Taste: Dinner With … Chef Ian Moroney

of Pumpkin, Pumpkin Cafe and Pumpkin Market

Fondest food memory: When I was growing up, my diet was straight-up Americana, so when I first tasted lamb with rosemary, I thought, “Oh my God, I didn’t know food could be like this.”

First dish I learned to cook: The first dish my father let me cook at Little Fish was sautéed beet greens with goat cheese, pine nuts and raisins.

Ingredients of the moment: Oysters, cabbage and duck fat. But not together.

Most embarrassing food love: Soggy Captain Crunch.

Staff meal:
Meatlenta, a combination of stewed meats and soft polenta cakes.

Top Philly food: Yuengling at Tangier.

Favorite Philly restaurant: I don’t follow restaurants; I ­follow chefs, like Michael Solomonov [currently at Zahav], Jonathan McDonald [currently at Pub & Kitchen] and Waldemar ­Stryjewski [currently at—­surprise—Pumpkin].

Best meal ever: I haven’t had it yet.