22 • Thursday, October 1, 2020
FOOD
OVER THE MOUNTAIN JOURNAL
By Donna Cornelius
rounded by a flock of Secret Service agents. ept. 19 was prominently “He told me, ‘I really enjoyed marked in my datebook, it,’” Tyler said in a Clinton-esque circled in red ink and decodrawl. rated with stars – the treatBoth Jen and Tyler said they ment I usually reserve for my learned that most celebrities love grandchildren’s birthdays and food. major holidays. That Saturday “Food is the great equalizer,” night, my younger son and I were Tyler said. “Just imagine that you set to go to Tasting TBL, Tyler and can have everything you ever Jennifer Lyne’s new supper club at wanted. Food gives them sometheir home in Hoover. thing they can’t just buy – it gives Tyler, a College Station, Texas, them a memory, an experience.” native, and Jen, who’s from One celebrity chef who’s well Buffalo, New York, met at the known to most Food Network Culinary Institute of America; both viewers didn’t have such a good are graduates of the storied culiexperience with Tyler. “Chopped” nary school in Hyde Park, New judge Geoffrey Zakarian and his York. After their time at CIA, they sous chefs lost out to Tyler’s team headed for New York City. on an “Iron Chef America” pasta“We were going to go to New battle episode. York for a year to work and learn, The Lynes decided to leave and we ended up being there 16 New York for several reasons: the Tyler and Jen Lyne, (above) met at the Culinary Institute of America; both are graduates of the storied culinary school in Hyde years,” Jen said. impact of COVID-19 on the food Park, New York. After their time at CIA, they headed for New York City. The couple and their 2-year-old industry, the uncertainty caused by son, T.J., moved to Hoover in July. civil unrest within the city, and the Along with their clothes, furniture fact that they’d never planned to and other worldly goods, the two raise their child in NYC. They chefs packed some pretty impresended up in Birmingham thanks to sive cooking credentials. Tyler’s sister, Laura Lyne; they One of Tyler’s first jobs was at said without her involvement, the Cru, now closed but during its heymove likely wouldn’t have hapday a highly regarded NYC eatery. pened. Jen was in Birmingham visThere, he worked with Shea iting Laura, who lives with her Chefs Tyler and Jen Lyne Bring Serious Cooking Gallante, a rapidly rising chef on family in Hoover’s Ross Bridge Chops to Their Hoover Supper Club the city’s food scene and a Food neighborhood, when she learned and Wine magazine Best New that the house next door was for Left, beef braised shortrib, huitlacoChef. sale. The Lynes bought the house without Tyler che, jalapeno and cheese tamale, “Cru was the chefs’ restaurant,” Tyler said. seeing it. red mole and lime crema mexicana. “If you worked at Per Se, for example, Cru was Tyler and Jen, who own restaurants at Hilton Below, blueberry vacherin. where you would go if you wanted to see and Head, South Carolina, and in San Francisco, experience really cutting-edge food. Cru made said they came to Birmingham with plans to people’s careers.” eventually open a restaurant here. Meanwhile, Jen focused on her love for bak“We still want to do that, but we’re in no ing and pastry at the Dinex Group, chef and resrush,” Tyler said. taurateur Daniel Boulud’s hospitality group. Meeting Hoover realtor Allison Burleson and “I started at the low end and finally became a hosting a party for her at their house gave them pastry sous chef for two of his restaurants,” Jen the idea to start a home-based supper club. said. That’s how Tasting TBL was born. The dinners Her first position was at Boulud’s renowned are held on Saturday nights. Restaurant Daniel, a three-Michelin star restau“It keeps us busy and has allowed us to rant. Later, she moved to Dinex’s more intimate assimilate into the community,” Tyler said. “We DB Bistro, which she said was a bit more know so many people now.” relaxed environment for learning. The “TBL” in Tasting TBL stands not only She was with Dinex for six years and then Esquina, a Mexican restaurant – a very different Eventually, other catering companies started for “table” but for the name that Tyler and T.J. led other high-end pastry programs at several place from the Michelin-starred restaurants to to call the Lynes. share: Tyler Burks Lyne. New York restaurants. which he’d grown accustomed. “We moved around, taking our crew with When Cru, like many NYC restaurants, was “We were shagging out about a thousand us,” Tyler said. A Dinner to Remember dealt a fatal blow by the 2008 recession, Tyler covers a day,” Tyler said. “It was awesome. It One of their most valued team members was And finally, back to our own supper club expewent to work at Bouley, chef David Bouley’s straightened me out and let me fall back in love Micah Cook, a North Carolina native. Cook flagship restaurant, along with Gallante. with food. I went from super-fine dining to came to Birmingham with the Lynes and is their rience. Wade and I arrived with other guests at the “Those were long hours,” Tyler said. Mexican – and then to catering.” supper club sous chef. Lynes’ house at 6:30 for mingling and this night’s “Bouley was open seven days a week for lunch His first job with a catering company was in specialty cocktail, a watermelon margarita. In the and dinner, so I’d get there at 11 a.m. and go 2012 when he joined – and turned around – Star Attraction large room that includes the kitchen, we could see home about 2 a.m. or sometimes later. But it Cloud Catering, introducing exceptional food to During their catering years, Tyler and Jen Tyler, Jen and Micah hard at work. was the most beautiful kitchen I’d ever seen.” the menu. cooked for an impressive assortment of A-list The Lynes can seat 38 people at three different From Bouley, Tyler’s next stop was at anoth“Jen came on board with us about 2013,” clients, including actors Gwyneth Paltrow, tables: in their dining room, on the screened-in er top restaurant: David Chang’s two-Michelin Tyler said. star restaurant Momofuku Ko. Cameron Diaz and Molly Sims; tennis star patio, and at the Chef’s Table near the kitchen Cloud Catering was a good experience for “After that, Shea and I opened an Italian resSerena Williams; and songwriter Benny Blanco. with a bird’s-eye view of the workstations. We the couple personally as well as professionally. taurant, Ciano,” he said. “Then we had a gloriWilliams wanted her bachelorette party to found our seats on the patio and quickly made The company provided all the food for Jen and ous blow-up.” include a cake-decorating contest, so Jen and friends with our fellow diners – and that’s one of Tyler’s wedding reception, except for the wedthe most fun parts of supper club. The disagreement with his friend took a Tyler hosted the party in their own kitchen. ding cake, which Jen created herself. Our conversations ranged from the heat propheavy toll on Tyler’s psyche. They also catered Williams’ wedding reception “It had five layers that included cinnamon erties of various peppers (we learned from the guy “I was mentally and physically done and sat in New Orleans. apple for the top, strawberries and cream, and across the table that Carolina reaper is the hottest in my living room for two months,” he said. “I During a job at Elton John’s AIDS gala, chocolate-coffee,” Jen said. Friends she’d made pepper out there), where to buy honeyed mead (at didn’t even want to cook anymore.” Tyler said he was tapped on the shoulder and while working for Boulud’s restaurants helped See TBL, page 23 He eventually went back to work at La turned around to see President Bill Clinton surthe bride put the cake together.
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Photos courtesy Tyler and Jen Lyne
Turning the TBL
