Corn Mafia

Once upon a pandemic a Mohawk chef found a new calling and the results are irresistible. Chef Dave Smoke McCluskey, founder of Corn Mafia closed his restaurant to pursue his passion for the most important of all indigenous ingredients, corn. He has been described as a colorful character and that's a pretty tame interpretation. As a Mohawk he takes his job as a "keeper of the Eastern door" very seriously. As a chef he takes the availability of good clean food very seriously. His culinary career spanned over 40 years and it is the marriage of the mind of a chef and the soul of a Mohawk that creates such transformative ingredients as his Longhouse Hominy Grits. He is a food educator and currently serves as a Slow Food Ark of Taste Board Member.

Chef Dave fire roasts his hominy after washing it to give it a signature taste of the past. These corns or O:nenhste as they say in Mohawk, are sourced from landrace, Indigenous farmed or organic sources. Some people think Indigenous foods are or were bland. These products are meant to act as a foil to such unadventurous thoughts. What’s old is new, what’s old will never leave us.