S1. E9. | ATHLEISURE KITCHEN WITH NO KID HUNGRY'S JENNY DIRKSEN + CHEF ELIZABETH FALKNER

On today's episode of Athleisure Kitchen, we share an organization that we have covered a number of times over at Athleisure Mag and is in the Nov issue. We have enjoyed sharing initiatives that No Kid Hungry creates in order to ensure that childhood hunger is not an issue that has to be a concern in this country. In the past, we have interviewed Bryan Voltaggio and Duff Goldman, both who have participated in a fundraising event known as Chefs Cycle. We have also covered the spatulas that include the creativity of various celebs, food personalities and chefs that are sold at Williams-Sonoma. Right before the holidays, we caught up with No Kid Hungry's Jenny Dirksen who is the National Director of Champion Engagement and Chef Elizabeth Falkner and talked about a variety of programs that No Kid Hungry is involved in throughout the year. Of course, with Holiday festivities underway, we delved into what we will find on their dinner tables this year! This episode was recorded at one of Athleisure Kitchen's favorite whiskey destinations, The Flatiron Room here in NYC.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

THE BENEFITS OF SMOKING YOUR FOOD

Smoking is good. Don’t be surprised; we meant your food, and for once you need not apologize for lighting up!

This age-old cooking practice was used by villagers to preserve their food and also give it a distinctive smoky flavor. This produce, especially meat and cheese, could be packed and used during travel when hunting, or scouring for food could be a challenge. 

SMOKE UP

Wood fire’s aroma reignites our primal instincts when early humans would gather around a bonfire to cook their day’s kill and share the meat around. Perhaps, this is why smoked food elicits a sense of nostalgia. 

Realizing its growing popularity, many restaurants have started incorporating it in their menus. Vancouver-based 'Dunn's Famous Restaurant', for instance, is known for its hand-sliced smoked meat, while Montreal’s 'Smoke Meat Pete', as the name suggests, specializes in serving up deli items with smoked meat. 

There are several reasons why smoked food has become so prevalent in recent times. In addition to the charcoal-y flavor it supplements to food, it is a healthier form of cooking. Meat, especially if cooked sous vide for a longer period of time, becomes tender as compared to grilling or searing, which only cooks the outer layer. 

Smoking is also a healthier alternative as it does not require additional sauce. The products can be covered with salt and herbs, and during cooking, the food’s fat starts melting and draining away. This is another reason why this trend has found favor with health-conscious eaters. 

EASY PEASY

Earlier, most farmhouse kitchens had a larder to store smoked food to be consumed throughout the year. However, with modernization, people realized that they could smoke food whenever required, courtesy smokers. This cooking apparatus, barbeques the food at low and measured temperatures in a controlled environment. 

There are different varieties of smokers – charcoal, pellet, gas, kettle and electric – which can be used indoors or outdoors. The best thing about finding the right smoker is the thrill as one starts to plan hosting BBQ parties with platters of smoked fruits, vegetables, meat, cheese and nuts doing the rounds. Many folks prefer electric smokers that combine wood chips, water, and heat to produce smoke. It can be used in all kinds of weather – warm or cold – making it ideal for indoor and outdoor use. Additionally, since the food is not cooked on an open flame like charcoal smokers, it is relatively safer even if used in confined spaces, and the unique flavor is definitely an added plus.

SMOKING HOT

While selecting an electric smoker, it is important to check its material. Steel and porcelain-coated ones can endure lots of wear and tear and last longer. Moreover, size matters! So, take into account the average number of guests you would host during a BBQ party. The smoker should accordingly dish out around five rounds of foods to feed the desired numbers. After all, no one likes to hold empty plates at a party! 

Since an electric smoker’s USP is wood chips, when buying one, check for a model with a wood chip box loader to add flavored wood chips. This can accentuate the food’s smokiness. Experts highlight that the Masterbuilt 20078715 Electric Digital Smoker Front Controller, 30-Inch has a side wood chip loading system to stack the chips. On the other hand, models like the Jim Beam BTDS76JB Bradley Smoker 4-Rack Digital Outdoor Smoker have an automatic wood feeder system, which feeds the smoke generator with wood chips from the tray, whenever required.

PHOTO CREDIT | UNSPLASH/Stephanie McCabe

SIZZLE AND DRIZZLE

Since the smokers function with temperature and heat control, most electric versions come with a thermometer and timer. This allows you to set and control the temperature and time to prevent the food from getting under- or over-cooked.  Also, check that your device has ventilation vents to release heat and smoke while cooking, just like a microwave, which maintains the internal temperature. While using the smoker, ensure that these vents are unblocked. 

Another important aspect while choosing a smoker is to check whether it has a drip pan. This is where the grease, juices and food particles get collected during cooking, making it easier to clean the apparatus. If outdoor BBQ picnics are on your agenda, then a lightweight, portable electric smoker is an apt choice. The Char-Broil Deluxe Digital Electric Smoker offers great mobility courtesy its wheels and integrated handles so that you can move it around with ease. 

Selecting the right electric smoker can exude smoky magic to your food. And a sleek device with the durable build will make it the pride of your party and home. So the next time you’re planning your big BBQ day, be sure to not pass up on a good chance to try this out and trust us, you won’t be disappointed.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

WHY ALL ATHLETES SHOULD OWN A BLENDER

Blenders are a staple in most, if not all, homes worldwide. They have a range of uses to the average Joe that makes them a necessary kitchen appliance. Athletes need blenders even more than average households do. There are so many reasons why athletes need to have a blender that is of high quality. These reasons range from nutrition to enhanced sports performance.

1-     Higher Nutrient Percentages

Using a blender to make healthy smoothies is important for athletes because they need more nutrients for sustenance than average people do. They need a nutritious diet since they spend a lot of their time burning off calories and training for their chosen sport. Whether they are going to the gym for a training session or they are gearing up for a sports match, no doubt having a blender to mix healthy smoothies and drinks will enable them to get the required nutrients easily.

2-    On-The-Go Meal

This is one of the main reasons why blenders are a necessity for athletes. Usually preparing a nutritious meal takes a long time, then athletes spend even longer eating and digesting what they prepared. This whole process can be avoided if an athlete uses a blender to make a meal replacement smoothie that can have as many, if not more, nutrients than an actual meal.

Athletes can even get a portable blender if they want their smoothies to be ready wherever and whenever they want them. A portable blender is just one of the specifications that athletes can choose when deciding on a blender. However, it is not the only deciding factor to take into consideration. There are many factors that go into choosing a blender. As the smoothie gurus at blenderauthority.com have stated, before you buy a blender, you need to check the power and cup size, for example. The more ingredients, such as nuts and vegetables, the higher the power of the blender should be. If you are always on the go, then getting a portable blender will be a priority. 

3-     Detoxing

Detoxing is imperative for athletes as they need to rid their bodies of all the toxins that build up over time. Toxins inside the body affect an athlete's energy level, performance, and how they function overall. Having a blender that they can use to make detoxing smoothies, is necessary, to say the least. Athletes usually have multiple detoxing recipes that they incorporate into their diets using a blender. You can find new detoxing recipes to try out online, that require few ingredients and are all mixed in a blender for maximum detoxing benefits.  

4-     Faster Absorption

When food is broken down through blending, it helps an athlete’s body have an easier time absorbing the nutrients in the food. Unlike eating a meal that can take hours to digest and for the body to get what it needs out of the food, blending makes it possible for the body to get the nutrients needed in less time. This means that an athlete can exercise as much as they want without having to worry about digestion or the body’s nutrient levels.

5-     Improved Recovery

For athletes who like to make vitamin soups to accelerate their recovery exponentially, a blender will be an important tool. Everyone needs to include vitamins in their bodies, athletes more so since their bodies need to be in the best shape possible all the time. When an athlete is injured or has overworked muscles during practice, a vitamin-packed smoothie or soup will help their body repair itself.  

6-     Muscle Growth

Muscle growth depends on your nutrient intake, especially proteins, that athletes consume daily. It is unrealistic to expect that an athlete can get the required amount of daily protein by eating different meats and eggs only. Having a blender makes it easier to make protein shakes to consume whenever an athlete needs one. Protein shakes rarely have just one ingredient, so an athlete needs a high-quality blender to get the desired consistency every time.

7-     Weight Gain

Believe it or not, athletes sometimes have to put on weight. Drinking smoothies that contain a lot of starch and fats can achieve this. Just like protein consumption, target weight gain needs specific ratios of fat and other substances that cannot be consumed through solid foods. Having a blender enables athletes to consume the quantities required for weight gain without having to resort to eating fatty junk food that is bad for their health.

After understanding these necessities, it is easy to comprehend why athletes must have at least one blender in their homes. The number of smoothies and shakes that they have to consume daily requires a high-quality blender that can deal with the various ingredients, textures, and consistencies. Having a good blender will cut down on time and make staying healthy a lot easier. 

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

WHY ORGANIC MEAT IS THE FUTURE OF PROTEIN

It is becoming much harder every day to try and keep up with all the things we’re told are bad for us. Plastic is bad for the environment, cars cause immense pollution, and just about everything else we do will lead to the doom of mankind. While most of these assumptions tend to go a bit overboard with their alarmism, if there is one thing that you really need to be careful about, it is the food you put into your body, particularly the meat. Organic meat has been growing in popularity over the past few years, and for good reason. Here is why organic meat is the future of protein.

More fatty acids

Fatty acids are very important components for our health, mostly because our bodies don’t naturally form them. They reduce inflammation, boost cardiovascular health, provide energy, and do a host of other functions. While saturated fat percentages are very close in both organic and conventional meat, the amount of fatty acids in the former is exponentially higher –– close to 50% higher. Omega-3 fatty acids, in particular, were prevalent in organic meat, and they are very important components for our body, which is why this is the first reason why this is a better source of protein for your body.

No additives

This is perhaps the most important reason why organic meat is much better for your health. Non-organic meats are often injected with a lot of chemicals for a variety of reasons. Water, sodium phosphate, salt, and even sometimes hydrolyzed protein are added to the cuts to add moisture, extend shelf life, add tenderness, and even add flavor. While this practice is known and approved by the FDA, this means that the meat you are eating is not 100% natural, and a lot of additives are added to it.

Organic meat, on the other hand, does not have this problem, as no additives are added. This makes it an ultimately better source of protein that is much healthier for your body. Certified organic meat as you can see here does not contain any chemicals. It even tastes better, and you can still make your favorite dishes, too. The animals that produce that organic meat are treated much more humanely, and they are looked after to ensure the quality of that organic meat.

Antibiotics usage 

You might not know this, but animals who are raised non-organically are often treated with antibiotics, even if they are not sick! This happens because farmers noticed that those antibiotics help make the animals larger, so they were often given regularly to promote growth. Unfortunately, those have a very dangerous effect on the animals. For starters, the antibiotics kill the gut microbes, which can have a negative effect on humans, also promoting weight gain. Basically, those antibiotics linger in the meat and are often ingested by humans, causing all sorts of problems. 

Organic meat, on the other hand, does not come with this problem, because animals are rarely given antibiotics. If and when that happens, it will be because the animal is sick and requires immediate treatment, rather than being used for fattening purposes as with regular meat. This definitely makes organic meat a better option for protein as it does not come with the same amount of antibiotics as conventional products.

No chemicals

Even pesticides often make it to chicken tissue and other sources of protein as well. This happens because the food those animals are given is often treated with pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, and some of those linger on after slaughter. Organically raised animals aren’t allowed to consume such foods, and they are in turn healthier and much safer for humans to consume.

Hormone injections

Unfortunately, non-organic meat is also treated with hormones, which are used to speed growth, which helps reduce feeding costs and accelerate beef production. Some of those hormones are natural; others aren’t, but they are all approved by the FDA. There are theories that conclude that those hormones can cause serious metabolism and reproductive problems for humans, but research is still scarce in that area and it is not encouraged for obvious reasons. Organic meat comes with no hormones, which is ultimately better for your health as a consumer, and it definitely is a better source of protein for humans.

At the end of the day, organic meat is safer than conventional meat for the above-mentioned reasons. It contains many more useful components for your body, and also less harmful chemicals, antibiotics, and pesticides. This is why a lot more people are shifting towards organic meat, and it is definitely the future of protein.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

HER RECIPE FOR SUCCESS WITH CAT CORA

This month's cover is graced by the first female Iron Chef, Restaurateur and TV Personality, Cat Cora. In addition to our photoshoot for our Holiday issue, we sat down with her to talk about her trailblazing career, her mentors Julia Childs as well as Regynald Washington, a number of exciting projects that she has coming up as well as her latest TV show - ABC's Family Food Fight.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What was the moment that you realized that you wanted to be a chef?

CHEF CAT CORA: I think that I really realized that when I was about 15 years old and I had always been around restaurants. My grandfather has restaurants, my godfather had restaurants. I had amazing cooks: my father, my mother, my grandmother all around me - cooking different things. My mom and grandmother could bake and it was very global cuisine. My dad was Greek-American so we learned Greek food and of course, I lived in the South in Mississippi so we had good southern food. So I think that being around restaurants my whole life and growing up around them, it was really in my DNA. So around the age of 15, I thought, “I really want to do this.” I love the vibe and energy of a restaurant and kitchens. I thought that I would want to go in and pursue this lifestyle and this way of living through my career. Again, I thought that I was just born to do this even though it seems like it sounds a little corny.

AM: We love this. So where did you train and where did you go to school, what were various kitchens that you started in before opening your first restaurant?

CHEF CC: Well, I started by going to the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. I got my degree in Exercise Physiology and Nutrition with a minor in Biology and I really thought that I was going to go Pre-Med and then I took a detour because I loved health and wellness so much. I thought, “this was great.” I loved being fitness and health-oriented.

It was a perfect fit for me and really after graduation, I backpacked around Europe to 9 countries and just fell in love with food again. When I went back home, I said, “I know I have this degree and it will be great to fall back on, but I think that I want to go back to that first love and that’s food and restaurants!”

So I started working in restaurants and went onto training at the Culinary Institute of America. I was lucky to meet Julia Childs who became a mentor of mine at Natchez, Mississippi at a book signing. I felt that was like the planets aligning for me. I went to see her and was able to get advice from her and she mentored me. She told me to go to the Culinary Institute of America which is the Harvard of culinary schools and I applied pretty much the next day! I went there and graduated with honors and I went to France and cooked in 2 and 3 star Michelin restaurants at a time when women weren’t really allowed in French kitchens. They weren’t welcome there and that was about 20 years ago – which isn’t that long ago. I got 8 or 10 rejection letters in a row from 3 starred Michelin chefs and finally, I got 2! One from Georges Blanc and one from Roger Vergé. They were legendary chefs and I took both of them. I couldn’t choose as one does very classical French and one does Nouvelle Cuisine which is a newer French style – so I took both. One was in the south of France and one was in the northern part of France. They’re very different regions, different foods and ingredients as well. It’s an experience that I would never change for the world. It was very tough, especially as a female as I was the only one in the kitchen at the time. It was very daunting for a lot of chefs and many wouldn’t do that, even male chefs because they knew that French kitchens, and especially 3 starred Michelin kitchens, were very distinguished and very tough.

I did it, I got through it and came back to the US to a lot of job offers and I settled in NY for a little while for about 5-6 years. Then, I got a job offer in Napa Valley as an Executive Chef at a restaurant called Don Giovanni and then the rest was really history because I started working in kitchens as an Executive Chef and just worked my way up into opening my own company. I decided that I wanted to work for myself and be an entrepreneur as I had always had that entrepreneurial spirit and so, I did that and started Cat Cora, Inc. I started TV by chance and got an offer by Food Network by chance because I was on a local channel at the time. I opened Postino at the time where I was an Executive Chef and partner in the Bay Area. They ended up calling me a month later to audition me for my own show and to do guest appearances and that was in 1999.

I’ve been doing TV ever since – 20 years of television and it has been amazing. It’s been such an incredible journey and being able to do various things in this industry has been such a gift and a blessing. I feel that I love having restaurants, I love doing television and creating. My wife, Nicole who is an amazing producer in her own right, and we’re starting to get behind the camera to create shows, producing, doing cookbooks – and this world is so heady and beautiful. It has been such a blessing and here I am – here with you guys! It’s been great! To do this photoshoot and your magazine is so beautiful and to be able to do a high fashion shoot like this is just something that I love. I love fashion, I love jewelry, I love styling and having that from head to toe – whether it’s a pair of sunglasses like we talked about down to the shoes and everything in between! It’s so exciting to me and I love it and I love fashion. This has been such a blast!

AM: We love having you as the cover of Athleisure Mag’s 48th Issue for Dec as well as having this interview available for our podcast show Athleisure Kitchen! We know that you’re a perfect fit for our issue as a trailblazer with a number of accolades including being the first female Iron Chef, the first female that was inducted into the American Academy of Chefs Hall of Fame, your career in TV, restaurants and more! Hearing you speak about Julia Childs – what an amazing opportunity to have her as a mentor! What is a piece of advice that she gave you that you still use to this day as you continue to navigate your empire?

CHEF CC: I think that the best piece of advice that she ever told me was to always pay it forward – no matter what you do. My parents also told me that in a different way. They were always giving back to people. My mom was a nurse and my dad was a school teacher. We didn’t have a lot of money, but they always gave back to people in charitable ways and I think that that was ingrained in me as well as my siblings at a really young age.

