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A Chef’s Life Comes Into Focus

BOOKS

Melissa Wieczorek didn’t study at a prestigious culinary institute, didn’t apprentice under a stern chef and she didn’t pay her dues as a line cook. What she did was approach the kitchen as an entrepreneur who loves to cook. And it’s paying big dividends, professionally and personally.

 

Melissa-Wieczorek

The chef’s coat may not have been Wieczorek’s first choice, but it fits her just fine.

Too many among us have been there, are mired there now: Hemmed-in-verging-on-suffocated-by an unrelenting work schedule that left little room for anything else. The only rays of hope, the increasingly frequent daydreams about living an entirely different life.

Melissa Wieczorek was there 15 years ago, advancing within the administration of Temple University’s Fox School of Business, but, in the back of her mind, thinking about cooking.

“I knew I wanted to do something in food,” she recalls, “but it had to be conducive to having a family. So a restaurant was out.”

Ironically, while Wieczorek was studying for her own MBA at Fox, an independent study led her to the personal chef industry. She created a business plan as part of her coursework and presented it to venture capitalists. Later, in 2005, she’d put it to use, founding the Newtown-based A la Maison Personal Chef Service, now Zest Culinary Services, which she owns with her partner, Theo Petron, another corporate dropout.

Initially, Wieczorek operated primarily as an in-home personal chef, but she’s since pivoted to prepared-meal delivery, a $1.5 billion market that’s expected to at least double over the next few years. Wieczorek may be at peace with herself in the kitchen, but she’s clearly thinking beyond it. It’s that savvy that landed her in the book, Behind Their Brand, Chefs Edition, Vol. 1, published last September, which offers narratives by Wieczorek and several other chefs who followed non-conventional paths.

We caught up with her—after her trip to Cuba—to find out what’s trending in her kitchen now.
—Mike Madaio

 

 

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Wieczorek in the kitchen in Cuba and strolling the streets of Havana with Petron.

 

How is a personal chef different from the chefs we read about and see on TV?
MW: Great question. That’s part of why I participated in this book, because so many people think the industry offers a single career track, working the line in a restaurant and eventually becoming executive chef. But there are so many different culinary careers. For me, cooking is only one part of the skillset. It’s an entrepreneurial venture, so I’m everything from bottle washer to business strategist to salesperson.

Meal-delivery subscriptions are blowing up. How are you

distinguishing yourself?
We offer a more complete experience. First, it’s like having a personal trainer. This is a one-on-one program, customized not only to your likes and dislikes, but also to your lifestyle. Second, our clients are not cooking at all. They’re taking something out of the fridge and heating it up within a few minutes, which is life-changing for busy people.

What advice would you give someone who’s looking to be more efficient in the kitchen?
Cook once. Eat twice. It’s something often overlooked because people don’t want to eat leftovers. But if you reinvent it into something else that doesn’t look like Monday’s dinner, it’s more exciting.

What kind of food are you passionate about?
I rarely meet a food I don’t like! But, right now, ethnic cuisine is something that consistently excites me. I’m always on the lookout for lesser-known ingredients, that next new thing to try.

What’s your ingredient-of-the-moment, then?
Well, we’ve been working a lot with quinoa—

—Come on! That’s so last year.
[Laughs.] True. We actually just got back from Cuba, where we learned to make a stew that was traditionally made with whatever protein they could find, monkeys, rats, snakes, you name it. But I’m not going to say rats. My big takeaway, seriously, was plantains. They’re versatile and delicious and readily available here. Though, unless you are from a Latin culture, you probably don’t know what to do with them.

What’s your guilty pleasure?
I love making a peanut butter-and-jelly with potato chips on the sandwich. I know, this does not exactly fit with our vision of “eat well, live fit, have fun,” but I’m a big fan of everything in moderation. Though, sometimes I do OD on chocolate.

Photos courtesy Melissa Wieczorek

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The All-Artisans Gift Guide

SCAVENGING

Everything’s produced locally, in small batches and sourced by our resident scavenger, Susan Forker, an artisan herself.

The holiday season is one of my favorite times of the year. The temperatures cool, the fires are stoked, and we reflect on giving. Buying handmade and local has always been an integral part of my gifting for many reasons, not in the least, the foothold it provides to the small businesses in our community.  Mostly, though, it’s an opportunity to support the artisans who create unique, thoughtfully made products that have a story behind them. Here’s what caught my eye this season.

