food&drink
DOWN HOME Fat A n n e ’ s B a k e r y & B i s t r o
By Jennifer Fumiko Cahill • Photographs by Mark McKenna
Fat Anne’s Bakery & Bistro 460 Main St., Ferndale Open ThursdaySaturday 11:30 AM to 8 PM, & Sunday 9:30 AM to 2 PM (707) 786-9286 fatannesbakerybistro.com → Tevyn Fisher’s buttermilk fried chicken, a favorite among regulars, served family style.
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Before you dig into your plate of shrimp and grits at Fat Anne’s Bistro, or take the point off your lemon meringue pie, take a moment to appreciate the plate — its little painted roses or scalloped edges — because it might be a family heirloom. Owner and chef Tevyn Fisher serves on her grandmother’s china, along with plates and bowls friends and family have given her as gifts. Some are the plates Fisher grew up eating on. Named for a childhood nickname bestowed by her brother, Fisher’s restaurant may draw its menu from New Orleans cuisine, but her grandmother Gayle Fisher — known as “Maw” or “Mawsie” — is everywhere. Her recipes hang on the lavender walls and her legendary pie crust, developed with her neighbor Lois Mangrum (Fisher’s other grandmother) is in the dessert case most every day. Originally from Southern Humboldt, Fisher spent plenty of time at her grandparents’ house, with their garden full of tomatoes and cucumbers, picking peaches off the tree. It was largely in Maw’s kitchen that she learned to cook, watching her put up big family meals with mashed potatoes and gravy. “I was always inspired by watching my grandmother in the kitchen, laughing and cooking with a cocktail in her hand,” says Fisher. “She would taste as she went and when it was ready, she’d say, ‘Well, I’ll be damned.’” Maw would make extra pie dough
humboldt insider
2021
for her 11 grandchildren to roll out little tarts of their own, too. “There’s nothing like the feel of dough in your hands. Does it need more flour, more butter?” Fisher knew she wanted to be a chef when she was a kid. At 12, on a family trip to New Orleans, she went to her idol Emeril Lagassi’s eponymous restaurant, where only she ate because it was too expensive. The grilled shrimp salad was a little spicy for her back then but she loved it. And she fell in love with New Orleans and its rich food culture. After graduating high school, Fisher attended Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in San Francisco, where she also worked before returning to cook in Humboldt, including a four-year stint at the Sea Grill. All the while, she kept her eye out for a place to open a spot of her own. At 25, she opened in Fortuna, which later relocated to her current digs on Ferndale’s Main Street. “I’ve definitely combined my classical French training with my grandmother’s cooking,” says Fisher, noting that her style, which she feels is still developing, isn’t myopically focused on perfection. “I’ve grown into accepting using what we have,” she says, “I want people to feel like their grandmother made it for them.” Homegrown ingredients are a good start. From her home farm, she brings in okra to dip and fry, and to add to the gumbo, as well as heirloom tomatoes, lettuce, kale, collard greens, habaneros for the
