Anne Kearney: Culinary Inspirations and Personal Reflections

Transcript

Ernestine 0:00

Welcome to Bon Vivant Chic Life well Lived the podcast for anyone who wants to cut through today's noise and just listen for a few minutes to meaningful conversations on the human experience and the power of connectedness. I'm your host Ernestine Morgan, an advocate for kindness with a passion for showcasing human interest stories that matter. Today I'm delighted to spend time with Anne Kearney, otherwise known as Chef Anne. She's an American chef and restaurateur. We met through friends and her partners at Oak Ola Trudy and John Cooper. She's received several James Beard awards and recognitions. Chef Ann's motto is love of food. So we have something in common 'cause I love food too. Let's get started. Chef Ann, thanks for sitting down with me today.

Anne 0:50

Thank you. I'm flattered that you'd. Be interested in my story of, and my thoughts and such. But thank you.

Ernestine 0:56

Share a little bit about where you grew up. what life was like,

Anne 1:00

midwestern. I feel like in hindsight as an adult, when you look back on your childhood, I feel like. How did I get so blessed? My mother and father both reminded us as we were growing up, that we chose them, meaning that they were ready to have a family and somehow we, chose them through, god my mother and father were both hard workers. My mom was a stay at home mom until I was 14, she, grew a garden and she made our clothes. I didn't have a pair of blue jeans from the store until I was in fifth grade, and I went home and asked why I didn't have a pair of blue jeans honestly, it was the math teacher was trying to do a percentage thing and she was trying to show a hundred percent she said, all right, raise your hand if you own a pair of blue jeans. And I was the only kid in class who did not have a pair of blue jeans. Oddly enough. 'Cause my mother made her clothes and so my mother bought me a pair of blue jeans 'cause she wanted me to be part of the team, she cooked three meals a day for us while breakfast was being eaten, she was packing our lunches brown paper bag. I can tell you exactly what it was every day. cause she was very methodical and smart about how she spent her money with four children. Most of the time if there was not leftovers from the night before, we would have peanut butter, all natural peanut butter, no sugar. We had an all-natural peanut butter local honey, whole wheat bread. You had carrot and celery sticks, and then you either had an orange or an apple and, everyone said, oh, you eat like a bird. Well, this is what she packed. But, we didn't have these cute little lunch bags that had cooler bags in them, right? And such. My mother put it in a brown paper bag and it sat in our locker until lunchtime. So tuna fish salad. On Fridays 'cause Catholic and she would butter the inside of the bread so it wouldn't soak into the bread and make the bread soggy. Who knew that was something, well I got to learn that at an early age and I was like, okay, I can take that into my professional career in hindsight, of course. If we had meatloaf the day before and there was meatloaf leftover, sometimes we had meatloaf sandwiches, but it was pretty much the peanut butter. Nobody really wanted to trade you their delicious deli sandwich on a beautiful Kaiser roll for your peanut butter jelly sandwich. But that was okay. I was able to get through that. She cooked for us every night. Sitting down to dinner table, you only miss dinner if you had an event like soccer or a practice or something, and I wasn't on a team in high school, when I was 14, my mother went back to work so we could all continue private catholic school education, which was very important to our family, how we were raised. And so it was fine. I had to have dinner on the table and that meant table set. The salad dressings out bread and butter. A salad made and then whatever the main protein was prepared with a vegetable sometimes too, and a starch a lot of potatoes, a lot of, noodles and rice. There was lots of stuff in the pantry at the beginning of the week and I. Started cooking the dishes that she cooked. And then as time went on, she had a drawer that her cookbooks would sit in to have them outta the way, I suppose. And I just started going through the Betty Crocker cookbook and the housekeeping. It was lovely 'cause I could create different dishes and my mom would get home before my father and I'd say, mom, we're having this for dinner tonight. And it was very satisfying to be able to put dinner on the table. It was my. Chore my job. Everyone picked up additional things and that was mine. When you're getting compliments for something that you're doing because it tastes good and it's warm in the winter time, and it just was satisfying for me to do that at about 16, I was like, you know what? I think I'm gonna pursue this because I made chicken cordon blue. With the books and we ate chicken, there was ham in the deli, drawer, and there was cheese. It may not have been the fancy French ham that we made or that I used at, Ruay or Paristyle or that we made in house at Ru Main. I made it and then my brothers would talk about it to their friends. And then my mother talked about it to some of the neighbors. And before I knew it, people were asking me to make it for them, for their family and did it for just a little bit of money. And so I was like, huh, this isn't such a bad idea. I catered a wedding for some friends of some neighbors that lived in our neighborhood, just a young couple, their church. It was in their church basement. It wasn't very fancy at all. This is an 80. Three maybe. Oh my Lord. You think back on that, it's like, how did this time go by? It goes very fast. But I drove, I, my parents went down with me in our big Econoline van with all the food ready and it was very simple things. But nevertheless, I walked away from there with a $700 check. And I remember thinking to myself that was a lot of money back then. And I took my expenses out and I was like, that's not bad. So I pursued that when I was. Getting towards graduation, I pursued finding culinary schools where there wasn't the internet. You had to really seek out things. And it was considered pretty blue collar and they wanted you to go on to college, which now culinary schools or in college. Mm-hmm. So you get a little more cred these days, but nevertheless, I pursued it and it just opened up my mind to so much. I just feel like it satisfied me personally and professionally to know how to cook, to be able to prepare something for somebody that they need or they want, and then do it for a living. It's worked out for me.

