Chef Cynthia Romstadt: From Dirt Roads to Fine Dining and Major Culinary Competitions

The latest podcast episode explores the inspiring journeys of Chef Cynthia Romstadt and Chef - turned Proteins Salesman, Curt Hicken, who share their insights on unique ingredients, culinary competition preparation, and the evolving role of women in the kitchen. Throughout the episode, they emphasize the importance of mentorship and the storytelling aspect of cooking, encouraging listeners to connect with food on a deeper level. 
• Curt discusses his innovative dishes and unconventional ingredients like pine cones 
• Cynthia shares her experiences as a female executive chef • Insights into preparing for the US Culinary Open and the pressure involved 
• The significance of mentorship and guiding young chefs 
• Emphasizes the evolving role of women in culinary arts 
• Anecdotes about chaos in the kitchen provide laughter and lessons 
• The podcast encapsulates how cooking is about journeys, stories, and connections

Thank you Peninsula Foodservice for providing the Creekstone Farm Bone-In Ribeye for our cooking segment! 

Dish in Photo by:
Svetlana Hicken

Photo by:
John Hernandez 

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Chapters

• 0:51 Food Podcast and Culinary Conversations
• 12:05 Female Chef's Culinary Journey
• 25:58 Culinary Leadership and Kitchen Culture
• 31:48 Restaurant Stories and Culinary Adventures

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:51

Hello food fan. This is the Walk Talk podcast, where you will find the perfect blend of food fun and cooking knowledge. I'm your host, carl Fiatini. Welcome to the number one food podcast in the country. We're recording on site at Ibis Images Studios, where food photography comes alive and I get to eat it. Here's a humble request to give a follow on Instagram at walkintalkshow, please, and thank you. Tired of manual fruit cutting, I know I am. Try Supercut System, an automated solution that cuts 120 citrus wedges per minute. With consistent slices and a hygienic design, it enhances safety and efficiency. Improve your operations at Supercutcom and ask about risk-free trials.

Speaker 1: 1:37

Today we're excited to have Chef Cynthia Ronstadt, executive Chef at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, texas, and a native of Asheville, north Carolina. Cynthia is a two-time gold medalist in ACF pastry competitions and was named to resort in Chef Magazine's 2024 40 Under 40. She's also been selected for the prestigious 2025 US Culinary Open, where she will showcase her talents alongside 11 other top culinarians, and the Walk Talk podcast will be there to capture everything. But first let's get into what John shot today with Peninsula Food Services and also chef Kurt Hicken. He cooked up a couple of doozies, kurt, welcome back. And dude, you got the chops Thank you, you really do.

Speaker 1: 2:32

You didn't lose a step. I know you haven't been in the kitchen and you know you haven't been in the industry like that in a while, but, dude, you throw it down.

Speaker 2: 2:41

Thank you, yes.

Speaker 1: 2:42

Let's talk about what you did today, you dirty, dirty dog. What did you do today?

Speaker 2: 2:46

We did a crispy Cantonese pork belly with kimchi and a buckthorn berry sauce. The trick with the crispy Cantonese pork belly basically it's like a chicharron but cut into a larger steak size. It's got that rich flavor to it. But you're going with a spicy kimchi. And buckthorn berry is a tart berry that we mixed with a little ginger and syrup. They complement each other very well, I believe. And then we did that as well with a juniper berry dusted bone-in 20-ounce creek stone ribeye with some fennel roasted potatoes and some king pine cone jam Very unique ingredient, it's a European forest dish. And the pine cone jam very unique ingredient, it's a european forest dish. And the pine cone jam is a russian ingredient little mini pine cones that you, you boil and water until they become edible.

Speaker 1: 3:38

Essentially, uh, more kurt, hold on a minute, hold on. I want everyone to understand something. It's a pine cone. Okay, it's a pine cone, except they're little baby pine cones. So it's like the, maybe the size of the tip of a pinky or something like that, and they're soft and flavorful and I've never seen anything or heard of that in my life. You know, in my mind growing up, I've always wondered like, wow, you know, like can we eat pine cones? I think every kid probably maybe thought of that. But you can and we did today. So people need to know that.