When I met Julia, she said the same thing! She was so generous with her time and her advice – she did so much nurturing with me and the one thing that she said, was that she did this for me and that it was my turn to do it for somebody else. I think that she saw a passion in me and that it was really what I was meant to do, my destination and my fate.

That was pretty powerful for me and I have done that ever since. We have a women’s empowerment culinary internship that we started where we take one intern a year and they come to my house and are really embedded in our company and our lives for a week. They stay with us, we cook together, they spend time in some of my restaurants. Nicole and I will spend time with them on the business end of it to teach them what we do as a business and to teach them those skills. I think that that is important in this day and age that you have a business sense as well as that creative which goes hand in hand. I think that has been really powerful. I started Chefs for Humanity 15 years ago that is all about emergency feeding relief. It’s about helping to end hunger in the world, fighting hunger and it’s also about nutritional education so we are kind of a three-fold mission that’s been really amazing. We have done programs with Michelle Obama when she was in the White House and I spent time with the Obamas as well and they were so about creating programs that bettered everybody whether it was school feeding – Chefs Move to School, Let’s Move – which was about getting active when they realized that there was an obesity epidemic and other initiatives.

We’ve done multiple things not only here in the US, but globally. So those are the kinds of things that I do to pay it back and I try to do it every day! Whether it’s to young professionals that are looking for advice and on our social media, we’re constantly having questions from people asking if I can mentor them, answer a question or them, give them advice and direction, where they should go to culinary school, what road they should take now and what their next step should be. I feel like I’m constantly and I love giving advice to people and helping them to understand the next step – the way that Julia helped me. My next step for me was that she basically took me by the hand and said, “you’re next step is that you’re going to go to the Culinary Institute of America and get a culinary degree.” I was able to tell her again later, that I was going to go to France and was able to come full circle with her again.

AM: She must have been so proud of that!

CHEF CC: Yeah, she was – she was very happy!

AM: How would you define your style of cooking?

CHEF CC: I would say, very Mediterranean oriented. I can cook almost anything at this point of my career and I mean that in a very humble way. It’s just that I have been trained and especially with Iron Chef, every single battle that I did – it was a different cuisine so that taught me and gave me an ability to research to really understand that cuisine, that region and that country. I got really adept at different cuisines and throughout my cuisine whether it was Asian, Italian – obviously, I grew up in the Greek Southern heritages.

I think that different cuisines from around the world – I love to learn so much about each one of those and it’s like I’m a sponge and want to know more and be curious about things. I think that that gives you an edge and keeps you on your toes and you should always have a curiosity about something else. You’re never done learning. But if I had to answer what is my soul food, Mediterranean food. Foods of the sun and living that lifestyle. The Mediterranean diet is the healthiest diet on the planet and we know that – research has shown that. Extra Virgin Olive Oil, fruits and vegetables, lean meats and those types of things. Lots of fish with all of those Omega oils and that’s what I grew up on even though we were from the south – we indulged in southern food too. There was good fried catfish, okra and biscuits and all of that!

Mostly, I grew up on the Mediterranean diet of steamed artichokes and olive oil and lemon – lots of citrus. It’s so good for you and I think that those types of foods really draw me in. It keeps bringing me back to that and my roots – it’s really strong in the way that I cook as I cook from that Mediterranean perspective in that way.

AM: We could eat hummus every day!

CHEF CC: I think I do eat hummus every day!

AM: It’s so good! What are your 3 favorite ingredients that you like to have on hand when you’re in kitchen with Nicole and the kids?

CHEF CC: I always have citrus. I always have a big bowl of citrus so I pull from that a lot. I always finish dishes with a little squeeze of lemon, lime or tangerine – whatever it is depending on what I am cooking in terms of the style. Garlic is a big part of our cooking and I cook with it every day! It’s so good for you and heart healthy and I love really good Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Those are 3 staples that you will always see in my kitchen. You will never not see good Extra Virgin Olive Oil and it doesn’t have to be super expensive. It’s a little mind boggling how many olive oils there are to choose from these days. So I think that if people look for Extra Virgin always because that’s the first press and you’re going to get the most nutrients and then you look for Cold Pressed which means that there is no heat in the processing of it because that takes away from all the nutrients you’re trying to get when heat is involved. Those are 2 tips for your listeners and readers when they are looking to pick out their Olive Oil.

AM: When you opened your first restaurant, what was that like coming from other people’s kitchens to being in your own space to run it entirely?

CHEF CC: I mean when I opened my first restaurant, Kouzzina by Cat Cora in 2008 – which was 3 years after I started Iron Chef as I started that in 2005, we went for a lot of seasons and it was still going and there were a number of reruns. But in 2008, I started my first restaurant in Disney at the Boardwalk in Orlando. Kouzzina means kitchen in Greek and it was this gorgeous restaurant. We had a wood burning oven and we had this olive oil bar where we olive oil bar where we poured the different kinds that we got all over Greece. It was just a gorgeous restaurant and I think that as my first, I was nervous, but I was super excited. I really did things differently and unorthodox. Most chefs open their first restaurant and then they build from there. They get their TV show and they do their books. I kind of did it the opposite and and it’s the way that it felt and it worked for me. It was a better fit for me to do television, to get all of the experience from a lot of amazing chefs when I was coming up in the industry. I was able to hone my style if you will and who I was, my identity as a chef and then went on to create my company, did television, did my cookbooks and things like that. I kind of did it all and then had a restaurant, but that worked and that was the higher plan.

I think it was amazing. I would have to say that I was in a place where I was more mature, more seasons and able to take on multiple responsibilities and to juggle multiple things going on because I had the experience to do so. I had an amazing partner in Disney. When you’re picking partners and day to day operators, you have to have amazing brands that they always want to succeed and their goal is to be the best. Their standard of excellence and quality is as high as you can get which Disney is and I still have a great relationship with them to this day and we have done multiple things along the years and I think that it is just a fantastic way for me to start my restaurant.

AM: In looking at your restaurants like a portfolio, you have those that you have done in the resorts, the curated version that you did with Weight Watchers at the Barclay Center and then your partnership at Aramark which is beyond ridiculous – how do you go about deciding the kinds of restaurants you will do and the kind of partnerships that you do?

CHEF CC: Yes, again – I had this amazing mentor, Regynald Washington who started my first restaurant in Disney World and he was with me when we started that and he left to go to HBF (Hojeij Branded Foods) which now owns all my airport restaurants. He called me and said, “you gotta do airport branded restaurants with us.” I couldn't resist and we have done some amazing things – 6 airport restaurants around the country. Then it just kind of expanded and I have my partnership with Aramark and we’ve done these beautiful stand alone restaurants, corporate dining, but also 600 pop-ups around the country. Then it just kind of expanded and I have my partnership with Aramark and we’ve done these beautiful stand alone restaurants, corporate dining, but also 600 pop-ups around the country as well.

Then we have Mesa Burger which is in Santa Barbara, Montecito and Goleta and we’re going to expand that out all over the country. It continues to be beautified. My restaurant in Singapore was just phenomenal and it was great to have an international presence and I learned a lot from that experience. There are these amazing things that continue to grow and it's so organic. It happened organically from the very beginning. The Walt Disney restaurant, was just organic and then it expanded from there.

I like that and I also love the idea of putting restaurants – I mean I love stand alone and we’re doing them as well, but I like building those that are in the landscape of America in places where whether it’s an airport, amusement park, national park, corporate dining – places where people really needed healthy cuisine and you were at the mercy of what was there. Stadiums are a good example of this as they have changed dramatically as you’ve seen. People are like, “wow, I can get a healthy meal here while I am watching a concert or a ball game!" If my flight gets delayed, I love that I can go to Cat Cora’s Kitchen and sit there and have an incredible healthy breakfast, lunch or dinner. I think that it’s giving people that access to health and wellness and that foundation where we’re not even saying that we are a health and wellness restaurant. Our foundation is based on health and wellness and we cook great food! That’s where for me, I felt that I was given a service that really I wanted to give but it was unexpected. It happened so organically. I mean, before my restaurants, when I was traveling in airports, I couldn’t get an egg white omelet anywhere. Now, that’s what I offer to people and if you want an American breakfast, you can get that there too! I like to offer that healthy option and I think that that is what was missing.

AM: We always like asking people about their 3 signature dishes at their restaurants and as you have a number of them, we’ll let you choose what restaurants you would like to include in this mix!

CHEF CC: I would say that if you’re in Santa Barbara (Montecito or Goleta) whether you’re already flying in or just making your way to Mesa Burger because it’s worth it – we have amazing Craft Burgers. I’d say our signature is probably the Montecito Burger which is this chefy burger that has this truffle aioli on it and very umami yumminess. We also have great craft burgers with Brioche buns – very umaminess and we have one of the very best vegan burgers that you will ever have. We also do gluten free buns and we do lettuce wraps around a burger so it’s a fun place to go. There are great craft beers and wines so you can just have fun.

At Cat Cora's Kitchen, you gotta try my Spicy Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons – delicious for any of the airports you’re going through!

At my Wicked Eats and Olio concepts that are more of a Mediterranean Bowls so you can get quinoa, a salad, a pita and you can put it with different toppings, sauces and things! I love the Salmon Bowl with quinoa and some of the lettuce and different sauces and toppings on it that are so delicious and very healthy as well. It’s very health forward, but so delicious that you won’t even care! You’ll just know that it’s delicious and yummy. Those are some of the things that we have been doing.

AM: We’ve been talking about your TV work today and one of our personal favorites was BRAVO’s Around the World in 80 Plates!

CHEF CC: Oh thank you! I love that show and it was so fun shooting it.

AM: I can only imagine! And obviously being a judge in a number of shows like Top Chef and the numerous appearances you’ve had in other shows. Did you ever say when you first started that your brand was “x” and these were the things that you were going to do to get to where you ultimately wanted to be?

CHEF CC: I think you always have to be strategic the way that you want to represent your brand. You have to make sure that what you do moves the needle and that you have to be conscious as that’s important to be that way in business as well as socially. It’s important to us. My philosophy with restaurants and food is sustainability – it’s important as well as health and wellness. We want to make sure that we are taking care of people and the Earth. In business I think that having integrity, morals, being honest and kind – it’s sometimes hard to do because it is business and sometimes you have different opinions than your business partners. At the end of the day, it’s about rising above that and being super conscious about how you go about conducting yourself and business dealings. It's really about making people happy and that’s what you’re here to do. It’s important to make money, enriching your business and going in a direction that is successful with your business financially, your messages and how they affect your brand.

I think that we’re strategic. We don’t do anything in a vacuum and I think that I learned that from my wife who is an amazing producer, creative director and so many other things with Universal Music and then I got her and thank God because all of these artists that she blew up all over the world you know and had this amazing effect on and her genius – I got that! For me, it’s about taking that and she taught me to not do things in a vacuum and to be strategic and thought out. It's got to be well executed and you have to be passionate about it and it has to make you happy in the morning. You have to be happy about what you are doing in the world and for every action there is a reaction. There is cause and effect and each of us is a big part of that. We have to be very conscious about how we go about moving in our lives.

AM: So ABC’s Family Food Fight, how did you decide that you were going to be a part of that and what drew you to this project which has a great group of people with yourself as well as Graham Elliot and Ayesha Curry.

CHEF CC: It was such a fantastic opportunity. I love Ayesha, I adore her and her family. Graham – I’ve known him for years and he is like a brother as I’ve known him for 20 years. We’ve been running in the same circles and have been doing the same events. I have a lot of respect for both of them and the respect was mutual around the table with all of us. We had the best time on that show and I think what drew me was food and family.

At the end of the day, where I’m at my life today and where I have come from to now – I look at the most important thing thing at the end of the day is food and family and family and food. I look at our children, our 6 boys, my wife, our extended family because that is what you have. That’s what real. You can always look to your family to ground you and to bring it back.

That is what grounds you and I look to my family as a beacon so that I know my direction. I think that that’s why I wanted to do this show. These families came together, they cooked together all the time and they competed together because yes the money was big. It was important and life changing for a lot of people, but they also wanted to do it so that they could compete together and say that they did it with their family and to make them proud. Each of the families were so different as they were a melting pot of different heritages and cultures, recipes and personalities. That was so special to that show and made it so enriched for us. It was so fascinating and wonderful!

AM: We live in an age of social media where it’s so important to be able to utilize it to show who they are as a person beyond being in the kitchen as well as their skills. How important do you think social media is for chefs to show themselves in a 360 way?

CHEF CC: I think that’s super important and has been great for us. There was a time when there was no social media and it wasn’t even two words that we knew. It may seem strange for some people to hear this but there was a chunk of my career where this didn’t exist. You know, telephone, text, computer, email – things like that is how we communicated. I think that this has been so much fun to learn about social media and continue to learn and each day, there is something new to learn. But there is something about being able to go directly into people’s homes and right in front of them. To be able to say, here I am and this is who I am. I’m doing this today and cooking with my kids making pasta and join us. Like, really it’s such an amazing one on one interaction while you're being able to do so in front of a million people. It's one on one in the moment for all of us even when I am looking at something or someone’s video that I admire.

That’s what I think is cool because we get this one on one interaction and it’s such an intimate connection with people that you really admire. You get to see their lives and it’s very voyeuristic because you get to see them in their and what they do when they’re not an actor on the screen or a musician and not a chef when they’re at home. It’s just seeing them at home with their family and I think that there is something really special about that and it makes the world smaller in a good way. I think it brings all of us from around the world together in a place, intimacy and connection that you wouldn’t have otherwise. I find myself stopping for selfies and stopping for this or Instagramming my food you know. A lot of interaction, but I think it’s really beneficial for connecting with people around the world.

AM: You have a number of cookbooks under your belt. Is there anything that you are working on right now that our readers can find out about that we should keep an eye out for or check your social media for?

CHEF CC: Yeah, I have 3 cookbooks and a memoir. We are working on a cookbook which will be out next year. We can’t tell you what it is yet, but it will be good when you see it and I’m super excited about the concept and think it’s a great idea. When you see it, you’ll love it. I think it will be a little disruptive which is cool and is a good thing. You guys need to just check out my Instagram for any updates which will be coming out next year.

AM: Licensing is a massive component to a business and we know that you are in business and we know that you are involved in that. Do you have any new products that are coming out or partnerships that you can talk about?

CHEF CC: We are definitely doing some partnerships. I just launched a caviar line with California Caviar. I just did Rachel Ray today and we’re doing something really cool around it so check that out. I just launched it and it’s called Crème by Cat Cora. A beautiful caviar that’s American white sturgeon caviar and its farm-raised. It’s in partnership with American Caviar and a women-owned company which I think is super amazing. They’re so dynamic. I’ve always loved caviar, but I never knew how it was made really. They brought it to our house. We made caviar and I have so much of a bigger appreciation for how it is made and harvested because it’s very time consuming in how it is made. You’re talking about very little eggs and you have to be really delicate with them. So it takes a lot to make a tin of it or even 3 tins made and you’re like wow the process is incredible. It’s a sustainable product which I am proud of and much more approachable for people. One of the reasons why I wanted to do this was to make it approachable for people as I think that some people have this idea that caviar is too fancy and that they wouldn’t be able to afford it and that they can’t use it. That’s why I was so interested in doing this not just because of the company’s history and that it’s a woman-owned and run company, but it’s a beautiful made product that is done sustainably that people can enjoy.

AM: That’s so exciting!

CHEF CC: With caviar, I don’t know if people know this but there are so many amazing omega oils in it. 2 tablespoons have 7 grams of protein and it has only 5 grams of fat. It’s a lot of incredible vitamins and minerals that you get from that because of the fish oils – very healthy and beneficial for people.

AM: We had no idea that it had protein in it. We love eating it on our salads as well as on potato chips.

CHEF CC: Potato chips and sour cream is one of the best ways to eat it!

AM: You have so much going on with your business, your wife, family and more – how do you make sure that you check in with yourself and give yourself the time that you need to make sure that you’re ok?

CHEF CC: I work out everyday. It’s one of my things. Because of my degree in Exercise Physiology and Nutrition wellness has always been in my life. In college when I put on the extra 10 - 15, I was like I have to do something about this because it’s not working. Getting in shape became a lifestyle and I feel that it is a lifestyle for me. Just like I get up in the morning to take a shower or to go to my meetings, I know that I will schedule when I need to workout. Part of my job is to stay healthy for my family. I just look at it like that and if people looked at it as something that they needed to do that wasn’t just a luxury or an add on – it’s something that you can add into your day. You don’t have to do it all day. You can literally walk for 30 minutes.

I got into shape by walking. I didn’t go out and hit the elliptical or the gym. It was literally me going out and walking. I got into shape, lost the 15 pounds and I just got into it. I stay regulated. I really enjoy myself and I really believe in the 80/20 rule for myself and we live by that. It’s 80% of the time – sometimes it’s 90% or 70%/30% if I’m on vacation. I try to stay in that 80/20 where I’m eating clean 80% of the time and then I have fun where I’m enjoying myself where I can have an indulgent and enjoy myself. If you can give yourself permission to enjoy your food and still make smart choices 80% of the time – you’re ahead of the game.

