090 Chef Ken of KCZ Cuisine

What happens when homestyle Chinese comfort meets classical technique and a crash course in high-stakes private dining? We sit down with Chef Ken, owner of KCZ Cuisine to find out how family recipes, a quarter-life pivot, and a relentless focus on hospitality has shaped one of Pittsburgh’s most sought-after private chef services.

We dive into the dishes that define Ken's style: tomato and egg stir-fry that never leaves a family table, glossy soy-braised pork belly, and dumplings by the hundred for Lunar New Year. Ken breaks down hot pot for first-timers as just one of his in-home experiences, all guided by omotenashi, the Japanese idea of wholehearted hospitality.  

Toronto’s food scene igniting a passion that outlived a molecular biology degree, and steered Ken professionally to the culinary arts. After front-of-house work cemented his love of people, culinary school and a rigorous stint at the Rivers Club taught the fundamentals recipes can’t. Then came trial by fire learning: a whirlwind personal chef role for a billionaire in Los Angeles, delivering multi-course lunches and dinners every day. Pressure refined his sourcing, menu planning, and calm under chaos—skills he brought home to launch KCZ Cuisine, serving up personalized meal prep and in-home events today. 

Come for the story, stay for the practical tips—and leave hungry to try something new.

Enjoyed the conversation? Subscribe, share with a friend who loves food, and leave a review to help others discover the show.

Transcript

Doug 0:01

Welcome to The Pittsburgh Ditch. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. How does family nostalgia, a quarter life crisis, and a big break with a billionaire help to shape a now sought-after private chef business? This week we get the full story from Chef Ken. All that ahead, stay tuned. Well, thank you so much for coming over and for being on the show. Yeah, you're welcome. It's a pleasure to be here. Would you introduce yourself to our listeners and what you have going on in the world of food?

Ken 0:41

Yeah. My name is Ken or Kenny, as my friends call me. I go by Chef Ken. I am a private chef here in Pittsburgh. I do private events. I do uh intimate dinners, I do uh regular meal prep for a lot of my clients. Um, and you know, that looks different for everybody. Some could it could be hot dinners or it could just be, you know, freezable stuff that they would package away. Yeah, that's that's mainly what I do. And I, you know, I got into this just because I love food.

Doug 1:14

So I can tell from your social feeds that you love food. Well, so we're gonna talk about that for sure. Oh, absolutely. I wondered how long has the business then been going? You said you were trying to get ahead in 2022. So how long have you been doing this on your own?

Ken 1:28

So on my own, so I had the idea to sort of you do private chefing as a side gig, like a side hustle in 2022. Um, at that point, I was still pretty green in terms of cooking professionally. Like how I got into this is I was a foodie for my entire life. I started cooking when I was in high school. Really? Um, yeah, my parents weren't really home, so I just started, you know, tinkling with recipes or like trying stuff that they cooked that I liked.

Doug 1:58

Yes.

Ken 1:58

And that sort of led me to, you know, when I went off to college, I moved to Toronto and I had a great foodie experience there because you know, that there's a ton of diversity. I mean, there's so much good food there, right?

Doug 2:10

Um, so I just influence and immigrant influence.

Ken 2:13

I mean, like any country you want you you want to eat, and any cuisine, really, yeah, you can you can have in Toronto. Toronto. You know, I had my first Ethiopia Ethiopian food there.

Doug 2:24

Now, did you didn't grow up in Canada?

Ken 2:26

Uh kind of. Kind of. So I was born in Shanghai. Okay. And then I immigrated to Vancouver when I was like five-ish. All right. Um, and then I kind of grew up there. So I say grew up, I didn't really take a lot of the Vancouver influences. I just I learned English in the 10 years that I lived in Vancouver. Yeah. And then I moved to Pittsburgh. Okay. Um, for my dad's job. So he he brought all of us here. I went to high school at Pine Richland. Okay. And then after high school, I moved to Toronto to do my undergrad. And then that's where I sort of like really sparked that love of food and cooking. And, you know, I would just on my in my free time just try new recipes and whatnot. And that's sort of how I got to here, you know, and then and then I had like a bit of a quarter life crisis. I didn't know what I wanted to do after I graduated. Came back here, started culinary school, worked in uh commercial kitchens, and then wasn't sure what I really wanted to do. So I was like, maybe I'll try this side hustle thing where I do some private events on whenever I have time. Um, so I started my LLC. I didn't end up doing anything with it for about two years. You were thinking on it. Yeah, and and like the I mean, I worked weekends, right? I was I was a I was an industry guy. So whenever I would have had business was I was assigned you were already working that you would have had a client. Exactly. So I I didn't end up doing anything with it until um beginning of last year.

