FOOD

By Donna Cornelius rounded by a flock of Secret S ept. 19 was prominently marked in my datebook, circled in red ink and decorated with stars – the treatService agents. “He told me, ‘I really enjoyed it,’” Tyler said in a Clinton-esque drawl. Both 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 years,” Jen said. Tyler and Jen Lyne, (above) met at the Culinary Institute of America; both are graduates of the storied culinary school in Hyde impact of COVID-19 on the food

The couple and their 2-year-old Park, New York. After their time at CIA, they headed for New York City. 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 chefs packed some pretty impressive cooking credentials. One of Tyler’s first jobs was at Cru, now closed but during its heyTurning the TBL raise their child in NYC. They ended up in Birmingham thanks to Tyler’s sister, Laura Lyne; they said without her involvement, the move likely wouldn’t have hapday a highly regarded NYC eatery. pened. Jen was in Birmingham visThere, he worked with Shea Chefs Tyler and Jen Lyne Bring Serious Cooking iting Laura, who lives with her Gallante, a rapidly rising chef on the city’s food scene and a Food Chops to Their Hoover Supper Club family in Hoover’s Ross Bridge neighborhood, when she learned and Wine magazine Best New that the house next door was for Chef. Left, beef braised shortrib, huitlacosale. The Lynes bought the house without Tyler

“Cru was the chefs’ restaurant,” Tyler said. che, jalapeno and cheese tamale, seeing it. “If you worked at Per Se, for example, Cru was red mole and lime crema mexicana. Tyler and Jen, who own restaurants at Hilton where you would go if you wanted to see and Below, blueberry vacherin. 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 restaurateur Daniel Boulud’s hospitality group. “I started at the low end and finally became a pastry sous chef for two of his restaurants,” Jen said. Her first position was at Boulud’s renowned Restaurant Daniel, a three-Michelin star restaurant. Later, she moved to Dinex’s more intimate DB Bistro, which she said was a bit more Photos courtesy Tyler and Jen Lyne rush,” Tyler said. Meeting Hoover realtor Allison Burleson and hosting a party for her at their house gave them the idea to start a home-based supper club. That’s how Tasting TBL was born. The dinners are held on Saturday nights. “It keeps us busy and has allowed us to assimilate into the community,” Tyler said. “We 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. 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 A Dinner to Remember went 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 And finally, back to our own supper club expeflagship restaurant, along with Gallante. with food. I went from super-fine dining to came to Birmingham with the Lynes and is their rience.

“Those were long hours,” Tyler said. Mexican – and then to catering.” supper club sous chef. Wade and I arrived with other guests at the “Bouley was open seven days a week for lunch His first job with a catering company was in Lynes’ house at 6:30 for mingling and this night’s and dinner, so I’d get there at 11 a.m. and go 2012 when he joined – and turned around – specialty cocktail, a watermelon margarita. In the home about 2 a.m. or sometimes later. But it Cloud Catering, introducing exceptional food to Star Attraction large room that includes the kitchen, we could see was the most beautiful kitchen I’d ever seen.” the menu. During their catering years, Tyler and Jen Tyler, Jen and Micah hard at work.

From Bouley, Tyler’s next stop was at anoth“Jen came on board with us about 2013,” cooked for an impressive assortment of A-list The Lynes can seat 38 people at three different er top restaurant: David Chang’s two-Michelin Tyler said. clients, including actors Gwyneth Paltrow, tables: in their dining room, on the screened-in star restaurant Momofuku Ko. Cloud Catering was a good experience for Cameron Diaz and Molly Sims; tennis star patio, and at the Chef’s Table near the kitchen

“After that, Shea and I opened an Italian resthe couple personally as well as professionally. Serena Williams; and songwriter Benny Blanco. with a bird’s-eye view of the workstations. We taurant, Ciano,” he said. “Then we had a gloriThe company provided all the food for Jen and Williams wanted her bachelorette party to found our seats on the patio and quickly made ous blow-up.” Tyler’s wedding reception, except for the wedinclude a cake-decorating contest, so Jen and friends with our fellow diners – and that’s one of

The disagreement with his friend took a ding cake, which Jen created herself. Tyler hosted the party in their own kitchen. the most fun parts of supper club. heavy toll on Tyler’s psyche. “It had five layers that included cinnamon They also catered Williams’ wedding reception Our conversations ranged from the heat prop

“I was mentally and physically done and sat apple for the top, strawberries and cream, and in New Orleans. erties of various peppers (we learned from the guy in my living room for two months,” he said. “I chocolate-coffee,” Jen said. Friends she’d made During a job at Elton John’s AIDS gala, across the table that Carolina reaper is the hottest didn’t even want to cook anymore.” while working for Boulud’s restaurants helped Tyler said he was tapped on the shoulder and pepper out there), where to buy honeyed mead (at

He eventually went back to work at La the bride put the cake together. turned around to see President Bill Clinton surSee TBL, page 23

Making an Impact Jones Valley Teaching Farm Wins Award for Work With Kids

Birmingham’s Jones Valley Teaching Farm is one of three winners of the Produce Marketing Association’s inaugural Impact Award.

