Cheffy assist • Tobias Lunt

Sometimes I get the chance to help out in a professional kitchen and try to remember how to hack it. I love these opportunities because they remind me what I loved so much about that life: the wordless passion for mastery, the playfulness and creativity, and the kind and committed people. They also remind me why I left. It’s a hard life.

My buddy Andy Jack is an old friend from my days back at L’Étoile and is truly a gifted and curious cook - sometimes we’ll collab on a project or he’ll invite me to help out with one of his projects. I’d like to share two of these experiences - first when I helped out at Andy’s popup at Fairchild, and then when Andy and I put together a dinner at Robinia Courtyard.

Foie — The foie. IIRC the swoosh is a sauerkraut puree which might sound weird but was absolute 🔥. #uglydelicious

This was a one-off popup put together by Andy and Itaru, owner and chef at Fairchild. Seeing these guys put together and execute the menu was SO fun because they are both incredibly collaborative as well as extremely talented.

The command center. Itaru in charge. 4x beet tartare. Cute lil' carrots lurking in the background.

Tasters up for FOH. Delicata, scallop, tartare, hamachi, olive amuse, foie.

Itaru and Kyle inspecting the tasters while Andy explains them to FOH.

I honestly don't remember what this is. One of the desserts

Ice cream with chocolate shell over some kind of chocolate dirt. Andy has his own chocolate conch and uses it to make beautifully simple and novel variations on familiar foods. Making chocolate shell is easy and doesn't require any special ingredients - you just need to use a fat that turns solid at ice cream temperature.

Before the Fairchild event, Andy and I had put together a popup at Robinia Courtyard for a winter dinner series. We cooked for only maybe fifty people, who all ate inside the courtyard’s snow globe domes.

Our orientation was to make simple, family-style food with deep flavors that would let us sell tickets at a low price point. Fine dining taught us a lot, but we wanted to break out of the exclusivity trap and deliver food we’d want to eat and share with friends and family.

Cassoulet — Me and Andy about to send the cassoulet.

Snow globes — The snow globes in the courtyard that housed the diners for the evening.

Mains — Diners getting involved. Do you think we put enough dairy in the root veg mashers?

Salads — Getting ready to send the salads.

Early prep — Early in prep - when the big pots come out. They're all gone for later in prep and for the pickups.

Salad. Grilled radicchio, potato rösti, apple, etc.