorado
“I love cooking with huitlacoche, a Mexican truffle and delicacy used in all sorts of dishes from soups to enchiladas to sauces. Huitlacoche, or corn smut, has a soft and velvety taste that is unlike any other ingredient. I make a roasted corn soup with a huitlacoche dumpling and a huitlacoche vinaigrette with huitlacoche, white wine vinegar, and canola oil, seasoned with salt and pepper.” Make a reservation at Tamayo.

David Morales of Naked Crab, Fort Lauderdale Beach, Florida
“I prepare a wild mushroom cappuccino using various mushrooms including organic hon-shimeji white beech mushrooms, organic hon-shimeji brown beech mushrooms, maitake mushrooms, royal trumpet mushrooms, almond milk, heavy cream, butter, salt, and pepper.” Make a reservation at Naked Crab.

Continue Reading