Justin Mosher will tell you that there's nothing like coming home to the place where you grew up and the kitchen where you got your start.
Mosher, formerly the sous chef at the Blue Heron Restaurant from 2002-2009, has returned to the restaurant that features globally-inspired cuisine and ethically-sourced ingredients as chef de cuisine to overseeing the day-to-day operations of the kitchen and working with executive chef Deborah Snow to develop new dishes and special event menus.
Chef Justin Mosher.
"I was at old Blue Heron at Montague Book Mill," said Mosher. "I started there when I was 21 and stayed through the move for eight years. As things progressed, there wasn't room to grow here and Deborah said to spread my wings."
The Northampton native went on to serve as executive sous chef for a season at Blue Canoe Grill in Martha's Vineyard and for two years at Dos Caminos Mexican restaurant in Midtown Manhattan.
"I got to learn fine-dining Mexican fare there under one of the corporate chefs there," he said. "I worked with some celebrity chefs that were on Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen. I was almost executive then I moved back to Boston."
For the past two years, Mosher served as chef de cuisine at the award-winning Meritage Restaurant at the Boston Harbor Hotel.
"When I moved to Boston, I had to check it out," he said. "I asked if there were any openings and asked chef Daniel Bruce, the inventor and creator of Boston Wine Festival, if he needed a sous."
Mosher did his bench test and started out in the Sea Grill, the Hotel's seafood restaurant downstairs. When the sous at the Meritage was ready to move on, Mosher got the call to expedite and move up.
"I did all the pasta, handmade, for the hotel, weddings, banquets," said Mosher. "I learned how to make a lot of different things when I was with [Bruce]. He's a mushroom forager and I did wine festival with him for the last three years."
Spices.
Boston was also where Mosher met his fiancee, Kristen. When they decided to get married, they took a trip back to the Blue Heron because he wanted his favorite former boss to cater their wedding.
"As I was leaving, I gave her a hug and said if you ever have an opening let me know," said Mosher. "Two weeks later, I was on vacation and got a voicemail from Deb saying that she needed someone. Everything fell into place and I'm back after being gone for almost six years."
"Barbara [White] and I are thrilled to have Justin back in the kitchen," said Snow, who opened the restaurant with co-owner White in 1997. "In the years since leaving the Blue Heron, Justin has shown phenomenal growth, in terms of his culinary ability, his palate and his leadership skills."
Mosher shared how he sees Snow as his second mom and how she calls him the son she never had.
"It's kind of like everything came around full circle and it's great to be back with her," he said. "She's such a great lady to work for and we just absolutely love her. There's few and far between places where the owner is going to come in and ask each and every person how you are and remember what you're going through."
Their palates are very similar and not just when it comes to salt. As chefs, they are harmonize to the point where Snow could start a dish from their eclectic, global menu and Mosher could finish it.
"This was a life long dream that I had to go back to an independent restaurant and out of the corporate business, to go back to being able to be creative and do the food that I love for the clientele that would love it," he said. "To be able to stick your head out and see people enjoying your food, there's nothing like that."
The Blue Heron is located at 112 North Main Street in Sunderland and open for dinner at 5:00 P.M. Tuesday-Sunday. For more information, visit blueherondining.com.