In Ashland, one local chef’s Japanese-inspired Cascadian cuisine is impressing diners and critics not only in the Rogue Valley, but across the United States.
Joshua Dorcak, chef and owner of MÄS, located at 141 Will Dodge Way, has been nominated as a semifinalist for the 2024 James Beard Foundation’s shortlist of the best chefs in the northwest and Pacific regions.
“It’s amazing. I think it’s a really humbling experience,” Dorcak said of earning the nomination. “The James Beard Awards are like the Oscars of the hospitality world.”
Dorcak earned his first James Beard Award nomination in 2023, advancing to be a finalist for the Best Chef award in the Northwest and Pacific category.
“It is prideful no doubt and it’s humbling to see your name listed amongst these other amazing chefs who I feel are entirely way better than I am,” Dorcak said, noting other nominees and peers such as Matthew Lightner of ōkta in McMinnville and Gregory Gourdet of kann in Portland.
While the Ashland chef may be modest, his Cascadian cuisine is anything but — offering ornately shaped and expertly prepared dishes beaming with the flora and flavors of the Pacific Northwest.
The chef incorporates locally sourced ingredients from Ashland’s Orange Marmalade Farm, Red Buttes Farm in the Applegate Valley and farmers’ markets around the region.
The cuisine is served in MÄS’ deliberately intimate dining space of three tables and counter seating, offering meats and ingredients from as close as Southern Oregon and as far away as Washington state’s San Juan Islands and Japan.
Influenced by the natural world, Dorcak gains inspiration from the constantly changing seasons and natural formations and aesthetics found within Oregon’s ecosphere.
“Cascadian cuisine to me is tuning into the fleeting moments of the seasons and capturing them … I’m tailoring a season into a tasty experience,” he said.
Whether it’s elderberries in the fall or morel mushrooms in the springtime, Dorcak produces dishes that evoke seasonal change, presented in a style resembling the natural, untouched world.
“How (ingredients) look in wild, still connected to the Earth, I take a mental snapshot of that and try to incorporate it into the end vision off it all because it’s all so textural,” Dorcak said.
MÄS was born in the basement of Mix Bakeshop in 2017 as a pop-up restaurant with the chef moving operations to the restaurant’s current location a few blocks away from the Ashland Plaza in 2018.
“Now in the last three years, it really feels like it’s evolved into a mature restaurant,” Dorcak said, adding, “It’s been amazing to see this project through.”
The culinarian expressed pride in being able to represent the talented chefs outside of Portland and Seattle.
“To bring attention to lesser known regions of Oregon compared to Portland, and to be on the map … it’s incredible to see small communities represented,” Dorcak said.
The James Beard Foundation Awards — named after the revered American chef, cookbook author and television personality who was born in Portland — recognize culinary standouts in myriad categories, from chefs to bakers to vintners.
Finalists for each category will be announced April 3 by the James Beard Foundation, and the organization will host an awards ceremony June 10 in Chicago to announce winners.