Exercising and eating healthy go hand in hand because you can’t exercise a bad diet. But you also need that hand in hand exercise – so eat healthy and even if it’s little baby steps that’s great! I love to workout taking bubble baths and I take a lot of them when I can. I always try to find a semblance of balance. There is a real need for us to slow down and take off half a day or a full day - even 2 days if you can. If you get the weekends off great although we’re always working so that may not always happen. I tell Nicole that since we work together – I ask her when we’re scheduling our next day off. Are we getting a massage, a mani/ pedi, taking a walk or even a museum just to do something mindless and to see beautiful art which is something that we would like to do. Or it can be a theater or a nice dinner! Tonight, we’re going to have date night and we can unwind, rejuvenate and come back to that balance and that grounded place.

AM: What are your favorite methods that you like to do when you work out?

CHEF CC: I like to mix it up. I have been working out for many many years so I find that my body and I think that exercising is individual to each person so there isn’t something that works for every body. I find that if I exercise in one mode like the elliptical, after 5 days my body gets used to it and I have to get off that and go for a run instead or do crossfit or go do Soul Cycle with my wife. We will mix it up. I have a road bike that I love to do road cycling with and I don’t have the time to do it as much as I would like, but I love to do it when you can. Your body does get used to exercises and it becomes not as effective. It doesn’t mean that you can’t go back to it but you do want to change it up so that your body is thrown off in a good way. It will find a new muscle to work on.

AM: You clearly travel a lot. What are 3 items that you like to carry in your carry- on that makes your flights easier or to feel like you’re at home?

CHEF CC: I always have my earbuds – always. I always have a nice comfy pair of socks to throw on. I always have a good book just in case. I like to have one and I like how it feels to flip that page. Even if I don’t get to use it then, if I can read a few pages it's nice to do! Number 4 that I had to throw in. I always carry a cooler bag with healthy snacks. Even if we’re flying First Class and getting meals, I still like to carry my almonds, fruits, berries, protein bars – I always carry a lot of healthy snacks and just go. I want to stay cognizant and have brain food because we’re on the go constantly and that we have something that’s healthy as an alternative. If you pack a few healthy things then you won’t get off track and have empty calories. You don’t want to stay dang, “why did I eat that?” When you’re hungry, you get irritable and your energy drops tremendously. But when you have healthy snacks, it keeps the energy up, you’re happy and it works better. When you know you have something yummy that came from your refrigerator, that’s also a comfort from home too!

IG @CatCora 

Hear Chef Cat Cora on our show, Athleisure Kitchen which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multi-media podcast network! Make sure to subscribe to find out when the episode drops. You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts and wherever you enjoy listening to your favorite podcast.

We photographed our cover story and recorded our podcast at 498 West End Ave #12A. We sat down with broker, Louise Phillips Forbes of the Louise Phillips Forbes Halstead Team to talk about this property as well as the neighborhood that it is located in.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We enjoyed shooting in 498 West End Avenue’s penthouse and for this shoot in #12A, it was a lot of fun due to the layout as well as the way that natural light that comes in this space – can you tell us about the features of this unit?

LOUISE PHILLIPS FORBES: You nailed it! The layout and light in this apartment are truly amazing, plus it has outrageous scale. The home is nestled in a corner unit on a high floor with 4,120 sf across 5-BR and 5.5-BA with three exposures and stunning Hudson River views. Newly renovated and reimagined with designer details by CetraRuddy Architecture, this home is a rare combination of prewar craft and contemporary artistry, perfect for entertaining!

With 56-feet of frontage along West End Avenue, the kitchen, lounge, and living/ dining room are bathed in natural light. Custom-color solid oak, rift-and-quartered floors throughout all public spaces are a modern twist on the parqueted floors found in the grand homes of Newport, Rhode Island. The living areas are distinguished from the kitchen by custom-designed French sliding doors. The doors feature an ingeniously recessed sliding mechanism for ease of use – all framed in an artfully articulated molding.

The kitchen is a chef's dream that embodies a level of craft and workmanship that exceeds the highest standards. From the outstanding millwork in custom chocolate-stained oak with contrasting cream-colored ceruse, to a single-slab marble hearth wall that conceals the range hood, every facet of the kitchen is designed to deliver equal portions of elegance and functionality.

Every bedroom provides an en-suite experience. Every room also features brandnew, energy-efficient windows and a superbly orchestrated medley of subtle colors and unexpected textures to create a serene sanctuary. The exceptionally spacious master bedroom includes a luxurious bathroom with a steam shower, soaking tub, mosaic marble floors and custom glasswork, furniture-like, shagreen textured vanities, and an eclectic mix of metals.

AM: What amenities are offered in this building for the residents?

LPF: The building itself is a beautiful turn of-the-20th-century piece of architecture offering a 24-hour attended lobby, private and bike storage, a fitness room and children's playroom. From the broad leafy streets outside, to its proximity to Riverside Park and bustling Upper West Side venues, 498 West End Avenue is nestled in the heart of one of New York's most desirable neighborhoods.

AM: Tell us about the neighborhood that is directly around this building and what neighborhood this is considered?

LPF: Flanked by two beautiful parks, the Upper West Side is one of the greenest neighborhoods in Manhattan. A favorite with families with its great elementary schools, safe streets and plethora of playgrounds. The vibe of the Upper West Side is relaxed, yet lively. There are plenty of bars and restaurants to frequent along Amsterdam Avenue, and Broadway. The wide, tree-lined streets also host many mom-and-pop stores, some of the best Jewish delis in the city, Zabar’s and Levain Bakery. Culture's abounds as this coveted neighborhood is the home to the American Museum of Natural History, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan and the West Side Community Garden.

AM: For those interested in this unit, how can they get more information?

LPF: For more information on this home please head over to louisephillipsforbes.com. As the exclusive broker for new development in this building my team represents new units as they become available. The pristinely designed Penthouse is set atop this landmark. It’s a 3,646sf 5-BR, 4.5-BA newly constructed full-floor duplex with an expansive wrap-around terrace, at its longest spanning close to 90 feet, which makes for a covetable outdoor space ideal for lounging as well as hosting cocktails and dinner parties against the backdrop of an exquisite panorama of the Hudson River. We also recently launched a fully renovated 2,093sf 3-BR, 2-BA residence on the 8th floor with the same designer details and notable interior features.

AM: Can you tell us about the artwork that is featured in this apartment?

LPF: The artwork throughout the two-story home has been thoughtfully curated by an interior designer to help highlight its architectural features and, of course, the views.

AM: Where can readers find out about properties that you represent?

LPF: To learn more about our listings, the team and the concierge-style services we provide, head over to www.louisephillipsforbes.com.

AM: You always have a number of amazing developments and properties in your portfolio. With 2020 around the corner, are there properties that you can share with us that you are excited about here in NYC and in The Hamptons for our readers to keep an eye out for?

LPF: With 30+ years of experience and over $4B in sales we always have some unique and exciting things on the horizon. Follow us on Instagram @louisephillipsforbesteam to keep up with us in 2020.

IG @LouisePhillipsForbesTeam

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS

Athleisure Mag's cover story was shot by Paul Farkas, using Canon Mark IV; and selected Canon lenses: EF 50 f/1.2 L, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II, and EF 70-200 f/2.8 L II.

IG @PVFarkas

STYLE, MAKEUP & HAIR CREDITS

Athleisure Mag's Celeb Fashion Stylist, Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director Kimmie Smith, MUA Jessica Bonilla and Hairstylist Lea DeLoy share how Cat Cora's look was created for the cover editorial.

LOOK I | FITNESS

BACK COVER + PG 16 - PG 25 | BEYOND YOGA Heather Rib Cropped Tank in Navy Heather + Graceland High Waisted Midi Legging in Nocturnal Navy/Horizon Blue | COLMAR Research Metallic Jacket in Rich | KIMMIE VINCENT Collins Ave | THE9THMUSE Cleo Earrings | SALLY HERSHBERGER X REVO LIMITED EDITION CAPSULE COLLECTION X2 in Gold Frame with Champagne Lenses | SPERRY Maritime Repel Suede Snow Boot in Sand |

SKINCARE | The base was applied from a filming that took place earlier that day | Skin touched up with RIMMEL LONDON Stay Matte Concealer “Linen” | DANESSA MYRICKS BEAUTY Dew Wet Balm “Morning Dew” to freshen the skin | JOUER COSMETICS Highlight “Skinny Dip” | BRONZER | FENTY BEAUTY Sun Stalk'r Instant Warmth Bronzer “Shady Biz” | BLUSH | STEVE LAURENT Blush “Rosè All Day” | EYES | URBAN DECAY COSMETICS Naked3 Eyeshadpw Palette “Nooner” dusted all over the eyes | JOUER COSMETICS Highlight in the inner corners to open the eyes | L’ORÉAL COSMETICS Mascara "Carbon Black" | LIPS | COVER GIRL Sultry Sienna “250" |

HAIR | Hair was prepped with THEURGY Bohemian Bounce to smooth and to add body | Before curling, THEURGY Out Of Body volumizing spray gave the curl hold, memory and heat protection | After brushing through curls, THEURGY Shape Shift texturizing spray applied mostly to the root area to give the style a more voluminous undone texture and make the hair easy to go from one style to the next |

LOOK II | BOSS LADY VIBES

FRONT COVER + PG 26 | SMYTHE Long Shawl Blazer in Pewter Lamé | BLUEBELLA Avia Bodysuit in Black | MAVI Tess Super Skinny in Zipper Fly Black Jeather | TALIA JEWELRY Aria Charm Necklace | MAISON MIRU Large Celestial Illusion Hoops Earrings | LAGOS 18K Caviar Gold Diamond X Ring | SJP BY SARAH JESSICA PARKER Trois in Grey Snake |

EYES | The eyes were changed to a bolder look using KKW BEAUTY (Kim x Mario Palette) “Loyalty" | To deepen the outer V, added a black liquid | LIP | MILANI COSMETICS Color Statement Lipstick “07 Best Red” |

HAIR | Boss lady vibes were created with a deep side part, pinned over side of the ear, and soft waves for a bold sexy edge |

LOOK III | GLAM LOUNGE

PG 29 - PG 32 | AFFFAIR Bodysuit + Beaded Bomber Jacket | OLIVA VON HALLE Bella Bella Envy Short | THE9THMUSE Flow Earrings | LAGOS 18K Caviar Gold Diamond Tassel Ring, 18K Caviar Gold Ring + 18K Caviar Gold Stacking Ring |

EYES | A little shimmer on the lid with BH COSMETICS Shaaanxo Palette "Champagne Shimmer" added | LIP | FENTY BEAUTY Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer “Fussy” |

HAIR | An effortless look was created by just pulling a bit of the hair back, and channeled her inner Bridget Bardot |

LOOK IV | DATE NIGHT

PG 35 - PG 39 | OLIVA VON HALLE X MALEFICENT Aureta Grace | BLANK NYC Collarless Blazer in Cosmic Charge | TLR JEWELRY Focus on Your Earrings | TALIA JEWELRY Opus Charm Necklace |

EYES | The eyes have a bold effect using PACIFICA BEAUTY Beachy Punk Mineral Eyeshadow "Tomboy" | “Rebel” used all over the crease, lid, and bottom over the crease, lid, and bottom lash line | NYX COSMETICS Glitter Primer was applied to the lid | Primer assisted INGLOT Glitter Pigment “Blazin Rose” to stay on the lid | A black liquid liner was added and more mascara | LIP | COVER GIRL Sultry Sienna "250" added | To create an ombré effect, concealer was placed on the center of the lips and FENTY BEAUTY Diamond Milk |

HAIR | Soft waves were pinned to the side for this modern day Boho Cinderella | A layer of THEURGY Enchantment Mist was sprayed through the hair for ultra shine and to block out any humidity from ruining the style | Finally, THEURGY Retrograde Spray, a light workable hairspray was used to complete each look |

IG @Shes.Kimmie

@Laniidoa_Cosmetics

@HairByLeaDeLoy

Read the Dec issue of Athleisure Mag and see Her Recipe For Success with Cat Cora in mag.

THE WHISKEY EXPERIENCE WITH TOMMY TARDIE & DARRON FOY

As the holiday season means that we have a lot more on our plates than usual, the need to find a place to take a moment is key! We made our way to NYC's whiskey destination, The Flatiron Room which is known for its staggering amount of whiskeys that are available, cocktails, entertainment and an experience that's not to be missed. We sat down with Tommy Tardie the founder of the Goodnight Group LLC which is comprised of The Flatiron Room and Fine & Rare to talk about what led to creating these spaces, the importance of cultivating these environments as well as how he stays inspired in the hospitality industry. We also took some time to chat with his head bartender, Darron Foy who lets us know about cocktails that we should try there, his interest in working in this space as well as what we need to have on hand when we try our hand on making cocktails at home.

ATHLEISURE MAG: So before The Flatiron Room, what was your background?

TOMMY TARDIE: My real background and what I went to school for was advertising. I used to be the Creative Director in advertising before I got into hospitality and once I ventured into hospitality, I started with a small lounge, had moderate success with the first lounge. I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if I could charge even more for the same drink and that’s when I went into the nightclub scene. I opened up a couple of different nightclubs and they were very profitable. Margins in nightclubs are pretty high, but it wasn’t a lifestyle that I really enjoyed and I decided that I wanted to stay in hospitality. But if I stayed in hospitality, I wanted to stay in a place that I enjoyed going to. A place that kind of put me as the demographic and that was kind of the genesis of The Flatiron Room. I looked at it and rather than doing field research, I said that I would build a place that I would want to hang out and that I would want to take my friends to.

AM: For those that have not come here, let our readers know what they can expect.

TT: I think the key word is an experience. We want guests to have an experience when they come here. We want there to be theater in the overall experience. When I say theater, people that come here equate that to the music that we have here on stage. The theater is really the whole dynamic of the room! When you walk through the room, of course you’ll see people that are on the stage – that’s part of the theater. But the way that our servers are trained and even the way that they pour their drinks at the table, the way that they climb up and down the ladders, the way that they crush ice from a 1920’s ice crusher – that’s all part of the theater and the choreography of the room.

AM: How many whiskeys do you have here?

TT: Well, that’s a great question and I can’t give you an accurate answer, but I would say around 1,200 – 1,500 unique expressions and that was a journey in and of itself. When I first opened, I thought 250 would be a respectable number. I wanted to have that amount and thought having that would be great. At the time, I thought that I knew a lot about whiskey and over time, I realized that I knew nothing about whiskey! As I started purchasing them, I got into conversations with those that were engaged and knew about the whiskeys and that’s when I went down the route of needing to get more indepth into the knowledge of the whskeys. Prior to working in hospitality, I was a creative director and I tend to be visually oriented – very right brained. So I traveled around a lot to learn about whiskeys and I went a fair amount to Scotland and just met with the distillers and saw how it was made. It really helped with my knowledge a lot. Coming back from these trips, I would come with new whiskeys and 250, turned into 300, which turned into 400, and then 500. What I quickly realized was that once you became known for whiskey, you have a responsibility to guests to have all the new whiskey when it comes in. It wasn’t something that I had factored into my algorithm. The more people came in – I had an obligation. They would say, “oh you haven’t gotten the new release from Glenmorangie?” I’d say, “oh we have to get it.” Then we breached 1,000 and there was no turning back!

AM: Just looking at this room, it’s amazing to see all of these cabinets where people can store their own whiskey – tell us about this.

TT: The idea behind this – I call it Bottle Keep. Before moving to NYC I lived in Hawaii and when I was there, I was into surfing a lot and a lot of my buddies were Japanese. We would travel to Japan quite a few times and I was younger then and we would go to this nightclub district known as Roppongi. I remember that it was such a cool concept that they had these bottles that were stored. At the time I just thought it was really cool and it must have stuck in my longterm memory. So when I opened this, I thought that having been in the nightclub business that I understood Bottle Service. Bottle Service wasn’t something that I wanted to do, but I thought if there was a way to take that concept and maturing it which made me think about my trips to Japan and I thought it would be cool. Also, bottles look cool when they’re displayed and when you hit them with the light as you’re a visual person so you uplight them and they look stunning. Also, in NYC, space is a commodity and I wanted to incorporate the bottles into the architecture. I allocated all this space for the bottles and it was a hard road initially because we had all this space. The first night we sold 3 with friends and family that purchased them. I was like, “wow we have like 800 more to go before this place looks legit.” Over the years, it grew and now, we have more demand than supply. In the manager’s office, we have an actual room where we store extra bottles.

AM: What are your favorite go to whiskeys?

TT: Oh gosh. They change, but I think that anybody that knows whiskey – I mean I could throw it back to you and you’d probably have a hard time answering because it’s very situational. Whiskey is based on the season, time of day, the mood – fortunately I have over 1,000 to choose from for my many moods. I will say that some of my hands down favorites that I tend to revert back to are: Glendronach 18 as my go-to favorite. I love a good Bowmore – if I go with peat then I like to go with something that has a nice balance of Sherry to get that smoky sweet elements and because I’m American, I have to throw in a bourbon. I tend to like bourbon’s cask strength E.H. Taylor is a full proof whiskey. Bourbon – I love Michter’s, Buffalo Trace – some of the Buffalo Trace antique collections are always good. It’s not as affordable as it used to be.

AM: What cocktail do you suggest that our readers should make sure to ask for when they come by?

TT: The one that we’re drinking now is called our Smoking Old Fashioned. We talked earlier about being theatrical and this is one of those kinds of cocktails, but it’s not all fluff. The smoke that’s put in the cocktail – the phenols that are attached to the liquor it gives a residual smoke in the flavor. I like this cocktail because being a visual person, I say that the first drink is with the eyes, the second drink is with the nose and the third drink is with the mouth. So this delivers on all three and when it comes across the room you see the smoke in it. You lift off the cap and it has that wow moment so that when people smell it they say, "wow what is that?" But it delivers on the final product because it happens to taste as good as it looks and as good as it smells.

