Category: Chef Spotlight (Page 2 of 2)

By Heidi Lee, February 2010

On an atypical blustery day in Central Phoenix it was a pleasant surprise to spy an antique bicycle perched outside D’Licious Dishes, its basket full of flowers.  What was not surprising were the wonderfully warm aromas that hit full on when walking through the door.

Two and four top iron tables dot the cozy dining room and an enticing little sitting area is in the corner surrounded by several shelves of very nice, yet affordable wines.  The menu and specials are colorfully presented on chalk boards and the display cases are filled with gorgeous pastas, salads, chicken and fish dishes, sandwiches and dessert.

Chef Tudie Frank-Johnson is the proprietress of D’Licious Dishes and she took some time out of her busy day to talk with into the Soup.

Like a lot of us, Chef Tudie started cooking at home.  Whereas most cut their teeth on mac-n-cheese or easy bake oven cupcakes, she was grilling up steak for farm hands and family on their ranch in Texas.  From these roots she moved down south to the coast and landed a job washing dishes at a restaurant in Turtle Cove where the Chef was grilling fresh fish straight from the Gulf. 

Chef Tudie moved up the ranks and was soon manning that BBQ and honing her skills.  A few years, a few jobs, and a few thousand grill marks later she landed in Arizona where she spent some time at Iron Springs Café in Prescott and eventually moved down to Phoenix to start D’Licious Dishes with her friend and neighbor Barbara Cook.  Together they prepare and sell ready-to-eat, ready-to-reheat and ready-to-cook food at this really funky market.

“Everything is fresh and made daily,” says Chef Tudie.  “It’s all about convenience and good food.  We’re all so busy these days and I wanted to show people that ready to eat foods can taste great, be healthy and not empty your wallet.” 

Conveniently located at 7^th Ave. and Missouri, you can pop in and sit down for lunch or grab it and go. While you’re there, you could pick up a beautiful eggplant parmesan and a made to order salad for dinner.  The people behind the display counter are knowledgeable and very friendly.  D’Licious Dishes offers an excellent selection of imported and domestic beers and well stocked cases of iced cold drinks for those hot Arizona days.  We would be remiss if we didn’t mention the fresh brewed iced tea on hand – a must for a Texas girls’ eatery.

Chef Tudie was recently featured in the Arizona Republic giving a little lesson on spicing up boxed soups.  As good as those must be, this reporter couldn’t wait to tuck into her signature Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo; perfect for those rare, blustery days in Phoenix.

Chef Tudie is also a competitor in the “WestSide ThrowDown”  a no holds barred cook-off on March 22^nd at the Arizona Broadway Theatre.  Without revealing too many recipe secrets, she gave us an idea of the chicken wing she’ll be bringing to the match – you won’t want to miss it!

D’Licious Dishes, located at 5345 N. 7^th Ave. (SE Corner at Missouri) is a great place to find excellent food to go or to enjoy your meal in their charming dining area.  Either way, you will most definitely be satisfied and although the dishes are D’Licious, you won’t have to wash them!

Chef Tudie’s Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup salad oil
• 2 cups celery
• 2 cups green bell peppers
• 2 cups white onions
• 1 qt. okra
• 1/4 cup garlic, chopped
• 4 cups canned diced tomatoes
• 1 cup Worcerstershire sauce
• 1 oz. Tobasco
• 1 Tbsp. Cajun/Creole seasonings
• 2 Tbsp. black pepper
• 2 Tbsp. Italian seasonings
• 1/4 cup parsley, diced
• 1 gallon chicken stock (or seafood stock)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 lb. cubed chicken breast (may substitute seafood)
• 1/2 libs. Andouille sausage, sliced thin (may substitute seafood)
• 1 qt. rice, cooked

Instructions
Make roux by baking flour at 350 degress for 25 to 30 minutes or until light tan in color. Warm oil and whisk into flour. Set roux aside. Lightly oil bottom of a large stockpot.  Add vegetables and sauté for 5 to 8 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered for 30 to 45 minutes. Uncover and whisk in prepared roux.  Stir well to avoid any lumps.  Simmer 15 to 0 more minutes. Add chicken, sausage and any other seafood or meats you desire.  Simmer an additional 10 minutes and serve with rice.

by Heidi Lee, January 2010

For this month’s “Whose Cookin’ Now,” we are interviewing two women who may just be the busiest people in town. They are student culinarians Julie Fiedler and Katelyn Remick. On one hand they are typical students trying to get through classes, get their homework done and work their way through school. On the other, they are top competitors flying off to Seattle, New York, China and  New Mexico to attend culinary competitions. Catching up with them was difficult, but we finally got them both on the phone.