Woven Tote/Caryall | arden + james | from $320
A technically skilled artisan with the keenest intuition, Bri Brant’s work draws its beauty from natural media and her deep respect for the environment. The leather in her handmade bags is produced locally at a historic tannery, one of only two in the country that employ an eco-friendly, vegetable tanning process. The other materials in this tote, a true keepsake, are treated with the same level of care, right down to the hand-hammered copper rivets.

Artisan Candles | Zoet Bathlatier | from $20 each
Beautifully packaged and made in small batches from 100-percent vegetable wax and pure essential oils, these candles will intoxicate your senses. With fragrances like Fir Needle & Clove, The Woods, Caramel & Woodfire, simply light one and you’re transported to another place. The stated desire is to provide a sense of renewal and wellbeing with each. Mission accomplished. And then some.

 

Daisy Necklace | earth and wears |  from $30 (each)
Lyn Carey recently celebrated the eighth anniversary of her Dallas, Pennsylvania, shop, earth and wears, and the ninth of her pottery and ceramic jewelry line, which goes by the same name. Finding inspiration in natural tones and textures, Lyn hand-forms and -glazes these stunning pendants, leaving the back untreated for diffusing essential oils. One drop lasts about eight hours.

 

 

Assorted pillows | Tamme Handmade | $20 (each)
Funky. Flirty. Retro-glam. Tamme McClelland’s eclectic line, Tamme Handmade, has a definite swagger. The images are printed directly onto the fabric with water-based, eco-friendly dye. These pillows are especially appropriate for the literature lover, the nautical enthusiast and the anglophile on your list. Frida Kahlo and Eleanor Roosevelt are her best-sellers. I’m partial to Charles Bukowski.

 

DIY Stitch Kit | Popped Stitches | $12
Popped Stitches is the brainchild of Melissa McCullough, who displays a wicked sense of humor in her original cross-stitch and embroidered creations. Much of her work references an affinity for pop culture, geekery and salty quips, like, “Don’t summon my inner bitch, she doesn’t play nice,” that are bound to make you laugh out loud then race to hang it. This stitch kit (available exclusively at Philadelphia Independents is the gift that keeps on giving—because the recipient is bound to brag about his/her ability (and neglect to mention the kit) to anyone who comes into contact with it.

 

Susan Forker is the owner and designer of the Doylestown-based joeyfivecents, a line of one-of-a-kind jewelry and accessories.

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How to Not F*** Up Your Turkey

With the counsel of a few seasoned pros, we amp up the flavor (and the moistness) while also simplifying a notoriously overwrought recipe.

By Kendra Lee Thatcher

Thanksgiving 2002. My best friend, Lisa, introduces me to what will become my new holiday obsession. The evening is a perfectly orchestrated scene from Martha Stewart’s playbook. Summoned to the dinner table, we gather around the glistening turkey, a fire roaring behind us, Bruce Springsteen roaring over the fire.

Until tonight, I’d only known flavorless, white breast meat drowned in gluey gravy. With ninja-like swiftness and precision, Lisa grips a leg, rips it from the carcass, places it on my plate, then repeats the process and places the other on hers. Sisters in legs. Not really. I stare at mine for a good while, trying to figure out the best way (read: the least embarrassing way) to go about this. Finally, I look over at Lisa, who’s already polished off hers. No help there. Screw it. I pick it up and start gnawing away like I’m at Medieval Times. The skin, caramelized and crisp, seduces me at first bite. The dark meat’s so, so moist and laced with herbs, nutmeg and orange. This is what turkey’s supposed to taste like?! How did I make it into adulthood without realizing this?

Every year since, I’ve had dibs on the leg. It won’t be so clear-cut this year, though, because I’ll be playing the role of Lisa for the first time. Those legs aren’t naturally that moist, and nutmeg-y and citrus-y. Which means I’m in trouble. So I called around and asked a few friends who should know, flat-out, “How do I not f— up my turkey?” The following is the step-by-step plan I assembled from their advice and tested during a recent trial run.

Step 1: Buying
Convenient as those massive grocery store-birds are, shell out for a fresh, local, heritage turkey. They tend to be smaller and more manageable.

“The smaller the bird, the less time in the oven. The less time in the oven, the juicier the meat,” says Ian Knauer, who established The Farm Cooking School in Stockton, New Jersey.

I bought an 11-pound, Lancaster-raised turkey at None Such Farm Market in Buckingham. I had it quartered, based on the recommendations of Emily Peterson, the host of “Sharp + Hot” on Heritage Radio, and Matthew Martin, the owner/chef of More Than Q BBQ Company. The butcher broke down my bird into two breast-wing and leg-thigh segments, bones-in, skin-on and odds and ends packaged to make stock with.

