Menu Item: Korean-Style Fried Chicken with Spicy Mayo & House Pickles
Location: Pavilion

Bio: Beginning with his first job as a dishwasher at a greasy spoon when he was just 12 years old, Samir has over 25 years’ experience working in all aspects of kitchens and restaurants. He grew up in the small town of Taos, New Mexico where farm-to-table was a lifestyle, not a trend. From there he served in the US Coast Guard whilst earning culinary degrees from Le Cordon Bleu and the Culinary Institute of America. His formative years were spent in Denver, Colorado, where he earned the title of Best Rising Chef 2012, and where he met his wife, Rachel, who was ultimately the driving factor in the couple’s move to her home state of Indiana in 2020. Chef Samir has put down roots in Noblesville where he leads the team at 9th Street Bistro, an intimate 35-seat restaurant with a menu that changes monthly and is focused around hyperlocal produce and sourcing ingredients sustainably. Samir was named a Semifinalist for the James A. Beard Foundation’s Best Chef of the Great Lakes region in 2023, and the restaurant was listed in OpenTable’s Top 100 restaurants across the country in the same year.