Welcome to "Chef's Corner," Daniel Asher's monthly blog, where he delves into the intricate world of food, restaurants, distributors, and all things Foodservice. Daniel is a chef and restaurant owner + the head of strategic relationships & hospitality at Cut+Dry.
“Who are you? Who are you? I am a walrus” says Anthony Michael Hall’s character Brian in The Breakfast Club circa 1985 as he’s trying to define himself and sticks two pens in his mouth. I reference this movie often, as it not only connects me to a very specific time in my childhood but it's brimming with wisdom about social development in high school and our endless quest for our own identity. I was just talking about that scene in a conversation with a colleague about branding. Each of us has our own brand; we may not walk around with a logo on our foreheads but we can define our personal mission, vision and values statements and decide what type of impact we want to have on the world much like a business entity.
Finding your ‘why’ as Simon Sinek defined so clearly in his seminal 2009 TedTalk is as much about a personal philosophy as it is a corporate one. Why do you do what you do? Then we must ask, what do we do, how do we do it, and for whom? A business that doesn’t ask these questions or have these answers will fail. A person that doesn’t do this will flounder. A clearly defined sense of purpose helps us not only get through dark times, but can also inspire those around us to thrive. In the restaurant world, and #cheflife, you must lead with purpose and passion. It is a values-driven craft that demands complete immersion, and to do it well not only requires talent but devotion.
Nostalgia is one of my big why’s. That is my source of connection to comfort food. When I taste something that reminds me of a simpler, less chaotic and less demanding time in life, it brings back memories that are warm and happy. That is a feeling I want to share with others. Every culture has their comfort foods. It is the food knowledge that is passed from elder to younger, who then become the elder, and in turn pass it along to their younger ones. This recipe lineage, based on memories, emotions and love, is very sacred. From a culinary perspective, I’ve had many star dishes born from this equation, and none of them used the words “foam” or “gel” (excluding Jello from this conversation, which is very nostalgic).
Let’s talk about eggs, an ingredient that is deeply emotional for many people. Restaurant guests get so offended if you deliver them a version of eggs that doesn’t match their movie reel of memories. Brunch is a dangerous game. It is for this reason that, after decades of brunch services serving thousands of eggs cooked 20 different ways, I established a ‘no benedict policy’. This was at a point of professional exhaustion and evolution where I was wanting to strip away the things that created the most problems both functionally and spiritually. Poached eggs can bring a beautifully functioning hot line to its knees in minutes. They are such a powerful presence on a breakfast menu that I simply decided they no longer would control me. It was a decision that was celebrated across the entire staff, with enough enthusiasm and impact that it practically became a philosophy. “We don’t poach staff, we don’t poach animals, and we don’t poach eggs!” Why, you ask? Eggs are one of a handful of restaurant items that lead to a whole range of tableside misconceptions about done-ness. You tell me you want the shiitake and pork belly benedict with Calabrian chili hollandaise, eggs poached over medium you say?? There’s a textbook culinary ‘over medium’ that goes back generations and has a beautiful legacy of obsessive time temperature controls, and then there’s the over medium your drunk roommate would execute at 1:45 am while watching The Simpsons.
I’ve got my version, but you are expecting yours. And when my version doesn’t match yours, we’ve got tableside problems. And I gotta come out of the kitchen to do a table touch, 30 tickets deep with a line of humans out the door on a 55-minute wait in the middle of a 380-cover brunch service and have a heart-to-heart about the romance of egg-based core memories and how sorry I am that we let you down this morning. I’m starting to twitch just thinking about it. And don’t even get me started about hollandaise. If I had $5 for every time in my career a kitchen team had to start the holly or find the holly or fix the holly at 3-minutes-past-8 on a Sunday morning after we just sat 89 guests for the first turn, I would be typing this from the helipad on my yacht. So yeah…. Eggs Benedict. Next time you order them, please have a moment of silence for all the line cooks all over the world that have toiled with that equation and still smile and nod ‘yes chef’ when the ticket gets called.
Well, that was a good tangent! Gotta shake that off for a second. So…eggs. Not just a source of nostalgic conflict, but a perfect representation of everything that is going wrong in Foodservice right now. Egg cost is out of control. Why?? The Avian flu has decimated layer hen populations, and huge egg shortages have been the result. Supply chain issues with animal agriculture are nothing new, but this particular crisis is on a whole new level of global impact and trauma. Eggs are not something that can be easily substituted for within most Foodservice equations. They have a magical chemistry that touches every single category of food production; bakery, dessert, sweet, savory, center of the plate, sides, appetizers…. Salad dressing, ice cream, pasta, pancakes. They are a health food and an indulgence; a protein source, a nutritional powerhouse, and a delightful treat. Deviled eggs are the first complete dish I cooked with my mom when I was 5. My dad’s 6-minute 45-second soft-boiled eggs were a breakfast legend in our house, and a legacy that I now maintain with my little ones.
