ChefQ6: Michael Kramer from Table 301

Welcome to ChefQ6 with Michael Kramer, the Executive Chef of Culinary Operations at the famed Table 301 Restaurant Group in Greenville, South Carolina. 

BREAKING NEWS:

Your Wednesday night dinner prospects just got a lot more interesting.  Table 301 Chef, Michael Kramer is cooking a Pop-up Family Style Oktoberfest feast at the Growler Station on Wednesday night, Oct. 30. Guests will nosh on German Style Pretzels with Cherry Mustard, Spicy Arugula with Roasted Pears, Pumpkin Seeds and Parmesan Reggiano, slow Cooked Beef with Parsley-Garlic Marinade and Stout Reduction, Braised Chicken with Preserved Lemon, Pine Nuts and Rosemary, Grain Mustard Glazed Potatoes, Butternut Squash with Sage and Brown Sugar, and Warm Apple Crisp with Caramel Sea Salt Sauce... all paired with Growler Station beer.

(You are drooling, aren't you?)  There are a few tickets left, so grab yours now!  864.400.8327 Tickets are only $45 (plus tax and gratuity). On top of all of that delicious food and beer, guests get 15% off any growler fill that night.

Now down to the meat of things.  Chef Kramer was nice enough to answer a few questions for us for this installment of the Gap Creek Gourmet ChefQ6.  Turns out, he's pretty dang awesome.  Prepare to be impressed.

To start, Chef Michael Kramer's credentials are a little intimidating.  He started his career at La Folie under legendary French Chef Roland Passot.  He worked at Wolfgang Puck's Spago in Los Angeles and the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas under celebrity chef Dean Fearing before he was recruited to be the Executive Chef of McCrady's in Charleston.  His road doesn't stop there. He took over as Executive Chef of Voice Restaurant at Hotel Icon in Houston in 2007, where he scored his second nod from Esquire Magazine's "Best New Restaurants" list, and a spot on Travel and Leisure Magazine's "50 Best New Restaurants in America."  He opened Tasting Room at City Centre in Houston and was working as Executive Chef for the Compass Group in Houston before Greenville's famed Table 301 Restaurant Group snagged the crazy talented chef in 2013.  Now he's instrumental  in creating and developing new menu items and concepts for the group, in fact, he was a big driving force behind Passerelle Bistro in Falls Park which opened this summer.

If his kitchen chops don't impress you (how is that possible?), the man also has serious surfing and biking skills.   Now that you know a little something about Chef, let's get this show rolling.  

1. When did you know you wanted to become a chef?

I started working in restaurants when I was 15 to pay for my surfboards, and it just took off from there. I naturally progressed into the kitchen, and I just loved it.

2. Which chefs have most impacted your career?Roland Passot of La Folie in San Francisco, Dean Fearing at The Mansion on Turtle Creek, and Marc Valiani, my former chef and Mentor who passed away 2 years ago from ALS. He was very influential. 

3. When you are not in the kitchen, how do you spend your time?Cycling, I am a big roadie, and train in the hills like crazy. Spend time with  my dogs, and and I try to see my little boy as much as I can he lives in Houston.

4. If we could take a peek into your home refrigerator, what would we find?
My fridge is kind of boring as I don't eat home much, so mostly condiments, I always have Parmesan Reggiano, sea salt and olive oil on hand.

5. If you could pick one chef to cook your last meal, who would it be?Thomas Keller is still one of the most influential people in the US cooking food. I like his style, and sensibility, and it's always honest cooking.

6. What’s been your biggest life accomplishment (so far)?Biggest life accomplishment has to be my son Evan. He is amazing. 

Thank you, Chef Kramer!

ChefQ6: Neue Southern Food Truck Chefs Lauren Zanardelli and Graham Foster

Greenville's Neue Southern Food Truck has been on a little bit of a break since Chefs Lauren Zanardelli and Graham Foster have been traipsing the globe. They've eaten their way around Japan, Vietnam, Saigon, and Hong Kong sampling fare that is sure to make its way to the menu when they return around the 19th of February.  I caught up with the duo via Facebook during their trip for a little Q and A.

ChefQ6 with Neue Southern Food Truck's Chef Lauren Zanardelli and Chef Graham Foster

What is the first food you learned to cook well?
Graham: Roasted potatoes.
Lauren: Scrambled eggs.

What are your favorite cookbooks?
Graham and Lauren: We both use cookbooks for inspiration rather than imitation. We reference any number of them for advice. Someone smarter than us said something to the effect of, "cookbook recipes are meant to be blueprints." We use our experience and the flavor profiles we love to steer our food, rather than the cookbook's author, but our library of cookbooks are priceless references.

