Chef spices pop-up restaurant concept

It seems that these days, there is no such thing as “too many chefs in the kitchen.” Invited guest chefs have proven as popular in restaurants as they are at food and wine festivals.

When chefs invite their colleagues, friends or culinary professionals to cook in their kitchens on an occasional basis, it makes for a special night. A recent trend in great restaurant cities such as Chicago is the guest-chef series, where a number of guests will appear in a chef’s kitchen, one per week over several weeks.

A Rhode Island chef-restaurateur, Albert Bouchard, is developing the concept into a nightly cavalcade of guest stars.

This is hardly a new phenomenon to us in Rhode Island. Local chefs have been inviting each other into the kitchen for decades. Noteworthy regional, national and internationally known chefs have appeared in restaurant kitchens statewide to cook at fundraising events and dinner-parties alike.

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In November, Chef Matthew Varga, best-known as the executive chef of Gracie’s, invited friends Matt Gennuso, chef-proprietor of Chez Pascal; Andrew Shotts, chocolatier-owner of Garrison Confections in Providence; chef-proprietor Keith Luce of Main Restaurant in Greenport, on Long Island’s East End and Even Mallet, chef of Black Trumpet Bistro in Portsmouth, N.H. – a frequent guest in Gracie’s kitchen over the past few years – to prepare a multicourse dinner for a cause. The benefit was for an organization working to end childhood hunger in Providence.

Varga’s boss, Gracie’s proprietor Ellen Slattery, shaped and established Gracie’s Star Chef Series, which has brought guest chefs from around the country, including Mallet to collaborate with the Gracie’s team. Most have been benefit affairs to raise funds for the March of Dimes, the Ronald McDonald House and Share Our Strength, as well as the James Beard Foundation.

One Chicago restaurateur in describing the guest-chef experience said, “Our guests get two experiences for the price of one” on guest-chef nights.

Chef Bouchard and his wife, Sarah, have embarked on a project in Newport to actually give their guests three experiences.

For 20 years, chef Bouchard’s Restaurant Bouchard & Inn has been a staple for tourists from around the world who frequent Newport. Bouchard’s classic French style is renowned far and wide and the couple’s inn is a cozy landmark on Lower

Thames Street. As it happened, the Bouchards had an opportunity to acquire the adjacent building at 509 Thames St.

Instead of expanding the Bouchard brand, chef Albert thought about a concept for the new eatery in which he would invite guest chefs from all over the nation to Newport to feature their skills. The new restaurant is about to open as The Revolving Door.

General manager and house chef Josh Berman will be running the new place. He worked for Albert Bouchard for several years. He then took a job working with Mario Batali’s restaurants in New York. According to the Revolving Door’s website, the Bouchards and Berman are offering guest chefs a chance to run a so-called “pop-up restaurant” for up to two weeks at a time at minimal risk.

A percentage-payment structure will be established for the guest chef’s limited-time restaurant concept. The Revolving Door provides staffers and marketing support.

The guest chef has the option to bring his or her own staff. Vendor support is also part of the process with Bouchard opening doors to local farms, purveyors and distributors.

The Bouchards and Berman could do worse than to emulate the track record of Chicago chef-restaurateur Tony Mantuano, who has a successful guest-chef program at his upscale Windy City pizzeria, Bar Toma.

“I don’t look at this as sharing secrets, but moving kitchens forward, and the more the guest is aware of these tricks, the more they will appreciate what we do,” he said.

Interestingly enough, one thing that is apparently missing from guest-chef stints, even among celebrity chefs, is the heated battles among culinary professionals that have become routine on food-reality TV shows such as Bravo’s “Top Chef.” While there have been good-natured local versions of “Iron Chef” locally over the years, when it is all about offering a new concept for local foodies to try, everyone pitches in to ensure the project’s success. It stands to reason that a completely new restaurant concept, even one fronted by a well-known chef or a celebrity, has more riding on it than mere viewership of another disposable reality TV program. It could be the dish of the year or a totally new idea that changes the face of dining out. It could happen, and you and I will have a tableside seat in Newport this winter to witness it.


Bruce Newbury’s “Dining Out” food and wine talk radio show is heard on WADK-AM 1540, WHJJ-AM 920, online and through mobile applications. He can be reached by email at bruce@brucenewbury.com.

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