AM: In terms of pairing whiskeys with various items offered on your menu, what do you suggest?

TT: It’s somewhat of a subjective question. I have been to a lot of tastings where they have paired items with things that people would not normally expect to pair with whiskey. For me, I like to pair cheese with whiskey. It has this creaminess and richness and it coats your mouth first. Having the alcohol interact with the viscosity in your mouth – it does something really special and brings out flavors that you normally wouldn’t expect. I will say that if I am drinking something really old and really fine, and I just want to focus on that, then I don’t want to complicate my palette at all. I don’t want to introduce other flavors in there. If it is something that is moderately priced sure I can experiment with it. But if someone is pouring me a 25-year or a 35-year whiskey – then I just want to enjoy every aspect of that from every subtle nuance. For me, a good whiskey is something that develops on your palette. A lot of people think that you have a sip of whiskey and that’s it. But if you really go in deep on the flavor of whiskey – it evolves – what initially hits your mouth when the alcohol starts to burn off and new flavors will appear, grow and resonate on your palette. I think that’s why it’s such a great sipping drink. You take a sip and sit back and let it have its way across your palette and you just enjoy it.

AM: We know that The Flatiron Room is a great place to come to and with the holiday season upon us, what events can guests come to?

TT: The 4th quarter for us – the holiday season, we have a lot of guests that come in from out of town. Unfortunately, they see that we are closed for private events – it’s the season and many times we’re closed for that. I always recommend that people call in advance to make sure that we are open. With that said, we do have some events that are open during this time where guests can come in and bring their friends and family from out of town so that they can get a taste of old New York. During Thanksgiving we had a great feast which was a prix-fixe dinner. On Christmas Day we have another event. For NYE, we’re throwing a great party and we have a tremendous band – Carte Blanche that will be performing live here. We have a number of great things taking place if you have guests that are in from out of town.

AM: Do you still do inspirational travel when you're looking for new whiskeys?

TT: Yes! It’s one of the best things about the job and getting inspired. I get to go to Scotland quite a bit when I’m over there meeting with people, the distillers, learning about new expressions when they come out. It’s funny because my knowledge base has developed so much and every year, I think that I know a decent amount about whiskey, but then the following year I look back and I think, “gosh I didn’t really know much.” Today if you asked me if I knew a bit about whiskey, I would confidently say yes. If we had the same conversation next year, I’d probably look back and say, “oh wow I knew nothing.” But it’s fun and it’s a fun journey and I love learning as well as traveling and it works out.

AM: What are 3 things that you put in your carry-on when you’re traveling to make the flight easier, or to feel that you’re at home or when you’re relaxing after having copious whiskey tastes?

TT: Great! Headphones for sure, Melatonin is my go to because if I’m traveling to Scotland it tends to be an overnight flight and that gets me there. Also a flask - they're always fun and of course when I come back, I tend to come back with one as well!

AM: You can’t have them get lonely! Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers to let them know about The Flatiron Room?

TT: If you haven’t experienced us yet, please come down and experience us! I think it’s a unique experience especially if you’re a New Yorker and people love those New York Moments. If you haven’t checked out my other property, it’s called Fine & Rare (9 East 37th St NY, NY 10016) and I recommend going there to try that out as well. It’s a similar vibe that is a little more food focused, we also have a large dynamic selection of whiskey!

IG @TheFlatironRoom

@FineAndRareNYC

@GoodNightGroup

@TommyTardie

We find out more about this incredible space from Head Bartender, Darron Foy.

ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you know you wanted to be a bartender?

DARRON FOY: I think it’s when I came to NY. I bartended for 8 or 9 years before that in Scotland where I’m from. It was admittingly more for financial gain as I was studying at University and I needed extra cash. I very quickly fell in love with the kind of interaction that you can have with the public. It wasn’t so much about the drinks or the crafting of the cocktails. It was actually the interaction and the evolving communication that I had with the public that grasped my love. When I moved to NY, I just noticed that the bartenders in NY – it was cool and you felt like almost important when you are working behind the bar. It was your fortress. So, I really started to delve into cocktails. As a Scotsman, we’re much more happy with a single dram, a gin and tonic or a vodka. But I started to notice very quickly with my background in music and in art that I really enjoyed crafting cocktails. So when I finally applied to come to The Flatiron Room, I had learned the NY basics of cocktails from the Manhattan, Sazeracs etc. I came here and I was immersed into the cocktails that we did at this bar. When I came to NY, I knew this was what I wanted to do to be in engaged with the public, to learn more and to educate. I wanted to perform and it’s a constant back and forth with the public.

AM: What is a shift like here?

DF: It can be anything. Tommy mentioned the word subjective in your interview a few times which I think is the perfect word to use when talking about the hospitality sector! We can have a beautifully nice relaxed night here with fantastic cocktails and great music. We can be slammed to the rafters. You can spend an entire evening not talking to your fellow bartender because you’re flying cocktails out. It’s constantly changing and by being in this – it keeps you on your toes. No day is the same; therefore, you have to be prepared for whatever comes. You may have a great customer, you may have a slightly argumentative customer. You may spend 20 minutes making a simple cocktail and they praise it to the heavens. So everyday in my opinion is a new day! I think again going back to the fact of why I like being a bartender. It’s not monotonous.

AM: What are your 3 favorite cocktails that we should have when we come to the The Flatiron Room?

DF: Normally when customers ask this, I do say whiskey as we have a fantastic collection and as a whiskey lover myself. We showcased the Smoking Old Fashioned – visually again, it’s just a fantastic cocktail. As Tommy said, you drink with your eyes and your senses and we’re trying to create a sensory enjoyment. I believe that Rye Old Fashioned with the Smoking Old Fashioned is just being elevated. Your adding the savory wood tones with the Rye Old Fashioned itself and it becomes a lot more than a simple cocktail.

One that is on the menu right now that I crafted is called the Cardamom Blossom. I’m very proud of this cocktail. It’s a link to my wife’s family and my Scottish background. It’s using cachaça, my wife’s family spent some years in Brazil and once I moved to NY we all met up finally. One of the first gifts that I got was a bottle of cachaça – I was very interested in the flavor. It has a sugar cane note and my wife’s brothers and cousins would make me Caipirinhas – a classic cocktail. I wanted to change it and I noticed that we never had a cachaça cocktail in the bar. So it's a mix of blended scotch whiskey, cachaça, and using orgeat syrup which is an almond syrup which has a nice baking taste to it. We added lemon juice, bitters, some honey and adding cardamom. It’s an egg white cocktail that I love to make – I adore egg cocktails because I like the viscosity of it and the way it looks. But it’s also very light and very plain. I’m proud of it because I think that it is a very elegant drink.

Finally, I personally feel that a very well made Manhattan is such an easy cocktail to create and very easy to muck it up. One of the things that I like to do when I go to a new bar is to order a Manhattan or an Old Fashioned because I want to see how they make it. I’ve had Old Fashioned filled with chunks of orange, cherries and I just like to go back to the classics because to me, that’s not what it is. A well made Manhattan which I think in my opinion, we do well we do well here is just an elegant and standard classic cocktail.

AM: You just shared the Cardamom Blossom that you crafted. How do you go about obtaining inspirations for creating other drinks?

DF: I think that that goes back to communication. Talking with the public, your fellow bartenders and servers. I have a music and artistic background so I feel that I have been creating from the second I could see over the stove, my mother in Scotland had me cooking. I love to cook and I love creating things. I think that I have that artistic ability where I take great pleasure in creating things. I think that people tend to be cautious when trying new things and I hope that people realize that that’s not the way to be. You have to dive into trying new things. So a lot of my experience comes from bar diving with my wife and trying new things from receiving a new whiskey at the bar and smelling it and trying new flavors and what would work with it and it’s a constantly evolving process.

Communication is great and when you talk to fellow industry professionals and why they chose certain bitters or garnishes, it helps to evolve your own personal ability. Communication is key in terms of creating new cocktails.

AM: So for the people who want to make whiskey cocktails at home, what are the things that they should have on hand as many may be a bit hesitant to do this at home?

DF: First of all having the correct tools – strainers, cocktail shakers and stirrers. Even things like good ice. You go back to the very basics when you’re crafting a cocktail. If you’re using broken up ice and it’s breaking into the cocktail, it’s diluting it too much. If you’re wanting to present it a certain way, are you using crushed ice, blazened ice, ice rocks? In terms of experimenting, you know your own palette – again maybe step away from that. If you know that you like a certain flavor and you know you can craft a good cocktail, why not remove that entirely and try something new. You might not like it, but it may open your eyes and head to more ideas and more experimentation. I think good mixers, good bitters can help the process and having a variety of good scotches, whiskeys, ryes, and bourbons etc all promote different flavors and therefore reacts with the palette differently. I love the classics such as the Angostura Bitters and the Peychaud’s Bitters. I mean, 20 years ago especially when it came to Angostura, any recipe that required a bitter would come from this brand! Nowadays, we have a fantastic array of companies, different bitters – the Fee Brothers have a fantastic range with Cherry Blossom, Aztec Chocolate, Almond Bitters and really amazing flavors. You have to experiment! You have to try these things and it’s the same as cooking. You’re not going to know unless you try. So good tills, proper ice and an open mind. You have to go in there with no prejudice and try something new. You may fail, but just pick yourself up and try it again. You can tweak it here and there and then become more confident in your ability. Once that confident grows, it’s easier for you to continue to experiment.

AM: You’re here working with so many different people that come to The Flatiron Room and being so creative. What do you do to take time for yourself when you’re not here?

DF: My wife and I are big foodies. We’re here in NY, we live in Brooklyn and where I live, we have German Beer and where I live, we have German Beer Halls, Japanese joints, I have everything there. We tend to try to find new places for food. I experiment quite a lot on my wife, she’s my biggest critic. I ask her about the cocktails if they are too strong or too sweet. When it comes to down time, it’s probably walking my dog. He’s a little pain, but I do love the little guy. Generally, just relaxing because you’re in a high strung environment. So you need to take time to recharge and I laugh at this, but as bartenders, our time off tends to be in bars because that is where we are comfortable. Even in the house, my wife laughs because she says that I’m stir crazy if I’m sitting down for more than 20 minutes not doing something and I will head to the bar. Maybe it’s the Scottish in me that is more comfortable sitting in a place with alcohol around me, but I feel that bartenders are hermits, we like what we like. We try new things but we gravitate back to the bars that we like. I mean I do go to the gym from time to time but – good food, good drink and just generally recharging your batteries so that you can come back and do your job which is important!

IG @TheLiquidArtist

Hear The Flatiron Room's Owner/ Restaurateur Tommy Tardie and Head Bartender, Darron Foy on our show, Athleisure Kitchen which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multi-media podcast network! Make sure to subscribe to find out when the episode drops. You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts and wherever you enjoy listening to your favorite podcast.

Read the Dec Issue of Athleisure Mag and see The Whiskey Experience with Tommy Tardie & Darron Foy in mag.

THE ART OF THE SNACK | TSISMIS NYC

FOR THE FLAVOR SEEKER

We swung by TSISMIS NYC for dinner and enjoyed a number of savory dishes, cocktails and chill vibes only. Executive Chef Jappy Afzelius, took time to fine out more about this eclectic restaurant.

ATHLEISURE MAG: Tell us about your culinary background, where you trained and restaurants you worked in and a bit about TSISMIS NYC!

CHEF JAPPY AFZELIUS: I'm Filipino born and I learned the fundamentals of French cooking under Alain Ducasse at Chez Allard Bistro in Paris and Benoit Bistro in New York. From there I worked at David Burke Fabrick and the Michelin Bib Gourmand Manila Social Club. Then, I went to Italy, studying the "Slow Food Movement", a grassroots organization devoted to preventing the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, and in 2018 received my Master's in Food Culture and Communications from the University of Gastronomic Science in Piedmont, Italy. I traveled extensively throughout Europe as well as Japan to further discover global cuisines. At TSISMIS NYC, I deliver a unique menu developed in collaboration with the restaurant's owners and the culinary team, from home-grown recipes with influences from Spanish, Mediterranean and other Asian cuisines.

AM: How do you define the style of cooking that can be enjoyed here?

CHEF JA: Our style of cooking at TSISMIS NYC is eclectic. We use a lot of different techniques that I’ve learned throughout the years and also apply basic science like fermentation and pickling as well. We blend and balance a lot of different flavors together.

AM: What are 3 signature dishes that you suggest?

CHEF JA: The 3 signature dishes from TSISMIS NYC that your readers should know about our Kale Laing, Tinapa Croquetas and Aligue Pasta. I feel that these 3 dishes are what represent TSISMIS NYC as a restaurant and they are crowd favorites as well.

AM: What are 3 signature cocktails that you suggest our readers should enjoy?

CHEF JA: Our cocktails are definitely a must try and the Pickle Pepper Punch, A la Bira and Tsismosa are our signature cocktails that guests love to pair with our food most often.

AM: With the holiday season in full swing, are there any special events or meals that we should keep on our radar?

CHEF JA: We just launched our Boodle Yan special, which I believe you'll enjoy:

Boodle-Yan is a unique dining experience that showcases the rich culinary culture of the Philippines, combining a boodle fight’s military camp style of eating on long tables with the kamayan practice of eating with your hands. The traditional meal celebrates camaraderie and inspires festivity.

This Filipino feast will include a plethora of traditional items with creative touches including chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, fish, fresh vegetables, seasonal fruits and rice, artfully arranged across a bed of banana leaves. All items can be adjusted upon request to fit dietary restrictions and allergies.

To fully submerge in the cultural adventure, guests will dine without any utensils, using only their hands to eat the feast before them.

Boodle-Yan is available only on Sundays from 11am to 8pm through reservation only. There is a six person minimum to reserve. The experience is priced at $45 per person and includes a complimentary glass of sangria.

IG @TSISMISNYC

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag and see The Art of the Snack | TSISMIS NYC in mag.

LAST MINUTE GUIDE 2019

ATHLEISURE LIST | CAFFE NAPOLI + NAPOLI PASTRY CO

When you make your way to Little Italy, we suggest that you make a plan to head to Caffe Napoli. This institution was established by Mama Anna Silvestri and family in 1972, Caffe Napoli introduced the sidewalk cafe in Little Italy. What started as a modest cafe matured into a full dining establishment catering to New Yorkers and tourists from all over the world.

Napoli Pastry was created by Louis Fontana (who’s grandmother Mama Anna founded Caffe Napoli) to bring back what originally started Caffe Napoli - pastries and coffee. The pastry and dessert recipes have been passed down from 4 generations, satisfying customers from all over the world.

When it comes to 3 signature dishes that you should have when you have a meal here, we suggest the Linguine (seafood over linguine), Veal Osso Buco (veal shank tenderized on the bone with a jus reduction with homemade Gnocchi on the side) and Lobster Ravioli (stuffed with ricotta and lobster in a pink sauce with asparagus and shrimp).

Clearly, you can’t leave without having one of their cannolis. They have 7 different types of cannolis that have been with them over the past 47 years (Classic, Chocolate, Half and Half, Strawberry, Chocolate Strawberry, Pistachio, and Cappuccino flavored). There are also seasonal ones based on what the season calls for such as Pumpkin for the fall and they even make them for special events! Also there have a pink and blue for baby showers. In addition, Napoli Pastry has homemade tiramisu and their chocolate mousse.

Although we're near the end of the holiday season, as you think about Valentine's day, we suggest their Chocolate Strawberry Cannoli, Chocolate Covered Strawberries, and Strawberry Cheesecake.

If you're still thinking about what you'd like to eat over the holidays, they have an extensive menu and there are always specials. In addition, for your catering needs, visit the website as people like Antipasti Di Casa which has a little of everything cold cuts and cheese-wise. Pastas are always a favorite and people love our Spaghetti and Meatballs and our Lasagna.

CAFFE NAPOLI + NAPOLI PASTRY CO

119 Hester St

NY, NY 10013

www.caffenapolinyc.com

www.napolipastry.com

IG @caffenapolinyc

@napoli_pastry

Read the Dec Issue of Athleisure Mag and see Athleisure List | Caffe Napoli + Napoli Pastry Co in mag.

14TH ANNUAL STARCHEFS INTERNATIONAL CHEFS CONGRESS

We headed to Brooklyn for the weekend to watch a number of demonstrations, panel discussions and meeting with a number of vendors at the 14th Annual StarChefs International Congress. We were excited to do a deep dive into its various initiatives that it presents to those in the culinary community. We took some time at the beginning of this conference to talk with StarChefs' Managing Editor, Will Blunt on what took place at the conference, what he's looking forward to as well as the issues facing those in the culinary industry as we go into the next year.

ATHLEISURE MAG: Can you tell us about your background and how you came to Star Chefs?

WILL BLUNT: I grew up in Washington DC and my parents were in politics. I graduated from Georgetown University and like most people, I didn’t know what I wanted to do so I taught high school tennis for a bit and did some work on The Hill for a while. I then decided to jump-start my career by moving to NY – it was the height of the internet exuberance in the late 90s. I was thinking about going the path of a conservative banking job and I did some interviews and I got allergic to the concept. I eventually took a minute to help a friend at what is StarChefs now. This friend had been hired as the first employee after a fundraising round and I got the bug. I’m 20 years in now.