Ernestine 5:31

What are some of your fondest memories

Anne 5:34

my mom's gardens, being able to harvest from the garden and whether it was the peach trees and the apple trees, or the first season, strawberries. We had all sorts of things. And also she was a great baker. Her father was the cook in the family. He was German and my father's mother was German, and we had lots of good food being prepared for us at both grandparents' home. And then my mother was a good cook. And so baking things fresh was a nice thing. We would come home from school and there might be a tray of. Something prepared, stacked up on the kitchen table and we would all run up to her so mom, what is that for? Well, they're not to look at if she said that, that meant we could have one.

Ernestine 6:10

Oh, that's cute.

Anne 6:11

But if she didn't respond that way, we knew it was for a bake sale or for a get together later but it was still fun. And even if it was rolly pullies, the extra dough from when she would make pie, she'd roll them up with jam or cinnamon and it was just little bites of dough that, you just felt special. Yeah. And we were always welcome in the kitchen to help her. And so being able to know how to do those things that she had learned from someone else, it was very satisfying. And they loved to entertain. We always had parties and so for us it wasn't a high-end fancy thing, but it was good quality and entertaining. They had a bar in our basement, I didn't know anyone else who didn't have these things. I didn't know other people didn't sit down with their families and enjoy meals together and say, grace I was thinking about it the other day. She was 75 years old and laying hardwood floor that's just her way. She finished our furniture. She put wallpaper. She was a great leader of the pack for sure.

Ernestine 7:02

Who had the greatest influence, for you when you were growing up?

Anne 7:06

My parents, I would say yes, definitely. They led us very well. Culinarily, it would be my mother, but then my grandmother and my grandfather on different sides of the family. We just were always led by faith. My father was Roman Catholic and so we were led by faith. It wasn't an. Option to not participate. So yes, definitely my family.

Ernestine 7:24

That's lovely. What was your very first job and how did it shape you?

Anne 7:28

12 years old, I got a paper route put money in my personal account, which, you don't realize those things till you get older. How lucky you were to have something. I set up an account, it was at a credit union when I was 12 and my money went in there and when I wanted a little something extra aside from what my family provided for us, we were able to. Live pretty comfortably that regard. For me to be able to go and buy something for somebody that was a good lesson to learn. I delivered papers seven days a week. My father helped me on Sundays, so on Sunday mornings we would get up and he would drive the van around with the papers in it, and I would be, walking but going into people's homes, I think back on that, I think to myself, how on earth we lived in a safe, suburban neighborhood, but you don't know that.

Ernestine 8:08

Mm-hmm.

Anne 8:09

You think to yourself, your 12-year-old was just walking around with cash in the neighborhood, going in people's homes. Oh my goodness. I can't imagine letting, I don't have any children, but I can't imagine letting anyone that's 12 years old that I know do that. But this is a different world we're living in. I turned that over to my brother and I got a job. I was babysitting and I was working at the swim club in the concession stand.

Ernestine 8:30

Mm-hmm.

Anne 8:30

Heating up hot pretzels and selling candy. And then I became a lifeguard. I just kept busy. You couldn't sit around and play video games and tell

Ernestine 8:38

me about. Culinary school. You decided to go to?