Step 2: Prepping
Pour yourself a glass of wine. Proceed.

I’m a fan of adding fat under the skin. So when Ian reiterated this, I felt completely validated. I mashed up zesty-herb butter and massaged it into the meat. But I didn’t stop there. I then slathered the reserve fat from smoked bacon all over the skin and seasoned it with salt and pepper.

Also: “Lightly trussing the quarters will ensure the skin stays on and the juices stay in,” Matthew says.

I mixed brandy, fresh orange juice and star anise to roast and baste the turkey in. I picked that little cocktail up from Diana Paterra, the owner/chef of DeAnna’s Restaurant and Bar in Lambertville, NJ, and now I’ll never use another.

Step 3: Roasting
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. In two large roasting pans, place a “veggie rack” comprised of carrots, parsnips, onions and citrus and cover it with a bed of herbs. Add your breasts to one pan and the legs to the other. Pour the brandy-OJ-star anise mixture evenly over both pans and then stick them, uncovered, in the oven.

Step 4: Timing
Never—seriously, nev-er—lose track of your bird. Roasting it hot and fast is the way to go, but it requires constant attention. It’ll take about 30 to 40 minutes for the turkey to turn golden brown, which seals in those juices that make so much of the difference between a remarkable turkey and a blah bird. (Note: The breasts will cook about 10 minutes faster than the legs.) At that point, pull the pans from the oven and brush the turkey with the drippings. I then reduced the heat to 375—my oven runs a little hot—and basted every 20 to 30 minutes for the next hour or so.

In an hour and 45 minutes, my turkey had hit the sweet spot—crispy on the outside, tender on the inside—so I slid it out and let it sit for another 45 minutes, as per Diana’s counsel. From there, I sliced it up with an extremely sharp knife, as per Emily’s counsel, arranged the pieces on a platter and drizzled them with the remnants of drippings.

I still reached for the leg out of instinct, but, really, there was no boring bite with this turkey. And that’s not to say that I’ve mastered Thanksgiving. The turkey, it turns out, is actually a very small piece of that headache. But, dismantling the intimidation was as critical as any step in this, ultimately, fairly simple recipe.

A Long Time In The Brewing

With an opening date finally set, we surveyed the scene at La Cabra Brewing, in Berwyn. If it sounds familiar, it’s because its brewer’s been testing the waters for a while now.

By Mike Madaio        Photography by Matthew J. Rhein

In recent weeks, Dan Popernack’s found himself reflecting often on the circuitous route that’s led him, a home brewer once upon a time, to the cusp of opening his own craft brewery and gastropub.

“I’ve been developing this concept for 10 years,” he told me last month, as we surveyed the construction-in-progress at the future home of La Cabra Brewing in Berwyn. Though, later, I’ll find an interview he did back in 2013 in which he quoted the same duration. “Ten years of thinking, planning, researching, talking to every bartender, brewpub owner, distributor that I could before I felt confident enough.”

What he’s created is a compelling lineup of beers that deftly walks the line between and adventurous, paired with a Latin-inspired menu that runs much the same, served in a dramatic setting in which every intriguing, historic feature’s been restored and accentuated.

“We probably could’ve been open by now, but we don’t believe in rushing,” Popernack says. “We’ll open exactly on time.”

That time came Tuesday.

Popernack taught himself home-brewing in college. “My parents wouldn’t let me drink in the house, but they gave in when I said I’d make it myself,” he says. Later, he worked at The Beeryard, in Wayne, while he pursued his master’s at Villanova. La Cabra started to come into focus in 2013, while he was teaching at The Phelps School and home-brewing in his spare time. It was then when he launched a mailing list that quickly found a cult-like following. In it, Popernack described his latest experimentations and made available “samples” to the recipients. The arrangement is officially described as a “brewery-in-planning.” Aspiring craft brewers can make and share their beer with the public, but they can’t sell it. Think of it as a means of fostering a grassroots following with the expectation that it’ll lend some momentum to an eventual brick-and-mortar opening.

Popernack’s since built his reputation, and, in turn, La Cabra’s, on sour, funky beers crafted from wild yeast and barrel-aging, the kind that the nerds seem to make the most noise about. But they tend to not play as well with the casual-drinking crowd. “Of course I’m going to keep doing that,” Popernack says, as he shows me around an aging room in the basement. “But if that’s all I wanted to do, I would have stayed home.”

One of his aims is to riff off the food menu. “Playing with food pairings is actually one of my favorite things,” he says. And he’s quite talented at it. La Cabra’s Juno Pale Ale, infused with lime zest and rosemary, may be the best taco beer I’ve ever had.