In terms of food, I fell into it and then fell in love with the industry. I do cook and I am really into food; however, I am most inspired by the industry and the people that work within it. In the early 2000s, like most internet companies, we didn’t have a lot of direction, but we were firmly committed with my business partner Antoinette to be completely on the trade side, publish for chefs and make our mission to support chefs and other people in the industry. The idea with that is that it’s a wonderful industry opportunity, but it is also one with with a number of pains and challenges. We have a classifieds area that helps with labor which is a pain, all of our publishing is about best practices and inspirations for chefs and they are really passionate people. I have been most inspired by them in this industry and I do love food. I have gotten to know them really well, but it is truly about the people for me.

AM: What are your day to day roles in StarChefs?

WB: Fortunately we have evolved a bit – we’re still 15 full staff and for this event, we have 100 people who work on it. I do a bit of everything now and we have fortunately evolved to the point that we have great people that have different departments. I do a bit of fundraising and development, HR, I make a point to stay engaged. So let’s say in the early days there were 5 people – I learned to use a camera and my business partner Antoinette as well – there was a rule that everyone needed to be able to use a camera – classic start-up that’s boot strapping. We would do the Tastings Interviews. I didn’t mention it, but our thing that distinguishes StarChefs from any other publication is that we do 600 tastings interviews on the ground, every year across the country. We organize that to the 4 markets typically by quarter and we spend 2-3 hours with the chef, pastry chef, somm, artisan baker, coffee roaster – anyone that’s industry and doing something well. We will visit them, document them and get to know them. We share what we think is done well and would be inspiring for other people. So, all of that to say that, I still do that. It’s important because it’s something I enjoy doing, but we now have a wonderful editor, writers, full time photographer who are super capable, but I still keep my toe in the editorial. Just to stay in touch and I love the culture of the restaurant community.

AM: What’s the biggest thing that you have learned about chefs by working in this environment that still keeps you inspired to be a part of this everyday?

WB: Yes, the industry is still – despite all of the media attention in food TV and all of the exposure with celebrity chef scenarios etc – it’s very merit based and egalitarian. So at the end of the day, even if you have a Top Chef show and all that goes with it, you still face the same challenges. Many of the chefs that really early on inspired me and were early supporters, they all started at the dishwasher level. I think Jean Georges who is one of our Board of Directors he made dog food to start his career – not even human food (editor’s note: at the beginning of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s career in Michelin three-starred L’Auberge de l’Ill in Alsace, he cooked and prepared the meals for the guests dogs)! Marcus Samuelsson who is a great friend and supporter, worked a hot dog stand, Bobby Flay scooped ice cream and so it’s very honest in that sense. There’s less patience in the industry because the demographic is such that there is such an explosion and there isn’t really a shortage. There are more opportunities that are quicker in the industry, but at the end of the day, there is still this certain base or sense of needing to work to get to where you are. I admire that and I like supporting people that are working that hard and trying to make it in an industry that has a lot of opportunity, but a lot of failure. I think 80% of all restaurants fail in the first 3 years or something along those lines. I think that my staff has had a lot of great people that have worked in the industry or gone to culinary school. We are all motivated by trying to be that extra leg up, or piece of perspective or inspiration. Folks that come to this conference – the best version for their experience of busting their ass all year is to come here to get a few days off to be inspired and to remind themselves on why they do what they do.

AM: Going into 2020, what do you think are 3 of the biggest issues that chefs are concerned about?

WB: Yeah of course! In this conference, I am hosting a session with Restaurateur Sean Feeney, his partner Chef Missy Robbins of Misi and Lilia and then Cosme’s Chef Daniela Soto-Innes – we will talk about restaurant culture and moving it forward. That was the theme of our conference last year, but it’s about being better humans. How you treat people and the culture. Everyone is on board in theory with that; however, I think that the challenge in terms of 2020 and beyond is how you walk the talk. It’s a challenge that’s easy to say in terms of providing benefits, treating employees better, more decent hours – but how do you develop the strategies to run a successful business and still do that?

I think that there is something that has developed amongst chefs and those in the industry in general, the brand image – it’s another panel we just finished. It focuses on how you manage your time and capital, what you invest in. That has been something that has built up over time. Which events do you decide to do and now it’s even more when you look at social media in how you present yourself and how much energy you put in to that. What opportunities do you say yes to and it’s pretty high level as not everyone is at that point. I think that even on a micro level, people who are starting out and opening a restaurant, they need to decide on investing in PR, social media and that’s another thing. I think there are the ongoing challenges that may not be 2020 challenges, but it’s becoming more acute with the larger companies that have bigger scale that are snatching up real estate that independent restaurateurs have harder times to access. Starting a restaurant is harder and harder and having to leverage to get the right space at the right price and to keep it once you're successful. That is a serious issue and when you look at NYC it's a great example because we have parts of Manhattan that are unattainable and all the leases are controlled by large management companies. Then you have the chains, I’m not saying that they’re all bad – they employ people and there are great ones that do home scratch cooking – but for the independent restaurant and chef that is a challenge.

AM: What are 3 panels, demonstrations, workshops etc that you are excited about for this year’s StarChefs?

WB: Our program is really strong this year and we tried to involve people that are more or less famous although our name is StarChefs, we’re not all about stardom. Some of the items I will highlight may seem like the less obvious ones. Ben and Brent from The Meat Hook will be doing an event on the main stage which they call Vintage Beef. I don’t know how much you know about them, but it’s my local butcher. They have been exploring different ways that they can be sustainable. One issue we have across the food system that we have with meat at least is a lot of our USDA and certification is centered around young animals. So they are going to be fabricating a 12 year old bull and they will serve it as a tartare. Apparently, I haven’t had it, but it tastes like an aged beef which is a cool thing to demonstrate that dairy cows, bulls etc have value if we could get to a place where we not only use the whole animal but all animals. I think that that will be a good one!

I think that an obvious one is that we have the most signups for Chef Francis Mallmann who is on Chefs Table on Netflix. He is so inspiring and I have wanted him to present for years! He is closing the show and he will be building a fire in the parking lot outside and presenting on the mainstage a vegetable roll! It will be carmelized and cooked with the fire ahead of publishing his Vegan cookbook which will be out next year. It's pretty cool as he has always been identified with a lot of meats. I think that for our chefs, one of the reasons why they are so excited for it aside from the fact that Chef Mallmann due to his great presence is that cooking with fire is really a thing that chefs find to be a bit of challenge. Everyone wants to cook with fire and it’s a trend, but how you actually harness fire, to cook consistently at different temperature points – those techniques are great takeaways for chefs.

I mentioned the panel earlier with the discussion with Daniela and Sean, they are 2 really special people that are models and examples of what the future of our restaurant industry should be and models that they should look at as one if a chef and one is a restaurateur. They have cool strategies to improving restaurant culture.

IG @StarChefs

@Will_Blunt

We sat down with James Beard Nominated husband and wife duo of Don Angie to talk about their West Village Italian American restaurant.

ATHLEISURE MAG: Can you tell us about Don Angie for our readers who have yet to swing by?

ANGIE RITO: It’s an Italian American restaurant in the West Village here in NYC. It’s more American leaning than Italian. We both grew up in Italian American families – like super passionate about red sauce and we take quite a few liberties with it. We use a lot of different ingredients and take more of a global approach to it.

AM: Why did you decide to do it like that?

AR: To be honest, there are a number of reasons and the major one being – we like to incorporate a lot of flavors that we like that aren't Italian into our food. Whether they're like Chinese or Japanese - or whatever it is. We just like to cook ingredients that we like. In NYC especially, there are a lot of Italian restaurants so we really like to set ourselves a part and this is the main way that we do that. Coming up with our own style of Italian food that we like that’s a broad perspective on what we do.

AM: As a husband and wife team, how does that work for you to cook together, work together – how does that coupleship work?

AR: We’re both super passionate about what we do and that’s what drives us. We could never work in this industry separately because we would never see each other. We tried doing it for a while. At the beginning of our relationship, we worked separately and like I said, you’re working 14-15 hour days and we wouldn’t see each other. We felt that working together was the best way to do what we loved together. It also works to our advantage. We’re typically on the same page and we can read each other’s minds because we spend so much time being together. It kind of helps because we communicate minimally when we’re at work and we’re always on the same page.

AM: What would you guys say would be your signature dishes at Don Angie?

AR: The most recognizable one is our lasagna. It’s a pinwheel style lasagna. That’s the one that everyone photographs and it’s all over Instagram. Aside from that, our Chrysanthemum Salad which is basically treated like a Caesar salad with a garlic anchovy dressing a lot of parmesan, sesame bread crumbs. The third thing would be ….

SCOTT TACINELLI: I’d say it’s a toss up between two things, the Buffalo Milk Caramelle and the Stuffed Garlic Flatbread.

AR: Oh I agree! Our Buffalo Milk Caramelle is a two tone black sesame and persimmon pasta. We just did a demo of our flatbread. This is something that is traditionally Italian, but we totally take it in a different direction by putting sesames on it, garlic, garlic chives and so it’s different than the original one.

AM: When did you guys know that you wanted to be chefs?

SC: I changed my careers as I did something else for like 9 years. I always loved cooking when I was a child and then I decided that I should try cooking and took a few classes at culinary school and then I went full time.

AR: For me, I always wanted to have a restaurant since I was a little kid. I used to play pretend restaurant when I was a kid. I wasn’t sure about what path in terms of cooking, working front of house or what that would be. I grew up in an Italian American family that had a bakery and I liked working there. I grew up in a very food-oriented family. Once I moved to NYC right after college, I was working as a waitress in a restaurant and at that moment at 21, I knew I was so passionate that I really wanted to know how to cook it. I started cooking then and didn’t go to culinary school and just asked if I could volunteer in the kitchen and I kept going.

AM: Do you guys envision another location or going to an entirely different coast?

AR: I think that the next thing that we would do is probably something in NYC, preferably something in the West Village as that’s where Don Angie is and easier for us to be present.

ST: I don’t know if it would be another Don Angie’s. AR: No, it would be another concept.

AM: How was it for you when you were nominated for a James Beard Award?

AR: I was surprised – I was like, ok! It was super exciting and I just wasn’t expecting it.

ST: I was very surprised and it was such an honor to be recognized by such an esteemed organization!

AR: Especially in NYC where there are so many other people!

AM: Do you forsee having a TV show or presenting your brand in different ways that we know chefs utilize.

AR: We are working on a cookbook right now. It won’t be out until 2021.

ST: We’re going to take it day by day and see what comes!

IG: @DonAngieNYC

When it comes to one of our favorite comfort foods, it's pizza! It incorporates a number of traditional ingredients as well as those that aren't. We chatted with Emily Hyland of Pizza Loves Emily and Emmy Squared to talk about how this food became the catalyst to this successful business.

ATHLEISURE MAG: So, pizza – why do you like pizza so much?

EMILY HYLAND: I mean, I think it harkens back to the quality of this nostalgia that all of us have as Americans. We all have this memory of pizza parties with friends or going out and have pizza or enjoying a slumber party and ordering pizza. It’s this uniting American food that lives in the state of our history. So why wouldn’t we want to have pizza?

AM: We know a few people who say that they don’t like pizza and we’re like, “really?”

EH: My dad says that and then every time he comes in he eats like a whole freaking pizza!

AM: How did you transfer this love for pizza to saying, I want to have a restaurant and make a business out of pizza?

EH: It was a dream for me and at that time, my husband as a dream for many years. We were in a moment where I had transitioned out of being a public school teacher and was a full time yoga teach – which is a next to nothing earnings for that time and space in my life. We had moved to Brooklyn and he was apprenticing at a neopolitan restaurant. I remember the day that he came home and he said, “I put my hands on the dough and this is what I want to do.” So the time and space really opened up and we took a chance and that really got us into our first brick and mortar, Pizza Loves Emily. From there, we found growth partners through our wonder partner Howard who has taken this small little baby, our first child and has helped us merge this into a growing company.

AM: How does it feel to know how you started and how it has evolved into what exists now?

EH: It’s really been surreal and I haven’t digested it – no pun intended! It’s weird as the founder and the namesake to have this identity that’s so rooted in my heart and then to relinquish some of this control to this corporate structure that is developing. It’s tons of learning and really taking something that is so very much mine and making it ours in this whole team. I love it and I’m having so much fun! The people that we have brought on to help it grow like the Director of Operations, the Director of Marketing are so talented and really care so much about the concept that it has made it so much nicer to be able to go to work everyday.

AM: What would you identify as your 3 signature pizzas?

EH: Our 3 signature pies at Emmy Squared are the Colony – so that’s got pepperoni, pickled chili honey so you’ve got salty, spicy, sweet trifecta – hands down fan favorite. Not too far behind it is the Vodka Pie. It’s house made, really nice creamy vodka sauce – the way I do it is dollops of burrata on it – I do it like a Margarita and just go extra on it. Then the Roni Supreme. A classic pie with tons of pepperoni and tons of Calabrian chili on it. So it’s like an elevated pepperoni pizza and the Calabrian chili oil is not so much spicy, but warm - it really rounds out the pie really nicely.

AM: Where do you get your pizza inspiration from?

EH: That’s all from our head chef, Chef Matt. He is really talented at developing topping creations and is trained as a culinary artist and a lot of that vision is from him. He conceptually wanted Emmy Squared and Pizza Loves Emily to be fun and not rooted in the formality that so many more esoteric pizza places do when they say, “this is what pizza is supposed to be.” We just wanted to open ourselves up to the variety of toppings that we could have without judgment. What you want is what you like!

AM: What are 3 ingredients that you like to have on hand when it comes to making that best pizza?

EH: So I think it’s our cheese obviously! At our original location, we still make our own mozzarella by hand. Over at Emmy Squared, we have a chef blend which we sprinkle around on the outside of the edge of the pan and it carmelizes with the dough on the pan so you get a fried cheese which is delicious. Our Ezzo Pepperoni cups are our ronis that cup nicely on the pizza. We also use really high quality flour. We use King Arthur Flour that is here in America and not shipped over from Italy. We start from that simple ingredient and just build from there and just add yeast, water and a little bit of salt as it doesn’t take much and we’re very simple with our dough.

AM: What are your goals as we close 2019 and thinking ahead to 2020 – what are you excited about for your brand?

EH: For the brand for next year, we’re really thinking about what it means to grow on a national scale. We just opened in Philadelphia and we will be in Washington, DC by the end of the year. If not then, early 2020 and on a growth path from there. Through my lens from there, my goal is to figure out how I can maintain this genuinely robust culture as a restaurant environment for my employees as well as to ensure that the same level of warmth is available to our guests that are coming in to dine with us. That is a big goal for me and when we do openings, I try to greet every guest table the few days that I am there and to say hi and to instill that cultural feel. I think that the other facet of it is to just synthesize our team and to lean on the talent there. It’s 2019, we’re all leading full robust lives. What are the things that my team members do that they can bring in and to support the types of things that we’re doing so that we are growing. We’re very people focused!

IG: @EmilyHyland

@PizzaLovesEmily

@EmmySquared

When we chatted with Will Blunt earlier in this conference, he shared that we should catch The Meat Hook founder's session on Vintage Beef and how they are lending their craft to the sustainable movement. We sat down with Ben Turley and Brent Young to find out about this duo, their business and what the holiday season is like for them.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We enjoyed sitting in your demonstration focusing on regenerative agriculture. How did you guys decide that you would be butchers, was this always a plan?

BEN TURLEY: We were both line cooks for a long time and living in Richmond, Virginia which is where we met. A small little butcher shop opened and we started interning there on our off time and the more you learned, the more questions we had. It wasn’t a whole animal shop as that’s not what existed at the time. The more we dug into it, we realized we wanted to do this and we moved to NYC to do just that. We could only find one restaurant group on the East Coast that was doing a whole animal program and we ended up opening a butcher shop for them and very quickly, it was disorganized and if you were going to be in it, you had to know everything like the finances. We thought we had to do it for ourselves and we ended up deciding to open our own shop. But essentially, we fell into it backwards and we were genuinely super interested in it as no one was doing it and we did and that was it.

AM: How do you go about finding the different farmers and farms that you’re working with? Are you constantly rotating things in?

BT: No not really. The whole idea is to develop a relationship with someone that you are going to find at a Farmer's Market and has dedication to their their craft. We’re very lucky to have found a great network of farms when we started. The whole idea was that we wanted to work with one farm that did one thing and that way, every single week, we’re able to give them feedback and not just buying things from all over. It was about having a very structured system and it was great because people could enjoy it and say that they would like to visit us and we could let them know the farm for them to visit. We wanted complete transparency in the food chain which is a major reason why we started this.

AM: We were talking with Will Blunt earlier this morning and he was talking about how you work with age cows. We had never had one before and we wondered what a Jersey cow would taste like. What was the thought behind integrating this as well?

BT: We had been tasting this on our own and when we would go up to the farm, we knew that they were not going to go and grind an older animal. We knew that they would have it in their farm store so when we went up there, we would just make a habit of asking if they had older animals. We would take them home and I remember the first one that I had cooked. I cooked it to medium and it was tough as nails and it sucked; however, the flavor was still incredible and you could tell that there was something still there. So we just brought it home for ourselves when we were there and eventually, we realized it was something that we had learned enough about that we could bring this into restaurants and have a dinner focused around these older animals. We were always blown away by these older animals. The texture was so different then what we had always been told it would be like and we thought it was phenomenal that no one knew about and no one was giving towards.