Speaker 2: 4:16

It's a unique ingredient, definitely, and it's most commonly used with a dessert item, but I would use it personally with a venison or a beef item, something you can bring that heart, hearty flavor out and and extended because it's sweet, um, like a glaze. I like the ingredient.

Speaker 1: 4:33

It had brought a lot to the steak, I think what you picked today in terms of ingredients with the profile layers, was right on. Thank you again. Like lately, I've been saying this these chefs have been telling me on the phone hey, we're going to do this, that and whatever. And as they're telling me, I'm like I don't know In my mind, I'm like I don't, I don't know how that's going to work out. I have faith in the people who we work with, because everyone is a abject professional and bad-ass in their own way. So today was one of those days and here it is again. I'm just blown away and naturally and you saw, I mean you, you know you're here while we're doing the, the film work and john's doing the photography you saw what this guy does. You see what he does it's amazing.

Speaker 1: 5:22

I mean he brought the elevated caliber of the plate completely I just don't know how the hell you did pine cones today, man, and you know it's funny, because on the table where we're sitting, you know holding the podcast, there's a dish of actual pine cone pine cones, you know, just for show and it's a little apropos. I think that was terrific. You brought something else today the borscht.

Speaker 2: 5:47

Oh, I brought some borscht. My wife is russian and she had been promising carl some borscht for quite some time and when he, when I called him to tell him I had borscht, that's when he asked me to come to the show. So I think it was kind of a trick. Yeah, just to get the borscht, I was like you know, what.

Speaker 1: 6:02

I don't know if this guy didn't make anything good, but I know that bors's just gonna be good wifey. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm totally digging it, yeah, and I, and I ate the whole thing too, like I. I slurped down the entire.

Speaker 2: 6:17

I think you did, I did. I don't think you shared any no, I didn't.

Speaker 1: 6:20

No, there might be something all right, but before we move on and introduce Chef Cynthia, before that, what gave you the inspiration for the pine cone dish, specifically Like? What were you thinking about to put that together?

Speaker 2: 6:37

It was a combination of things. My wife a big part of it. You know I love to learn different foods and, being married to a Russian person, their culinary is like their alphabet it's grossly different than ours. So I look at the things that she has and then when I saw it and I tasted it, I thought, well, this is very wintery, it's got to have something strong winter flavor. And then the weather outside was cold and changing. I said, you know, if we could have a piece of bison or a piece of beef or venison, you know a nice hearty, large-cut piece of meat, this would be perfect with it. And then, you know, I was trying to find something to taper between the flavors. So that's where the juniper berry came in, was a middle, kind of like a gin flavor, between the sweet glaze and the hearty flavor of the beef.

Speaker 1: 7:26

Well, we landed on that bone-increased on ribeye, which I don't think is any slouch. That's pretty amazing too.

Speaker 2: 7:31

That was an amazing cut of meat.

Speaker 1: 7:32

Yeah, it was pretty Okay. Well, I just one more time want to say thank you. That was really great what you did today. Absolutely thank you. I think I might have you back.

Speaker 2: 7:42

I can do that.

Speaker 1: 7:43

Okay, all right. This NAFM show in February in Atlanta where the US Culinary Open will be held, this competition, cooking competition super, super excited. We're going to have the whole walk and talk media team at this event photography, videography, the podcast, and it's going to be amazing. The podcast, and it's going to be amazing. We are the official podcast for this event and we're just really fortunate to partner with these guys and over at NAFM as well. Thank you, chef Nick and Chef Polly, because you keep us plugged in and we appreciate that. So I just wanted to put that out there, everybody, and without now further ado, chef Cynthia, welcome to the program.

Speaker 3: 9:06

Well, hello everyone. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: 9:14

My pleasure. You know we had a really great conversation last week leading up to this our pregame powwow so thank you for that. Are you excited about all this, or what I mean? You have to be excited, right.

