Pictured: Executive Chef Ben Hiatt brings seasonality and color to his new fall menu at Bistro. Photo courtesy of Bistro at SAM.

With gourd season upon us, Ben Hiatt is adding a roasted squash, arugula and toasted hazelnut salad to his new fall menu at Bistro at Sarasota Art Museum (SAM). “It’s about where you are and what's good right now,” the new executive chef says of his seasonal cooking.

Hiatt joined Bistro in 2020 as “a young cook just starting to learn basic sauces.” Founding executive chef Kaytlin Dangaran, now corporate chef for Constellation Culinary Group, schooled him in everything from plating to charcuterie. Hiatt’s first Bistro dish, grilled mango with tangy, chile-laced chamoy, drew on his Cuban roots. “I love to insert Latin cuisine into our menu as much as I can,” he says.

Za'atar-roasted chicken wrap with beet hummus joins the lineup. Hiatt calls the shoots from Mandy's Microgreens “undeniable”, and every loaf comes from C'est La Vie, his largest local purveyor.

After hours, the kitchen gets to play. Bistro's Pop-Up Nights return Oct. 7 with an exhibition tour, usually led by SAM executive director Virginia Shearer. Afterwards, guests descend into the dining room, which doubles as gallery space. “You’re inspired, you see the art, and then see that transitioned onto the plate,” says Bistro general manager John Dangaran.

Months ahead, Hiatt’s team spends a day studying art with curators, another designing the four-course menu. “We don't like to rush the process,” he says, aiming for “layers of meaning,” and “little aha moments.”

For the Sol LeWitt dinner, orange persimmon tartare gets lump crab and ruby pomegranate. Bone-in pork chop joins golden butternut squash risotto, grilled chicory and pear mostarda. Apple-cranberry cake closes the night. In November, Judy Glickman Lauder's photography sparks a swing from magenta borscht to hazelnut-chocolate dacquoise.

The fun starts with the amuse-bouche, that first taste. For a past show, black ribbons in an artwork became the wrapper of a salmon poke cigar; red flecks led to a beet-cured fish. As Hiatt puts it, “You see that... ah, okay, all right, here we go.”

Bistro Sarasota Art Museum, Mon-Sun 10 am- 3pm, Bistro Pop-Up Nights monthly, 1001 S Tamiami Trl, Sarasota, 941-330-9881, sarasotaartmuseum.org

Pictured: Executive Chef Ben Hiatt brings seasonality and color to his new fall menu at Bistro. Photo courtesy of Bistro at SAM.