Doug 3:52

Well, I'm so glad you did.

Ken 3:53

Yeah, me too.

Signature Dishes And Dumpling Traditions

Doug 3:54

Let's go back to some of the the current work for now. If someone does hire you and you said you're having like these like in-home experiences or even meal prep, I I guess what I want to ask is like what you're known for or what you're you're most excited to cook right now. Are there some dishes that people request a lot or some things that you think of as some of your your specialties?

Ken 4:19

Yeah, I mean, the thing that I'm always most excited to cook really is anything that I grew up eating that I find very uh like nostalgic. Yeah, nostalgic is so a lot of like Chinese dishes that I grew up eating, it might not look look the best, but I love doing like a big family dinner. Actually, I have on Saturday, I have a dinner. He wanted a really authentic, like at-home Chinese cooked sort of uh experience, meal experience, cooking class. And so I get to pull out all my favorites. So, I mean, if there's any Chinese people listening, I'm sure they'll know some of these. Um, one of my favorites is uh egg stir-fried with tomato. I mean it's super simple, but every Chinese person knows this. But you won't see this at restaurants. No, I've heard this.

Doug 5:04

Yeah, I have had another friend on Hong Ching Chung, and this is her favorite dish. Yep.

Ken 5:09

Yep and she's also said that a lot of families make it just a little differently to everybody has like a little difference, but really at the end of the day, it's salt, sugar, tomato, egg. Yes, maybe scallion. You know, it's it's five or six ingredients max. And it's not really on a menu. No, you never see it on a menu because it's it's not glamorous, you know. It's like it's good. Yeah, it's so good.

Doug 5:30

Yeah.

Ken 5:30

And then the other thing that I really, really love is like a braised pork belly that I do, soy braised pork belly.

Doug 5:36

I feel like I've seen this on your feed, by the way.

Ken 5:39

I had a friend, they uh did a photo shoot for me, they're a wedding photographer. You know, shout out to Maya Lovro. We did a whole dinner. I did like, you know, a chicken dish, a bunch of different dishes, and they did a really like nice professional photo shoot, and we just had a dinner afterwards. And I mean, that is just like my favorite thing to to eat. I just can't have it too much because it's it's just pork belly. Yeah, you know, so you can't have that that often.

Doug 6:05

Did I see on your site also um do you do a dumpling class?

Ken 6:10

I do, yeah. Yeah. So uh dumplings was a tradition that my family had. Uh, every Chinese New Year, we would get together, maybe get some family friends together, or like I would invite some friends over and we would just make hundreds of dumplings. Yes. And then we would throw them on sheet trays, put them in the freezer, bag them up in Ziplog bags, and we'll have our year supply of like, I don't want to cook anything. Let me pull these dumplings out of the freezer, either boil them or steam them or fry them up, and that's you know, it's it's a complete meal in itself.

Doug 6:43

Well, and then you you had a party to have that dumpling moment. Many hands make, you know, quick work. Oh, yeah. And now you have all this delicious food for the rest of the year. So exactly. I think that's like the perfect get together.

Ken 6:53

And I always send, you know, my friends home with a little bit. Or I, you know, if they don't want to take anything home, they definitely get fed. You know.

Doug 7:00

What what are some of your favorite filling combinations for your dumplings?

Ken 7:04

I I really enjoy. So in Chinese, there's a thing called Jiu Cai, which is a Chinese chive box. Um, but the filling is like vermicelli noodles, Chinese chive, and scrambled egg. Okay. And then it's really flavored, it's flavored super simply with uh five slice powder, white pepper, and then sometimes a little soy sauce. That one's really nice for my vegetarian friends or pescatarian friends. I'll switch out the egg for firm tofu, then I'll crumble if it's for like vegan or something like that. Um, but my go-to is always a shiitake pork and cabbage filling. Oh, yes. Always. That is a classic in my mind. Classic. Yeah. I mean, we try we love pork.

Doug 7:47

Now I I'm also thinking on the website, you do have. Keep me honest, is there a hot pot thing that you do? Yeah.