Speaker 3: 9:22

It's really starting to hit me. I mean, I want to say that I'm getting sleep, but my brain is just turning all the time. The good part is we actually had to turn in our final menus a couple days ago, so the conceptual piece is done. At this point we can't change anything that we've submitted. If we do, we have to have approval. Knowing that I know what I'm doing now, I know what dishes I'm doing and that doesn't change. That helps me sleep a little. I'm getting pretty excited.

Speaker 1: 9:51

That has to be a truckload of pressure off of your shoulders. And what I mean is right, because in the end, you've got this situation where what am I going to cook? How is it going to work? What am I doing? And I think that's the biggest, that's probably the biggest question mark, because you've been cooking for a long time Like you know what you can do. So let me ask you this, this, this I've asked so far. I've had a handful of the other competitors on the program and I ask everyone the same thing. You've got beer chefs, michelin chefs, you've got food network winners. Does that change how you approach this competition? Does that affect you on your psyche in any way?

Speaker 3: 10:35

Initially, yes, I started looking at everyone I was competing against. I'm like, oh man, when I started thinking of ideas I was trying to be like them almost and I had to take a step back and be like you know what. You've made it this far based on who you are. I really want to represent myself and my own style in this competition and kind of just remain an individual and not follow in anybody's footsteps, necessarily. But yeah, it's a lot to take in, it's a lot of pressure, and seeing who all I'm up against is pretty cool. Actually, I'm really excited to see everything that they make.

Speaker 1: 11:11

Yeah, I'm super excited for this too. Obviously, you know I'm an eater and this is like right up my alley. What are you doing to prep for this competition? How are you training for this?

Speaker 3: 11:22

So we're doing full-blown practice rounds start to finish just like we would be in the arena kitchen. You know, trying to perfect our timing, perfect, perfect, every move that we're making. As far as efficiency and sanitation, the Comey that I have is just fantastic. She's a little fireball like me and you know we're just totally grooving to the point where we don't even have to talk. You know she's. She's handing me tools like we're. You know we're just totally grooving to the point where we don't even have to talk. You know she's. She's handing me tools like where you know where I'm a surgeon and she's my nurse assistant and like we're not even talking to each other. You know it's like violent service and she knows my next step and it's just. It's really cool and the more and more we practice, the better and better it gets.

Speaker 3: 11:58

So we probably got another five or six full practice rounds scheduled before the big day.

Speaker 1: 12:06

Is this somebody that you've worked with in the past?

Speaker 3: 12:13

Yes, she does work for me.

Speaker 1: 12:13

She's one of my line cooks here, so I've worked with her for a year and a half now. Yeah, you've already got built-in camaraderie, like you already got the system.

Speaker 3: 12:18

Yeah, I'm really fortunate. I mean, we do have that age parameter. Our company has to be under the age of 23. You know, I have one person that qualified and I couldn't ask for a better person. So she's killing it.

Speaker 1: 12:30

Yeah, I mean 23,. That leaves me out by like a couple of decades. Yeah, that's, that's terrible, let's. Let's talk James Beard foundation dinners. You've done a couple of them and I have to believe that in and of itself that has to be nerve wracking, am I wrong?

Speaker 3: 12:46

No, you're not wrong. Where I work, colonial Country Club has been selected for the last two years to host the Friends of James Beard benefit for the state of Texas, which is obviously a huge validation for the legacy that Colonial has and the reputation for quality that we have. And so being a part of that entire process I mean it's months of planning was just so cool to be able to network with restaurant chefs that I wouldn't usually have the opportunity to work with local industry leaders, other vendors and just the foodies that bought tickets to come. I mean, it was just, it was an incredible experience. We had almost 300 people here that bought a ticket for a five course meal and before that we had 20 local chefs doing different activation stations during the cocktail hours. So you know, hosting that and putting it on from start to finish was a big task, but it was a ton of fun at the same time.