ITS: You two are a bit busy these days:

K&J: Yeah, it’s crazy with work, school and competitions.

ITS: So let’s start off with the obvious, Iron Chef America. You guys are the first students to compete on the show. Did you feel a lot of pressure?

K&J: Our team from the Art Institute of Phoenix was invited and there were three of us including Tyler Burke. It was on television in the fall, but we filmed in July.

J: The show is all a blur to me. I know I was excited but then I slipped right into competition mode. The day of the announcement was pretty amazing. We were told months before to cancel our summer vacations but weren’t told why. Then they called the whole school together and announced it in front of everyone. I was mostly nervous because of all the chefs that would be watching.

K: During the filming, I didn’t feel the pressure as much as I did the day before. You would think it would be tough with all the cameras in our faces, but we held it together pretty well. We’ve competed with Certified Master Chefs looking over our shoulders, that’s nerve racking.

ITS: You just got back from a competition in Shanghai, China as well.  Rumor has it you did really well.

K&J: Yeah, we won 8 out of 34 awards competing in the FHC International Culinary Competitions, the oldest and largest culinary competition in China.

ITS: Do you get a chance to tour around when you go to these places?

K&J: In Shanghai we did go site seeing and do a little shopping and stuff. It was awesome. In New York we got a few days off, too. Of course, we always find a way to eat at the local restaurants. 

ITS: So what got you interested in cooking?

K: For me, it was visiting my Grandma Joy. Whenever I would go visit her, there is always something going on in the kitchen. Plus, she owns a diner in Libby, Montana. She doesn’t run it anymore, but she used to, and my mom even worked there. It had a small eating area but mostly was drive through.

J: My parents both worked so sometimes it was kind of fend for yourself. I learned to cook basics, and it made me curious. Even as a kid, I would watch Julia Child on television. Both of my grandmothers were good cooks too, and I am half Greek and half German, so there was always food around.

ITS: Are there any local chefs that particularly inspired you?

J: I went to EVIT (East Valley Technical Institute), and my senior year Chef Mike Turcotte helped me train for C-CAP to get a scholarship. He was the best and I owe him a lot. And, of course, Chef (Eric) Watson at the Art Institute.

K: Chef Watson, definitely. He is our competition coach. At first, he was very intimidating, and he pushed us to our limits and sometimes beyond. He challenged us all the time, but every day we would come back stronger for it.

ITS:  So you work as a team, are you close?

K&J: When you are together every week you become like family. We don’t see as much of either as we used to now that we are kind of doing our own thing, but we are always talking (phone, texting, Facebook).

ITS: Do you have specific roles on the team when you are competing?

K&J: Not really. Our personalities are different. Katie is the planner and Julie is the “in the moment” person. When the competition starts, we have each other’s backs. Like with the cookies in Seattle and the apricots on Iron Chef.

K:  When I messed up cookies in Seattle, Julie fixed them. When Julie had a problem with apricots on Iron Chef, I helped her.

J: Yeah, I overcooked the poached apricots and didn’t think I would have time to do them again. Then I turned around and there they were. It was like the apricots just magically appeared.

ITS: So where do you want to go with all of this

K: I want to pay off my student loans in two years and then go to London to work and travel.

J: I want to travel too, maybe Italy or Europe in general, but I am happy to play it as it comes.

by Restauranteur of Arizona, December 2010

Heidi Lee is the Founder of www.intothesoup.com, a food and travel media company.  A self proclaimed party girl and world traveler, we thought that her fun personality and unpretentious approach would make her the perfect person to start this feature. We met at a local restaurant. Heidi arrived in a leather jacket, jeans, and boots and ordered a Chardonnay. It was 11am:

R: So, Heidi, you are the first cover girl for our new feature “Who’s Cooking Now?”

