Ask The Food Guy

I have always been the guy friends have gone to with food related questions. A classic example of this was when my buddy Jerry asked me “What is the best Italian restaurant in Memphis?”

Jerry has run major arenas across the United States. He asked me the question when he was running the Pyramid in Memphis. My immediate response is that there is no REAL Italian restaurant in Memphis. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great restaurants in Memphis that call themselves Italian restaurants, but they are not Italian restaurants by my New York standards.

That sounds a little snobby, but you have to recognize where I come from. In my grammar school class there were 35 kids and 32 were Italian. (Patsy Frachetti, Tommy Palumbo, Georgy DeLeo, Danny Monteforte, my best friend Tony Ciafone and on and on). There is a reason my nickname was mayonnaise. I was certainly the white guy. In this community there was some fantastic Italian food. Growing up with this background changes your perspective.

Jerry explained that he had a major concert artist coming to perform at the Pyramid and it was in his contract that the crew needed to be fed a meal catered by “the best Italian restaurant” in town. I struggled and reluctantly offered Macaroni Grill as an option. Jerry countered that he couldn’t offer a chain restaurant as the best option. I agreed and asked who was coming in that would even know? It was Neil Diamond from Brooklyn NY.

The solution was easy. Give him barbecue. Jerry stated that Neil Diamond is Jewish and worried that pork BBQ would be a problem. My experience is that even Jews that keep a Kosher home enjoy Memphis BBQ when they are in town visiting. It is like my friend Tuvi from Jerusalem told me: ”When in Rome do as the Romans do”.

In the end Neil Diamond and his crew loved their Memphis BBQ and Jerry got kudos from Neil and his management.

The supper club moral of this story is…serve food that you know tastes good and that your guests will enjoy.

If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and be on the look out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Morgan James Publishing published the Kindle-Version on September 5, 2017 and the hard copy coming out January 30, 2018.

Special People 2

In life you meet special people. Ronnie Wenzler was certainly one of them. I moved to Memphis in 1990, and the first night I was there, the president of Kraft Food Ingredients and Ronnie, the VP of Sales, took me to dinner. Making conversation, the president asked me if I played golf and mentioned that Ronnie played “a little” golf. So I asked Ronnie what his handicap was, to which he responded, “It’s a 3 or better if it has to be.”

I spent the next 20 years figuring out just what that meant. The figuring usually meant losing a bet or two. It turned out that Ronnie was a gifted golfer and one of the most entertaining people I ever met. Amongst his many golf accomplishments was having beat the great Jack Nicklaus in the 1956 US Amateur. As Ronnie would say with his Memphis drawl, “Jack was just 18 years old, but I was only 21.”

In the 1990s, Kraft had a business meeting at Butler National in Chicago. Someone mentioned to Ronnie that Jack Nicklaus just happened to be there that day. Ronnie went to the locker room and found Jack putting on his golf shoes. Ronnie walked up to golf’s greatest champion saying, “Jack, you probably don’t remember me.” Jack cut him off with, “Ronnie Wenzler, you old SOB, how are you doing?” Jack then asked him if he wanted to join him that afternoon for a round of golf. Ronnie politely declined, telling Jack he was happy to leave their competitive record where it was.

Ronnie and I had another special connection. We were the sons of very influential fathers. Ronnie’s dad, Jack Wenzler, was a legendary golf pro in Memphis. He taught golf for over 60 years in Memphis and Florida. It turned out that Jack and my dad (a college dean from New York) both spent winters in Winter Haven, Florida. For Christmas one year, I bought my dad a package of golf lessons with Jack Wenzler. Turned out they didn’t work much on dad’s golf game; rather, they got together regularly and talked about their sons.

After Ronnie retired from Kraft, he became a golf coach. In that role, he gave me a great gift. He taught my son Brian to play, and love, golf. Brian was a latecomer to golf and didn’t show an interest in the game until he was well into his high school years. Ronnie taught Brian the swing fundamentals and broke the “Kenny curse.” My father taught me to play golf, and my swing looks like my father’s swing. A curse of a swing that Jack Wenzler couldn’t fix with my dad and Ronnie couldn’t fix with me. Brian, on the other hand, has a beautiful swing crafted by Ronnie.

More important than the swing is the love of the game. A golf lesson with Ronnie was 50% golf and 50% life lessons and laughs. Ronnie made golf fun for Brian. Brian loves the game, and we had a great time in Scotland a few years ago (check out the blog). Many times during that trip I told Ronnie stories and thanked him for the gift.

Ronnie passed away in 2010 after battling cancer. His old golf opponent Jack Nicklaus called him towards the end to wish him well. My guess is that Ronnie reminded Jack of where their record stood during the call. I also called Ronnie towards the end and thanked him for the gift. Ronnie made me laugh and asked me to pray for him. Something I do regularly.

If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons, subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and be on the lookout for my book Impromptu Friday Nights: a Guide to Supper Clubs. Morgan James Publishing published the Kindle version on September 5, 2017, and the hard copy came out January 30, 2018.

Note: The feature picture is of a young Ronnie Wenzler and the legendary Ben Hogan. Ben is congratulating Ronnie for winning the 1953 Memphis Junior Golf Championship.

The Chef’s Best Friend

Whether you are a chef at a famous three star restaurant or a weekend warrior prepping for a supper club dinner party having good knives is key. I have hundreds of dollars invested in knives but don’t dare take my “White Knife” away from me. When you find a “better mousetrap” you have to love it.

My favorite knife is a Victorinox 4” paring knife with a serrated blade with a white handle. It is a multi-purpose knife that can be used for just about anything. I still use my other knives for specific purposes, but my “White Knife” is always close by.

I use them to make my bacon wrapped shrimp. The white knife is great when butterflying the shrimp. Check out the recipe.

Slicing and dicing is probably the single largest task of any cook. My good friend and great chef Lucien Vendome was the head of Culinary Innovation fro Nestle. He had a very large staff working for him. When he was contemplating retirement he told me “I am tired of spending my life slicing and dicing”. It is an occupational hazard.

The genesis of my use of the “White Knife” goes back to Lucien. Most chefs travel with their own set of knives. After September 11 getting through airports with a knife set got to be a challenge. Lucien found the “White Knife” that cost around $5 a knife when you buy in bulk. He would have “White Knives” shipped to a customer in advance of a presentation and when his culinary presentation was over he would leave the knives behind with the customer. It enabled a quick get away, a happy customer and a swift trip through TSA at the airport.

I have become the pied piper of the “White Knife”. We give them away as wedding and shower gifts. Invite me to your house for dinner and you get a white knife. The really cool thing is that we had multiple friends and family come back to us asking how do we get more white knives. My nephew’s wife (a very bright lady) now buys them for all her friends that are getting married.

When prepping for a supper club dinner party I am a firm believer in using all kinds of prep tools: food processors, mandolins, mixers, tongs and on and on. But, just don’t take away my “White Knife”