What kitchen tool or food product can you not live without?
Graham and Lauren: High quality knives are essential. We have love affairs with our carbon steel Bob Kramers. And we can't seem to get away from collecting more! The food products we could never live without are European or American artisan butter (and we both prefer salted, regardless of what other chefs might say), and vinegar. Vinegar is extremely versatile. It can be used as a seasoning the way we use salt or as a primary flavor. Butter and vinegar are usually the answers to the question, "What does this need?"

The most interesting thing in your home kitchen is...?
Graham and Lauren: We just received a pasta extruder at Christmas. There are just too many possibilities...

Who has most influenced your cooking ?
Graham and Lauren: We both attended culinary school because we wanted to learn the science of cooking. Both of us had long been impassioned to cook, and 2 years ago, we wanted to make it our careers. Our biggest inspirations to date have been, first, Chef Shane Pearson. He was one of our chef instructors in culinary school. He showed us where our food came from: the political changes and socioeconomic statuses of communities that influenced ingredients, flavor profiles, cooking styles, to the ratios of proteins, starches, and vegetables in cuisines. He would give us the information, and then say, "ok, cook." His experience was what inspired us to travel during this hiatus. Chef Paul Malcolm was another huge influence. He believes that as chefs, we never stop learning. We could cook the rest of our lives, read every text ever written, and we still won't know it all. So he encourages us to constantly push ourselves in order to foster our growth as chefs. We call or text him at all hours with questions.He was also the first to drive home the importance of local eating and sourcing. He even has the words "Eat Local" tattooed on his wrists.

How did you come to be a chef?
Graham and Lauren: We were both in other careers (Lauren a teacher, Graham a professional cyclist) before making the decision to make a living as chefs. In hindsight, we wish we would have started young. We have both worked with people ten years younger who could cook circles around us. We chose culinary school to help steer us into our careers in cooking, and we've never looked back. We met at Johnson and Wales in Charlotte. We have formed meaningful, lasting relationships with our chef instructors and a number of our classmates. And we wouldn't be where we are right now were it not for that decision.


Thanks for playing, guys!
Be sure to keep up with the Neue Southern Food Truck Facebook page for details on their return!

ChefQ6: Chef Kristopher McGowan from The Local Taco in Greenville

Greenville has been abuzz over the fare at The Local Taco since the joint opened mid-December just off August Street.  I popped in to check out the fish tacos (of course) and to see what the hype was all about a few days after they opened.  The Mexi Tater Tots, margarita, and two tacos I ordered knocked my socks off.  Wanna read more about my tasty adventure? Go here.   Chef Kris was busy in the kitchen when I stopped by, but was nice enough to agree to play ChefQ6 with us. I'm ready for another taco trip.  Anyone up for lunch?

ChefQ6: Chef Kris McGowan from The Local Taco

How did you come to be a chef?  I became a chef like most people of my generation, and those that preceded me, quite by accident.  I was in school at The University of South Carolina, and working my way through college.  I took random jobs at local restaurants, doing prep work, washing dishes, and just trying to be a positive presence in the kitchen.  I was young, I was green, and I had no clue what I was doing, but then I hit a lucky break when a line cook called out and I got my first shot at cooking.  As it turned out, even though I was a newbie, and in way over my head, I had an ability to keep up, and not get frazzled.  The Kitchen Manager, liked that about me and gave me a promotion.  From there my wife and I spent a few years relocating with her job, I started to build up a lot of experience running kitchens and developing my craft.

The kitchen tool or ingredient you can’t live without (besides the basics and your knives).  Fresh, undisturbed food.  I grew up in Southern Greenville County, and my granddad was a farmer.  The one thing I love most about the area where we live is the abundance of fresh local produce.  I buy local, I shop local, and I live local.  I have lived in other areas of the country where this just is not possible, but here in Greenville, SC. the market is flooded with local farmers who want nothing more than to sell you there products at a great rate.

What is the first thing you learned to make well?  Well, in high school, both of my parents worked a lot, and I played soccer 24/7.  So I learned to make omelettes when I was about 14.  The eggs were great for protein, and the ease of clean up meant my parents didn't have to do any fussing about my messes.

What is your go-to cookbook?  Easy one.  The Joy of Cooking, 75th Anniversary Edition.  Simply the greatest cookbook ever printed.

