The Perfect Plate

Plateware is the next avenue of customization

By Samantha Lande

It’s not surprising to visit a restaurant these days and learn that a chef has worked with local farmers, artisan bakers and other small purveyors to source their ingredients. Many chefs and restaurateurs also work with design firms to make sure the space has the right vibe and design. Lighting, colors and fabrics are all important considerations in creating the perfect restaurant space. But recently, chefs have been adding another layer of customization: the servingware on the tables.

Historically, chefs would get plates from a restaurant depot or big box store — often imported, generally very simple and stark white. It was pretty unheard of for chefs to have someone create custom serving pieces outside of the upper echelon of fine dining (for instance, Alinea started partnering with artist Martin Kastner back in 1998).

But times are changing and with chefs spending so much time crafting the perfect dish, it only makes sense that they’d want to put it on the perfect plate.

The process

“The process of working as a potter is a lot like that of a chef,” explains Keith Kreeger, who owns Keith Kreeger Pottery in Austin, Texas. He has an enviable roster of clients — Empellon in New York, Boka in Chicago, 610 Magnolia in Louisville and a dozen more. He takes the time to learn about how the chefs like to serve food, options of sizes, what kinds of plates and what they are looking for. He often provides standard sizes, but does plenty of custom work as well, depending on the client’s needs. At the end of the day, Kreeger knows that his art is meant to be functional and he loves seeing food on his plates.

Working directly with an artisan gives chefs the ability to craft exactly what they need. Jay Lewis, chef and owner of Outpost Kitchen, a laid-back Australianstyle café in Costa Mesa, California, serves quite a few grain bowls and wanted something that would show off what was inside. He worked to create custom sizes that fall somewhere between a plate and a bowl — 8.5 inches with a 2-inch height — something he wouldn’t have been able to easily buy off the shelves.

Highlighting the food

Executive Chef Taylor Neary of Holmes just outside of Atlanta wanted to find a way to make his dishes really shine. “Any different textures and colors you can apply helps the food pop,” he says. He uses different color plates and often plays up the contrast between his food and the serving piece. He was able to find his potter, Noble Plateware, via Instagram and they spent a few months settling on colors, shapes and textures that would work for the restaurant. He doesn’t use specific plates for specific dishes but rather plays around with the various colors. “So, one day pork belly may come out on a pink plate, another day a black plate. It adds a cool dimension to the dining experience,” he says.

Support local

For Lewis, choosing to work with an artisan made sense for other reasons, too. Sure, he wanted his food to “pop,” but he also found it equally important to support local artisans to emphasize that he is truly a community gathering spot. He does so not just with his plates, bowls and coffee cups but also with other artwork found within the restaurant. He partnered with Salamat Ceramics owner Monica Galan, a frequent customer of the restaurant, and already and they’ve formed a great partnership — he is having her design over 600 pieces for his next restaurant.

Durability and Cost

These hand-crafted plates may look significantly more unique than the typical dish, but do they hold up? Speaking with both potters and chefs, the answer is a resounding yes. They can go through industrial dishwashers thousands of times just like any other plate.

“Although it will never hold up quite as well to industrial strength,” says Kreeger, “as long as you do your due diligence to work with a reputable person it should be made to last.”

The price point can be higher than buying in bulk, but many chefs think of it as an investment in design and not just a plate.

“Sure, the stakes are higher when you chip one,” says Neary, “but it really doesn’t happen as often as it did with our old plates.”

Custom plateware is not for everyone, but it is another avenue of self-expression for a chef. It’s a chance to control every facet of, and add an extra layer of texture to, any dish. It gets your customers talking, and in the era of Instagram, it doesn’t hurt that it often makes for a better snapshot as well.

Classical

We can’t say with certainty whether it was Oscar Tschirky, famed early-20th-Century maître d'hôtel of the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan, or King Oscar II, who ruled Sweden and Norway in the late 19th Century, who can be credited with creating veal Oscar. What we can say, however, is that the dish has become a classic, a symbol of elegance and sophistication.

“The ‘Oscar’ components consist of asparagus and lobster or crab meat topped with Béarnaise sauce,” says Lance Cook, CEC, CCA, executive chef at Hammock Dunes Club in Palm Coast, Florida. “It originated with veal and through the years has been combined with numerous other proteins.”

Cook chose salmon as his protein for the classical preparation, and kept the other ingredients uncomplicated. “[I love] the simplicity,” Cook says. “The flavors complement the protein with the sweetness of the crab, the earthiness of the asparagus, the smooth butter profile of the sauce.”

Modern

“To make [salmon Oscar] unique to Hammock Dunes Club I wanted to keep the authenticity of the components but change up the presentation aspect of it, visually and for mouth feel,” Cook says. “How can I take these simple ingredients and present them in such a way that the diner leaves with it being not only delicious, but memorable, and they talk about for weeks and months later?”