Anne 8:41

I did. I went to, Cincinnati Culinary Arts Academy in Cincinnati, only after pursuing some of the bigger culinary schools in the country. But realizing for the money they were asking, I think I was making 2 25 an hour. Back when I was applying for culinary schools and for me to pay $20,000 back blew my mind. I was like, I'm gonna see if there's some alternatives. Cincinnati had a vocational program, Cincinnati Culinary Arts Academy, and it was affiliated with the Culinary Institute of America, which I had been accepted to, but you didn't live on campus. So I found an apartment in Cincinnati. After I had tried college for a year, which was a wonderful time, but not necessarily what I wanted to do. So I, started culinary school and I found a gaggle of fellow culinary students that were younger than me and older than me and it gives you perspective that's different than. Just starting with your graduating class in freshman year somewhere. For me it just ignited me. I would go home on the weekends to see my family and my little brothers were always like, what did you learn this week? And I would, start bringing fresh herbs I would ask and they would let me buy some of the fresh product my mom had a great garden, but we didn't have fresh herbs year round. And so at the culinary school, I could bring home fresh tarragon so that she could make her chicken with tarragon cream sauce, and it was not dried tarragon. And all of a sudden it changed our lives. Oh, this is what it can taste like and so she started being more, aggressive and not in a negative way, but in a positive way. I can use fresh herb. So one time I came home for Easter and she did a whole salmon, there was a meat market in our town and that was a big expense for us to have a whole salmon. And she had stuffed it with dill and lemons and yeah, mom, go for it. Big difference from the block of, frozen cod that t thought out in the sink while we were at school. Oh my Lord.

Ernestine 10:25

How did you end up from Dayton to new Orleans?

Anne 10:28

I was in Cincinnati being a chef at a small German restaurant that I adored but I had decided I was leaving. I was gonna go continuing to educate myself. I chose five cities and one of them was New Orleans, and in my big fancy, 20 some year old brain, early twenties, I decided. I'll go to each city for one year. And learn what I need to learn, right? Because why would I need more than a year somewhere, right? Like in hindsight, what were you thinking?

Ernestine 10:51

Yeah.

Anne 10:52

Why would you even wanna pack in a year's time again You don't know those things. I stayed for 13 years instead.

Ernestine 10:57

Oh, so that was that the first city of the

Anne 10:59

five? That was the first city you were

Ernestine 11:01

there

Anne 11:01

13. Coincidentally was the only city. I mean's I gotta travel to do events in Boston and in Chicago. I love Chicago and maybe. 20 years prior, I would've been able to make it happen there, but instead, I just go and enjoy it for all it's worth.

Ernestine 11:14

Oh, that's great.

Anne 11:15

Yeah. But Miami was one of them. I've loved Miami,

Ernestine 11:17

uhhuh.

Anne 11:18

Love the ocean I feel like new York was too intimidating for me.

Ernestine 11:21

You've built a very successful career as a chef and restaurant entrepreneur. What are some of the most rewarding moments through your journey?

Anne 11:30

There's some personal things when you get to meet an idol, somebody that you have. Studied under vicariously, like through their writing before the internet and before there was, PBS had, I could see Julia Childs on PBS, but when I worked with Emeril, which was further along in my career, he was not as big of an idol or icon as he had become. So that was interesting to be with him during that time. But he was being recognized by bigger, more successful people at that time, like Julia was doing a series for Time Life and she was doing Louisiana or the South, and she came and did a thing in, new Orleans. And I happened to be Emeril's personal culinary assistant. So I took care of prepping and gathering all the ingredients for whatever it was that we were working on. And this was just a taping of one of his shows for her series and, I got to stand next to this culinary icon. For someone who I knew about it was amazing to me. And then I got to sit at dinner next to her and she spoke to me and I was like, this is so awesome. Coincidentally, it came full circle in 95 I believe. I went to, the food and wine experience to accept an award for my mentor who had died, he was given one of the food and wine, best Chefs Awards, but he had died during the time it was given to him, and he was due to accept it. And I walked into the hotel, Jerome, I believe in Aspen. And, my first time in Aspen. It was so amazing to be brought there for that. I walked into the hotel, checked in, and I turned around and she was sitting on a couch by the fireplace. And I was like. You can bet I'm saying hello to her because imagine the people she's met, so she doesn't need to remember me, but I was going to say hello to her. And I took one of my good friends who was, very well connected to the gentleman we were accepting the award for. And I just went up and I just introduced myself. I said, we met in New Orleans. She's like, well, absolutely. And she just had this beautiful conversation with me. So for me that was so special too. Wendy was delighted to be there, that's one of many, like to meet Alice Waters it's these people I've aspired to how they operate their lives, culinarily and how they put themselves out there professionally.

Ernestine 13:29

Were there any pivotal moments or decisions that changed the course of your life?