Ken 7:54

So um, again, these are all experiences that I pulled from things I used to do with my friends. And I think in Pittsburgh, there's not that many experiences. And to for it to be at home is very different than if you go out to any hot pot restaurant. Yes. Um, not knocking the hot pot restaurants. They're great too. You have an amazing selection and it's always a great time. But at the end of the day, you know, I really enjoy the aspect of like sharing a meal together and it in the comfort of your own home. Is there's something really special about that. And when I was in college, I bought a hot pot set for myself after going out the hot pot enough times that said, you know what, I'll just buy this. Um, there's a lot of Asian stores around, so I could get all the meats, all the the seafood, the vegetables, um, even like you know, more exotic ingredients like duck's blood or you know, organ meats and whatnot. And you know, it would be it'd be a great time. You you get around family style, you you know, you you do your hot pot and then drink a lot of alcohol, and you know, it's a great time. It's perfect. For people that especially that haven't experienced hot pot. Um, I feel like Yinzers, if nobody's ever had a hot pot experience and you don't have friends that have had that, it's it's almost really intimidating because there's so many things on the menu, you're not really sure how you're supposed to eat things, you don't know how to make a sauce because there's so many combinations, everything is you know, you help yourself, right? So um I wanted to kind of ease people into it. And then so the next time they go, they can be like, Oh yeah, you know, I've I've done this in their own home too.

Doug 9:29

So it's a little more comfortable. You have me thinking, in case we do have some listeners that have no idea what a hot pot is, would you describe it sort of in the in easiest terms for you? Yeah.

Ken 9:40

Um how you do it in someone's house. How I would describe hot pot would be if you took the concept of fondue, but instead of cheese, you used different types of broth.

Doug 9:50

So usually they're boiling. Yeah.

Ken 9:53

So you have the broth simmering and you basically cook all your food table side. The meats will be super thinly sliced lamb, pork, beef, um, you know, what different cuts.

Doug 10:05

And they cook really quickly. They cook super quickly. Yeah.

Ken 10:08

So basically you like dip it in there for about 10 seconds and then you make uh a little dipping sauce. Um, usually I like to go with like a like a peanut butter with soy, little MSG, sugar, and scallions. So that's my that's my go-to. Yeah. But you know, the sesame paste, you can do just like a chili oil. Um, but you yeah, you basically like dip ingredients into hot soup and uh you eat that. It's a fun time. It's it's great. Yeah, I love it. Oh.

Doug 10:35

And I also wanted to just bring up there's a term, there's a Japanese term on the website which I really love.

Ken 10:40

Yeah.

Omotenashi And Reading The Room

Doug 10:41

Can you uh recount that for me, please?

Ken 10:43

Yeah. Um, so the basis of my business and how I want everybody to feel when they're working with me is a Japanese sense of hospitality called Omotenashi, which I'm not Japanese. So, you know, this might be a little bit off, but it's like hospitality wholehearted or wholehearted hospitality, which is basically I want to make sure every little part of your experience is as good as I can make it. And with in return, there's respect on both ends, right? Um, the client hopefully feels the hospitality and is able to be, you know, friendly and courteous. Um, and then I want to make sure every single little detail is exactly how I would want to do that.

Doug 11:36

Yeah, how you want to execute it and how you think they would want it.

Ken 11:39

Right. Yeah. I think the best example of omotenashi that uh is a good way to like describe it for people is when you go to like an omakase, which is a prefix menu uh sushi where they give you piece by piece in Japan. The uh sushi chefs will uh look at their customers and see, you know, if it's a 250-pound man versus a you know, a 13-year-old. They'll make their pieces of sushi slightly smaller or slightly bigger so that it gives you the correct mouthfeel, the it gives you the correct like proportions to the person. Almost like, but they don't say that, right? They don't advertise that. It's just something that they do, right? They're reading the room in the right way. They're reading the room, they're making sure everybody's fed. You're not you're not overstuffing someone who looks like they have a smaller appetite, and you're not leaving someone hungry because you keep all the pieces the same, right? Interesting. It's just like those little attentions of details that I think is like really fascinating for me, and I I really try to exemplify my business.

Doug 12:45

I really love that philosophy, kind of keeping that in the back of your mind when you're doing all these things. And your food looks beautiful, by the way, all the time.

Ken 12:52

Thank you.

Doug 12:53

I do want to circle back. I I don't want to just pigeon you into like this cuisine that we've talked about so far. You kind of cook anything, right?

Ken 13:01

I do, yeah. So I I do really pride myself on being a jack of all trades. Right. Um, obviously, I have my wheelhouse, which is East Asian flavors, traditional Chinese homestyle cooking. That being said, I really just love cooking things that people want to eat. So whether if that's uh a traditional steakhouse dinner with, you know, garlic mashed potatoes, just like a nice ribeye, asparagus with Bernay sauce, you know, I'm classically trained, so I know we can do that. Yeah, we can do that. Yeah, right? If that's what they want, absolutely I can cook that for you.

Doug 13:36

Yeah.

Ken 13:37

But for the most people that reach out to me, they understand like what my wheelhouse is, they know what kind of food I cook.

Doug 13:42

Yes.