With those ideas in mind, Cook took “modern” seriously, adding high-end presentation techniques for a wow factor.

“Anyone can cook asparagus and roll it in butter and seasoning. But why not layer flavors into a mousse-like consistency with garlic, shallots, cream, and [using a mold, make] it look like the original item,” he says. “[I changed the sauce] from béarnaise to hollandaise to simplify the profile, but then charged it with NO2 to give it an even more airy quality, changing the texture. I added a squid ink tuile for crunch, color, appeal [and] conversation.”

See the classical and modern recipes, as well as more photos, at wearechefs.com.

The overwhelming majority of members of the American Culinary Federation are also members of one of the 170 ACF chapters around the world. Chapters are local groups with their own , and each one has a unique story to tell.

Sometimes we get emails or phone calls from members eager to share photos from their recent events. Sometimes we see a local news story detailing a fundraiser held by a chapter. But of course, chapters and their members do hundreds of great things every day and the news doesn’t make it to the National Office. They aren’t shouting it from the rooftops. They are just doing what they think is right for their members and for their communities.

In thinking about how the National Culinary Review could support these vital organizations, we decided to ask members to tell us about the great work that their chapter has done — educating, mentoring, networking, learning, lending a hand to their fellow chefs, working with community leaders to promote the ACF and much more. Whatever you’ve done, we wanted to hear about it.

On the following pages, you’ll find the some of our favorite stories we received about chapters who take philanthropy seriously. We’ve also included inspiration for your next big recruitment drive or charity dinner, as well as advice on how to grow membership and reinvigorate dormant passion among the chefs in your town.

After you’re done reading, send us an email with some photos of your recent event or tell us the story of some members or students who flourished with chapter involvement. Because next year, we plan to be able to devote a lot more pages to the inspiring things ACF chefs can do when we unite.

Growing Membership

ACF Cleveland has seen a spike in membership recently, with an increase of 40 members just in the last year. The chapter now has 203 members, up from 93 three years ago.

A lot of that is thanks to Chapter President John Selick (pictured above right), CEC, CCA, AAC, senior culinary manager at Sodexo Healthcare Services/University Hospitals, who has taken a very personal approach with members and prospective members alike when it comes to recruitment and retention.

“I like to send personal emails to members that have expired as well as chefs I know from the community rather than just a generic email asking them to come back,” he says.

Selick also gets rather detailed in his newsletters and communication with members and non-members, talking about all of the chapter’s activities and events and calling out members who have earned credentials to engage and entice people to get more involved. He uses an email marketing software to add details and photos. It also allows him to see who didn’t open the emails, a useful metric when reaching out personally later.

Selick also ACF-logoed greeting cards that he uses to hand write birthday cards for members and past members whose memberships have lapsed. He got the idea after a member sent him a handwritten birthday card. He also maintains an active Facebook page for the chapter with event listings, posts with links to cool things he sees, photos and recaps from competitions and more.

“I just try to make sure others know I am a person and not just on autopilot,” says Selick. “Too many members from other chapters have told me that when they became a member and didn’t hear from anyone in a year.”

Coming Back From The Dead

The Cape and Islands Chefs Association dissolved years ago after having been one of the strongest ACF chapters in New England. Michael Pillarella, CEC, executive chef of the Wianno Club in Osterville, Mass., and Michael “Mickey” Beriau, CEC, AAC (a former member of the original chapter), re-formed the group about a year ago as president and vice president, respectively. Here are the lessons they learned when re-building ACF Cape Cod — good advice for anyone when forming a brand new chapter, too.

1. Go for grassroots: invite people initially and then ask them to bring friends, colleagues and industry peers next.

2. Pl an on spending five to seven hours a week when resurrecting a chapter. Set a little extra time aside to focus on opening a 501(c), as these take effort.

3. Have a meeting with a hook. Try educational offerings — for instance, Cape Cod organized a whole hog butchering demo and an event in a brewery with learning components presented by the Massachusetts Cheese Guild.

4. Ta rget members who were most active in the former chapter and surround yourself with talented and engaging people who will help lead your chapter.

5. Know your audience. If restaurants in your area are particularly busy in the summer due to tourism, for instance, consider scheduling meetings only during the offseason.

Preserving History

The ACF Greater Indianapolis Chapter has established a Legacy & Historical Committee to document the history of their chapter and its earliest members. The committee is creating a series of mini-documentaries by recording interviews with older members who built up the chapter from the beginning, whom they call “Legacies.”

THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT

This past year, ACF Charlotte President Jay Ziobrowski (aka “Chef Jay Z”), corporate chef at InHarvest, partnered with a local marketing firm to develop an app that his members can use to connect and stay informed about events. The app, called ACF-CLT, can also be downloaded by non-members and prospective student members.