Speaker 1: 13:47

I intend to go to one of these dinners at some point. I feel like there's one coming up here in Jacksonville or St Augustine one of the two. I got to check that out.

Speaker 3: 13:55

You know, being a country club chef and being able to be accepted into that world or be a part of that world. It's almost like a career defining moment. So it's very unique. I don't know that it'll ever happen again and it's just really cool to be a part of.

Speaker 1: 14:09

Well, the foundation itself. It's a pretty cool. They do a lot of great, great things. What you're doing at the US Culinary Open with your Comey female, Comey female executive chef. A lot of things are changing in the industry and the Beard Foundation is there for it. How do you feel the landscape is changing for women in culinary roles?

Speaker 3: 14:28

I do see more and more women in this executive chef position, which I love to see. I mean, I'm still seeing a lot of young chefs be savory chefs, young females being savory chefs. I think the industry in its entirety, you know, has a fair amount of challenges and disadvantages when it comes to work-life balance, and burnout doesn't necessarily discriminate against gender. But I think, you know, men and women both bring different and unique traits and values to the table and, at the end of the day, as long as we're putting our strengths forward for the betterment of the team, you know, that's what it's all about.

Speaker 1: 15:02

You know, and I thought it was really great, you won those two ACF pastry events and I asked I said are you that a pastry chef that became a savory exec or how did that work? And you said no, I'm a savory chef and I happen to know a little bit of pastry and I think that would be considered like a nail in the coffin of the old kind of guard in that regard.

Speaker 3: 15:27

Oh yeah, totally the old kind of guard in that regard. In that regard, oh yeah, totally yeah, I think part of being a female. In the beginning of my career I was pushed more by my chefs to to work towards the bakery or on the bakery side of things, and it did take some time for me to earn my chops and in the kitchen. I can remember being on a grill station for 4th of July at Cherokee Town and Country Club in Atlanta, georgia. We're cooking for, I want to say, like 4,000 people. I was 20 years old and there's probably 15, 20 grills lining down this putting grain. And I'm looking around and I'm like I'm the only chick out here. You know, I'm the only one flipping burgers on 4th of July. That's a female. And I look at chef Walker and I'm like I'm the only girl and he's like you're not a girl, you're a chef. And ever since that day I was like oh okay, just a chef, y'all.

Speaker 1: 16:15

Yeah, and you're working grill usually got you in the garbage or something like that. You know what I mean, so that's, that's amazing.

Speaker 1: 16:21

Yeah, and I just want to make a mention too. So I've done a lot of business with chefs in general, from country clubs to independence to corporate whatever. And when you're talking about country clubs, that's a you know, it's, that's like old school, it isn't. It isn't like some you know indie restaurant somewhere and it's you know hip, you know kind of everybody's tatted up on their forearms with you know knives and pigs and whatever. It's. Everything is different in the club and it's. I don't want to, I don't want to say it like that, but at the end of the day, what you did to get to where you are should be commended and is really amazing.

Speaker 3: 16:59

Well, you know it's 2025 and I tell the guys in the in the men's grill, I I'd walk right in there Like you're eating my food. It's 2025. I think I can come in here now and I do. I mean, I have, I was raised by a single dad and I have three brothers and I'm just, you know, comfortable talking to guys and you know they're they're dressed.

Speaker 1: 17:23

True story. Hey, listen, I don't want any trouble over here, cynthia. Okay, I don't want any trouble, chef, I don't want any trouble. What inspires you Like, what cuisine is it that brings you passion, and how are you going to take that passion into the US Culinary Open?

Speaker 3: 17:39

Well, I've learned a lot about Latin cuisine having moved to Texas. Like you said, I'm originally from North Carolina. I didn't grow up with a lot of culture. I grew up on a dirt road in the mountains. My parents made hamburger helper and tuna helper and shaking big pork chops growing up. So pretty much as soon as I got my license I started driving to downtown Asheville. I started really venturing out. Everyone in my family thinks I'm kind of crazy because I'm the only one that's moved out of North Carolina.