H: Wow, that’s nice, thanks. You guys ROCK!

R: How long have you been a Chef?

H: First of all, I don’t really call myself that. I’ve had the privilege to work with and meet so many great Chefs, that I don’t put myself in that category.  I’m just a really good cook with a few great assets and a nice smile. I’ve cooked professionally off and on for 20 years and aside from the last 3 years with Into the Soup, I did start a cooking school for kids in 2004, but just as we got going, we had the chance to move to Singapore. 

R: Singapore! How was that experience?

H: Absolutely amazing. Singapore has such a huge confluence of cuisine that you could eat there every day for a year and try something new. Wouldn’t recommend all of it, but there’s usually some sort of decent sauce.

R: Did you work as a “really good cook” there?

H: Actually, I spent a lot of my time taking cooking classes and experimenting with all the different ingredients they had. We travelled a lot, too; Thailand, Indonesia, Bali, New Zealand, and Malaysia. It was a nice ‘not working’ time for me. Rare!

R: So, where did you start cooking professionally?

H: As a galley slave on charter boats in the Caribbean. I escaped from corporate America for a time. I was sitting in a bar in St. Thomas – all my best stories start in a bar, by the way – and a boat captain offered me a job as a stewardess for a week. The day before we left, the Chef stormed out and Captain asked me if I knew how to cook…. I lied. The next four years were the experience of a life-time.

R: I bet you had some pretty interesting characters on those boats.

H: You’re tellin’ me. These people came from every walk of life imaginable and you were ‘on’ 24/7.  I remember one cruise in particular when we had a multi-millionaire and his family on board, he was pretty cool, but his wife was a trip. She wouldn’t come out of her cabin unless she was completely made up for the day. I would bring her breakfast to her, and she would hide in the head until I’d set everything up and left. All she ever ate for dinner were broiled scallops. No butter, no oil.  Didn’t do a lot of improvisational cuisine on that boat.

R: Where did you go from there?

H: Oh, lots of places. I sailed across the Atlantic on a 72 foot Swan. That was awesome!  We sailed into the Mediterranean where I fell off a bar stool in Majorca and broke my arm.  From there I went to England, cooked there and the Isle of Wight to save some cash to go to Africa for a few months. Came back to the States and followed a boy to Northern Michigan where I worked sauté in a 4 start restaurant, then slung hash in Bellingham, Washington.

R: Interesting. So, has all this traveling helped your cooking?

H: Absolutely!  It’s amazing what you learn not only eating, but cooking in another country, or another region of this country for that matter. It opens your eyes and your palate to all sorts of different ‘flavor friends’.™  If you look behind the dining room door,  you find some pretty interesting folks and more likely than not, they’re willing to share with you.

R: What is Into the Soup?

H: We’re a Food and Travel Media Company that brings people entertaining and educational experiences. Not only do we have the website, we interact with people through social media like Facebook and Twitter and my weekly radio show. We want to increase awareness of Chefs and Chef driven restaurants and support them in any way we can. 

R: How is the business doing?

H: It’s going great!!  We have over 1,500 members and fans on the site and have had over 50,000 page views in just a few months. We have great content and are getting other contributors involved, too. In fact, we just launched our “Wine and Spirits” section and are looking forward to some neat stuff from there!

R: So if people wanted to contact you about doing a Chef Spotlight video or anything else, what would they do?

H: They can go to the site at www.intothesoup.com or email me at heidi@intothesoup.com. If you’ve got something you want to share, we’d love to hear about it.  You don’t have to be a personality; you just have to have one.

R: Thanks Heidi, it has been great talking with you. Anything else you’d like to add?

H: Thanks. This was really fun!  I guess I’d just ask people out there to remember those Mom and Pop spots, the restaurants that have a person behind that dining room door putting all of their effort into good food and a great experience for you.  Keep the culinary arts alive and stop by for dinner some time.