As far as the licorice lace, it’s a wonderful plant that offers up a flavor reminiscent of this traditional form of candy. Sometimes called Irish lace, the plant provides dishes with a delicate texture and eye-catching frilly appearance with lace-like green leaves and feathery threads. 

Chef Garrett Lipar and Licorice Lace

Chef Garrett loves using our licorice lace with dishes containing duck, quail, and venison with the anise-like flavors of licorice lace being ideal for autumn dishes. “I’ve been a customer of The Chef’s Garden,” he says, “for eight or nine years at two different restaurants. I really like the licorice lace in fall dishes because its flavors lend themselves well to the richness of, say, bone stock or au jus.” 

He uses the plant in a dish with duck broth, a couple different types of mushrooms, and sliced turnips. He both cooks with the licorice lace and uses it as a garnish for a one-two flavor punch. 

Besides using licorice lace in dishes with game, he appreciates how well it meshes with mushroom dishes. “It just fits the season and works well with the woody flavors of mushrooms.” 

Plus, Chef Garrett loves the “beautiful color, wispiness, and texture of the fronds. It’s so appealing and fits the season.”

Garrett grew up appreciating the seasons of the community of Waterford, Michigan, spending time in his grandparents’ wonderful garden where he helped them to grow, taste, can, and pickle the produce. He began to work in a restaurant kitchen at the age of fourteen, starting with dishwashing and becoming a line cook. 

Chef Garrett attended Scottsdale Culinary Institute and then interned at a New York CIty restaurant and transferred to restaurants in Chicago along with Stockholm, Sweden where he picked up Scandinavian influences in his culinary style.