Chef to Chef: Andy and Chris

Welcome to our newest column, Chef to Chef, a conversation where two local chefs (uh, obviously) get together to get to know each other, talk shop, and answer a few questions. Special thanks to Morton’s The Steakhouse for hosting!

April 15, 2010; 12:00 PM • by Genevelyn Steele

Welcome to our newest column, Chef to Chef, a conversation where two local chefs (uh, obviously) get together to get to know each other, talk shop, and answer a few questions. Special thanks to Morton’s The Steakhouse for hosting!

Two chefs get together over drinks at the Morton’s bar, escaping their respective kitchens to dodge the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune on a Monday night in Shockoe. What do these guys do when they aren’t at work? This isn’t usually it. But Andy Howell, chef/owner of Café Rustica, and Chris Rubinstein, the blogging chef at Grace Street’s Ipanema Café, agree to meet up and offer a glimpse into their lives, both inside and outside of their kitchens. I hope that a little liquid, social lubricant would help… but one of the chefs is a vegan cage fighter that doesn’t drink. This will be the first time crab cakes and booze hasn’t come to the rescue in Richmond.

(One word about drinking at Morton’s: service. The bartender would pour chilled gin down your throat and pre-chew your food, should you tire of lifting your arm to your mouth. I think I’ll ask him to next time.)

First, pleasantries and bios are exchanged; neither knows the other well. Next, fundamental questions are answered: to blanche, or not, to blanche? The night ends with promises of backyard pizza and another meeting, this time without me.

The questions were provided by me and EHarmony—hey, it’s my first time, and I mistakenly thought they’d have questions prepared for each other.

Here’s what they said…

What are you reading these days?

Andy: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Chris: Tokyo Vice.

Favorite local restaurants?

Andy: Six-Burner.

Chris: Mekong, Gutenburg, 821.

Is there a seasonal ingredient you’re excited to cook with?

Andy: Asparagus.

Chris: Swiss chard.

Any changes coming at your place?

Andy: Our spring menu is rolling out this week. Asparagus, that’s where veggies belong, by a hunk of meat.

Chris: Mother’s Day high tea with Carytown Tea.

Biggest customer pet peeves?

Andy: “I’ll have this, this and this– with that” and then they say your menu sucks. That’s YOUR menu, bitch.

Chris: Agreed. I had a guest sub white for black beans, because they didn’t like black. The dish didn’t turn out and they sent it back. Apparently we are a health food restaurant. I didn’t know. Some of the unhealthiest people I know are vegan. I love the smoking ban, I was tired of the complaints about smoking at the bar from customers.

What do you do when not cooking professionally?

Andy: Fire up the wood burning oven in my backyard and open a bottle of wine.

Chris: Jujitso and muay thai, a style of thai kick boxing. Cage fighters and chefs are the rock stars of today. I can’t believe I just said that.

Any future projects you’re dreaming about as you drift off to sleep at night?

Andy: I’m making tomato gravy. Homemade ketchup from a tomato patch I’ll have out in the country, bottled for purchase.

Chris: Travel to the East.

Be sure to check back regularly for future installments of Chef to Chef. And if you have a question you’d like to see any of our future chefs answer, send them our way.

April 15, 2010 12:00 PM 0