How Terra Chef Mike Davis has changed Columbia’s restaurant scene

Chef Mike Davis and his restaurant Terra are celebrating a 10th anniversary this week.

Sitting at the top of the hill just over the Gervais Street bridge at State and Meeting streets in West Columbia, Terra has been seen by many as an anchor on the west side of the river, an enticement for Columbians to venture across the bridge for a great dining experience.

Davis, who opened Terra in August 2006, is a graduate of Johnson & Wales. He started his career at Magnolia’s in Charleston and has worked in the kitchens of James Beard Award winning chefs Susan Spicer (Bayona in New Orleans) and Frank Stitt (Chez Fon Fon in Birmingham). He was at the forefront of the farm-to-table movement in Columbia, sourcing ingredients locally and preparing seasonal menus.

In recognition of Terra’s 10th, a special menu of customer favorites is being offered through Sunday. One dish on that special menu is something that Davis will recreate from his Southern Roots dinner at the James Beard House in 2010: a catfish dish with crawfish, tasso, and orzo with roasted peppers, wilted spinach and sherry mustard butter.

There alsowill be a special celebratory multi-course dinner Oct. 20 with guest Chef Anthony Gray of Bacon Bros. Public House in Greenville.

We sat down recently with Davis to talk about his milestone.

It’s been 10 years since Terra opened. What do you remember from the very first menu that you served?

There are two dishes that are still on the menu – the lamb macaroni, what we call Lamb Mac (macaroni and cheese with poblano peppers, fontina and goat cheese); and shrimp remoulade with fried green tomato salad and Benton’s country ham. Well, and the steak frites (12-ounce Angus ribeye, pommes frites, simple salad and blue cheese butter). ... So there are three dishes that are still with us and I think if I took them off there would be a revolt with the regulars.

There are a couple of items (on the first menu) that we’ve come back to ... we always do scallops with succotash in the summer time, because our actual anniversary was Aug. 1. But it was so hot I didn’t want to do a whole bunch of stuff during that time, so we waited until (the heat) broke a little bit.

How has the local restaurant scene changed over the past 10 years?

It’s gotten bigger and feels like there’s more traction than when we opened. There’s more independent places opening – and still I would love to see more independents open. I feel like we’re pretty much a chain-dominated town and it’s not so much national chains but regional chains. I’d really love to see more chef-driven restaurants – which is why I’m really stoked about Tallulah (Chef Russell Jones is opening in the old Dianne’s on Devine location) and a couple of things that Kristian (Niemi) has in the bag that are coming up, because the more that we get of smaller, independent restaurants that are kitchen-driven, the more that the food scene will take off.

Are we approaching a tipping point?

I think we’re getting there. I think the climate is definitely way better than it was when we first opened.

Right when we opened and were getting our feet under us and feeling good about ourselves, the recession hit ... and there were some doldrums after that, but everybody kind of made it through that. Now I think there’s more momentum and just the stuff that they’re doing out there at City Roots, the fact that Indigo (restaurant group/parent company of The Oak Table) came to town from Charleston. There’s interest from outside areas of opening and creating a food scene here in Columbia.

You and the restaurant have garnered numerous accolades, from preparing a Taste of the South dinner at the James Beard House to other awards for you and Terra. What has stood out the most?

As a chef and to go and cook at the Beard House, it’s like being a musician and playing Carnegie Hall. You think about the history of the place and those who have been there before you, so that was a big tipping point. When that happened, that was right after the Recession hit, that really was when the restaurant picked up full steam. It was a big boost of confidence for everybody that was here. We had been doing it for a couple of years at that point and we kinda realized ‘Hey, we can make this work, we’re doing this, and let’s go full force into it.’

Getting involved with the Southern Foodways Alliance and being asked to go cook at Blackberry (Farm) ... it’s great to be recognized by my regional peers. I’d say those two experiences really stand out and I’m the most proud of.

If we took a look inside your personal fridge right now, what might we find?

Leftover Manchester Farms quail from a Euphoria event in Greenville that I’m cooking up for my girls; always a white wine or champagne for when we’re feeling really good about something in the restaurant ... we like to drink a bit of white wine with dinner; and then there’s always something pickled. Week before last I cooked a big crown roast of pork ... so I had leftovers of that ... so I shaved (the roast) and ended up making Cuban sandwiches. I brought a bunch of dill pickles from the house. But we always have some sort of pickle that we’ve got here (at Terra) to add flavor to whatever I’m cooking.

You were one of the first farm to table restaurants in Columbia. Then locally sourced products became a big trend. What do you see as the next trend?

I think the biggest trend in food ... is making it more approachable to everybody. Having fine dining sensibilities in a more casual place. You see it all over the country where people are treating bar food and neighborhood places with the same sensibilities that – 10 or 15 years ago – only the fine dining people were thinking about where they were sourcing their food from, how they’re treating it, finding out the backstory about who is producing it. So that whole thing with the farm-to-table started the whole movement and now it’s trickled down and gone to all the other restaurants. I think it’s the most exciting thing going on in the American food scene right now – the care and the thought and where it’s produced and how it’s treated.

Breaking down the barriers of what was perceived to be stuffy and making it approachable ... and making people feel comfortable and understanding ... and talking and being excited about their food. That’s what we try to do here at Terra. When we first opened, even steak frites, people were like ‘whoa, what’s that?’ It’s just steak and french fries, you know. But it’s about people being comfortable asking or knowing what it is.

Where do you find inspiration for new recipes?

There will be times when I’m down in the dumps ... looking around at (the ingredients) that you have and trying to force it. For me it usually happens at the end of a season – like right now when we’re in between the summer and the fall – when we’ve had the same palate of fish or vegetables for the past few months and how do you make something new out of it. You get to the point where you force it, force it, force it and you stress yourself out trying to come up with something. And then you’ll have something will come in the door that will just be beautiful.

Last week we got in some cobia and it was just ... perfect fish. It was beautiful. Right then and there I just looked at it and said we have to do some crudo. We have to do this, it has to be raw, and we have to do it ... and it’s fleeting. It ended up being in September, but I thought it was the best summer dish that I came up with all summer ... the fish and the end of the season heirlooms and the butterbean puree with tomato water and corno de toro peppers that we had. You get this one ingredient that just dazzles and you look at it and go ‘Wow, that’s awesome,’ and that starts the creative thought. All that stuff you had right in front of you ... comes together and it seems ... like it’s effortless. And it looks great and it tastes great and everybody loves it. But once that cobia was gone, we didn’t have it anymore and we couldn’t do it anymore. It was such a fleeting thing.

That’s how it works for me ... I’ll find that one thing and then what can I put with that and that’s how the creative process works for me.

What do you see in Terra’s future?

Constantly striving for perfection. We know were never gonna get there but if we continue to hone our craft and put something we’re proud of ... then we’ll be happy.

I’ve flirted with opening another place, that’s still in the background and that still might happen in the next couple of years. In the meantime I’m just taking the Zen approach of trying to reach perfection. Trying to reach the gold ring and put out the perfect plate. And being proud of what becomes of that through that journey.

This story was originally published October 4, 2016 at 12:14 PM with the headline "How Terra Chef Mike Davis has changed Columbia’s restaurant scene."