Ken 13:43

And so I'll do you know, a dinner like that where it's like familiar. It's if it's a steak entree or like surf and turf or something like that, but I'll I'll throw a little bit of a spin on it. So I'll use a uh like a gochajan glaze for scallops, or whether that's uh a chimichurri that I make with a little bit of fish sauce and chili crisp. Um, so I like to throw a little bit of my uh flavors in there wherever I can.

Doug 14:08

I love all of this. And we're recording right before lunch. You're killing me right now. Great. You know, I do want to take a step back. You said that you started cooking as a teenager, but you have all this familial influence. So when you were a wee child, what was cooking like? Who was cooking for you? Like, what was your first kind of kitchen experiences as a young student?

Ken 14:30

So, my first kitchen experiences was uh from what I remember, going back to China when I was like four or five. Yeah, I think. I think the the thing I remember was my grandma, who just recently passed away. Sorry to hear. That's all right. Um, she used to always make this uh sweet and sour pork rib, like spare rib. Um, but like the Chinese style where you use soy and sugar and like rock sugar, yes, and um the the Chinese black vinegar to make the sweet and sour, not like the red Chinese restaurant one. Which is Americanized, which is Americanized, but it's you know, it's still good. Still good. Still good. Yeah, there's different different types. But that is that was one of my favorite dishes growing up.

Doug 15:18

Okay.

Ken 15:18

So that was my very first, like what I remember.

Doug 15:21

Like a food moment.

Ken 15:22

Yeah, it's really stuck with me. That really stuck with me, the flavor of the thing. You know, now I've managed to recreate it. It took some trial and error for the exact flavor that my grandma made.

Doug 15:34

Was there a recipe card? Nope.

Ken 15:36

No, there wasn't a recipe. I just remember the color, the consistency, and the flavor. Flavor, that taste. Um, but you know, she, you know, she had Alzheimer's and or dementia uh in the for the last like 10 years. And um, they all of my extended family live in China. So it's kind of and you know, it's kind of hard to like talk to them and you know whatnot. I haven't really kept super close with my extended family uh once we moved out here. So, you know, I never got the chance to like really ask her for a recipe before she kind of doesn't remember it, right?

Doug 16:09

Um, but but you're keeping it alive because you've you've figured it all out.

Ken 16:13

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's that's something that I um I really like doing too, is like figuring out what something tastes like and recreating myself.

Doug 16:22

Yeah.

Ken 16:22

Um, but that was my first food memory. And then growing up, the stir-fried egg and tomato, we had like a tenderized pork chop braised dish with a bunch of onions that I, you know, that my parents cooked.

Doug 16:35

Um did both of your parents cook?

Ken 16:37

Yes. They kind of just always cook the same thing. Oh, okay. Uh, which is fine. Yeah, totally. But if they tried to do anything else, uh at least my mom, uh, it would it would be a little iffy.

Doug 16:54

Well, they knew their lane, they knew like what worked, they tried something that worked, and so they guess kept doing it. Yeah, exactly. I think a lot of home cooks get that, you know, 10 to 20 recipes they're really good at, and that's sort of where they stay for a long time. So I also like going back to what you said when you were more of like a latchkey kid, left at home alone or whatever, and you started cooking and you started, I think you use the word tinkering, or I I always say I I fiddle. That's how I am with the recipe. I can't leave it alone.

Ken 17:23

Yeah, yeah. As a kid, I didn't do as as much tinkering. Um, it was sort of when I was like 23, 24 in Toronto, where it was very much like an ADHD thing where I didn't make a list, went out shopping, came back, and forgot something. But it wouldn't be like an important thing, right? You can figure it out, right? And so I would just look in my pantry, which I normally had a pretty well-stocked pantry for like spices and and ingredients, and I would make the switch out of necessity.

Doug 17:54

Yeah, on the fly. I mean, Ken, this is like the think-for-yourself cooking that I think a lot of people are just afraid of.

Ken 18:00

It's it's tough. It's tough. I mean, I I know exactly how people feel because when it comes to so I'm not very handy, right? I'll use this as an analogy and I always try to empathize with people. But like when it comes to being handy, like even fixing a toilet seat, the first time I had to fix a toilet seat, even though I looked up YouTube tutorials and and whatnot, it I mean was so just overwhelming. Yeah, because not what you do. You don't know what you like. If you could mess something up, you don't even know. Like you you don't know the unknown, right? Right. And food is one of those things that there's so many different moving parts that it it's tough for someone to not just follow a recipe exactly.

Doug 18:41

It's true.

Ken 18:42

All of my friends that cook, they follow the recipes exactly exactly, which you know, there's nothing wrong with that.

