SALEM ― Daniel Gursha, executive chef of Salem’s Ledger, has been in the culinary industry since he was 16, worked at one of the best restaurants in the world, and isn’t totally sure how he came to be nominated for a James Beard Award.
“I got an email congratulating me on my James Beard Award nomination and I thought it was a scam. You know, like I’d won a trip to Florida,” he said.
The James Beard Awards, nicknamed the “Oscars of the food world,” feature a list of nominees across the nation in categories covering everything from hospitality, wine programs and, of course, best chef. Gursha has been nominated in a regional category.
In order to be eligible for a James Beard nod, a chef has to be nominated by his or her peers. Gursha recalled that, in past years, “everybody was trying to write me in” and he didn’t make the cut.
“I’m not really sure how the whole James Beard thing really works, to be honest with you,” he admitted. “I was surprised to even be on that list.”
In spite of his surprise, Gursha’s demeanor, his back story, and his eclectic menu are all in line with that of a top chef. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Gursha moved around a lot in his youth, but an early constant for him was his grandmother’s cooking.
“She always made everything from scratch,” he said. “Sometimes I would help out, rolling phyllo dough, (making) stews and cookies.”
His grandmother’s cooking differed from what other kids were eating, he said, and he credited her for introducing him to interesting and diverse elements at a young age.
“Both my grandmother and my mother were born in Egypt, but they have a lot of Spanish, Italian, and French influences in their cooking, a lot of Middle Eastern spices, which was definitely different to grow up with,” Gursha recalled.
Gursha wasn’t interested in becoming a professional chef when, as a teenager, he began applying for server and busboy jobs on Cape Cod. After not garnering much interest from local establishments, he was surprised when chef Rob Bono of Ardeo called him and asked him if he wanted to learn how to make salads.
“I said ‘sure, I’ll learn how to make salads,'” Gursha said. A chef was born.
Under Bono’s guidance, a love of cooking began to germinate in Gursha. The young chef would buy a cookbook with every paycheck he earned and study them meticulously. After working at a few restaurants on the Cape, he was armed with enough knowledge to work in Boston, Martha’s Vineyard, and New York.
And then, of course, there was Noma.
Frequently listed among the best restaurants in the world, the Copenhagen-based establishment has made a name for itself by reinventing Nordic cuisine with fresher-than-fresh, foraged ingredients and avant-garde applications. Gursha found Noma while wandering aimlessly around Europe; he started as a prep cook and wound up working in the prestigious test kitchen alongside chef Rene Redzepi.
“I got to work beside Rene for a month, tasting stuff and helping develop dishes, which was a pretty amazing experience,” he said. I got a lot of amazing experiences there when I was out foraging.”
The itinerant chef took jobs in New York and Boston after Noma, but it was Ledger that made the wanderer finally settle down. Gursha has been Ledger’s executive chef for five years ― three of which presented unique challenges. However, under the guidance of Gursha, chef/owner Matt O’Neill and General Manager Kelsey Tenore, they turned the setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic into a unique opportunity.
“We basically turned this restaurant into a grocery store about three days after the pandemic started,” he said. “We swapped this place in three days. We had one week of service in here and we were like ‘we can’t staff 50 people and do takeout; it’s impossible.'”
Dubbed Ledger Basket, the complete reorganization of the business and its indoor space took three full days ― and no sleep ― to launch. The project included a website; graphics; rotating prepared foods like pizza dough, Bloody Mary mix and potato salad; and, to top it all off, a Market Basket-style flier listing the day’s offerings.
“We basically made it so people that were scared to go into the grocery store didn’t have to go,” Gursha said. “We definitely didn’t make any money doing it, we had no idea what we were doing, but we kept the staff working, we were able to keep the lights on and we were able to do a service for the community.”
Now that Ledger is back to its normal operations, Gursha can go back to pouring his creative energy into his menu. Though the meals he creates appeal to both his Yankee and North African influences, the chef stated he isn’t inspired by any cuisine, but rather “ingredients, the change of the seasons.”
“Things do change, I’ve changed over time (and) that’s the one thing that I love about cooking: We adapt and change as things change,” he explained. “There’s new vegetables that are available, there’s different products that are available and we shouldn’t pigeonhole ourselves into never changing, right? We reinvent all the time.”
One thing that doesn’t change about Gursha is his work ethic and commitment to his craft, instilled in him years ago by chef Rob Bono and validated by his James Beard nomination.
“I don’t ever expect to win or anything,” he admitted. “I take it as a little push to become better and try to do the best that you can every day. I mean, I always try that, but when you look at something like that, you want to get better.”
The James Beard Awards for chefs and restaurants will be held Monday, June 13 in Chicago.