Anne 13:34

Oh my goodness. I had a near death experience in regards to a medical challenge that happened to me in 2002, and I survived it. And it does change how you move forward. You move forward thinking, how grateful you are to have had this life prior to that and to have been salvaged through that. And what's next? So that was a big, time in my life and I had so much support from people. The people that I hold close to me aren't just blood relative family. They're just people that have shown me support through my entire life. The good, the bad, the ugly. And I have in turn shown them support. And you don't realize how big your family is until you're in need sometimes, until you just slow down and take a look and say, look at all these people that value me and are supporting me, I got so much support during that time. And honestly, when you're told by your doctor that 98% of people don't survive this, you think, oh. Okay. I'm not done here, so who knows? I'm just gonna keep doing it until it is not doable anymore.

Ernestine 14:32

How did you get started at your first restaurant? How did that happen?

Anne 14:35

That was in New Orleans and, I had worked for John Neil it was the second chef that I worked for in New Orleans. I worked at a little place called Bistro Mason Deville, and it was a tiny little restaurant, 20 plus seats. And in the kitchen, John Neil was creating this fantastic provincial based food, we made our own demi glasss. We made. Everything from scratch, just like I had learned in culinary school. So for me, it was catching me on fire and he would sit down with the cooks once a week and he would say, what should we do this week? And he had a few ideas and, I learned how to make floating island. I learned how to make, all sorts of things. Ricotta, like all sorts of things that you don't learn to make until you open a book and it says here how to make these. But he had trained in France and Italy when he was in culinary school and he was a New Yorker. He was a Milton, Florida man who went to culinary school in New York City and then he got to go to Europe. And so I had never. Gone to New York City at that point. And I had never been to Europe either, and so he was just feeding me information firsthand and I was so excited about that. He opened Paristyle. With two partners and I was the only cook he was allowed to bring from the bistro, Mason Deville. It was part of his closing. His, final words that he said to the owners and operators at the bistro. And I was tickled pink that I got chosen because we had connected culinarily. What he wanted, I could execute. And every little piece he gave me from his knowledge, he gave it to me slowly enough that I was learning more than just a recipe. I was learning how to taste. I had tasted most of my adult life. But duck liver pate for an example. Why would I want to eat liver ever? But the way that he made this pate and the ingredients that he added, it wasn't liver forward. It was so many flavors combined that ultimately turned out to be this fantastic thing. And he would give it to me to taste and he would taste it. And he's like, are you really tasting it? And I was like, I think so.

Ernestine 16:23

Mm-hmm.

Anne 16:23

And he was like, okay, now. When you take it into your mouth, rub it along the roof of your mouth, on your tongue, on the roof of your mouth, and inhale in at the same time and let your mind capture everything that you're tasting. What? He taught me to taste I'll take that lesson in my culinary career early on. And so he opened a restaurant with two partners and I was with him side by side for the first year of that. It was a very small restaurant, but there was a point between our bistro experience and our, Paristyle experience that he needed to teach someone again, and I needed to start learning from someone else again. 'cause you get into that place sometimes. Either one of us. Didn't want to be like. Get tired of each other. Because it was a small kitchen. It was just he and I. And so my good friend who was, looking for a job, she got the job as a sous chef or as his second person. It eventually grew bigger. And I took a job working for Emeril after interviewing at many, many places and having three interviews, not even meeting Emeril which, for me that wasn't a surprise. Women in the kitchen weren't as, welcome. So you really had to prove yourself.

Ernestine 17:22

Mm-hmm.

Anne 17:22

Three years later after I had worked for Emeril for three years, John died. And, I knew he was dying. We were still friends and I was. Taking him. His favorite dishes that I used to make for him that weren't on the menu, a Paristyle ever, but we still had a connection. And when he died, his family who I had met many times, his mother and stepfather came from Milton when they were closing his estate. And they offered me an opportunity to buy the restaurant and I was 27 years old. Oh, wow. I had not a lot of money in the bank. I'm not letting this opportunity pass me by without trying really hard. I had a small business administration paperwork I could fill out for a loan, but I had my paperwork together and I went in and spoke with Emeril one day. I said, can I have a private meeting with you? I'd like to talk to you about an opportunity that's come across my plate. And he set it up for the next day. He wanted to know what it was, and I said, well, I've been offered an opportunity to buy Paristyle from Johns estate, and it's a ridiculously reasonable amount of money.

Ernestine 18:17

Mm-hmm.

