It’s a trope of Hallmark’s Christmas movies that a big-city girl returns to the small town where she grew up and lives happily ever after. Here’s a new spin: After years climbing the restaurant ladder in Washington, D.C., chef Matthew Zafrir came back to live and work in Owings Mills, just in time for the holidays.

As the head chef of The Tillery, Zafrir is hoping to infuse even more of a taste of home into his new post. His culinary ideas have turned to the cozy, Jewish-American flavors with which he was raised: the corned beef sandwiches at Attman’s Delicatessen and golden fried latkes, like the kind his family made each year for Hanukkah. Zafrir wants to pay homage to those staples, infusing them with Maryland soul and some foodie flourishes.

Memories of those classic dishes stuck with him after he graduated from the prestigious McDonogh School, leaving Maryland to study finance at Auburn University in Alabama, where he was the “one Jewish kid.” It turned out he wasn’t cut out for a career in finance. But after getting a job washing dishes at what he calls “a glorified Cracker Barrel” named The Hound, Zafrir discovered that he loved working in restaurants.

And he really missed home, where he is one in a set of triplets. He also missed the food.

Returning to the area at 22, he managed to get a job working with Spike Gjerde and Opie Crooks, first at Woodberry Kitchen and then at Rake’s Progress in D.C. Zafrir stuck around the nation’s capital, working at restaurants like the Michelin-starred Minibar, a tony Japanese-Spanish fusion spot called Cranes, and the Tabard Inn, an old-school haunt dating back to the 1920s.

It was at the latter that Zafrir began exploring his own culinary roots, formed back in Baltimore with help from his Israeli dad and mom of Eastern European Jewish descent. Attempting to bake for the first time, he tried out a recipe for honey cake, a simple dessert ubiquitous in Jewish delis. “It wasn’t my first choice growing up,” he said. “I was a Berger cookie guy.” Yet making it himself, he “nailed it” on the first try.

One year during Rosh Hashanah, Zafrir served the dish topped with candied apples at the Tabard Inn. The hotel’s owner loved it so much it wound up on the regular menu. “It’s kind of followed me ever since,” Zafrir said.

At The Tillery, located inside the Owings Mills Marriott hotel, guests can find honey cake topped with fig paste and presented with torched marshmallow fluff, an homage to Baltimore’s favorite snowball topping.

Tillery diners will soon be able to try menu items like vegetarian matzoh ball soup, served with a vegan mushroom broth. Grilled oysters will be doused in Russian dressing, a hallmark condiment of Jewish delis, for a dish the chef said came together in “an epiphany moment.”

Zafrir said he also plans to incorporate Middle Eastern flavors like za’atar and harissa, both popular in Israel, where he still has family. “Harissa tartar sauce is where my mind goes,” said Zafrir, who will pair it with The Tillery’s crab cake. But he doesn’t feel the need to reinvent it all. “Hummus is sacred,” he said.

And for many Baltimoreans, the winter holidays wouldn’t be complete without latkes, the signature savory dish of Hanukkah. In the coming weeks, Tillery diners can expect to see menu items like latkes drenched in jalapeño cheddar gravy. Zafrir is also planning to serve the potato pancakes with brisket as a special during Hanukkah, which begins Dec. 14 at sundown.

The chef has his own tricks of the trade when it comes to making latkes at home. “Everyone talks about [the importance of] the heat of the pan, how much oil you need to have,” Zafrir said, but it’s the moisture in the potatoes that matters most. Strain them as best you can after grating and your latkes will turn out nice and golden brown. As for type of spuds, the chef prefers Yukon Golds. “I love the flavor of a Yukon just by itself,” he said.

Below, find Zafrir’s recipe for latkes.

Ingredients:

• 6 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and shredded
• 1/2 red onion
• 6 eggs
• 132 grams all purpose flour
• 12 grams dried thyme
• 24 grams salt
• 10 grams paprika powder
• 8 grams black peppercorn
• Canola oil for frying

Instructions:

Strain the potatoes in a cheesecloth to remove the excess water. Whisk eggs, onion, flour and seasoning in a bowl. Fold in strained potato. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Put latke onto hot pan and fry on medium heat until golden brown. Flip and cook through. Remove from pan onto resting rack and season with salt.

Correction: The recipe in this article has been updated.