Chef Mykie Moll Cooks with Love, Dances in the Kitchen + Welcomes All at Crazy Aunt Helen’s WORDS BY COLLEEN KENNEDY | PHOTO BY ANDREW J. WILLIAMS III Chef Mykie Moll can’t stop dancing — not during our interview, not while he’s giving a tour of new Capitol Hill restaurant Crazy Aunt Helen’s and especially not in the kitchen, where he’s prepping a few dishes soon to be on the menu. The shoulder shakes and bopping transforms into pure ballet: a graceful slide down the long line from flame to flame, an agile turn of the wrist to flip what’s searing in the pan and a graceful duet with Brenda Gamez, who will be the early shift sous chef. The pair previously worked together at Doi Moi and Mintwood Place. Today, as they prepare in the restaurant, slated to open this month, their rhythm is natural and elegant as they interweave their way through the large, stainless steel space. That’s the thing about Chef Mykie: He’s disarmingly lowkey in conversation — charming and boyish, with an infectious laugh — but he’s all professional verve in his natural habitat. Growing up in Northern Virginia between McLean and Alexandria, Mykie’s single mother would work long hours. As latchkey kids, Moll and his brother started cooking meals for themselves when they were still in elementary school, and he was onto grilling by the age of 12. Yet a career in the kitchen wasn’t necessarily a given vocation. Moll, who excelled in math, began a degree in industrial and systems engineering at Lehigh University. But he couldn’t picture himself sitting behind a computer screen all day. Rethinking a career path, he recalled how much he enjoyed cooking when he was younger. “It’s very hard to get a job in the kitchen if you don’t have any experience,” he says. “But how do you get experience if someone doesn’t give you that chance?” Moll started working at Red Robin, a franchise known for 22 | JULY 2021
casual dining and juicy burgers, in Lehigh Valley. “I got lucky at Red Robin. They let me work in their kitchen, and I fell in love. I was like, ‘This is it.’ Within the first two months, I learned every station.” After that, he transferred to a steakhouse in Pennsylvania. Within six months, he was promoted to all the duties of a sous chef. But lacking the title and only offered a 50-cent raise, he soon left to attend L’Academie de Cuisine and study French culinary arts. That’s where he met Chef Johanna Hellrigl, most recently of “sorta South American” spot Mercy Me inside Yours Truly DC Hotel. She was a judge for an intramural competition and noticed Moll’s skills, later helping him make connections and land his first positions in D.C. During the last six years, Moll has been working his way up at Shaw Bijou, Mintwood Place, Doi Moi and, most recently, Carlie Steiner’s Pom Pom, which closed during the pandemic after an auspicious opening just several months earlier. “I really wanted to offer this opportunity to a female chef first because they are still often looked over, and I owe my whole career to women who offered me opportunities,” Shane Mayson states. Mayson, formerly of Jamie Leeds Restaurant Group, has opened six restaurants in the District. But Crazy Aunt Helen’s is his first venture as owner. “My friend Jo-Jo [Valenzuela] sent me Mykie’s name. I checked him out and everyone had really great things to say about him. I spoke with Mykie, and he said, ‘I know you are looking for a female chef, but I am transitioning. I am a man, and if that takes me out of the running, I am okay with that.’”