Doug 18:50

No, um, it's how you learn, and I think anyone that's taking on a recipe should follow it exactly at least the first time. And that's actually where I struggle. I'm like, okay, well, I think I want to do this, but let's do the real thing first, and then I'll play with it.

Ken 19:04

Yeah, no, I had an ex who, you know, we're still friends, yeah. Okay. But whenever we used to try a recipe, she would always be like, We have to do this, we have to do this exact step, it has to be exactly two tablespoons. I'm like, and and at that point, I already, you know, I was pretty well versed in cooking. I was already cooking in kitchens, and I was like, you don't have to. Yeah, like none of this stuff is a have to have this thing. We're not baking, right? That's different. Yeah, if you're baking, that's a science. A little bit of less science in the cooking. Exactly. You can you can kind of play around with it, taste as you go, but that's how it is, yeah.

Doug 19:40

Yeah.

Ken 19:41

I love all that. Hi, this is Chef Ken, and you're listening to The Pittsburgh Dish.

Culinary School And Kitchen Training

Doug 19:48

So you grew up in this sort of you know, Chinese, yet Western culture household, uh Vancouver, Canada, then to Pittsburgh, and then to Toronto for school. And then back here. Uh, but I think I noticed in somewhere in your story that Toronto wasn't for culinary school, right?

Ken 20:04

No. So So when did culinary school happen? Culinary school happened when I was 24. Is this your quarter life crisis? Yeah, that was a quarter life crisis. So basically what happened was long story short, I went to Toronto for uh for university. I went to the University of Toronto and I studied molecular biology and immunology.

Doug 20:24

My goodness.

Ken 20:25

Yeah. Yeah. And then after the degree, I learned that you can't do anything with the degree unless you go to like a master's program or a PhD program. And I liked it, I thought it was interesting, but I didn't love it enough to wanted to do more school. Yeah, I really didn't like school. And so what I did was I applied around to some jobs, you know, having nothing on my resume. I wasn't qualified for anything, right? I did a single summer at a genomics lab, and you know, that's not really enough experience. And I didn't really love lab work either. It wasn't your heart song. It wasn't really.

Doug 21:00

No.

Ken 21:00

Um, and so I went and just worked at different sales jobs for a year. I worked three separate sales jobs in one year. Two of them I quit, and one of them I got fired at. I was just really not good at it. Uh, once I got let go from my last sales job, I said, you know what? I really don't want to do this. Finding this like traditional job. That that entire time I was cooking. Yeah, all through school, I was uh in front of house, so I served, bartended. Okay.

Doug 21:33

Um, so I went that was already in your veins. Yeah, yeah.

Ken 21:36

Hospitality was always present at some point. Got it. Right. As soon as I left for college when I was 18, the first job that I took was I was like a banquet server. Okay. You know, yeah. But yeah, so I basically finished that whole sales era of my life and went back to uh service. So I found a little neighborhood bar B street. I beer attended there. I call it that. Because all I did was pour beer. Little Irish pub that was down the street from me. So I went, you know, I did brunch and I did uh like a couple days out of the week and you know got to know a lot of the regulars, and that was really what sparked my love of hospitality. I always liked it, you know, I always really enjoyed it. I've always enjoyed the process, like talking with the guests and everything. But when I got to see the regulars and the regulars are happy to see me, that was really when I decided, you know what? I'm good at this front of house thing. I want to try this work on formalizing my back of house experience. And then that's when I decided I was gonna move back here and go to culinary school, went to PTC before they shut down.

Doug 22:44

Pittsburgh Technical College has had a culinary program.

Ken 22:47

Yes, they did. Yes. Okay. Um, so I went there and I went there specifically just for the knowledge. I didn't really care about the degree or anything like that. I just wanted to know because even then, right? Even as a pretty established home cook, there's certain things that if someone doesn't show you in a professional sense, you don't know what result you're supposed to be achieving. Right. If you ever make Espanyol for the first time and nobody's ever told you this is what it's supposed to taste like, or you've never tasted it yourself, you have no idea if you did it right. Right. You know? And so that was the main thing that I wanted to learn.

Doug 23:18

Get out of that experience.

Ken 23:20

Right. Like learn the stuff that was hard and recipes online didn't exactly tell you how it's supposed to have tasted. Right. And then just kind of get an industry education in general. And then after that, I went went and worked um at the Rivers Club. I worked there for about two and a half years, you know, did my rounds in the kitchen, bought Garmanger, got the different stations, saute banquet, did a lot of banquet cooking. I did a lot of the sauces, one special for the week, and then a different special every single day, two different soups every single day. I got I got a really good, well-rounded experience there.

Doug 23:58

Yeah, almost as good as probably the culinary training.