AM: Are there various breeds of cows you tend to deal with more versus others?

BT: Because everything we do is grass fed and grass finished, only a couple of breeds do well on grass and that would be Angus, Devon – that’s the best and what the farmers raise. We’re like, you guys know the grasses and we’ll tell you how it tastes. We’re the marketers for them!

AM: With the holiday season upon us, how crazy is this time of year?

BT: Bonkers.

BRENT YOUNG: Very busy!

AM: Do people order in advance with you. Just thinking about our readers that may be interested in swinging by today or prepping for their holiday meals, how would they go about it?

BT: We do everything online. We realized that after a few years, the amazing nature of human fallibility and error, all ordering is on our website. For Thanksgiving, we have a lot of options on our website. We’ll have over 550 turkeys for Thanksgiving this year. We normally sell 450, but we decided to go for it this year so we have a lot of turkeys. Then early Nov we’re heads down and you can’t even look up until after Thanksgiving and then 3 days after Thanksgiving, Christmas ordering happens and it’s heads down through New Years.

AM: Is there a down season when the orders aren’t as frequent?

BT: March. Just because we’re in NYC and everyone leaves in March. If you can get the hell out in March, your probably should!

AM: What are 3 dishes that you guys like to make with the items that you butcher when you’re at home?

BT: Both of us shop and we use what needs to be used. My personal favorite is beef shank and we always have beef shank. I think it’s still the most delicious things – it’s a nice project and it takes a couple of hours to get to relax and cook for that time.

BY: Chicken! Chicken in all forms. Last night was Chicken and Rice with scallions and a really simple sauce that was perfect for me. A real chicken and rice dish. I think that chicken to this day is so versatile and could be used in so many ways. It’s worth twice the price that you can pay for it.

AM: Why did you guys want to participate in this year’s congress?

BT: First year and I mean we were asked. We jumped on the opportunity. Talking about local meet is our mission and super fun and doing demos is fun too – no brainer!

IG: @TheMeatHook

@BenjaminStephen

@BrentonYoung

PHOTO CREDITS | Paul Farkas

Read the Nov Issue of Athleisure Mag and see 14th Annual StarChef’s International Chefs Congress in mag.

THE ART OF THE SNACK | CHOLA

FOR THE SAVORY

As the weather continues to get into chillier temperatures, it's important to have destinations that's worth braving the cold for that's guaranteed to have sweet and savory items on the menu that delight the tastebuds as well as having a decor that transports you elsewhere! We found ourselves at just the place, Chola which truly allows those looking for intricate and delicate flavors of India to come to life in Midtown East. After trying some new faves and phenomenal cocktails, we talked with veteran restaurateur, Executive Chef/Owner of Chola, Shiva Natarajan.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We have walked past Chola numerous times, but when did it open?

SHIVA NATARAJAN: Chola opened in April of 1998 and was awarded two stars by the New York Times. The restaurant has been an Indian destination for 20 years and has recently undergone a newly revitalized and reinvigorated interior and menu.

AM: As the Executive Chef and Owner of Chola, what is your culinary background and other restaurants that you were a part of prior to Chola?

SN: As a veteran restaurateur and culinary titan, I am responsible for restaurants like Sahib, Dhaba, Malai Marke, Chote Nawab, Thelewala, and others. I picked up cooking from my grandmother in India which become one of my passions. Mixed with my American culinary experiences waiting tables and working in restaurants, I used my business savvy to begin opening and operating restaurants of my own in New York City and the surrounding area.

AM: What can guests expect when they come to Chola in terms of their ambiance as well as the kind of cuisine that can be consumed here?

SN: Inviting and warm, Chola's walls are marbled with grey banquettes lining the restaurant. Old black and white phototographs are hung throughout, featuring coastal scenes from Southern India to give a sense of the history behind the cuisine. A bar is anchored at the front of the room with gold lamps that hang above for a welcoming glow, and a mix of modern and traditional accents can be found throughout the restaurant, paying homage to Indian culture.

Chola holds on tight to its roots and integrity of serving traditional Indian cuisine. I grew up in India and new menu items at Chola are inspired by my culinary journey around the coast, placing an emphasis on the flavors I came across during my travels. The redesigned concept focuses on seafood and southern Indian cuisine with select recipes from my upcoming untitled cookbook set to hit stores in 2020.

AM: Can you share the types of dishes that Chola creates?

SN: Chola’s new and expansive menu has plenty to share. With a myriad of starters and entrees, there’s certainly something for everyone, making the restaurant great for group dining. New and super shareable dishes include Cafreal Paneer Tikka, a house made fire grilled cheese fresh from the Tandoor oven that comes out smoking with green masala and Kodi 58, Chola chicken fry with house blend spices. Other options include Khekda Nariyal, a sautéed crab dish with coconut and mustard seeds that will have guests fighting over the last spoonful and Scallops Caldin, perfectly spiced and served in a Goan yellow coconut curry.

AM: Chola is open for lunch and dinner. Is there a difference between the service that is offered during lunch versus dinner?

SN: Chola serves dinner and lunch with a special to-go menu for lunch as well as a buffet served from 12:00 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. from Monday - Thursday ($17.95) and Friday - Sunday ($18.95).

AM: What are 3 signature dishes that one can enjoy at Chola for dinner?

SN: Meen Moilee: a light and flaky Branzino with turmeric, coconut and curry leaves, topped with green banana chips. Lata Shetty’s Yeti Ajadina: Mangalorean style shrimp with fresh coconut and pounded spices. Golbari Kosha Mangsho: a slow cooked bone-in goat roast from a Kolkata pada.

AM: We enjoyed the craft beverages created at Chola, what are 3 must enjoy cocktails that our readers should know about for their next visit?

SN: Himalayan Sunset (Spring 44 vodka, King’s Ginger liqueur, mango puree and fresh lime juice). East of Manhattan (Ragtime Rye Whiskey, La Copa Sweet Vermouth and saffron syrup). Indian Rose (Citadelle Gin, Luxardo Apricot Brandy, rose syrup).

IG @CholaNYC

Read the Nov Issue of Athleisure Mag and see The Art of the Snack | Chola in mag.

S1. E8. | ATHLEISURE KITCHEN WITH STARCHEF'S WILL BLUNT

We attended the 14th Annual StarChefs International Chefs Congress a couple of weeks ago in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. This 3-day event focused on chefs and restaurateurs that we enjoy eating in their restaurants or seeing them on an array of TV programs, to supporting chefs rising in their field and some top appliance, cooking and food producers in the market. Throughout the event, we were able to enjoy a number of sessions that included pairing wines with the iconic Dinosaur BBQ, a Fried Rice Smackdown which was judged by Chef Marcus Samuelsson, Chef Edward Lee, Chef Nicole Ponesca and Christine Lee with participants that included BRAVO's Top Chef - Chef Sheldon Simeon, a discussion on West African food and educating listeners on its flavors and importance via Kith and Kin's Chef Kwame Onwuachi and a number of hands-on culinary classes as well as being able to walk the floor to try a number of treats by brands in the space. 

On today's Athleisure Kitchen, we sit down with Will Blunt, Managing Editor of StarChefs in one of the breakout rooms on the floor of the event to talk about how he came to being a part of the publication StarChefs as well as the annual event, the purpose behind StarChefs, speakers and participants he looked forward to especially seeing at the event and more. Make sure you keep an eye out for the November issue of Athleisure Mag which will drop the week of Thanksgiving which will have a number of interviews and images from the 13th Annual StarChefs International Chefs Congress held in Brooklyn. You can see this interview as well as additional conversations in the Nov Issue of Athleisure Mag.

You can stay in the loop on who future guests are by visiting us at AthleisureStudio.com/Athleisure-Kitchen and on Instagram at @AthleisureKitchen and @AthleisureStudio. Athleisure Kitchen is hosted by Kimmie Smith and is Executive Produced by Paul Farkas and Kimmie Smith. It is mixed by the team at Athleisure Studio. Our theme music is "This Boy" performed by Ilya Truhanov. Our ad segment music is EQUALS performed by Dural.

ATHLEISURE LIST MURRAY'S MAC + CHEESE

We've always enjoyed a bowl of Mac and Cheese - regardless of the time of year; however, at this time of year - there definitely feels like there couldn't be anything better then this as temperatures continue to drop! In NYC, there is an undeniable cheese destination known as Murray's Cheese where you can purchase a number of meats, cheeses as well as to make your favorite buratta, as well as ordering your favorite grilled cheese sandwiches when you're in the Greenwich Village for lunch!

Earlier this year, we noticed that next door to the Bleeker flagship sat a comfort pop-up destination called, Murray's Mac and Cheese. Although we have been on a number of occasions, it's important to know a few things before making your first order as there are over 30 mix-ins that you can do to make your own Mac and Cheese or you funds for Breast Cancer Awareness, they offered a Beet and Capri Mac and Cheese where $1 went to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Size options include: Snack Mac (8 oz.), Meal Mac (12 oz.), Hungry Mac (16 oz.) and Family Mac (28 oz). Enhance your order by adding $5 to include a soup or a salad and a select beverage (a number of waters, cold brew coffees and seltzers are offered). Although we don't like choosing favorites, their signature offerings of Cabonara (Fontina, Mozzerella, Pancetta and Peas) and French Onion (gruyere, raclette, caramelized onions, and bacon) are on our list for an upcoming visit - we also definitely want to create our own Mac and Cheese with Black RIver Blue Cheese, English Peas, Pancetta and Basil Pesto!

MURRAY'S MAC AND CHEESE

250 Bleeker St

NY, NY 10014

www.murrayscheese.com/mac-and-cheese-pop-up

IG @murraysmac

Read the Nov Issue of Athleisure Mag and see Athleisure List Murray’s Mac + Cheese in mag.

#TRIBEGOALS

Read the Nov Issue of Athleisure Mag and see #TRIBEGOALS in mag.

SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW WITH NO KID HUNGRY'S JENNY DIRKSEN AND CHEF ELIZABETH FALKNER

Over the past few years, we have enjoyed sharing initiatives that No Kid Hungry creates in order to ensure that childhood hunger is not an issue that has to be a concern in this country. We caught up with No Kid Hungry's Jenny Dirksen who is the National Director of Champion Engagement and Chef Elizabeth Falkner and talked about No Kid Hungry, their initiatives throughout the year and with Thanksgiving and Holiday festivities underway, what we can find on their dinner tables this year! We held this in-depth conversation at The Flatiron Room in NYC.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We’re so excited to have both of you here as we have worked with No Kid Hungry for a number of years and sharing your chef’s stories as well as your initiatives with our readers. We’ve also been fans of your storytelling through food as well Chef Falkner so having both of you here during the holiday season is a treat!

Chef, we’ve seen you on a number of TV shows whether you’re competing, judging, or culinary events such as StarChefs which we just saw you at a few weekends ago in Brooklyn, can you tell us the moment that you realized that you wanted to cook?

CHEF ELIZABETH FALKNER: I never thought about cooking as a culinary profession until I was out living in San Francisco going to art school and working at Williams-Sonoma part-time. Really because what we now call the California Food Revolution was happening all around me. So it felt like an art and political and everything kind of movement. A handful of mostly female chefs were getting all of the agriculture sort of more exciting and most interesting product with more farm to table kind of stuff almost 30 years ago. So it kind of swooped me up. AM: What was the moment for you when you realized you wanted to work within the culinary industry. You have an amazing background as a chef and then being in a managerial role.

PHOTO CREDIT | Paul Farkas (L: Chef ELizabeth Falkner; R: No Kid Hungry’s Jenny Dirksen)

PHOTO CREDIT | Paul Farkas

PHOTO CREDIT | Paul Farkas (L: Athleisure Mag Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director and Co-Exec Producer and Host of Athleisure Kitchen podcast, Kimmie Smith)

JENNY DIRKSEN: I grew up loving food and loving mostly to eat! I took on self-imposed vegetarianism and really educated myself on nutrition and making my own meals. I don’t think that I understood until college that that could make a profession out of that. I was working as a barista at Heyday which is no more, but is like a Dean and Deluca which is also no more and I watched the folks working which were all dudes in the prepared foods part and I thought, “how do you get to do that?” That was the beginning for me and I did get to cook for a few years and I chickened out and went to the office side of the world.

CHEF EF: I wouldn’t call it chickening out, you probably said, “that’s not for me – I want to do something else.”

JD: I think that I had actually injured my back and I said, “I’m not capable of standing up at my station right now chef.” And I had the opportunity to work in the office of the restaurant and not realizing how much fun that would be in supporting everyone that was delighting the guests all day long. Through that, I had the opportunity to move into the executive office where I spent a good chunk of my time and learned that restaurants and chefs can create social change and that was the coolest to me.

AM: How do you define your style of cooking as I know you do sweet and savory and you’re so versatile.

CHEF EF: Well first of all, I don’t like to be stereotyped at all which is just a part of who I am. I love exploring everything through the medium of food. To me, food is a lot like learning languages and I am just really interested in storytelling as food evolves into different places at different times. I think of my style as much more explorative as opposed to a specific genre or ethnicity. I really like exploring everything and the more things that I don’t know, I like to know more about them.

AM: As the National Director of Champion Engagement at No Kid Hungry, tell us about the role you have in this position?

JD: I’m really fortunate as I work alongside our entire team that engages with chefs. So all of the ways that chefs help us to fundraise for the work itself - Taste of the Nation a broad scale tasting event, No Kid Hungry dinners – sometimes they’re intimate sometimes they’re galas, Chefs Cycle and we’re able to take all of these culinary professionals that have worked with us to help us fundraise and we say, “hey do you want to come to Capitol Hill and actually meet with your legislatures and talk to them about what you are fundraising for and ask them for legislative change or appropriations to support legislation that we’re really enthusiastic about? Would you like to lend your voice to media and tell others what we’re doing. Come see the work up close and bring them into schools to see how what we do works up close. I also am in regular touch with some of our most engaged culinary professionals to let them know what we are up to. There is so much nitty gritty in the work and those that say that they really want to know what we are up to, we get that message out to them. What we really want to do is to create a community of caring individuals who are passionate about ending childhood hunger and through doing that, they allow us to grow new fundraising platforms and also new ways of getting the actual work done.

PHOTO COURTESY | The Flatiron Room

AM: How did you decide that you wanted to be a part of this?

CHEF EF: Well a couple of things. First, I’ve been cooking for a long time and I have done events with No Kid Hungry and Share Our Strength many years ago when it first started on the cooking side of things. I do a lot of charity events still even though I don’t work in kitchens full time and that’s just because chefs have this power to influence and to just cook and raise dollars as well as awareness for a lot of things such as No Kid Hungry.

Chefs Cycle has been something that I have been wanting to do. I was running half marathons and the NY Marathon in 2016 and I was like, “how am I going to do both?” I was raising money for Team for Kids because I like for kids to exercise too! Then after last year when I was running 3 marathons, my doctor said, “I don’t think that you should run as much.” I was like, “Great! I’ll sign up for Chefs Cycle.” So I started to do cycling and that’s how it started! Because of that, that it’s not this simple thing to train for. Riding for 300 miles is no joke and training for that is no joke. So I just like the idea that I still like to cook for these kinds of events, but to also be able to do something athletic that’s way out of my comfort zone is also such a good message to show how important it is, but also a great message for chefs to do something like that.

I’m kind of one of those people that are always telling other cooks and people in general that being aware of what you’re eating and ultimately what you’re physically doing is going to help you in the longevity of your career.

AM: How do you train for that? I mean, it’s 300 miles!

CHEF EF: I mean what’s really cool about it is that this year, when we do the ride in Bend, Oregon next June – we’ve formed a team. Adele Nelson, Director, Chefs Cycle for No Kid Hungry, connected me with Jess Cerra a professional cyclist who just retired. So we just decided to form a team, Team Themyscira because that is where Wonder Woman is from. It’s not exclusively a team for women, but the focus is to get more women riding. Stephanie Izard (first female chef to win BRAVO’s Top Chef Season 4, Chef/Co-Owner of Girl and the Goat, Little Goat and Duck, Duck Goat in Chicago (and James Beard Foundation Award Winner) is also riding and actually just texted me last night asking if men could participate in this. Obviously, we’re not sexist, but it’s a team of really great women. Some have done this race before and Hillary Sterling (Executive Chef at Vic’s in NYC) said, “Hey I am going to be riding” and I told her she had to join my team! Duskie Estes (Food Network food personality as a contestant and judge as well as Chef/Co-Owner of The Black Piglet and Black Pig Meat Co) are also going to ride as well. It’s a bunch of really cool people.

What’s cool is we have a couple of professional cyclists on our team.

JD: Oh yeah, across the board! The cyclists are like, “Cool, we get to hang out with these chefs!”

CHEF EF: They’re already giving us tips and training if we want it. Like, I didn’t know that you’re not supposed to wear underwear underneath your shorts.

AM: Yup, you learn that real quick!

CHEF EF: I was like thanks, I needed to know that this year!

PHOTO COURTESY | The Flatiron Room

AM: When you have completed this race, what do you do after that? Does your body just feel incapacitated for like 2 days?