Anne 18:17

For the time, but also for what I was purchasing. Which was a lease and all the equipment. The next day he was at a newly renovated Emeril so they had free private party rooms in the back and one of the managers said, oh, he's in the back private party room waiting for you to show up. And I walked in, I'm gonna cry probably. Oh, he had his bankers there for me. And he said, if you don't mentor her, the money, he pontificated about me. I had started as a cook with him, and I was currently his culinary assistant. Wrote a book with him, I had done so many things with him. He opened me up to so many things. Oh. And he said, if you're not gonna give her the money, I will.

Ernestine 18:53

Aw,

Anne 18:53

they had just loaned him $2 million so he could open up Nola, his second restaurant. So you can imagine of that $2 million, I was gonna get tiny bit, but enough for me to keep a restaurant going. And they were like, okay. So at that point he wasn't on any of the paperwork. He didn't sign loans for me, but he did open up the door and convinced them the next day I went to Whitney and I signed paperwork and I bought a restaurant at 27 that was already open and established and I very gingerly took it over and I knew all the people that were working there gingerly made it my own. I had a few items that I put on when I first initially opened that were dishes I created in my life. But I still had many of his dishes. And then over the course of several months, I made it my own. And people knew me from the opening time and they knew me from Emerils because Emerils had an opening kitchen. So they knew me from my days there. Many of these people that supported me. And, I just built it as organically as I could and was welcomed in I wasn't a chef. I was a cook who bought a restaurant. I became a chef in that regard. But Frank Brigtsen and Susan Spicer and Emeril supported me. They reached out and let me know if there was anything I needed. Frank Brigtsen came and prepped in my kitchen one day because the restaurant took off and I was over my head as far as keeping up with the demand of what was going on. Not because I wasn't able to, but because there was more work than

Ernestine 20:11

mm-hmm.

Anne 20:12

Physically possible. Emeril's. Reservationist, when they were full. They would offer para style as a go-to. Emerald had another restaurant. But he pitched things that way. It was a beautiful thing for him to be able to do. Oh, nice. And he would have, management parties at my restaurant. He would occasionally come in. I was blessed in I think 98. I had a big year culinary. I was recognized nationally and I didn't know all the things that was gonna happen. But it was a Friday lunch. And, he showed up in the restaurant, stuck his head in the kitchen. He wasn't eating. He was walking around the dining room with a wine spectator. That I was on the cover of.

Ernestine 20:44

Wow.

Anne 20:45

I don't even have any earthly idea how that happened, but it's not what you know, but baby who you know. But nevertheless, that's how I found out I was on the cover. Emeril brought the one that was sent out in the mail to him and showed the entire dining room full on a Friday. That's awesome. Thank you Emeril, thanks for helping me through this. Those types of things, people are gracious with their time and their energy I just feel blessed. Great memories. That's the first restaurant I bought, Paristyle It lasted for 10 years with me. And it's been off and on empty space since, and I am lured back on occasion, but there were 900 restaurants in New Orleans proper when I left. They're now over 2000.

Ernestine 21:20

Oh wow. And now what's next? You're continuing to evolve as a chef and, sharing your craft and talent with others and in different ways and re-imagining what your life is going to look like, aren't you? Oh, yes. Take

Anne 21:34

a look at that. I am stepping back from the demands of the physical job of running a restaurant kitchen. And I've told myself to be cautious. 'cause there's lots of opportunities that come across your path. New opportunities to work your dairy air off, which, there's always somebody who'd like to help you make the next. Restaurant come about, but I'm slowing it down just a little bit and I'm just gonna do the best I can to just kind of educate people. I'm gonna do some private events here and there, the right ones that come along, but I'm gonna take some time and look at this. Portfolio of recipes that I've collected in my computer through the last, 40 years. It blows my mind. I look back on some things from my Paristyle days and I'm like, oh my goodness, why am I not sharing some of this delight with people? Whether it's a component or it's a finished dish and could be just be a quick little something that gets put out there or it can be a recipe that requires a little more attention. Who knows? I started a cookbook many years ago, and I never finished it. And I, just pulled that box out the other day and I thought, well, never know

Ernestine 22:31

there's such an art and science to what you do. Oh,

Anne 22:34

isn't it interesting?

