We’ll look at the minute-by-minute operations of one of the nation’s most respected restaurants and feel the pressure as the staff races against the clock during the dinner rush hour. Tempres flare but the staff comes together in the end
With more than 27 years in the culinary profession, Chef Robert Irvine has cooked his way through Europe, the Far East, the Caribbean and the Americas, in hotels and on the high seas. Robert hosts the Food Network series Restaurant: Impossible, where he saves struggling restaurants across America by assessing and overhauling their weakest spots. He also previously hosted Dinner: Impossible and Worst Cooks in America. Robert has authored two cookbooks, Mission: Cook! and Impossible to Easy, and one healthy-living book, Fit Fuel: A Chef’s Guide to Eating Well and Living Your Best Life. He tours with his interactive live show, Robert Irvine Live, and appears regularly as an expert guest on national morning and daytime talk shows.In 2015 Robert launched Robert Irvine Foods, a company that features a nutritionally improved line of food products without compromising great taste. He recently established his eponymously named nonprofit organization, The Robert Irvine Foundation, in an effort to support military personnel and their families. In recent years he was honored with two very distinguished recognitions for his dedication to the armed services and our country’s heroes. He was first designated Honorary Chief Petty Officer by the U.S. Navy, and later that year awarded the Bob Hope Award for Excellence in Entertainment and Support of our Service Members, bestowed upon him by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. Continuing his support of the military, Robert became the first celebrity chef to open a restaurant — aptly named Chef Robert Irvine’s Fresh Kitchen — at the Pentagon, in the fall of 2016. His other recent projects include the Robert Irvine Magazine in May 2016; the opening of a new Gold’s Gym in Largo, Florida, in January 2017; and the opening of a new restaurant in Las Vegas at the Tropicana in late 2017. For more information on Chef Robert Irvine, visit www.ChefIrvine.com.
If there’s one thing you learn as a line cook, it’s discipline. When Paul Berglund, executive chef of The Bachelor Farmer in Minneapolis, showed up in a suit for his first line cook interview at the acclaimed Oliveto restaurant in Oakland, CA, discipline was at the top of his resume: he was fresh from the US Navy and looking to launch a culinary career. “I was staring down at two choices,” he said: “Becoming a park ranger or a cook. I sometimes wonder what life would’ve been like in the Badlands, but am incredibly grateful fate steered me to cooking.”We, too, are very glad Paul Berglund didn’t become a ranger, or the world wouldn’t have The Bachelor Farmer, which opened in 2011 and serves some of the best edible expressions of the Upper Midwest. When Berglund began cooking at the converted historic brick-and-timber warehouse, most dishes leaned towards traditional Nordic fare—gravlax, Swedish meatballs— which connected him with his own heritage and the roots of traditional Midwestern cooking. However, it didn’t take long for Berglund to become inspired by ingredients sourced from local farms, including the best pork and butter he’d ever tasted. Berglund uses organic products whenever possible and also cultivates herbs and vegetables on The Bachelor Farmer's rooftop farm, which was the first of its kind in Minneapolis. A devotion to fine ingredients and their growers paid off when Berglund won the award for "Best Chef: Midwest" from the James Beard Foundation in 2016.You’ll understand how Berglund earned his accolades when you taste the fresh, wholesome dishes he’s made for Panna: maple syrup-braised beets with fresh cheese, hazelnuts, cider vinegar, or his shaved cabbage salad with Parmesan vinaigrette, chopped egg, and croutons. Even if you can’t put a finger on modern Midwestern cuisine, these dishes from Berglund’s kitchen will help you define it, deliciously.Paul's Restaurant:The Bachelor Farmer (Minneapolis, MN)
Deborah Madison has long been a part of the food movement as a chef, writer, farmers' market manager and as an everyday home cook. After working at Chez Panisse, she founded Greens restaurant in San Francisco, one of the earliest restaurants to have a farm driven menu, and Cafe Escalera in Santa Fe, the first to do so in Santa Fe as well. Deborah is also the author of 12 books. Her recent book, Vegetable Literacy, is about the edible members of 12 plant families (with 300 recipes) and was awarded an IACP award and is a finalist for a James Beard award. The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (March 2014) is her most recent book. Among her other books are Local Flavors, Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers Markets, The Greens Cookbook, The Savory Way, and Seasonal Fruit Desserts from Orchard, Farm and Market. Her books have garnered several James Beard Awards and two IACP Cookbook of the Year awards, among others. She also recently won the James Beard Award for Cookbook Hall of Fame, 2016.Before opening Cafe Escalera in Santa Fe, Deborah was the farmers' market manager. She co-founded a school garden in Santa Fe, started a Slow Food convivium, served on Slow Food's international Committee for Bio-Diversity in Italy, and taught cooking (which she still does in her home). She has served on a host of food-related boards, including the Seed Savers Exchange. She is committed to farmers markets, gardening, simple good food with friends, and the freedom to know what we're eating. Deborah grew up in California but for the last 23 years has lived in New Mexico, in the tiny village of Galisteo with her husband, artist Patrick McFarlin.Deborah's Books:Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen (2007) Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (1997) Vegetable Literacy (2013) The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (2014) Local Flavors (2008)
The Kitchen's Sunny Anderson and Chef Giada De Laurentiis team up again to bring the heat into Bobby Flay's kitchen. The dynamic duo has recruited Indian expert Chef Paddy Rawal and Caribbean specialist Chef Trey Lamont to set Bobby's kitchen ablaze.
Can a dish of mac-and-cheese revitalize a city? If it’s made by Ashley Christensen, chef-owner of Poole’s Diner and six other restaurants in Raleigh, North Carolina, it’s possible. Poole’s turns out 15,000 of the gooey 3-cheese macaroni dishes a year (The New York Times says it’ll leave you “speechless”). In fact, there’s a whole station in the kitchen dedicated to making it, and it’s become an attraction in what was once a languishing downtown. The story of Poole's Diner begins with dessert: it was a pie shop that became a luncheonette in the 1940s, and stands as one of the oldest restaurants in the city. While studying at nearby N.C. State, 18-year-old Christensen got a job as a line cook at Poole’s. After she graduated from school and had several other restaurant jobs under her belt, the proprietor offered to sell the diner to her. Although all the appliances needed replacing, Christensen was still enchanted by the retro, emotional decor: a double-horseshoe counter, formica green top, worn in places where longtime customers put their elbows while drinking coffee. As you'd expect from any diner serving and mac-and-cheese, Poole’s feels classic and comfortable. But Christensen also wanted to offer something more: a celebration of local ingredients re-imagined with new flavors, like her slow shrimp with tangy marinated peppers— a modern riff on a Southern dish that has stood the test of time. When Christensen creates her food, she starts with a specific feeling: "The way it felt to eat dinner as a kid with my parents—it was an escape from the day but also a reminder of its blessings.” And when you sit down to a dish of Christensen's macaroni au gratin, cheese bubbling at the edges, or a plate of tender asparagus mingled with savory mushrooms, we think you’ll be transported, too.Ashley's Restaurants:Death & Taxes (Raleigh, NC)Poole's Diner (Raleigh, NC)Ashley's Book:Poole's Diner (2016)