Joe Don Zetzsche, chairman of PMA’s board of directors, said the award’s purpose is “to honor excellence and inspirational actions of people and organizations helping to grow a healthier world.”

Jones Valley Teaching Farm and the TBL From page 22 Sprouts Farmers Market), and that the name of the spice sprinkled on the lime wedge served with our Modelo beer was called tajin. There was also a spirited debate about the merits of Taylor Swift’s music, with my son firmly in the singer’s corner. A couple who had moved to Birmingham from Boston asked us for local food recommendations and were a little taken aback when, after giving them a lengthy list that included the likes of Highlands Bar & Grill, OvenBird, and Automatic Seafood, we also gave a shout-out to Popeye’s chicken sandwich.

The menu for the evening had a Latin flair – but the food was a far cry from run-of-the-mill Tex-Mex.

Our trip into culinary bliss started with a trio of treats: a miniature BLT with those letters stamped onto the bread, a pork tostada pork with salsa verde and pickled red onion, and salmon tartare with cucumber and sesame aioli. Next came a lusciously cheesy Parker house roll followed by a spectacular salad: beets with buttery cana de cabra goat cheese from Spain, membrillo (quince paste), sherry vinaigrette, and, underneath it all, onion ash and a pecan praline.

Herb-crusted cod, with confit heirloom tomatoes and coconut broth, was light and refreshing but still packed with flavor, and the rice course included a skewer of tender pork belly and shrimp, poblano rice and avocado aioli. Melt-in-your-mouth short ribs were the star of the meat course, with a strong supporting cast of huitlacoche (a fungus that grows on corn, but don’t let that deter you from trying it – it’s a delicacy in Mexico), tamales rajas con queso, red mole, lime crema, and asparagus.

At this point, we all were wonder

other winners are featured in a mini documentary that will be shared on PMA’s recently launched Impact Award webpage.

“We know that one of the most powerful things a person can do to live a healthier life is to eat more fruits and vegetables, and establishing habits at a young age is key to lifetime produce consumption,” said Lauren M. Scott, PMA chief strategy and membership ing how on earth we’d ever make room for dessert, and I was wishing that stretchy-waisted sweatpants had been an acceptable form of dress for the occasion. But when Jen’s creations arrived, our appetites and our taste buds were re-energized. She’d made an almost-too-pretty-to-eat crème Catalana with berries, elderflower melon, raspberry cream, spiced red wine sauce, and caramelized white chocolate, which were tiny mounds of pure delight. The sweet treats kept coming, and we kept eating. A basket of warm Madeleines was passed around the table, and a smoking box gave a draofficer. “Jones Valley Teaching Farm has created a community movement that helps children access and learn about farming through a meaningful hands-on experience that is shaping their relationship with food, providing a deep learning experience and shaping their communities in a very important way. We are thrilled to recognize them with one of the first PMA Impact Awards.”

Founded in 2007,the nonprofit JonesValleyTeachingFarm builds student-centeredteachingfarms that provide an environment for young people to learn, create, explore and grow a healthy future for themselves and their community.

Through its Good School Food model, full-time instructors collaborate with teachers to help pre-K through 12thgrade students connect food,farming and the culinary arts through standards-based, cross-curricular lessons

during the school day. matic presentation to the meal’s finale: smoked S’mores.

For those who love food, it was a night to remember. We can’t wait to go back.

To buy supper club tickets, visit tastingtbl.com. Individual tickets are $125, and you can pay an extra $30 for beverage pairings (highly recommended). Saturday night dates are now available through December. Check the website, too, for updates about the cooking classes Tyler and Jen plan to offer in the future. Follow the supper club on Instagram @TastingTBL_Bham.

GAME DAY EATS!

Check Out Our Grab n' Go Items

• Dips • Salads • Slaw • Steamed Shrimp (your choice of seasoning) • Seafood Gumbo

Have lunch at the café or get it TO GO for the BIG

GAME (Tues-Sat 11am-2pm) Try our "Almost Famous Seafood Gumbo" and take home a pint, quart or gallon for later!

Goodness from the Land & Sea

In addition to its downtown campus, Jones Valley Teaching Farm oversees six teaching farms on the campuses of elementary, middle and high schools throughout the Birmingham area.

The program reaches more than 3,500 children each year. Currently, 25% of the organization’s staff is made up of graduates, a number that the teaching farm’s executive director, Amanda Storey, hopes to increase over time.

“That is intentional and is shifting the paradigm of nonprofit, and that’s important,” Storey said. “When it’s students who have been through the program and can then be able to direct it, that is community change. That is opportunity.”

Students select the produce to plant based on taste, curiosity and consumer demand. At a free afterschool program called the Market Club, teams of students sell produce to teachers, parents and community members.

For more informatioon about the award winners and to see the minidocumentary about Jones Valley Teaching Farm, visit pma.com. The PMA is a trade association representing compainies from the global produce and floral supply chain. —Donna Cornelius

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