Ken 24:01

Yes.

Doug 24:02

And in this moment, too, your confidence is probably boosting because you're learning all these things. That's how it goes. So, how did you make the jump from you know culinary working at the rivers and that to what you're doing right now?

The Billionaire Personal Chef Trial By Fire

Ken 24:16

So even through culinary school, I wasn't totally sure I wanted to go through that whole restaurant system of like going from commie to line cook to sous chef to you know to exec. I always knew it was a lot of work, a lot of physical breakdown of the body. Yeah, a physical demanding. It's absolutely physically demanding. And there are a lot of respect for you know the people that love the restaurant industry as that much to do that. But I I wasn't really sure that was a path that I wanted to do. I just knew I wanted to cook, I wanted to give a hospitality experience, I wanted to, you know, just working food in general. But I had sort of a big break in August of 2023. I had an opportunity to go be a personal chef, like a full-time personal chef for who I think is a billionaire. Uh-huh. They uh they had an unlimited money, so I'd assume billionaire.

Doug 25:17

Yeah.

Ken 25:18

Um basically, this Chinese billionaire was on his vacation in LA and he was looking for a personal chef because his regular one uh wasn't available or something. He had his assistant post in like a weach in WeChat circles, and my mom saw it, sent it to me, and somehow got me in touch with the assistant. And I was like, What? This is this is crazy. I don't know.

Doug 25:39

It never personal chef.

Ken 25:41

I have never done it before. And you know, at that point I was pretty well versed in kitchens and uh and cooking commercially, but I had no personal chefing experience, right? I had I was creative, but I wasn't that creative. So I they ended up flying me out for a week, got there, and had the worst week of my entire adult life because it was just so demanding. I worked 14 hours a day, and I wasn't really quite sure of the expectations. The original expectation that I thought was he wanted breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and it would be you know, a different breakfast every single day, and then lunch would be you know, three courses, dinner would be three courses. Turns out breakfast he actually wanted it was a little bit easier. He actually wanted more of the same things every single day, fresh cut fruit, oatmeal, sure. Uh, that wasn't too much of a problem. Lunch and dinner, though, he wanted a mission experience in his own home.

Doug 26:40

Wow.

Ken 26:41

Every single day. And that got me really stressed out because I spent probably nine or ten hours a day cooking and prepping and grocery shopping and cleaning. And then the other four hours, I would just be sitting on my laptop trying to figure out what I was gonna make for the next day, right? Right. And so I made a four-course lunch and a five-course dinner every single day.

Doug 27:03

Oh my goodness.

Ken 27:04

Um, usually like some sort of salad, some sort of soup, a fish dish, a meat dish, and then a carb, like a pasta or something like that. But he also had a lot of dietary restrictions in terms of everything had to be very mild. He wanted Japanese flavors, he wanted like really traditional Japanese style food where it was, you know, simmered or like nothing too oily. Uh, whenever he was on vacation, he basically wanted it to be a detox. Why? Right? He wanted everything to be extremely healthy. He loves sashimi, so I got to learn how to break down a bunch of fish because I had to Google it.

Doug 27:36

And can I also just say you didn't live in LA, so here you are. I lived with the guy. You flew out there and you had to find all the places to procure all your food. That was for the first time.

Ken 27:47

That was incredibly difficult. Um, but within about two weeks, I kind of figured out, you know, where was the best place to get certain things. You know, I would hit up a Whole Foods for most of the produce. Uh, next to the Whole Foods was the was a farmer's market. It was in Hollywood. I can't remember the name of the farmer's market, but shout out. Um, and then there was a fish market there that you know, they they got to see me every single day. So we learned each other's names and uh, you know, they they hooked me up with like the freshest fish, right? And then I also ordered from uh True World out there um because I had an EIN at that point. Thank God I had an LLC, yeah, but I had an EIN, so I was able to establish a relationship with the supplier of sushi fish for a lot of Michelin restaurants. So they would just deliver to the house.

Doug 28:33

Wow.

Ken 28:33

So I was able to get, you know, Toro, I was able to get Hamachi, high grade, yeah, super high grade, squid, uni, like everything that he wanted, I could get. Wow, right? So I learned how to break down a bunch of fish and you know, make sashimi. I'm not an expert still, but you know, I I can at least cut cut pieces of sushi. After week one, they somehow liked me enough to keep me around. I guess I adjusted quickly enough. Um after a month when I had kind of gotten into a rhythm, and so I was making nine, ten different my menu items every single day, seven days a week for about three months. And then after three months, I had to call it quits. It was just it was just too much. So intense. I mean, I was working 14 hours a day, seven days a week. Maybe I had an evening off here and there.