CHEF EF: By the time you have trained for it, you’re so amped for it. This year in Santa Rosa it was nice the first day and then it rained the last two days. I had never ridden in the rain before so I was a little scared about that as it was something that I hadn’t really done. I was like, I will try it, but if it feels scary, then I will stop. We ended up riding the whole day except for when I met this women from Canada who had a flat about half way in the day which is fine and we came back which I was fine with because it was freezing. Then we got rain gear and on the 3rd day, we were maniacs and we just didn’t really care and we were riding around in the pouring rain. But the camaraderie was just so much fun and everyone was so supportive and it’s a really great event and it raises a lot of money too!

AM: We were just going to ask how much did you raise?

JD: I don’t know the year by year count, but since we have started, we have raised $2.5 million just in the rides and we have about 4 or 5 under our belt.

CHEF EF: Like I raised, $8,500 last year and I’m shooting for at least that this year.

AM: How do you decide on your end what chef goes into what program and what is that process like?

JD: Again, I’m fortunate to have started at this organization which was 20 years in. There were a wealth of chefs that were already taking part. My old boss, Danny Meyer (Founder and CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group) had been on their board for years and years. Knowing people through No Kid Hungry had already been a connection point for me professionally. We’re very lucky that people come to us and that a number of people come through other chefs like when Elizabeth will say, “I did this crazy ride and you have to come do it too.” Sometimes we’re branching into a market that we haven’t been in before and I’ll ask the chefs who we work with who they know. We’ll do some reading. We’re thrilled to have chefs who have been reviewed and have received rewards, but that is not the starting line. I want people who are passionate about food and feeding others and wanting to make a difference. Those are our people.

AM: So non-chefs can also participate?

JD: Everyone has a role in ending childhood hunger! For my specific work, we talk about engaging culinary professionals because there is front of house, beverage folks, office types and those that are involved in making restaurants exciting places for eating and a lot of fun. We want all of those people working with us!

AM: With Thanksgiving, knowing that you guys do things year around, what are initiatives that are taking place during this season that we should know about?

JD: The Tuesday after Thanksgiving is known as Giving Tuesday and it’s a very big day for charitable giving whether doing it in person or online. That’s Dec 3rd this year. You can go to NoKidHungry.org to see everything that we are doing or following us online @NoKidHungry. I think that 2 things that are especially interesting are the generous community at Food52 is benefitting us in our work through their Food52 Holiday Swap which has gone on for years. You bake something and send to someone else and they kind of match make between the bakers and everyone makes a contribution to be involved. That is happening at Food52.com.

This year, we’re benefitting from a fun holiday auction that Bon Appétit is doing they issue a bunch of different covers to go with the Nov issue and you can collect them all. To do that, you can go to Ebay for Charity for No Kid Hungry on that page.

AM: As we head into the Christmas season, are there specific ones for that as well?

JD: I think that end of year giving is the big push at that point. Throughout the year we have these incredible culinary events that we have mentioned: Taste of the Nation, our No Kid Hungry dinners and you can find out more about this through our events page on NoKidHungry.org. Of course there is also Chefs Cycle and we look for folks to make a contribution and to support their favorite chefs at ChefsCycle.org.

CHEF EF: Yeah, you can just support a rider on the website or a team – like Team Themyscira.

AM: Just in case you wanted to know about one team in particular ha!

As someone who is out there whether you’re cooking to raise funds, being at events, charitable functions being on social media etc – how important is it for chefs to do this kind of visibility and activity in terms of their culinary careers?

CHEF EF: I don’t think that a chef has to do things like that. Some people may think that you have to in order to be more successful. I think it depends on where you are. I know a lot of chefs who work in their kitchens and they don’t have time to do stuff like that and I don’t think it’s a negative and you can probably see it in their food. You put that much more work into your food, it’s going to show! I think it’s great when people are showing stuff and the power of social media where people are able to show their food and what they are doing – I think that that is amazing and how that can go around the world.

AM: Will there be another restaurant?

CHEF EF: It’s not my goal to open another restaurant. I have already done that for a good chunk of my life. It’s not that it’s too hard work for me. It’s just that I’m so involved in food policy, food waste and I talk a lot about helping kids, teaching kids and speaking a lot more on all of these different issues. I’m constantly doing recipe development. I don’t even know how I would have another restaurant at this point in my life because I’m so busy!

JD: Well that’s a nice thing!

CHEF EF: Well there’s a lot to do!

AM: We enjoy seeing your social and seeing you do all of the things that you have mentioned and really just getting in there and doing the work.

CHEF EF: I learned a lot from the food business too and if you can do that in what I like to call a theater – the restaurant, but you can also take it on the road these days. I ended up cooking in China this year and I ended up cooking in so many places this year at all of these different places and I actually like cooking with ingredients from different parts of the world too because it helps me change it up.

AM: What are your 3 favorite ingredients to have on hand?

CHEF EF: Oh my goodness. I have to have Olive Oil, that’s a critical one. It changes, but I’m in love with some of the things that I experienced in Asia. I came back loving this fermented Broad Bean Paste which is slightly like fermented Chinese Black Beans which is more like a Fava Bean. It’s a fermented spicy Chinese Sichuan specialty that’s in Mapo Doufu for example. I have this obsession with Chinese food that makes me hungry just thinking about it!

Then I think having Meyer Lemons is kind of one of my favorite ingredients. I’m from California and I need that zest and I love citrus. I still try to sprinkle into my food whenever I can.

AM: What are your 3 favorite ingredients to have on hand?

JD: I’m a big stock person. My slow cooker is always going with chicken stock – I feel that it boosts us. Ginger so good – it’s great for external and internal. Cardamom is another one. It's so holiday to me.

AM: What’s for Thanksgiving this year?

CHEF EF: It’s so funny. I’m making breakfast for my brother and girlfriend for this Thanksgiving. Then they’re going to go to her parents house which I love going to. Her mom is Korean American and I enjoyed going there as she is a really good cook. It’s a cross between classic Thanksgiving dishes and a number of Korean ones and I think that I like all of the Korean ones better! So then I am working on a project right now so I don’t have time to really spend around Thanksgiving so much – so I think that I will just spend time making more Chinese food!

JD: I’m actually getting together with my neighbor and we’re going to brainstorm our menu as we are cooking together. Lots of things happening at the Green Market right now. I have one of those mega Brussel Sprout branches right now. The top sprouts are so huge it looks like Choi and the farmer told me that he actually had people taking it and slow roasting it whole with the stalk in the oven – I’m very curious and may have to go there. Lots of squash – love a red curry squash. There will still be turkey, there will still be pie.

CHEF EF: I feel like, unfortunately, that it’s put all on one day which is not how I really think about this time of year. I think Thanksgiving lasts from Oct – Dec because it’s all about this harvest.

AM: Is there anything else that you want to share with us?

JD: I want everyone to know that everyone has a Strength to Share in the fight against hunger. There are so many ways to get involved and make a difference. You can certainly donate online, host a bake sale, a personal bake sale that you do on your own, attend our events and find an opportunity to speak up on behalf of kids to your elected officials. Once again, all of that can be found on No Kid Hungry.org.

CHEF EF: I just want to say that every dollar helps and I don’t think that any kid should be hungry when they’re going to school or summer programs. How are you going to be able to think or do all the things you need to be a kid at school if you’re hungry?

JD: Elizabeth is right. Every dollar that No Kid Hungry receives, we can connect a kid with up to 10 meals so it’s really impactful!

IG: @NoKidHungry

@ChefFalkner

Hear No Kid Hungry's Jennifer Dirken and Chef Elizabeth Falkner this month on our show, Athleisure Kitchen which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multi-media podcast network! Make sure to subscribe to find out when the episode drops. You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts and wherever you enjoy listening to your favorite podcast.

Read the Nov Issue of Athleisure Mag and see Something You Should Know with No Kid Hungry’s Jenny Dirksen and Chef Elizabeth Falkner in mag.

SWEET SEOUL WELCOMES FIVE TOP PASTRY CHEFS

Last week, we had the chance to attend a VIP reception for the 2 Day Tasting & Exhibition at the two Michelin starred Jungsik in Tribeca. The 2 day event was open to the public and was presented by the City of Seoul. During the 2 day event, the Korean pastry pop up and exhibition started in Paris at L’Appartement Lafayette prior to this event and them came to NYC and featured 5 culinary concepts from Seoul including Dongbyung Sangryoun, Biwon, Healthy Life with Korean Dessert, Kimssibooin and Haap. 

During the intimate VIP reception, we were treated to sweets and the five concepts that included honey cookies, braised bellflower root in sweet sauce and candied apple slices from Dongbyung Sangryoun; steamed rice cakes coasted with mashed beans, pan-fried sticky rice cakes with red bean and sweet rice with nuts and jujubes from Biwon; pistachio and sesame seed rolls from Healthy Life with Korean Dessert; braised omija in sweet sauce and braised ginseng slices in sweet sauce with a fried twist from Kimssibooin; and Korean style meringues with walnuts and pine nuts, honey cookies with walnuts and mint flavored sweet pine nuts from Haap. 

We enjoyed meeting Kyungmoon Kim, the first and only Master Sommelier certified by The Court of Master Sommeliers who shared a selection of traditional Korean spirits imported from his newly formed company KMS Imports. 

In addition, an array of displays were showcased in the main dining area of Jungsik in which a range of handicrafts were spotlighted from Jang Hye-gyeong, Kim Sang-in, Ryu Jong-dae, OTTOTT, Mono Collection, OUGLASSWORK, and Yeom Dong-hoon.

We were treated to performances by Metropolitan Opera singer Olga Makarina and SoHo Opera’s Hong Kyung Olivia Kim, who both took the floor and performed select traditional Korean folk songs. 

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

HOW TO AVOID HOLIDAY HEARTBURN AS EXPLAINED BY AN INTERNIST AND GASTROENTEROLOGIST

Even if you’re not a “foodie” most people look forward to indulging in the culinary delights of holiday time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve. This  means that even people who are typically disciplined eat too much in one evening, eat rapidly, imbibe amounts of alcohol they are unaccustomed to, and consume foods that may not be part of their regular diet because “tis the season.”  While nobody likes a medical grinch, there are ways to have gastronomic fun without paying the price with holiday heartburn. Dr. Niket Sonpal is an internist and gastroenterologist at Touro College of Medicine.  He shares his tips for having your holiday cake and eating it too.

Heartburn happens when stomach acid flows backward into the esophagus. It can also go by two names: GER (gastroesophageal reflux) or GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease). GER is also known as acid indigestion, happening only once in a while. GERD is chronic heartburn that can lead to esophageal cancer if left untreated.

Here are some tips for avoiding holiday heartburn

Eat light turkey, not dark

High-fat food can spell trouble if you're prone to heartburn, so do yourself a favor and skip the skin when it comes to turkey time. Your best bet is to eat turkey breast and avoid oilier dark meat. The same goes for gravy. If it's not fat free, it may be smarter to skip this dish.

Choose baked, not mashed

If you have chronic heartburn, you don't have to give up your favorite foods. You just have to choose wisely to save yourself some pain later on. For example, mashed potatoes can trigger heartburn, but baked potatoes may not. When it comes to dairy products, the less fat the better.  Limit butter and avoid sour cream.

Choose multigrain rolls or bread

When choosing grain-based food for the holiday, you can't go wrong with multigrain bread or rolls. Corn bread and white bread are good choices too,if you want to avoid heartburn.

One side dish that should be strictly for the kids, however, is macaroni and cheese. This is one of those dishes known to trigger acid reflux, according to the National Heartburn Alliance.

Selecting a salad

Salads are good news for those with chronic heartburn or GERD—if you have the right salad dressing and ingredients, that is. High-fat foods are a known trigger for acid reflux, so the National Heartburn Alliance recommends avoiding creamy salad dressings, as well as oil and vinegar. Your best bet is a low-fat salad dressing, and avoid tomatoes, raw onions, and other acid-aggravating ingredients. (Want fruit in your salad? Choose apples, not oranges, if you want to avoid heartburn.)

Avoid foods that cause heartburn.

People who suffer from heartburn often know the trigger foods that cause symptoms. Common foods include chocolates, caffeine and greasy foods. These foods relax the lower esophagus sphincter muscle, when this muscle is relaxed, the food will go back up and cause heartburn. Other foods that can trigger heartburn include acidic foods such as citrus fruits or carbonated beverages. This means avoid Champagne!

Skip Mint Desserts

Candy canes and chocolate mint desserts are best left for others. These dangerous holiday delectables are notorious for helping acid reflux on its way.

Eat more ginger

Ginger is one ingredient that can help ease heartburn, if you don't get too much of it. (More than 2 to 4 grams per day can actually cause heartburn.)

Ginger is a natural match for root vegetable dishes commonly served during the holidays. Heartburn-friendly vegetables include carrots, cabbage, peas, broccoli, and green beans

Linger Over Your Food

Take the time to eat slowly and enjoy your food. Rushing through your meal or chewing with your mouth open can increase your chances of indigestion or heartburn. Linger over your food and allow yourself to feel full by giving your food time to digest.

Limit Alcoholic Beverages

Have to have that holiday egg nog? Limit it to one glass. This festive beverage can do double the damage. Not only does it contain alcohol that irritates your stomach but it contains the added dose of diary that can cause bloating and gas.

Cut yourself off.

After-hours holiday parties can keep you snacking all night, but eating too close to bedtime can make acid reflux worse. Stop eating and drinking (water included) three hours before bedtime.

Ditch the post-meal nap:

Sleeping right after eating can increase GERD symptoms. Instead of falling asleep, try going for a walk.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

HOW TO AVOID HOLIDAY HEARTBURN AS EXPLAINED BY AN INTERNIST AND GASTROENTEROLOGIST

Even if you’re not a “foodie” most people look forward to indulging in the culinary delights of holiday time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve. This  means that even people who are typically disciplined eat too much in one evening, eat rapidly, imbibe amounts of alcohol they are unaccustomed to, and consume foods that may not be part of their regular diet because “tis the season.”  While nobody likes a medical grinch, there are ways to have gastronomic fun without paying the price with holiday heartburn. Dr. Niket Sonpal is an internist and gastroenterologist at Touro College of Medicine.  He shares his tips for having your holiday cake and eating it too.

Heartburn happens when stomach acid flows backward into the esophagus. It can also go by two names: GER (gastroesophageal reflux) or GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease). GER is also known as acid indigestion, happening only once in a while. GERD is chronic heartburn that can lead to esophageal cancer if left untreated.

Here are some tips for avoiding holiday heartburn

Eat light turkey, not dark

High-fat food can spell trouble if you're prone to heartburn, so do yourself a favor and skip the skin when it comes to turkey time. Your best bet is to eat turkey breast and avoid oilier dark meat. The same goes for gravy. If it's not fat free, it may be smarter to skip this dish.

Choose baked, not mashed

If you have chronic heartburn, you don't have to give up your favorite foods. You just have to choose wisely to save yourself some pain later on. For example, mashed potatoes can trigger heartburn, but baked potatoes may not. When it comes to dairy products, the less fat the better.  Limit butter and avoid sour cream.

Choose multigrain rolls or bread

When choosing grain-based food for the holiday, you can't go wrong with multigrain bread or rolls. Corn bread and white bread are good choices too,if you want to avoid heartburn.

One side dish that should be strictly for the kids, however, is macaroni and cheese. This is one of those dishes known to trigger acid reflux, according to the National Heartburn Alliance.

Selecting a salad

Salads are good news for those with chronic heartburn or GERD—if you have the right salad dressing and ingredients, that is. High-fat foods are a known trigger for acid reflux, so the National Heartburn Alliance recommends avoiding creamy salad dressings, as well as oil and vinegar. Your best bet is a low-fat salad dressing, and avoid tomatoes, raw onions, and other acid-aggravating ingredients. (Want fruit in your salad? Choose apples, not oranges, if you want to avoid heartburn.)

Avoid foods that cause heartburn.

People who suffer from heartburn often know the trigger foods that cause symptoms. Common foods include chocolates, caffeine and greasy foods. These foods relax the lower esophagus sphincter muscle, when this muscle is relaxed, the food will go back up and cause heartburn. Other foods that can trigger heartburn include acidic foods such as citrus fruits or carbonated beverages. This means avoid Champagne!

Skip Mint Desserts

Candy canes and chocolate mint desserts are best left for others. These dangerous holiday delectables are notorious for helping acid reflux on its way.

Eat more ginger

Ginger is one ingredient that can help ease heartburn, if you don't get too much of it. (More than 2 to 4 grams per day can actually cause heartburn.)

Ginger is a natural match for root vegetable dishes commonly served during the holidays. Heartburn-friendly vegetables include carrots, cabbage, peas, broccoli, and green beans

Linger Over Your Food

Take the time to eat slowly and enjoy your food. Rushing through your meal or chewing with your mouth open can increase your chances of indigestion or heartburn. Linger over your food and allow yourself to feel full by giving your food time to digest.

Limit Alcoholic Beverages

Have to have that holiday egg nog? Limit it to one glass. This festive beverage can do double the damage. Not only does it contain alcohol that irritates your stomach but it contains the added dose of diary that can cause bloating and gas.

Cut yourself off.

After-hours holiday parties can keep you snacking all night, but eating too close to bedtime can make acid reflux worse. Stop eating and drinking (water included) three hours before bedtime.