Speaker 3: 18:11

I've always been interested in different foods and it's just been a really, really cool experience, especially with the staff that I have here, learning about their cuisine. The Latin flavors, you know. They're just so bold and fresh and vibrant. They really do inspire me, and so of course we do our Tex-Mex, but we do a fun version of elevated comfort food with some Latin flair as well. But I always tell people too I'm pantry inspired. I like to just create with things that I'm surrounded by. That's kind of how my granny taught me how to cook growing up. She raised me until I was 12. All I remember is having a refrigerator that's full of condiments and somehow she would put out like the five course meal every night and I'm like I don't even know where that came from. So now I kind of feel like that.

Speaker 1: 19:01

Yeah, but I'm not going to let you off the hook on the question though. All right, so let me put it like this what are you cooking at home? Like? All right, so let me put it like this what are you cooking at home? Like what's your go-to. But then, if you go out to eat, what are you ordering?

Speaker 3: 19:10

Well, if I'm cooking at home, I'm probably making some kind of taco or tostada, and if I'm going out to eat, I am ooh well, I'm always getting dessert, that is for sure, and a margarita. All right, so we're all All right so that's the beginning of the end.

Speaker 1: 19:27

We're all hanging out.

Speaker 3: 19:28

I'm just saying I love Vietnamese food. I love really fresh flavors, fresh produce, the crunchy bean sprouts I mean the Vietnamese food is right up my alley, Even when I lived in Atlanta. There's so many great places for Vietnamese food, so that's probably my favorite cuisine of all time my favorite cuisine of all time.

Speaker 1: 19:52

Every single, I'm going to say 19 out of 20 chefs are going to pick an Asian cuisine as their favorite whether it's Korean or. Vietnamese.

Speaker 3: 19:57

There's a lot of French influence in Vietnamese food, so you could say French as well.

Speaker 1: 20:01

I guess you know, I guess you could say that we have their baguettes and their pâtés. Yeah, and I'm not. You know who's going to judge. Who would judge such a thing? So we know what your favorites are. How are you bringing that into the competition?

Speaker 3: 20:15

My menu is definitely progressive flavors, starting with the appetizer and leading into the entrees. I feel that they're very unique. I feel that they're very unique. I feel that what I'm bringing to the table is a nice blend of visual the look of everything, the textures of everything, the colors, and trying not to repeat that in each course, but making sure that all three still tell the same story. So I'm really proud of the menu that we've created. We've put a ton of time into it. I do want to keep it a secret. I don't want anybody to know what my theme is right now, but I do have a very specific theme for my menu and I'm really, really excited to showcase it.

Speaker 1: 21:10

So you came to win this thing. Your goal is to walk away with a victory right.

Speaker 3: 21:15

We all have a chance. I don't want to sit here and say that anybody's better than the other. We all have a chance at this thing. I think it's going to come down to tens of points. I really do. I think it's going to be a really close competition. It's going to be harder for the judges than it is going to be for the participants. I'm so excited to see what everybody does and I'm really excited to be a part of it and just to be on the same level as everybody. Just to be considered on the same level as everybody is really, really validating and exciting.

Speaker 1: 21:46

I'm so motivated by competitions. I wish I was. Well, I don't wish I was a chef. I don't wish that I grew up in the kitchen, I was in the front of the house and it was a different life. With that said, these competitions, I wish I can be involved in them because it's exciting to me. We have chefs that come through here at the studio every week and we get to see all sorts of amazing dishes and different just different creations, different inspirations and passions from all the different personalities. Right, I would love to get all these guys and gals together and do a competition walk and talk style. That would be amazing, because then at least I could be a part of the thing. You know what I mean. That would be pretty.

Speaker 2: 22:28

You're looking at me you're looking at me, Kurt. Right, that would be something. That would be something you want to jump in. That's a great idea.

Speaker 1: 22:36

You want to get on that. Yeah, you guys want you down too. I mean, listen, I know you got all your work ahead of you here for the US Culinary Open, but I mean, maybe we could put that together.

