a(MUSE.)’s Hari Cameron named StarChef Rising Star

According to its website, StarChefs Rising Stars Awards celebrate up-and-coming chefs and culinary professionals, who represent the vanguard of the contemporary American dining scene.

With that in mind, a(Muse.) owner and chef Hari Cameron was recently named a 2018 D.C.-Chesapeake Rising Star by the culinary publication that prints quarterly. He was one of 18 culinary professionals from the region recognized, and the only one in Delaware.

It’s an amazing honor, he said recently. Many of the culinary professionals are from the Washington, D.C., area with well-established reputations as being tops in their field, so to be put in with that group is awesome, he said.

Cameron said when the StarChef folks visited a(Muse.), he was told the slippery dumplings meal he prepared was one of their favorites all year. That’s great to hear, because these people are professional eaters who eat thousands of meals a year, he said.

In addition to the Rising Star recognition, Cameron’s slippery dumplings plate featured on the publication’s social media accounts won the Steelite Company Art of Presentation award, which came with a $5,000 check to be spent on any of the company’s culinary products.

The company specializes in plates, and Cameron said high-quality plates are critical to the success of high-quality food because they’re the canvas that frames the food. He said the award money will allow him to purchase plates that he otherwise wouldn’t because of cost.

It’s great to buy nice plates, until one gets dropped and breaks, he said, laughing.

Cameron hasn’t decided what plate designs he’ll purchase yet – he does have a full page of serial numbers that he’s interested in from a 360-page book – but he said the money will allow him to purchase items to accentuate some of the micro-seasons in Delaware. For example, a(Muse.) will only have local asparagus on the menu for a brief period, and he said maybe he’ll purchase some linear plates that play along with the vegetable’s long and skinny nature.

As excited as he was for the individual recognition, Cameron was also quick to share the love with his employees. From the dishwashers to the person who handles the books, and the folks in between, it’s their hard work that makes this restaurant and its food a success, he said.