Doug 29:22

What a trial by fire.

Ken 29:24

Oh my gosh. Yeah, it was the most stressful yet productive time in my life because I that that trial by fire really, really got me good at what I'm doing now. And so when I came back to Pittsburgh, I took a two-month sabbatical, decided that you know what? I I'm gonna try to do this whole private chef thing because if I can do it for him, I can do it for everybody else here. Right. And uh I took that two months sabbatical and I went to like startup seminars because I don't know anything about entrepreneurship, right? And even now I still don't really know a whole lot. I'm still kind of feeling it out, you know. Went to as many resources as I could, learned as much as I could about running a business, how to kind of you know, bookkeep and all that stuff, and formally started last year, and you know, here I am a year and a month later. What a wild ride! Yeah, crazy ride. That is crazy.

Doug 30:16

So now we fast forward to where you are. You've got your own business. Is this what you're doing?

Ken 30:20

Yeah, full time. Full time, full time. Congratulations. Thank you, thank you. Yeah, I I I can't believe it's gone so well in the last year. I really was not expecting it to take off like this. Well, you're doing it well. Oh, thank you. And you've put in the time to know how to do it properly.

Doug 30:38

But I think the other thing, you mentioned nostalgia earlier. You're also bringing things back from family along with this professional journey. And that combination, I think, is really what's lighting you up along with all the talent you have. So congrats. Thank you. What is it now that you love the most out of all the things you're doing?

Ken 30:58

You know, the amalgamation of that front of house experience where you get to see the guest happy and you make them happy because your effort goes into their experience. And also being able to be uh creative with the food that I cook with both you know my influences and also their needs, the amalgamation of that is the thing that like is really, really rewarding. So I do a lot of um meal preps for like my clients are a lot of times busy professionals or busy moms, uh young with young kids, or you know, just work a lot in general. And I feel this too when I get home. Sometimes it's like I don't even know what I want to eat. Sometimes my uh bar for food is very low. So when I get home, sometimes I you know, I just like find something and I eat it. But for those, you know, for for those clients of mine, I really, really enjoy that they're able to come home to a uh a meal that they can heat up and it'll it'll be exactly what they were looking for. Get their kids fed healthy instead of having chicken nuggets and fries every single night, good whole ingredients, and just getting getting that feedback that I've been able to help them help out their life. That's the thing that's really, really rewarding to me.

Doug 32:17

Yeah, yeah, you you were talking earlier about the back of the house, front of the house. You're the full house now. Yeah, I guess I'm the full house. And you're making people's homes happier even when you're not there with some of the meal preps. So well done.

Ken 32:28

Yeah, thank you.

Doug 32:29

I have a question then for how things are going. It sounds like it's great. In the next few months or the year, are there any goals or events or any new things that you want to be trying to do with your business?

Ken 32:45

Well, having a full schedule thing is still relatively new. My business picked up halfway through last year, so I did a lot more private events and I got a few more regular clients. January, though, this year was when I started having a full schedule. So I do meal preps Sunday through Wednesday, and I usually have about two a day. And then Fridays and Saturdays, I'll have events at least twice a month, right? And so I'm just I've been just sort of adjusting to that. Yeah. And so I'm so busy. Yeah, I haven't really had a chance to look too forward, but I know something that I want to do is shout out if there's any uh young cooks that are looking to get into this sort of profession. I'm really looking to expand my business in a way that because I'm getting I'm still getting inquiries, even though my schedule is full.

Doug 33:38

Yes.

Ken 33:38

Um you have to turn people away. I have to turn people away, or I have to put them on a wait list. Or, you know, if their location is a little bit further out of the way, even if I have time, it doesn't make sense for me to drive an hour and a half from one client to another. So you need a sous chef. Yeah, I I need so I'm starting to look at like I might need some help. Um, but that's like a slow process, you know, because I'm still feeling out how I want to carry this business. Right. And it's you, you gotta balance it. Yeah, and I have to make sure. Well, the big thing is I want to make sure if someone comes on, the training that I give them and the expectation is what I want it to be.

Doug 34:21

Right. You don't want to lower any of the level that of the bar that you've set.

Ken 34:26

Yes, yes, the bar can never be lowered.

Doug 34:29

That's so exciting for being so busy. Uh well, I do want to ask this anyway. I know you say you're busy and you're, you know, there some folks are on a wait list, but I would love to remind folks if they're interested in your food and they just want to find you and follow you. Could you tell us your social handles and remind us of your website?

Ken 34:48

Yeah. So my website is kczcuisine.com. Um, that's kilocharliezulucuisine.com. I know that all kind of sounds the same. Yes. Um, and my socials are Ken, I believe it's Ken underscore cooks food.