Speaker 3: 22:45

Yeah, I've got. All the time in the world I can give you some recipes. That was a joke. Yeah, of course it was hey listen. I'll take any help I can get.

Speaker 1: 22:57

No see, chris is trying to get me in trouble over here somehow.

Speaker 2: 23:00

That's what he did to me last week.

Speaker 1: 23:01

That's true. Well, you deserve it.

Speaker 3: 23:03

I just wish I was there to try your food today, because it all sounds amazing.

Speaker 1: 23:07

Wait till you see the pictures. I'm not sure how much everybody follows along. You know all the participants who are in this competition. Everybody's very busy and we appreciate the time that you cut out for us on the podcast here. But I have to tell you like, because everyone is so busy, I am not sure how much of our content everyone has able has been able to consume. When you go and scroll our instagram and you know to go kind of check out our what we, what we do here and what john does specifically, it's pretty amazing.

Speaker 1: 23:42

This guy is probably in the top five food photographers in the country and I mean that that and I'm not. You know I have no reason to throw flowers at you. I'm staring right at him right now. I would never do that. I've known him for too long to give him any flowers, but he deserves this and I feel like if people would see the end product, wow, there'd be a line around the block over here and that's what I told you, cynthia. I said I want to get you to this, to the studio. Man. I want to get, I want to capture what you do and blow it up.

Speaker 3: 24:15

I would love that, and food photography is not easy. That is a very hard thing to do. Well, chefs are trying to do it with their cell phones every day. Compared to what you do, it's like, oh my, my gosh, it's a totally different world it's funny.

Speaker 1: 24:29

I, you know I follow a lot of chefs, obviously on social. You know, you see what they do and you you can tell that these plates that they're putting out, that they're gorgeous. You can see it in the, in their iphone snapshot. You see that it's a really pretty dish. But then when you come to an actual studio and you see it executed properly, with the right equipment and knowledge and all this stuff, you want to eat the photo. Let's talk legacies. What culinary legacy would you like to leave?

Speaker 3: 25:00

I'm in a fun new phase of my career where I you know, I just turned 36 and I'm to the point where I'm transitioning into being more of a mentor. I'm feeling that phase in my life kind of take over. So I'm experiencing for the first time really watching cooks develop, watching them become lead line cooks to sous chefs and watching them grow and develop not only like in their cooking skills but also in their maturity and their leadership and just being good people. That has been the most fun part of my entire career so far. It's just watching people grow up, developing people underneath me. And I also love teaching cooking classes here at the club kids cooking classes. You know, when I was in high school I worked at the Young Chefs Academy and did the little pizza birthday parties where I taught the kids how to make pizza and I just I just love that element of the job where not only do I get to cook but I also get to teach people and it's just really fun.

Speaker 1: 25:59

I don't know that there's a better answer that a chef could provide. You want to pass on the legacy, you want to show people the correct ways of doing things and maybe you can bridge a gap to some. You know young, up and coming culinary and instead of making all the wrong decisions and choices, you can possibly lead them and turn them into somebody who is going to lead the next generation down the road.

Speaker 2: 26:28

Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. I think that our job as chefs nowadays it's a whole different world and if we can inspire young people to come into the industry now but come in with a different mindset, I don't want people to be scared of me as a chef. I don't want it to be the world where you're yelling and screaming, but instead the world where you're bringing people together and you're developing and you're coming up with ideas and you know I love to learn things from my dishwashers and from other people you know below me and and just change the mindset I.

Speaker 2: 26:58

I know there's chef shows that you see out on TV, that you know there's a lot of yelling and screaming and and throwing stuff around. That's not the impact we want to show as a chef. If the kitchen's crashing, diffuse it before it's a dining room, and if the dining room and the servers are crashing, diffuse it before it gets to the kitchen, so we can bring that to a nice palette. And if we can instill that in our kids and and then get them motivated to be. Do this as opposed to get into it for money, because this, this is a great field and you can make a lot of money in it. But if if you're doing it for the money, you're not going to make money, if you're doing it because you love it, then money's going to come Well said Cynthia, you agree?