Popernack’s, of course, devoted as much intention in partnering up and assembling his staff, from the chef to the servers, as he has to every tangible component. But while their missions may be aligned, they’re not singular.

“The bottom line is that we want people to feel welcome here, like they’re walking into our home, whether they’re really into beer or not,” Popernack says. “I’m obviously passionate about it. I’ve devoted my life to it. But beer isn’t everything. If we can be good neighbors, great members of the community, then we’ll really have achieved something.”

La Cabra Brewing, 642 Lancaster Avenue, Berwyn.

 

5 Fall-inspired Beers You Need to Try—And Not a Hint of Pumpkin to be Found

La Cabra Brewing Belma

The inherent berry flavor of the Belma hop, the banana esters of a wheat beer, united by the comforting spice of a traditional witbier.

Conshohocken Brewing Company Puddlers Row ESB

It’s not seasonal and it’s not especially trendy—the extra special bitter was big at the inception of the craft movement, back in the nineties—but this ale’s a near-perfect match for this schizophrenic weather. Toasty, mild sweetness up front, crisp and dry on the back end.

Flying Fish Brewing Co. Exit 7 Pork Roll Porter

The true meat here is a robust, dark-roasted malt which forges a beer that tastes closer to a Tootsie Roll than a pork roll.

Free Will Brewing Co. Coffee Oatmeal Brown

Crafted by cold-steeping an already-rich, brown ale with freshly roasted coffee beans, the resulting flavor is fueled by waves of sweet raisin and molasses with a pleasantly bitter undercurrent.

Victory Brewing Company Moonglow Weizenbock

Rich caramel complemented by the warmth of clove, the sweetness of banana and the brightness of apple. —MM

6 Holiday Home Tours to Hit

FIELD GUIDE

For a couple precious weeks each year, we can enter the homes of complete (and, sometimes, not) strangers and gawk at their stuff. To ensure that you satisfy your curiosity, we offer a brief guide to the prime snooping—err, tours.

By Scott Edwards

‘Tis the season to scope out some of the most inspiring halls around us, public and private. And, of course, soak up some holiday vibes. But, let’s be honest, we drag the dog out for a walk out most nights as a convenient excuse to peer through our neighbors’ floor-to-ceiling windows. These are the couple of weeks of the year when we can drop the act and walk right in. What follows is a guide to the season’s most promising house tours. Rest assured that every property will be decked out. You’re probably more interested in what lies beneath the garland, though. As are we.

Newtown Historic Assoc. Holiday Open House Tour | December 3
Six homes and seven public buildings, all in Rockwell-ian Newtown Borough, comprise this year’s self-guided walking tour, which dates back to 1963 (when admission was a buck-fifty; it’s $30 now). You’ll find some of the most impressive examples of colonial-era architecture in Bucks County among this collection.
Chadds Ford Historical Society Candlelight Christmas Tour | Dec. 3
Several historic Chadds Ford and Pennsbury township properties will be decorated and awash in candlelight—or, rather, sunlight; the tour starts at 1 p.m.; but candles will be burning, or plugged in, at least—for the self-guided tour. This one’s most appropriate for the history savant. Most of the featured stops played a role in the 1777 Battle of Brandywine.

 

Chestnut Hill Community Assoc. Christmas-Holiday House Tour | Dec. 3
Navigate the five featured homes on your own, by car, or aboard one of the trolleys that’ll be tracing the route throughout the day.

 

 

 

Fonthill Holiday Lights Meander | Dec. 10
There’s only one stop on this tour, but it’s a doozy. In broad daylight on an average Tuesday, Henry Mercer’s personal castle in Doylestown, Fonthill Museum, is akin to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, if Wonka was a freak craftsman instead of a sugar fiend. Adorned with garland, candles and designer Christmas trees, it’s sensory overload.
Haverford Holiday House Tour | Dec. 11
Five homes, the oldest dating back to the 19th century. Expect lots of wide-plank floors, short doorframes and built-in shelving and cabinetry. In other words, the kind of authentic nuances that, despite our boundless innovation since their inception, have become impossible to replicate.

 

Pottsgrove Manor by Candlelight | Dec. 11
On the 12th day of Christmas, the English colonists got down with their God-fearing selves—indulgent dinners, lavish parties. So, here, actors will be recreating some of those scenes throughout the 264-year-old mansion of Pottstown’s founder. There will be something on all three floors—dancing in the parlor, cooking in the kitchen and, we’re expecting, a secret rendezvous in the servants’ quarters.

