Chefs Day Off

I catch up with Doug a few weeks later at Otro Café. He tells me that he and Denise, his wife, plan their meals one week ahead.

“We used to eat out a lot but when we looked at how much we were spending we decided to spend more time cooking and eating at home. On Sundays and Mondays, I’ll cook for the week. I’ll batch-cook muesli for our breakfasts. I might make skillet lasagna or ziti and we usually have a from-scratch pizza night one day a week. I might roast a chicken (at 200° for 2½ hours) and then crisp up the skin under the broiler. First night we’ll have it with a salad, vegetable and potato and then the next night we’ll make tacos with the leftovers. I also do a lot of Chinese stir-fries and other Asian dishes like spring rolls. We love to eat pizza or sushi or pho when we do eat out. Because we own two restaurants, we will do takeout food sometimes. But it’s so much more economical for our family to eat at home.”

Phoenix City Grille happens to be my “go to” restaurant when I don’t want to cook dinner or I’m meeting people for lunch or just because. A long-ago chef at PCG, Micah Wyzlic, is back again as chef and also partner. A husband and father with two sons at home, Micah spends a lot of his free time going to baseball games and other activities with his kids, which doesn’t leave much time for cooking at home. On the other hand, Micah likes to eat at home with his family as often as he can.

I have to admit that he’s the first chef I’ve ever met who owns a Crock-Pot and actually uses it. “I’ll drop in a roast with some root vegetables and when I get back from a baseball game, dinner is ready. Or I might pick something up at a local restaurant on my way home from work because on most weekdays time for cooking at home is very limited,” Micah says.

On Micah’s day off, he likes to sit by the pool, grill up some burgers or ribs or chicken and just relax.

Occasionally his family will stop by the restaurant for dinner when he’s working. His kids’ favorite dish on the menu is the corn cakes while his wife’s favorite is the Mandarin stir-fry and his favorite dish is the short ribs.

Sure. We know for the most part it costs less to eat at home than to eat out. And if you have a young family and the kids are still around the house, then eating at home makes sense. What about chefs who are single and/or living alone?

Barrio Café and Barrio Café Gran Reserva chef/owner Silvana Salcido Esparza is off from work on Mondays. Recently single, her habits have changed a bit.

“I like to stay low key on my day off. I might run some errands, get a massage, eat some sushi. I don’t usually cook for myself on my day off unless I’m doing R&D. I do like to have friends and family over for BBQ. Right now everything depends on my health so I never really know how I’m going to feel (Silvana has sarcoidosis). I’m very much intrigued by BBQ foods so I’ve been doing a lot of those lately. Long slow cooking with interesting rubs and sauces.”

Bob Tam, chef/owner of Bitter and Twisted, is another single chef who lives alone. Lately he’s been doing a lot of traveling to China and San Francisco, where he spends almost all his time eating. Eating gives him ideas and R&D (research and development) is one of his favorite kitchen activities.

What does he do when he’s not working or conjuring? He orders in. He’s a fan of the new restaurant delivery services. But cook for himself ? No. Never. In fact, according to Bob, his refrigerator holds only leftovers from delivery meals.

Danielle Leoni, chef/owner of Breadfruit and Rum Bar, looks forward to her day off so she can relax. For Danielle, relaxing includes preparing food for herself and her husband/business partner, Dwayne Allen.

“We’re closed on Sundays so I tend to wake up late, about 11am. I might make a breakfast of plantains, or fresh vegetables from the farmers market that I bought the day before. Maybe some eggs, toast, tea or coffee. I usually buy some really good bread from the downtown farmers market on Saturday. I eat at Breadfruit every night so I look forward to changing it up on my days off and preparing comfort foods, things I ate growing up. I might make quick marinara with oregano, basil, onions and garlic. Maybe I’ll cook up some meat like a brisket or pork belly, but honestly I also eat a lot of vegetarian foods like salads. I make a great peach salad with red onion, goat cheese, honey, vinegar and olive oil. My default mode, however, is pasta. We hardly ever go out to eat on our day off from the restaurant. If we do go out, it’s for Italian food. But I don’t really like to eat out very often. Going out causes me anxiety because I’m very critical when I eat at a restaurant. It’s much better for me to eat at home.”

Anxiety about eating out? Hmmm. Sure. I understand that. I’m a critical (read “picky”) eater myself. Still, I’m surprised that after cooking all week, Danielle looks forward to cooking at home on the weekend.

Eric Ramirez, director of culinary for Upward Projects, oversees several kitchens including Federal Pizza.

Recently married to a wife who is “developing her skills,” Eric doesn’t do a lot of cooking at home on his day off himself. He and his wife use meal kit delivery companies like Blue Apron, Green Chef and Plated a few times a week. Neither of them has lots of time for shopping so the delivery option appeals to them. “There’s very little waste and it’s a good way for someone with limited cooking skills to learn how to cook.” He likes the kits because they provide just the right amount of each ingredient, which means he doesn’t have to buy a whole head of garlic if the recipe only calls for one clove or a bottle of some obscure vinegar to just use one tablespoon. Everything is included in the kit. And his wife gets to “develop her skills.”

Eric and his wife do like to eat out on his days off from restaurant duties. They like local craft breweries and local old faithfuls (especially restaurants that serve pizza and Italian food), as well as a favorite downtown restaurant that specializes in fried chicken and donuts.

What if you’re primarily a pastry chef ? You can’t live on cake (although many of you may have tried). Tracy Dempsey, chef/owner of Tracy Dempsey Originals, prepares desserts for many upscale local restaurants. She’s the only chef who mentioned health!

“When I cook at home, the focus is on lean protein like fish or chicken, and lots of vegetables and maybe some rice. As we have gotten older, we have changed the way we eat. I don’t even have much flour or sugar at home so preparing desserts on my day off is not something I regularly do. I rarely bring anything home from the bakery,” she says. (Pity!)

I guess chefs are just like the rest of us: Some cook at home. Some order in. Some eat out. Some do all three.

By the way, that Sunday when I ran into Doug at Safeway I ended up making burgers. Easy. Foolproof. And inexpensive!