Prior to launch, Ziobrowski had several younger generation testers offer feedback on the user intuitiveness of the app, and this led to several improvements to make it as easy to use as possible.

Ziobrowski says the app has not only helped his chapter “stay cool” and relevant when it comes to enticing younger generation chefs and students to join, but it’s become a handy tool for engagement. Features include listings of chapter and industry events and meetups; local restaurant recommendations by chefs with menus for Charlotte visitors; ACF Charlotte and other chapter news, and soon-to-come fundraising promotions. The app also sends push notifications for event reminders and other information.

“We want to do this while they are still with us so that we can let them know our appreciation for what they have done to influence the industry and our chapter,” says David Kay, CCC, committee chair.

The first chef to be interviewed was Hubert Schmieder. He spoke on camera about his early life, retracing his steps from the start of his culinary career to emigrating to the United States in the 1950s to joining ACF Culinary Team USA in the 1960s. The next chefs to be filmed are Jurgen Jungbauer, Linda Shonk and Edmond Gass.

In addition to the docuseries, the chapter is working to collect historical memorabilia such as photographs and trophies that can be preserved to showcase the chapter’s history for years to come. A partnership with the Indiana Historical Society is in the works to assist with this project and the chapter hopes to find a museum that will display these important pieces of ACF history.

Charlotte isn’t the only one in on this game. Other chapters also have apps, including Palm Beach County and St. Louis. Check your app store to see if your local chapter has one, too.

Chapters To Follow On Social Media

Need some ideas for creating a great social media presence for your chapter? Try following some of these groups who are betting big on Instagram:

Regions

■ Central

■ Northeast

■ Southeast

■ Western

■ International members)

2019 National Chapter Achievement Award

High Honors

The Chapter Achievement Award honors chapters in good standing that strive for the highest level of excellence in all areas of chapter life, serving their members and their communities as well as supporting ACF's programs. This year’s winner was ACF Chefs de Cuisine Association of California (CCAC).

Exemplary chapters are chosen on a number of metrics, including whether they’ve conducted a new-member recruitment campaign in the last year; what social media channels they’re on; if they have a newsletter; how many chapter meetings they’ve held in the last year and more.

Applications for the 2020 Chapter Achievement Award are available on our website now at acfchefs.org/awards.

9,099 miles away

Charitable Acts

Professional Chefs Association of South Jersey

The South Jersey chapter was instrumental in planning and hosting the Chef:Connect in Atlantic City this past February. During the conference, the chapter held the ACF’s first-ever community outreach program at the Salvation Army.

Last year, the chapter also held four Chef and Child Initiatives in which members traveled to local schools and the Community Food Bank of South Jersey to teach and interact with the students about healthy eating and demonstrated how to prepare delicious, nutritious meals and snacks. In addition, the chapter held its annual Presidents Charity Scholarship Ball, attended by 360 people, and hosted a 16th annual Chefs at the Shore event with 35 local restaurants and chefs, raising money for culinary scholarships.

The chapter stays continually active in its local community by serving brunch for veterans, participating in Toys for Tots and by donating food and volunteers for local food bank fundraiser events.

ACF Big Apple

Over the past year, together with local colleges, the Big Apple Chapter (located in New York City, of course) has sent volunteer teams to support the Holy Apostle soup kitchen. Over the course of five events, the volunteers have helped serve more than 1,000 meals to people in need. Next year, the chapter plans to remain actively involved with the soup kitchen as well as further assist with fundraising. In addition, professional members, student members and volunteers worked together to host what turned out to be a very successful fundraising dinner at ChefConnect: Atlantic City.

ACF Tampa Bay Culinary Association

The 2019 World Chefs Without Borders (WCWB) Americas in Aid Fundraiser, hosted ACF Tampa Bay at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida, was the first WorldChefs fundraiser in the United States in March of this year. The event raised $40,000 to help WCWB with relief and food aid when natural disaster strikes. The chef team for the event included ACF Tampa Bay members as well as Fort Harrison Hotel chefs and local culinary students from Armwood and Bloomingdale high schools.

Earlier that week, ACF Tampa Bay teamed up with WCWB to prepare food for 263 people at St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen. The chapter served Kalua pork with roasted broccoli, buttered corn, saimin soup, potato-mac salad, mixed greens with ginger dressing, sweet Hawaiian rolls with butter and pineapple foster cake with ice cream for dessert.

ACF Kauai

As one of the smallest chapters with just 12 members, ACF Kauai still remains regularly active in supporting their communities, with many members donating their time and services to the culinary program at The Kauai Community College as part of the chapter’s primary mission. Kauai chapter members also prepare food for 100 Salvation Army staff and volunteers twice monthly and also participate in a variety of fundraising events throughout the island that benefit many organizations including the culinary arts program. The chapter also supports an annual fundraising brunch for 2,000 people with food prepared by the culinary arts students and local chefs.