Ernestine 22:35

Yeah, it's really interesting. And I almost feel like. There's probably a lot of pressure when you own a restaurant or you're the head chef of a restaurant to, deliver food that people will constantly order or the restaurant will be known for Sure. Or whatever. Right? Sure. So in that role, how do you just keep. Inspired

Anne 22:55

it's changed through the years. Certainly, supply and demand where you are, what you need to, the type of people you're looking to bring in to make part of your clientele. I've just been the person that doesn't look for the next trend necessarily, but gimme a carrot. I can make it taste good. Are you interested in a soup I have a gentleman in my life right now he is a hunter and he harvests, he's a forger. So he has things from his property as well as, vegetables as well as animals. And whatever's brought in is what you should be thinking about cooking with. For me, it like ignited me in a different way than I've been ignited as about food in a long time. And he sends me a video, short little video of a rabbit that he just harvested skinned and it was on the cutting board and it was still twitching that is fresh Ernestine. Wow. I know that doesn't appeal to you, but to this girl and to see the darkness of the meat, this is a wild animal from a wild property that doesn't have treated water. That doesn't have chemicals. It's blowing my mind with excitement and he cooks it a certain way. And he said, so how do you cook your rabbit? And I said, well, do you want the 1997?

Ernestine 24:01

Mm-hmm

Anne 24:01

Trio of Rabbit that was on the New Year's Eve menu at Paristyle? Because I can tell you about it. Or would you like the Dijon green peppercorn Braised rabbit that I would make for a Sunday supper and have friends over? That's just two of them. It just makes me, percolate in a different way and, I'm delighted by it.

Ernestine 24:19

And then there's the financial side of it all and, and the cost of food. Oh my

Anne 24:24

goodness.

Ernestine 24:24

How many times you have to turn a table in a restaurant to make a profit.

Anne 24:28

Yes. I've asked myself to not look for that commitment. Maybe forever, but for now.

Ernestine 24:33

That's high pressure.

Anne 24:34

I don't have any interest in. Managing anyone but myself for right now. And that doesn't mean that I don't care about what's going on

Ernestine 24:41

right

Anne 24:42

in the industry or at Oak Ola although I just feel like I need to just kind of slow down and look at the remainder of the time I might have on this planet and think to myself 40 years of doing that, I'm available to do. Certain things for people, but I'm just gonna cook what I wanna cook.

Ernestine 24:56

Looking back on your 40 plus career, are there any misconceptions about women in the chef world?

Anne 25:04

Oh, well sure. There, there were, especially back in, when I first started, there weren't a lot of opportunities for women to be in charge. But that doesn't mean that we weren't given opportunities to get our foot in the door. And at the time, that was enough for me. But once you get in there and you start doing your skillset that you've been trained and you've been refining, and people recognize your effort and they recognize that you're. Producing in a fashion that is productive for the restaurant or for the space. And then you are able to do a little bit of creativity, the lessons you've learned from other chefs and the lessons that you learned in culinary school, you start to show that on a plate. And so through the years, obviously food and the styles have changed, and I need to maybe do some updated different things, but, I'm a pretty traditional gal in that regard, and I'll tell you that there is, a lot left to figure out.

Ernestine 25:51

What lessons about family and relationships would you pass along to younger generations?

Anne 25:57

Patience is a virtue sometimes, i'm very proud of my family. Each of us has a different role in our lives be patient with yourself, be persistent. Make time for family. I didn't stop enough through the big, hard years of my early career to get home, to go to the weddings of friends. It wasn't a financial option. If I'm living in New Orleans and I have a restaurant that's busy on the weekends, I can't really get away for three days. And I have a few regrets in that regard. So, make time, make time to slow down and appreciate what you have as far as your family and the opportunities there, but also, as a disciplined. Professional. You have to find a way to balance it.

Ernestine 26:34

Yeah. Hard to take a day off when you're, the chef in the restaurant

Anne 26:37

isn't it? Yeah, you hear about the newborn baby that's being born in Ohio and you're just like, what?

Ernestine 26:41

Yeah.

Anne 26:42

I can't be there for my niece being born, but now 10 of them have been born and they're all growing up and I've got them in my life through social media. It's insane to me how much more connected I'm able to be to these youngsters, even though I'm not in their life every day. I can send a text and when you get a text in response or a thumbs up or something, that is enough for me. I'm happy that I was recognized as, something on their to-do list

Ernestine 27:06

other day. Yeah. I think we all have this sort of love hate relationship with technology, don't we?

Anne 27:10

Yeah. I need to be. More proactive about staying on top of it. There's so much going on with AI that I need to just take a deep breath and dip my toe in it a little bit and see what we can come up with.

Ernestine 27:21

Yeah. What kind of advice would you give somebody just starting out or just has a passion for cooking? Someone that wants to go into it as a career?