They have doubled in price. They are destroying tiny margins in restaurants. They are freaking people out and driving the global supply chain towards the unknown. I had to go to three different grocery stores last week to find any. They are being rationed, and limited to single cartons. These types of food issues trigger all sorts of things in people. Fear, insecurity, confusion, anger. It is a universal and shared problem across institutional, commercial, wholesale & retail divisions of Foodservice. It is local, regional and global. Waffle House has an egg tax surcharge. Denny’s just jumped in with the same agenda. McDonalds is pulling a huge move by offering $1 McMuffins to be all “egg problems? We got you.” But it is only for one day to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the menu item. I don’t recall such a shared impact across not only dayparts but across types of restaurants. From three Michelin-starred kitchens to the corner 24-hour diner, it’s the same problem. It is bringing people together, while also pulling things apart. Different yolks for different folks is not what this is about, and together we will navigate this as yet another challenge facing food-based businesses.
We had our monthly EatDenver board meeting, and thanks to the talented hospitality negotiators Sarah Abell of Baltz & Co. and Executive Director Kristen Rauch we had the pleasure of meeting at THE Casa Bonita. That’s right, THE Casa Bonita. And it is everything you’ve read about plus more. Puppet shows, tarot reading, balloon animals, cliff divers jumping 50 feet into a pond, mariachi bands, pirates, warm sopapillas drizzled in local Colorado honey…… complete insanity. We discussed many challenges facing our local independent restaurants including pending legislation that will impact the tip credit wage, food costs, access to relief funding, rising rents and mental health. So many things to navigate and solve going on behind the curtain of your favorite neighborhood restaurants. Please continue to dine out and support these hospitality heroes that show up every day to take care of your needs and bring you delicious treats!
Happy birthday to Pat ‘Gabby Gourmet’ Miller, Colorado food scene icon, goddess of greatness, enchanter of restaurants and chefs…. Steph & I were honored to attend her 90th birthday bash in Denver and it was a room full of culinary greats that have shared in the evolution of the Colorado dining scene over the past 60 years. What Gabby has done for numerous kitchens, non-profits, fledgling restaurants trying to get noticed, cookbooks, guidebooks, newspaper, tv, radio…. It is truly remarkable and I have endless gratitude and love for her tireless guidance and support.
Back to Nostalgia. I hope everyone out there had a successful Valentine’s Day weekend, usually a good boost to a quieter volume cycle and a great way to run specials and utilize elevated ingredients. My niece won her hockey championship, my daughter lost her spelling bee, both big childhood memories that will impact future moments in their lives. This is how we shape our sense of self and how we respond to the world around us. The wins, the losses, the almosts and the never.
I had the pleasure of attending a deep dive into the history of the Boulder food scene at eTown the other night. One of my spots, River and Woods was up on the projector screen as one of the original fine dining restaurants when it began its journey as John’s in 1975, operated continuously for 40 years by the amazing Chef John Bizarro and his wife Nancy and their kids until they retired and luckily decided to lease that precious little cottage to us. We will celebrate nine years of dinner and brunch service this Fall. The Gnocchi Verde dish was on John’s menu and before we opened in 2016 he invited me over to his daughter’s house to cook it with me to pass along the recipe and the knowledge so that I could start my new kitchen with an iconic dish that was a part of his. That dish has been cooked under that hood and served in that dining room for 49 years! It is such an honor to be a part of that story and to have that thread of continuity with the community.
Nick Forster, founder of eTown beautifully described the restaurant scene as “the sacred work of community builders is what keeps towns together… There is a fragile infrastructure of creative entrepreneurs that keeps things vibrant and interesting. It is a lovely intersection of food, music, culture and history that fuels neighborhoods and creates meaning.” How is that for a WHY we do this independent restaurant thing? John Lehndorff Colorado food scene legend, former line cook, food critic, radio star and my KGNU Kitchen Table Talk co-host dropped some amazing knowledge of the restaurants that he has seen come and go over the past 40 years in Boulder County.
Dave Query, chef and restaurateur now with fourteen restaurants under the ‘Big Red F’ umbrella as one of the largest independent groups in the region shared his usual uncanny wisdom and defined the ongoing owner/operator challenge as “restaurant folks live like musicians; completely hustling in the moment, paying this weeks bills with last weeks revenue” and brilliantly illustrated the dance that restaurants do as “it’s like Cirque de Soleil every single night. It is always different and it is always brand new. Every performance pushes you to be a better version of yourself since the last time a guest came to visit. And their next experience needs to match or exceed the last. It's a tremendous amount of pressure & expectation, and everything comes down to Hospitality. It has never been more important than right now and it is paramount for any guest-focused business to survive."
Nostalgia, Purpose, Why, and Eggs. Each of these can be fragile, but they all give birth to limitless possibilities with powerful connective tissue that guides and nourishes us. I’m gonna go enjoy a vegan quiche and think about that.
Love, Daniel.