Category: People

Knack Factory has published an interview with Stephen Lanzalotta. In the interview Lanzalotta share details on his upcoming restaurant Slab (instagram) and his early history as a cook and baker.

What about baking specifically?
The way I got into baking was crazy. My ex-wife—my wife at the time—and I had moved to Maine to get back to the land. I built a house out of the trees of the land, cut the Spruce logs down and built a log house. I built all of the furniture. While I was doing this incredible endeavor I needed some carb sustenance so I would make these big piles to burn off the Spruce and when it would get down to ash, I would make very crude breads by burying it in that ash.

Knack Factory has published an interview with bartender John R. Myers.

What about those revelations appealed to you?
I think it is just like anything that you start to care about. You start caring about quality on another level, especially when your craft is related to your employment. When you care about doing it, it brings a whole new level of enjoyment. When you care about the quality of ingredients you are using and the fresh juices and the homemade concoctions, it keeps it interesting and makes it worth doing.

Knack Factory has posted a Q&A with Arlin Smith from Hugo’s.

Why are you in this business?
I love taking care of people in a way that they didn’t even think was possible. I would say that fact alone is what drives me. Ultimately it is what I do every day for people. Most people see service as service, where they have a server and they get to beckon them, call them over, whatever is brought over, they pay them and they are on their way. I feel like hospitality is an anticipation of needs, it is making suggestions, it is getting guests something they wanted that they didn’t even know they wanted.

Knack Factory has posted an interview with Kim Rodgers, pastry chef at Hugo’s/Eventide.

This industry can be a difficult one and sometimes people don’t stick around for very long. What made you stick around?
I went to school for art, sculpture and French. For me, it was a marriage of all of those things. It was a tactile and visual thing. There are materials and you are changing them and there are endless possibilities and I fell in love with it. And you go in every day and it is never the same. It is not always the easiest, but there is always something to learn and there are great people to work with.

Maine Today has published an interview with Luke Davidson, head distiller of Maine Craft Distilling.

How does your upbringing on a farm influence the way you work now?
That’s interesting. I definitely approach it in a more practical way, but it limits my abilities in other ways. Fortunately, I have my partner Fred [Farber] and a few other collaborators who have whole different skill sets, and together we make a good unit. In terms of the practical piece: growing up in a really, really remote setting during a really remote time, I learned from everybody that if you can’t find it, you make it. Basically everything here we’ve made ourselves.

Shift Drinks has posted an interview with Damian Sansonetti, chef and co-owner of Piccolo.

That is an excellent motivator.
You don’t really feel like you are going to work. Now it’s even more rewarding because it is our place. It is a smaller place too and so we get to see our customers and so it is easier. When you see a guest and they are happy, that’s the ultimate reward. When they tell you that what you made with all of your crew took them back to their childhood, or to a food memory, and it transported them in some way big or small, that is really rewarding.

Food & Wine has named Cara Stadler from Tao Yuan one of their 2014 Best New Chefs. According to an article on Press Herald,

Stadler, who was in New York to celebrate at a Food & Wine party Tuesday night, said she was “super excited – and shocked” to hear that she had been awarded the honor. She said she found a few weeks ago, when Cowin broke the news by phone

Sadierae & Co. have published and interview with chefs Mike Wiley and Andrew Taylor from Hugo’s/Eventide.

Do you have a favorite chef that you really, really admire?
Andrew: There are so many both from way back when and now… but when I was getting into cooking, I really loved Chris Schlesinger at East Coast Grill in Cambridge, MA. It definitely wasn’t the fanciest restaurant and he doesn’t own it anymore, but fifteen years ago, the food was so much fun – way ahead of its time in Boston. Chris really seems like a very intelligent guy too. He’s written several great cookbooks and he’s still a contributor to the NY Times.

Mike: I’m a reader, and right now, I’m way into David Kinch’s new book, Manresa. I’m so impressed by Chef Kinch’s approach to agriculture, food, seasonality, and even training young cooks. The guy makes his own finishing salt, I mean, come on!