Speaker 3: 27:36

Absolutely 100%.

Speaker 1: 27:39

A lot of times, the people that we get in the kitchen staff and not even just the kitchen, the people who go work at restaurants traditionally have issues.

Speaker 1: 27:49

Could be a number of things, but typically speaking, they end up working in the food business and a lot of times those personalities are rough. And because they're rough, I think that as leaders, you need to be rough in order to control and then you need to nurture. I don't know that you can start nurturing somebody who's already jagged. You know, somebody told me who's very successful has led a lot of people. This is just a metaphor, but you have to bloody somebody's nose to get them to pay attention, but then you are the one that hands them the towel and the Band-Aid and by doing that they learn that there's consequences and that they have to listen. Now, I'm not saying that throwing pans at somebody is a good thing at all, but you know, I feel like the kitchen is still a rough place to be well, I think it is, and I agree that you do have to be strong, but your strengths can come in different ways.

Speaker 2: 28:58

for me, I went through a pretty bad accident towards the end of my career and that's how I got out of this, but I realized that I'm not saving lives. I'm cooking somebody a dinner, and so I don't have to yell at you, I can just send you home. It's not like I don't know how to do your station and work it and do it better, and when you show that calm demeanor and that calm response to somebody when they're acting out of line, it resonates through your whole staff that this guy's no joke.

Speaker 2: 29:26

I mean, he doesn't mind doing my job and he can do it better than me and I can't make. I can't rattle him and get him mad when you show that you're losing your temper, throwing things, getting mad, screaming you've lost already because they got under your skin. Dude, you're nothing, go home. I you know put it. Or I used to tell people when I worked in new orleans I had a couple chefs want to take me outside and I'll back afterwards, but I said take that chef coat off and put a dishwasher jacket on and they hated that, I mean like no dude, you're not a chef, not, not actually not cooking like that.

Speaker 2: 30:01

You're not making stew, you're sautéing so do it right or go put a dishwasher jacket on you're not yelling at somebody, I guess you're subtly demeaning them in a way that puts them down in front of all their coworkers without you raising your voice and showing you're being a little upset by this. Instead, you're in control.

Speaker 1: 30:23

Chef Cynthia thoughts.

Speaker 3: 30:25

Yeah, you know, I think my first instinct is to always hold somebody's hand or baby them and then they're not gonna learn anything that way. I do think it's good to let somebody essentially burn one time, you know, go down in flames, you know. It's good for a sous chef to have to go out and apologize to a member for an undercooked kid's burger. You know, that's how I got to where I am, that's what seasoned me. My chef never held my hand. I was responsible for everything that I prepared and I had to answer to it. They have to go through the exact same thing. They have to get burned a couple times. They've got to learn their lessons the hard way. I'm there to support. Obviously I want to prevent those situations as much as possible with training and with oversight. But eventually you know it does happen where we're in the human error business and you know real life experience is the best way to learn.

Speaker 1: 31:16

And then carry yourself properly through the uh, through the challenge. Well said, we're going to segue now into John. You didn't know we're doing this today, but we're doing walking confessions. We're bringing it back, chef Cynthia, all right. So, listen, being in the business, you get all sorts of things that happen. Right, there's cuts and burns and things that blow up and sharp knives, and it's not a pleasant place to be sometimes in the back of the house. Our segment, walk-in confessions kind of talks and gets into some of those situations, and I know that you have some interesting things to say.

Speaker 3: 31:49

It was a Saturday afternoon. We had anywhere from five to $10,000 worth of beef, tenderloin, crab, cans of crab everything on the dumb waiter coming up from the storeroom to the main kitchen and we lose power and it trips the dumb waiter and it's stuck in between floors. We're calling maintenance, we're trying to get in touch with somebody. No one's really available. I finally get in touch with one of the maintenance guys but he's on vacation. He can't come fix it and he's like look, there's only one solution to this. If you need to get that food off of here right now, that's to hotwire the dumbwaiter. He's like I'm going to talk you through it, but this is what you've got to do. You've got to take this one wire. You've got to touch the end you know one end to 19 and one end to 26 and yell down the hall for somebody to push the button while you're holding both the wires.