Anne 27:32

Yes. I would say, to give it a try first. Maybe find a kitchen or two in their community it's hard to just walk in and interrupt somebody. But, even if you just go in and you start a relationship with them where you could do some couple hours of staging or just coming in to see if the kitchen environment is really what you want. In my kitchens, you always bring somebody in for a couple hours just to see if it might not be their kind of vibe. Everybody runs their kitchens differently. Even if you know how to cook, you may not. Be used to the way that things were done. So I'd say getting in there and getting a little shadowing, even just observing from the outside, just seeing if you could even imagine yourself in that kind of, stressful situation. And, if you have those opportunities. Great. And read, just do what you can do. Because before the internet you just picked up books and you read and you tried to figure out things and just continue to educate yourself on ingredients and learn about things so that you can have a good conversation with a chef when you're sitting down to say, Hey, I'm trying to get into this industry. Get yourself comfortable. I have a lot of people that, as you can imagine, through the years, have come to me to talk and it's hard to not be too hard on them, but before you invest in culinary school, which is expensive. And it will take a while to pay off when you're out as a new cook on the land. 'cause you don't get outta culinary school as a chef, or at least I don't feel like that would be fair to you to take a chef position right outta culinary school without any or enough experience to really handle all that goes with that. 'cause you don't cook as much when you're in charge. You're managing people and you're ordering and you're, and there's nothing wrong with that, but as a cook, you wanna see how many. Stations you can work through as an example, like at Emeril's, when I started at Emeril's, I had a fair amount of experience, but I was a woman. There was, I was the only woman in the kitchen.

Ernestine 29:09

Mm-hmm.

Anne 29:09

And I started at the bottom station and I crawled my way to the top in a matter of months because I had skills when I got there. Practice tossing a piece of bread in a pan, just a cold pan and a cold piece of bread to get your saute. Life a little going or even some dry beans. Just something so that you can find out how you can move on the line. Work on your knife skills. Your knife skills are important. There's all sorts of machines that you can cut things with, but if you walked into a kitchen. And you're Anastasia, and I handed you an onion. I said, peel and cut this onion. That's like step one for me. If you can peel an onion and it's not half of the onion isn't in the garbage and. Then you cut it and it's a nice small dice or whatever dice I've told you to cut. I'm impressed by that. Cause those are skills you should have already in the bag. Mm-hmm. Before you go and apply for a professional job. Chefs don't have time to. Teach people basic skills. So if you come in with the basic skills, and I can say on the fly, make me a bear blanc, I need enough for two people. We've got a special table sitting down and you can just make that for me. Then I'm like, awesome.

Ernestine 30:09

Yeah,

30:09

I've

Anne 30:09

got another person on my team who can support this effort. So I don't like to be pessimistic in any way about it. I like people to be well educated before they spend. Close to 30,000 for an education today, which is not a lot for some people, but that's a lot of money to pay back at even $15 an hour.

Ernestine 30:26

Mm-hmm.

Anne 30:26

$20 an hour

Ernestine 30:27

even.

Anne 30:28

Mm-hmm. The cost of everything else that they'd like to have.

Ernestine 30:31

You do kind of have to move around, don't you?

Anne 30:33

I had employees that stayed at Paristyle They stayed with me for nine years. I had people that stayed for 10 years. It's amazing to me if you find a place that you can grow within. Do it, but there's not always room for growth.

Ernestine 30:43

Mm-hmm.

Anne 30:43

You can't have too many sous chefs in a 60 seat restaurant.

Ernestine 30:47

Right. Have

Anne 30:48

one the whole time.

Ernestine 30:49

Yeah. That's true. Is there anything, that you've learned that you wish you'd known earlier?

Anne 30:54

This is kind of a vain thing, I suppose, but compression stockings. I wish I had actually listened to everyone that told me. It's amazing if you take care of yourself 40 years later, oh, oh, from

Ernestine 31:05

standing,

Anne 31:05

from standing in the kitchen. I don't mind. I'm a hard worker. I can stand. But at the end of the day, when you take off your compression, you're like, oh yeah, that was nice support. Sharp knives, always having your knives sharp, or having someone around who can sharpen a knife, that's always helpful to have. Buying quality, it's really difficult to come to terms with spending money when you're on a budget as far as operating a restaurant, but buying quality pans, buying stainless steel lined pans that are triple thick. All clad is the best. But if you can't afford all clad, you still should go for the triple ply with the stainless lining because they're gonna last. I have pans that I've had for 25 years that are quality pans, and if you treat them right, they were gonna last. But in the beginning sometimes you're like, oh, personally or professionally, I need 20 pans Well, it's hard to put that money aside and spend that on that, but you're gonna be. Continually spending when they bow and you're not able to get good Sears even knives, cutting boards. Buy the more expensive thing because it's got a better chance of holding up during the drive. I wish I had saved more money, because you don't always know what is gonna fall into your path or pull from you. And so there's lots of ways to protect yourself and then things happen and all of a sudden you're like, oh, okay, I have to start over again. I'm making more time for things right now that I've been neglectful of.