Ditch the post-meal nap:

Sleeping right after eating can increase GERD symptoms. Instead of falling asleep, try going for a walk.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

AUTISM SPEAKS CHEFS GALA 2019

This month, we headed to Cipriani Wall Street to the 13th Annual Autism Speaks Celebrity Chef Gala which is a phenomenal event that has a number of top acclaimed chefs and culinary institutions serving its 400 guests 4 courses of curated meals tableside. In addition to watching these meals that differed by table, attendees heard about a number of the successes that this organization provides for those who are on the spectrum and their family and friends who support them. Since 2007, the Chef Gala has raised more than $13 million in support of the autism community to raise money for research, advocacy, programs and services that support people with autism and their families. This year's event was hosted by Chef Andrew Zimmern along with Co-Chairs, Christina Tosi (Restaurateur and Founding Chef of Milk Bar) and Matt Higgins the Co-Founder/CEO of RSE Ventures, Vice Chairman of Miami Dolphins and Guest Shark on ABC's Shark Tank. It honored Tim Jones, CEO of Publicis Media Americas.

We wanted our readers to know more about autism, what Autism Speaks as an organization provides and to find out more on some of the acclaimed chefs that participated in this event!

ATHLEISURE MAG: What is autism and what does it means to be on the spectrum?

AUTISM SPEAKS: Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication. According to the Centers for Disease Control, autism affects an estimated 1 in 59 children in the United States today.

We know that there is not one autism but many subtypes, most influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Because autism is a spectrum disorder, each person with autism has a distinct set of strengths and challenges. The ways in which people with autism learn, think and problem-solve can range from highly skilled to severely challenged.

Some people with ASD may require significant support in their daily lives, while others may need less support and, in some cases, live entirely independently.

AM: What signs should parents be aware of that indicate that their child could have autism?

AS: Indicators of autism usually appear by age 2 or 3. Some associated development delays can appear even earlier, and often, it can be diagnosed as early as 18 months. Research shows that early intervention leads to positive outcomes later in life for people with autism.

Many children with autism do not show signs, and some who do not have autism show some. That’s why professional evaluation is critical in diagnosing autism. The signs of autism depend on the age of a child and can vary widely – from avoidance of eye contact to lack of babbling or speech to repetitive behaviors.

The M-CHAT (Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers™) can help you determine if a professional should evaluate your child. This simple online autism risk screening questionnaire, available on our website, takes only a few minutes. If you have any concerns about your child's development, don't wait. Speak to your doctor about screening.

AM: How is Autism Speaks a resource to those that are affected by autism whether they have it themselves or are connected to someone that is?

AS: Autism Speaks is dedicated to promoting solutions, across the spectrum and throughout the life span, for the needs of individuals with autism and their families. We do this through advocacy and support; increasing understanding and acceptance of people with autism spectrum disorder; and advancing research into causes and better interventions for autism spectrum disorder and related conditions.

AM: We enjoyed attending the gala at Cipriani and it was amazing to see that the auction raised over $100K. Are there other events that Autism Speaks has for the remainder of the year that we should keep an eye out for?

AS: This year, thanks to the generosity of both the wonderful chefs and all who attended, Autism Speaks raised $1.3M from the Celebrity Chef Gala. There are many other ways to support Autism Speaks’ mission year-round; you can find more at AutismSpeaks.org/GetInvolved. There are also hundreds of autism-friendly events listed on AutismSpeaks.org.

We had the chance to talk with Autism Speak's President, Angela Geiger at this event to find out about the initiatives that they are focused on as well as why this event in particular is one that is so important to them in terms of their partnership with those in the culinary community. We also interviewed some of our favorite chefs who are at some of the top restaurants in the world.

ANGELA GEIGER | President of Autism Speaks

ATHLEISURE MAG: Why is Autism Speaks so important and what are those initiatives that you are trying to get out about that?

ANGELA GEIGER: We’re celebrating our 15th anniversary of Autism Speaks next year. In the world of health disorders, it’s a short time. The amount of progress that has been made because of the legacy organizations and Autism Speaks being a big tent and really welcoming everyone no matter where you are on the spectrum, and now not just for kids but as adults who have autism who needs support too.

AM: How important is this event in terms of working with the culinary community and having this kind of partnership?

AG: I think one of the really fun things about tonight, is that it allows us to celebrate big victories like things that Autism Speaks has done to help tons of people and it also shines a light on small victories like one of the things that we are going to talk about tonight is and Instagram post that was shared recently where someone tried toast for the first time and it was a really big thing for their family. So it’s important for us to really remember that all of this matters.

AM: How do you feel about your role in this organization and what are the challenges that you’re looking at and excited to take on as we close this year out and go into the next one?

AG: I think that one of the biggest challenges is that autism is a spectrum and there are people with very different challenges and very different opportunities. Making sure that we’re welcoming for everybody is one of the most important things that we can do!

IG @AutismSpeaks

CHEF MARIA LOI Owner & Chef of Loi Estiatorio,

NY, NY

ATHLEISURE MAG: What are your 3 favorite dishes at your restaurant?

CHEF MARIA LOI: Branzino that’s for sure. The Bean Soup – I love it and eat it everyday! And of course, my yogurt!

AM: What are 3 ingredients that you like to always have on hand that is used in a number of the dishes that you like to create?

CHEF ML: Yes of course, it’s easy for me. I always like to have beans, olive oil and honey!

IG @ChefMar

@LoiEstiatorio

CHEF GABRIEL KREUTHER Owner and Michelin Two Star Chef of Gabriel Kreuther, NY, NY

ATHLEISURE MAG: We had the pleasure of enjoying a meal at Eataly via their Chefs Collaborations with your Chef Adam Hill last fall around this time which was phenomenal! Can you share with us the 3 signature dishes that we should be eating at Gabriel Kreuther.

CHEF GABRIEL KREUTHER: I think one of them is the Sturgeon and Sauerkraut Tart, I’m known for the Foie Gras so the Foie Gras Terrine and Pistachio Praline and the Tarte Flambee it’s something that I grew up with that I I love as it’s a simple thing flatbread with cheese and some bacon. But then there is also the Squab and Foie Gras Crostini – it keeps changing with the seasons!

AM: What are your 3 favorite ingredients that you like to cook with?

CHEF GK: Well strangely enough, it keeps moving too – seasonality and too much of the same thing, it’s kind of like you don't want it anymore. I love simple things and also things that are more luxurious. I love caviar in general, I love foie gras in general, but I also love simple things like sauerkraut. So, I like to combine very very simple things with very luxurious things! Right now, I am looking to use the white truffle as the season has just started. Chestnuts are beautiful right now and it just depends and comes down to the mood that you’re in and what you’re looking for and some day you want something more fancy and other days you want something more homey. It all depends – it’s like do you want to drink a good beer or a nice wine? What’s your mood?

AM: We couldn’t agree more and why was it important for you to be participating within this event?

CHEF GK: Well, first of all, it’s very rare to see so many chefs together. It shows also that when an industry wants to come together to do something, and to help science out – we can actually do nice things! I’m always keen to try to help out to raise money in hopes of making a difference somewhere. It’s shown that everything that has been done over the years has made a difference and I think there is hope when people come together to make that difference. Hopefully, making peoples lives come together and to continue that hope is what it’s about!

IG @GabrielKreuther

CHEF RALPH SCAMARDELLA Chef and Partner of Tao Group

ATHLEISURE MAG: We are huge fans of the Tao Group as there are a number of restaurants and moods that you present there. What are 3 signature dishes that we should be trying whether it’s one of your favorite restaurants or various ones throughout your portfolio?

RALPH SCAMARDELLA: Thank you so much! Well at Tao – each Tao is divided up a little bit differently, so they’re unique. The original one (Tao Uptown) has the Satay Bass which is the most iconic dish and downtown (Tao Downtown) we did it a little more of a Chinese style we did some dishes from China like a whole fish – Snapper that’s deep fried and served with garlic and roasted onions. Of course at Lavo, we have our 1lb meatball which we’re world famous for!

AM: And what about the cocktails? What are 3 that we should have in mind on our next visit?

RS: Oh yeah, the Pama Sutra which is Milagro Silver Tequila mixed with Pomegranate Liqueur and Fresh Lime. The TAO-tini is another great one with Belvedere Mango Passion Vodka, Malibu Rum, Cranberry and Fresh Lime. I like a good Manhattan too! I’m more of a beer and wine guy myself!

AM: When you’re not working, what are 3 things that you like to do?

RS: Sleeping, hanging out with the kids and trying to do as many activities as I can and doing yard work and stuff like that. I like gardening, trees and plants – getting into it.

IG @TaoGroup

CHEF MATT HOYLE Chef of Nobu 57

ATHLEISURE MAG: We are huge fans of Nobu what are 3 signature dishes that our readers should enjoy on their next visit?

MATT HOYLE: Nobu Signature dishes – definitely the Black Cod, also the Yellowtail Jalapeño and maybe one of the Tempura dishes like the King Crab or the Sea Urchin.

AM: That definitely sounds good. What are 3 ingredients that you like to use when you’re making your dishes?

MH: So Wagyu Beef in Japan. You don’t need huge amounts of it, but a few bites of it is so nice. I also love some Uni and Sea Urchin from Japan and some from Santa Barbara, California tonight which will have a slightly different taste

AM: Where do you get your inspiration from when you’re creating these dishes?

MH: From the ingredients and then you have all of the things out there. You put them out for customers and you do it a few times and the response is, “yeah it’s great.” You think about that and when you’re making something else, you think back to those dishes to bring them back in a new way! It’s a process and it’s great!

IG @NobuRestaurants.us

CHEF TONY NGUYEN Executive Chef of Crustacean Beverly Hills and Da Lat Rose, Beverly Hills, CA

ATHLEISURE MAG: What are your go to foods?

CHEF TONY NGUYEN: I’m a midwestern boy from St Louis, Missouri – so we know good food, we know comfort food! My go to is fried foods! I love fried chicken, my fiancé makes the best creole food – Jambalaya, Gumbo, smothered chicken and even biscuits and gravy! These are great and when we came here to NY, of course we had to try the pizza, the bagels and more!

AM: Before we talk about your new restaurant that you’re opening, can you tell us about Crustacean Beverly Hills and 3 signature dishes that we should try?

CHEF TN: OK now, the top 3 signature dishes at Crustacean Beverly Hills, The Garlic Noodles, The Roasted Garlic Crab OVER the Garlic Noodles and then something that we brought here tonight is the Tuna Cigars. We made a fake cigar out of an eggroll wrapper if you will, stuffed it with tuna poke and avocado and putting it in a cigar box. If you open it, there might be some smoke that comes out! It’s a nice little starter!

The new restaurant is call Da Lat Rose. Da Lat is a little town in Vietnam that is very similar to San Francisco. Da Lat means the “City of Eternal Spring” and there are a lot of vegetables year around. We’re not talking about peas only being good in March, they’re good the whole year! Just like California, the avocados are good all year. Even here, let’s be real. You can get a decent tomato year around even though they are the best in the summer time. In February, I think that we can both find a good one!

AM: What are your 3 favorite ingredients to cook with?

CHEF TN: Three favorite ingredients – I love garlic, I love shallots ok! My last favorite ingredient is eggs because you can make so many things out of them!

IG @ChefTonyNguyen

@CrustaceanBH

@DaLatRoseBH

PHOTO CREDITS | Getty Images

Read the Oct Issue of Athleisure Mag and see Autism Speaks Chefs Gala 2019 in mag.

THE ART OF THE SNACK | TRATTORIA ITALIENNE

AN EVENING OF COMFORT FOOD

This month, we settled into our table after a rainy day to a feast that was comprised of Northern Italian and Southern French foods that were filled with savory flavors along with a wine list that complimented each portion of the meal. After a satisfying tasting journey, we wanted to find out more about this Flatiron spot - Trattoria Italienne and of course, to share it with Athleisure Mag! We sat down with Owner/Executive Chef, Jared Sippel to find out more about this culinary experience.

ATHLEISURE MAG: Tell us about your culinary background.

CHEF JARED SIPPEL: Originally from Iowa, I was raised with strong connections to food and farming, with family who grew produce, raised livestock, and owned local restaurants. I cooked throughout high school and worked as a sous chef at an Italian restaurant while attending the University of Iowa. Upon graduating, I moved to Boulder, CO to attend the Culinary School of the Rockies, and work at the James Beard Award winning Frasca Food & Wine under renowned chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson. To broaden my palate and further educate himself on European cuisine, I headed straight to the source, where I spent several months living and working at 2-Star Michelin L’Oustau de Baumaniere in Provence and staging across Italy at Michelin starred restaurants including La Primula and La Subida in Friuli as well as La Peca in Veneto. It was during this time that the majority of the inspiration behind Trattoria Italienne was derived, from menus to wine lists and aesthetics. Once back in the States, I returned for a second tour at Frasca, before moving to San Francisco to serve as Sous Chef at the 3-Star Michelin, Quince under Chef Michael Tusk. After two years, it was called back to Frasca once again to assume the role of Chef de Cuisine. Finally, I moved to New York City with my wife Lindsey and opened Italienne in 2016.

AM: How would you describe the restaurant as well as its culinary focus?

CHEF JS: Through a gradual evolution, the restaurant has pivoted from its original concept, to a more casual, engaging, and accessible Trattoria Italienne. In spite of the change to a more casual format, the emphasis on great food, premium product and exemplary service remain paramount. I stay true to the restaurant’s roots, taking diners on a journey to the intersection of Northern Italy and Southern France. Every dish has a history and every menu item has a story. The cuisine here is based on authentic dishes from these regions as well as the surrounding areas of the Mediterranean; showing connections between the Basque region of Spain, with Morocco and France, as well as showcasing the relationship of Austria and Slovenia with Northern Italy. It is not a random fusion of flavors from the Mediterranean but it's crafted with skillful techniques and carefully considered influences, for the ultimate goal of transporting the diner with authentic flavors. Trattoria Italienne represents the culmination of my career and my training in the distinct regional cuisines of Northern Italy and Southern France. I lived and worked in Provence; his time at Frasca in Boulder, CO with Chef Mackinnon-Patterson immersed me in the nuances of Friuli and Alto-Adige; and Quince’s Chef Tusk exposed me to the region of Piemonte. It’s all come full circle at Trattoria Italienne.

The restaurant is divided into two rooms. In the front room, the large bar has a wood and marble counter and plenty of room to enjoy a drink and a bar snack or a full meal. An impressive lighting fixture with giant bulbs hangs from thick ropes over the bar. The feel of the restaurant is rustic and expansive, with high ceilings and exposed wood beams. In the dining room, leather banquettes wrap around the room, with copious space between tables—a rare commodity in a Manhattan restaurant. Cozy wooden booths backed with blue upholstery put you at the center of the action, while also allowing for some privacy. Overall, there’s lots of room for large groups. The space is ideal for parties, special events and special occasions. There’s also a cozy wine cellar room for private dining.

AM: When we visited, truffle season literally started on that day – why is the White Truffle such an amazing element to add to a dish and can you suggest 3 dishes that we should think about having it on?

CHEF JS: White truffles are a special ingredient because of their rarity and seasonality. At the restaurant we showcase them in traditional piedmontese dishes like gnocchi di patate, agnolotti dal Plin and tajarin. We also offer them shaved over a number of our dishes that work well in showcasing the aroma of white truffles, which are usually dairy driven with cream, cheese and butter.

AM: What are 3 appetizers that you suggest that we should have in mind when visiting?

CHEF JS:

1. Thinly sliced Proscuitto San Daniele from Fruili is served with grissini (long, crisp housemade breadsticks) fresh shaved horseradish and European butter.

2. Polpo Alla Plancha, a Basque country classic with other influences: the tender grilled octopus is presented with gigante beans, olives, Sicilian capers and Moroccan harissa.

3. Italian Chicory Salad, available year-round, prepared with radiccio from various regions of Italy. Made with two types of bagna cauda (anchovy dressing— one broken (non-emulsified), one not, one with white vinegar, one with red and black truffle vinaigrette.

AM: What are 3 signature cocktails that we should enjoy while there?

CHEF JS:

1. The Navin Johnson is a twist on an Old-Fashioned, built with Four Roses yellow bourbon, Ramazzotti, crème de cacao (for sweetness instead of sugar, which adds depth, another layer of flavor) garnished with orange peel.

2. You Had me at Aloe is bright and refreshing, with a surprising flavor of cucumber and mint, and is composed of Aviation gin, aloe liqueur, lime, and agave.

3. Regal Bees: cimarron tequila, lemon, honey, oro blanco grapefruit twist.

AM: With the holiday season around the corner, are there specials or events that you will have at the restaurant that we should know about?

CHEf JS: One notable upcoming event for the restaurant is their Piedmontese Dinner which will celebrate the life and wines of Brunco Giacosa. I will hold an exclusive Piedmontese dinner to honor the of wines of legendary producer Bruno Giacosa. Guests will be taken on a journey through the Piedmont region with my curated five-course pairing menu with selection that include Agnolotti ai tres Arroisti, a traditional piedmontese stuffed pasta with tartufi bianchi and served with a Nebbiolo D’alba Valmaggiore from 2017, and Sformato Di Verdure, cardoon with radicchios dressed in Cesare giaccone barbera vinegar and served with a Barbera D’alba from 2017.

The dinner will be held on November 18th at 6:30pm in Trattoria Italienne’s warm and picturesque back dining room. The evening is priced at $229 and a reservation is required.

PHOTOS COURTESY | TRATTORIA ITALIENNE

IG @ItalienneNYC

Read the Oct Issue of Athleisure Mag and see The Art of the Snack | Trattoria Italienne in mag.