 

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Life in the Cuckoo’s Nest

HOME DESIGN

Polished as her Northampton home may seem to her thousands of followers, Julia Konya’s life is in constant upheaval. And that’s just how she likes it.
By Sean Downey

 

Julia Konya isn’t comfortable in the spotlight. She’s never thought of herself as a writer, much less an Internet personality. Yet her face is front and center on the interior design blog, Cuckoo4Design, she created from scratch and relentlessly updates each day. The blog has become a source of inspiration for the tens of thousands who regularly return for the never-ending flow of whimsical design and clever decorating ideas. Check in once and you’ll soon be immersed in painted curtains, secretary desk makeovers and an endless stream of other intricate DIY projects.

But beyond all that, she’d prefer to be left to her own devices. “When I’m alone, I can be creative,” Konya says. “That’s pretty much how I’ve always been. As a child, I used to lock myself in my room and just color or do craft projects.”

Konya grew up in Germany, where she studied art and visual merchandising before moving to the United States at 21 for a marketing internship at an engineering firm based in Bethlehem. That’s where she met her husband, Jarrid Konya.

After the couple settled in Northampton to raise their two children and four cats, Julia continued working with her hands. And every time she would refinish a piece of furniture, remodel a bedroom or fashion new drapes, her friends would ask how she created such a distinct look. “So I decided to start a blog and put everything in there,” she says. “I figured it would let my family in Germany see what I was doing too.”

Her visual approach to blogging turned out to be perfect for Pinterest and Instagram, where she quickly developed a following of 28,000 strong.

“I had to get over my fear people might think I was saying something wrong,” Konya says. “But I’ve grown to love blogging because I get to do what I love and I make my own hours.”

For all her time and effort, the posts that prove the most popular seem to take on lives of their own, like the outdoor enclosure she built for their cats. “I built them an outdoor play area with tunnels that are connected along the fence to our living room window, but I was scared to write about it because I thought people would think I was completely nuts,” Konya says. “But that post has received the most traffic ever.” The project even caught the eye of modern cat magazine.

Design is temporary
Spend any time on Cuckoo4Design and it’s immediately apparent how much Konya looks at her home as a work of art. Graphic lines on the front porch and in the living room give way to geometric patterns in the bathrooms and bright accents in the kitchen. Every corner, every surface is fair game.

“I get an idea, I get an inspiration and I do it. And if I don’t like what I’ve done, I just redo it or take it down,” she says. “When I complete a project, I take pictures and write about it.”

She’s also adamant about not plotting her projects well in advance. That’s too structured for her liking. “I feel like the people who follow me like the spontaneity.”

Who’s afraid of a little heavy lifting?
Konya’s designs and her home life often bleed together as one, and she’s quick to point out that her house doesn’t always look as perfect as it does in the blog. Most of the time, actually, it’s a mess. “My family is used to the house being torn apart most of the time,” she says.

She also tackles the handyman work—“I’m a perfectionist, and I don’t like it when Jarrid helps.”
Her approach, she says, is always even-keeled, even in the face of the kind of trauma that usually sends a couple into a fiery rage. Case in point, earlier this year, the Konyas bought a new sectional for their basement. It wasn’t until they got it home that they realized it wasn’t going to fit down the stairs. After much deliberation, Julia took it upon herself to bring it down in pieces.

“When it came to cutting the sofa in half, I just figured I’d be able to put it back together again later,” she says.
She carefully stripped the upholstery, cut the feet off and then, impossibly, put it all back together downstairs.

Home is where the heart is
While Konya’s built her following around letting people into her home, she’s cautious about making her blog too personal. “But I realize that I have to keep things somewhat personal or else the readers don’t have anything to connect with,” she says.

A few years ago, Konya confided about her daughter’s sensory issues and candida overgrowth. The emotional posts conveyed a deeply personal and difficult struggle to help her daughter get through painful periods in her young life.

“I felt like it connected with a lot more people and helped them in some way because there are a lot of people going through the same thing,” Konya says.

For the most part, though, Konya’s posts are focused on her insatiable desire to make all the spaces in her home—“Half of my husband’s man cave is ripped apart right now”—as dynamic as she can. The attention’s flattering, but it’s by no means an affirmation. Interior design, for Konya, is about the means, not so much the end.

“I’m a big believer in going with the flow and not dreaming too big,” she says. “I want to stay focused on doing what I like to do. And if something happens, it happens.”

At least so far, it’s happening.

Photos (interiors) courtesy Cuckoo4Design / Julia Konya; (portrait) courtesy Cuckoo4Design / Jules & George Photography