Ernestine 32:23

Mm-hmm.

Anne 32:23

And, it's quite nice.

Ernestine 32:24

And taking care of yourself

Anne 32:25

Taking care of yourself. It is a journey. I'm finding a lot of luck with lymphatic drainage, massages. I'm loving that. I'm doing a workout three days a week. Weight training that's focused for 40 plus women and because that's what I am and I need to not try to be lifting heavy weights anymore. I need to strengthen my body. Those are things that I'm enjoying. I'm enjoying buying quality. A little bit less food and quality food for myself, as you would imagine in a chef's kitchen. But it's easier 'cause I don't have as big a appetite as I used to. So I can buy a. Piece of fresh fish and just enjoying Changing the way I think. 'cause I don't come home from work at 10 or 11 or 12 anymore. And need a couple hours to wind down. That's a

Ernestine 33:04

big mind shift.

Anne 33:05

Yeah. And then, waking up before the sun comes up didn't make any sense to me, but now it's kind of a nice thing to wake up and shake off the sleep and then all of a sudden you're like, I have this whole day ahead of me.

Ernestine 33:16

Yes,

Anne 33:16

but the

Ernestine 33:17

days go by so fast.

Anne 33:19

I'm not kidding you. I was speaking to a woman today, she retired last year, and she and I are like, how did we manage to get 40, 50 whatever hours, 60 hour week work? Week done. And our laundry and our cleaning the day is over and I'm like, what is happening?

Ernestine 33:32

It's the craziest thing. What keeps you inspired and motivated today?

Anne 33:36

With a little bit more time on my hands, I would have to say, continuing to educate myself with, what's going on. Culinarily, going back a little bit to focusing on what's available to me locally, wherever I am, spending a little bit of time here or there, I find out what's available locally and I just have a little more time to do some research to find out, who's got. What? For me, that means a lot to 'cause I look back on things from my previous years and I used to be that local chef in farm to table in New Orleans and then in Dayton and here in Florida there's lots of wonderful opportunities, but there's not a year around growing season.

Ernestine 34:10

has faith been important in your life, throughout your career, your journey?

Anne 34:14

It has been in a part of my life. I daily would say prayers, but I have been reignited by my practice in the past three months, I'm welcoming it. It is so interesting to me that what you're looking for is there. You just maybe need to sit down and take a deep breath I'm grateful for what I have, but look at the opportunities that are being provided to you so yes, faith is definitely. A bigger part of my life. I had started going to church again about three months ago every Sunday. It's so bizarre. Why did I close that down? Well, because I was in recovery mode every Sunday and that's not an excuse, but it surely wasn't one I used. Thank you for asking that.

Ernestine 34:48

What does philanthropy mean to you?

Anne 34:50

It started off when I was younger, meaning giving my time and being able to provide a service for an effort and still to this day, I can provide my services. So I have a big philanthropic connection with Dayton. I get auctioned off to raise money for different foundations and such. And in exchange they're getting a dinner that I

Ernestine 35:10

Oh, nice.

Anne 35:10

And do in their homes. And, it's my way of giving back, it's a personal thing, which means a lot to people. It means a lot to me to give of myself that way. And, for me to be able to do that is a special way. I've never had the funds to really be able to just. Give to different Organizations to help them along with, their pursuit but for me to be able to auction off my services, go up and speak in front of a crowd and say I will create a menu based on your personal needs and then the whole process of working with someone from. Getting started with that dinner until I'm home, everything's unpacked and I'm done with it. It's all about just giving for the good of the reason that you have, donated the time, and my efforts are philanthropic for me. That feels good.

Ernestine 35:53

Wonderful. This has been awesome.

Anne 35:55

Thank

Ernestine 35:55

you. Thank you so much for sitting down with me. I

Anne 35:57

appreciate you.

Ernestine 35:58

You

Anne 35:58

having me. It has been very nice. I appreciate it. It's nice to reflect on my memories too,

Ernestine 36:02

Thanks for listening to Bon Vivant Chic Life Well Lived. I hope you'll tune in for more meaningful stories on the human experience and share with family and friends. A special shout out to Will Cooper, out of Nashville, Tennessee for providing this season's music. All the episodes are available wherever you listen to podcasts, including my website. Bonvivantchic.com Till next time. Remember, every day is a gift. Live it with kindness.