|Middletown Life Q&A|
Crystal Crystal and and Steven Steven Ashby Ashby of of Crystal’s Crystal’s Comfort Comfort Food Food F
rom the time Crystal and Steven Ashby first opened the doors to their Crystal’s Comfort Food in April 2021, the tastes of their influences brought a new sensation of cooking to the Middletown area. The secret? Some regular customers say it’s the award-winning sauces, while others say it’s the “soul” found in each recipe. Middletown Life recently caught up with Crystal and Steven to learn about their influences, their flavors and the special guests they would like to see around that dinner table. Middletown Life: Let’s start your story at the beginning. Take the readers of Middletown Life back to the origins of food you were both raised on. Where did you grow up, and what were some of your favorite dishes when you were children? Steven: I’m from Philadelphia, so the first thing that comes to mind would obviously be cheesesteaks. My mother was known for her lasagna, which was a popular dish in my family. My grandmother made a lot of southern-style soul food, like macaroni and cheese, ham and cabbage and collard greens. Crystal: I grew up just outside of Philadelphia, but all of my family dinners and big family holidays all happened in Philadelphia. My grandmothers and aunts were in the kitchen, and the rule was that you didn’t go in the kitchen unless you were cooking. We had the whole set-up: fried chicken, macaroni cheese – all of the things that you should eat every day. There isn’t a chef alive who doesn’t draw his or her inspiration from someone or somewhere. Who or what has influenced the two of you and what you bring to Crystal’s Comfort Food? 48
Middletown Life | Spring/Summer 2022 | www.middletownlifemagazine.com
Crystal: My mother was a huge inspiration for me. I looked at everything she did and how she did it, and how she made it work. I used to tell myself that if my mother as a single parent could do it on her own, I could do it as a woman who has been married for 13 years. I imagine myself as “My mother 2.0.” Steven: My father has worked for SEPTA for 30-plus years, but my mother had three jobs when I was young. She worked at a gas station, a daycare center and a nightclub, while also taking care of my brother and me. Her work ethic has spearheaded me throughout my life. She always told me, ‘Don’t ever take anything from anyone, and always work for what you want.’ From her, all I have ever known has been to work hard and figure it out on my own, so with my background and how my mother raised me and how Crystal’s mother taught her, we have meshed perfectly together. In 2013, you both lost your jobs, and moved your family to Delaware. By 2016, you had begun a food catering service. Talk about what led to the formation of that business. Crystal: That was something that I literally just fell into. When we first moved to Delaware, we lived in my mother’s family room for a month and a half, because we needed to start over. Steven had received unemployment compensation from SEPTA stemming from his injury, but I had lost my job and was also pregnant with our second child. Although we did end up getting jobs, all of the money we were making was going to rent and daycare, so I decided that I needed to stop working. Being from Philadelphia, cheesesteaks and buffalo wings were our favorites, but I could not find great wings anywhere in Delaware, so I went to our kitchen and made