What’s the most unusual thing you've ever served?  Grilled Swordfish with Strawberry and Jalapeno Salsa.  Honestly, I don't like going out of my comfort zone (all be it a rather large comfort zone), but I tried something different one day, and got a very positive response.  

What is the strangest thing in your home fridge?  Well my family is kinda adventurous when it comes to food, but all in all we stock the staples.  However, the kids love charcuterie plates, so you will always find an assortment of cured meats, and really good cheeses.  We make pizza at home 2 or 3 times a week, so you will always find great pizza toppings as well, i.e. sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and lots of fresh basil for pesto.

ChefQ6: Chef Vicky Moore from The Lazy Goat

I adore Lazy Goat Chef, Vicky Moore.  I pretty much stalked her at the Euphoria event two years ago until I was brave enough to ask for a picture.  She's a fabulously brilliant chef and a cutey patootie to boot.  She was nice enough to play ChefQ6 with us. (Thanks Vicky!)

How did you come to be a chef?

My parents told me a long time ago to take what I love doing and figure out to earn a living at it...that you will never "work" a day in your life.

What is your first food memory?

Making corn bread at 5 years of age with my Nannie, in a 500 degree iron skillet. It was my job.

What are your go-to cookbooks?

If I don't know how to make it, I can always count on Thomas Keller, Frank Stitt, Jose Garces or Ferran Adria.

What is the strangest thing in your home fridge?

Probably Acidophilus

Besides the basics (salt, knives, etc) what kitchen tool or ingredient can you not live without?

Does espresso machine count? Mini Mesh Strainers, and a good skimming ladle. Sherry Vinegar.

Who or what has most influenced you as a chef and why?

The impact that culture has on cuisine. The anthropology of cuisine. When I develop a recipe or a menu, time permitting, I like to do a little research of the culture of a region that peaks my interest. I like to find out what types of produce and livestock grow there, what the people are like, what they do for work, etc.

ChefQ6: Chef Aaron Manter from The Owl

So I'm starting a new column here on the blog called ChefQ6.  

Basically, I'm going to interview local chefs and see what they have to say about cooking, about life, about their kitchens.  Enjoy.

 Last night we popped into The Owl for dinner to check out Chef Aaron Manter's menu 5.0.  I've written about his restaurant several times for local papers and for the blog, so click on those links for the rundown. The new menu is earthy and warm and hearty, and completely bulldozes your taste buds.  They won't know what hit them.

For our first course we ordered aged cheddar with vetiver honey, cranberry jam and lavash. Next course was barley risotto with egg yolk, smoked salt, beer vinegar and kale juice along with an order of sweet potato cooked in tandoori spice with mustard greens and cultured cream. The hubs ordered pork cheek with potato, cured olive oil, artichoke and carrot juice for his main course and I ordered the steak with aged butter, brussels sprouts, foie powder and spiced mustard. We definitely toured the menu. I swear every time we've eaten at his restaurant, my tongue and brain are exhausted when I leave.  His food challenges the palate. And because of that, he rocks.

How did you come to be a chef?  This is miserable work, in truth. Most of us become chefs because other options didn't work out, or regular society didn't want anything to do with you. For myself, it's because I happen to be good at it, and I enjoy being creative. It also lets me not shave, have tattooed knuckles, and no one blinks.

What’s the strangest thing in your home fridge?  The strange thing about my fridge is that there's nothing in it but condiments and drinks. Every working chef I know eats terribly - and the last thing I want to do when I get off is cook. I subsist almost exclusively on the following items: pizza, scraps from the restaurant, cigarettes, and caffeine.

What is your go-to cookbook?  My favorite cookbook is The Flavor Bible by Andrew and Paige Dornenburg. It's not really a cookbook in that it has no recipes in it - just flavor pairings. This goes with that, that, that, and that. It's idea sparks. The cookbook I've most recently been impressed with is Faviken by Magnus Nilsson - it's incredible.

What is the first thing you remember making well?  Steak. Simple as that. I learned how to gauge meat doneness very well.

    

What tool or ingredient can you not live without?  I'm going to assume we're excluding knives and salt here. In that case, the tool would be a well worn wooden spoon, and the ingredient would be Ultratex-8 - a thickening agent that adds no flavor and increases viscosity.

Three words that describe your restaurant kitchen.  The. Wrong. Way. We do nearly nothing the way we're "supposed to do it" by classic standards. Even the way we treat each other in The Owl kitchen is different than other restaurants. We have a saying: "If you're yelling, you're the asshole. Doesn't matter if you're right." That's far more rare than you would imagine. In fact, I know of no other place that operates that way. I'm sure it exists, but I've never seen it.