Doug 35:05

That's it. Um I looked it up. That's the little bit of research.

Ken 35:08

I can sometimes I forget if I put the underscore in there or not. But so my Instagram handle is Ken underscore cooks food. Um, I need to do a better job of posting on my actual feed, but if you want to just kind of see what my day-to-day looks like, I post stories so you can kind of see the stuff I do for all my clients.

Doug 35:26

I would say I thought your feed is burning up. You're posting a lot on your mostly on my stories though.

Ken 35:31

Yeah, but it's just it's quick. That's good. And then yeah, on Facebook, same thing. I go by Chef Ken or Ken underscore cooks food. Look me up on Google as well. Um, if you look up Chef Ken or KCZ Cuisine, um, that's my Google page. It has all the reviews, so you can look through that if you're yeah, you can read through.

Doug 35:49

Yeah, if people really do want to try and book you, it's the website they should go to to do the the inquiry form, right?

Ken 35:55

Yeah, so go through the website. Um, I'm getting my website redone soon, so it'll look a little bit different. Right now it's a little bit wonky. I'm not a web designer. So, you know, the best thing I can do through Squarespace is what I've done. Yeah, um, yeah. But you can always email me at ken at kczcuisine.com, or you can even just send me a text at 412-855-6073. That's just my personal cell number. Maybe later this year I'll I'll get an actual business line. But yeah, feel free to text that for inquiries. I've had I've I've had a return uh private events client that you know I did like a lopeman dinner in five days between him just texting me from a random number to having the event set up for 25 people. Wow. So but it all worked out, it all worked out. They had a great time, and he booked me again for his uh friend's his friend's birthday party. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, you've got a lot of repeat business. You know, I I I hope so. Yeah, I like seeing the same people. That's you know, and and giving people a different experience with the same person.

Doug 36:58

Well, it's back to getting those regulars from your what you call it beer tending experience.

Ken 37:02

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's also a lot easier to work with regular clients because you only have to go through the discovery process once. Yeah. You figure out their allergies, their their palate, and whatnot, and you can just start creating delicious food specifically for them.

Doug 37:17

Makes total sense. All right, Ken. I always have a customary ending question. The name of the show is The Pittsburgh Dish. What's the best dish that you had to eat this past week?

Best Bite This Week

Ken 37:30

This past week? Ooh, that's a hard one. Um a lot of times I end up eating a recipe that I do for others. And one of the things that I really, really enjoy this week was a it's a it's a donor.

Doug 37:49

Oh, like a donor donor kebab.

Ken 37:51

Yeah, like a donor kebab. So I got some lavash bread and ground beef, you know, some spices, tomato paste, all that, grated onion, mix that in with the ground beef. And this actually came from like Reels or TikTok, um, where you take a piece of parchment paper and you flatten the beef out. Super flat. Yep, super flat, and then you like roll it up a couple times and you bake it off in a really hot oven to try and get some browning.

Doug 38:18

Wow.

Ken 38:18

And then when you unroll it, it you basically get the texture of a donor. Yeah. That obviously without the spit. So it's not quite as good. But the flavor is still great. Um, and it's really healthy, you know, especially if you use like 90-10 lean beef. And then I, you know, take the same tray that I had the beef done on, and I take whatever peppers, like it could be green peppers or uh Anaheim peppers, and I crank that oven up to like 550 with some tomatoes, and I roast those things off. Oh, and make a really simple tom with uh garlic. Basically, it's just like a garlic oil emulsion. Yeah, a little bit of a little bit of lettuce. Doesn't it look like mayo? It looks like mayo, but it's garlic, but it's but it's raw garlic, so it's like it's a real it's real punchy, very assertive. Punchy, a little bit of lemon juice, you know, it's really assertive, but it it works so well with all the strong flavors in there. Yes, and the cumin and the tomato, and then a little bit of lettuce, and I just do a little wrap, and it's you know, really nice meal prep. It sounds like the best bite this week. It is, it is the absolutely the best bite this week.

Doug 39:23

Chef Ken, it's been such a pleasure to get to know you. Thank you so much for your time today, and thanks for being on the Pittsburgh Dish.

Ken 39:31

Yeah, thanks, Doug, for having me here. This was uh such a fun experience. My very first podcast ever. So thank you for uh thank you for inviting me. Of course.

Doug 39:42

If you enjoyed the show, consider buying us a coffee for this episode or supporting the show monthly. You can find links to those options at the bottom of our show description. And if you want to follow my own food adventures, you can find me on social media at Doug Cooking. That's our show for this week. Thanks again to all of our guests and contributors, and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.