Speaker 1: 32:39

You're trying to land an airplane.

Speaker 3: 32:41

Exactly, it worked. We got food and I hotwired a dumbwaiter and I felt, I felt cool.

Speaker 1: 32:49

And then after your shift, you went, hotwired a Toyota and you drove off into the sunset, right? Is that what happened that night?

Speaker 3: 32:55

Oh yeah, well, it wasn't a Toyota, but yeah.

Speaker 1: 32:58

Okay, I love it. Kurt, I know you must have a story.

Speaker 2: 33:02

I was running a Houston in Atlanta and some guy came in with his girlfriend and her wife actually, and they were having dinner and sitting at the table together and you know, I've got all my somewhat thuggish line cooks working and they all think they're so tough and such. And the girl told the guy that she was, you know, seeing another guy and the guy got up and and and pulled the gun and shot across the dining room and I'm watching all these cooks hiding underneath counters and inside the dishwasher. Across the room in the dining room there's a gunshot and you guys are hiding underneath canned goods and behind stuff in my kitchen.

Speaker 1: 33:42

I would have went straight to the walk-in.

Speaker 2: 33:46

I guess I figured one guy I said because that's where I went is uh, you know, there's no way out. So if he comes back, there's no way out, he goes. You know, if he came back here you'd be stuck okay, yeah, true story.

Speaker 1: 33:57

I mean, is this like a? Dumb guy that I am was this a serial killer or was just like a rando? There's a crazy jealous husband yeah, straight to the walk-in, this guy but you don't know what it is all you hear is a gunshot.

Speaker 2: 34:10

You know you're not at the table seeing who's shooting you. Just all of a sudden you hear a gunshot inside a nice restaurant and he's what's?

Speaker 1: 34:17

this is a little bit as long as you don't hear a whisper in your ear that says hello, clarice, I think you're okay so the police were there and they shot him over the top of this giant spear that came.

Speaker 2: 34:29

So it was, it was. It was a bit of. It was crazy for a houston's restaurant.

Speaker 1: 34:33

It's a true story well, no, I mean listen, it's all over the news. So, first of all, houston's is such a nice place. Yeah, it really is a beautiful place, no matter where where you are in the country.

Speaker 2: 34:44

The wildest part of the story and this adds to the story is you go in any other restaurant and the art on the wall is just some cheap art. You go into Houston's. This sphere weighed a couple tons and was flown in from Asia. It was a $100,000 piece of art. There's blood splatter all over it. All the art on the walls is real art. There's blood splatter all over it and all the art on the walls is real art. And so this kind of experience inside a restaurant that's like that it was. You know it's, it's. This is no James Beard restaurant, but they just do really well at everything we do and they don't cut any corners. They don't cut any corners in their, their decor, their food quality and all that. So it was a pretty interesting.

Speaker 1: 35:29

Well, here's the plot twist that sphere, that hundred thousand dollar piece of art is now worth 2.5 million. Okay, there's your plot twist, cynthia. I'm so appreciative of you giving us time coming on the show and and kind of talking, uh industry with us. How do people find you?

Speaker 3: 35:49

So I'm on Instagram. My handle is CCCCYNDFW. Of course, I have Facebook and LinkedIn Cynthia Romstadt, and that's it.

Speaker 1: 36:01

Everybody out there. Go check out Chef Cynthia. She is a badass and I can't wait for John to get a hold of the food you're going to be cooking up over at the NAFM show. It's going to be amazing. Kurt, how do people find you?

Speaker 2: 36:18

Hicken Kurt with Kurt with a C H-I-C-K-E-N-C-U-R-T.

Speaker 1: 36:23

All right everybody. Thank you very much today for being here and doing all that you do. John, Kurt, Chef, Cynthiaynthia, you're all amazing. We are out.