Friday, Nov. 21, 2008

Chef Profile: Old Hickory’s Executive Chef Joanne Bondy

The Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center has numerous restaurants, but be sure to check out the Old Hickory Steakhouse, where Executive Chef Joanne Bondy creates gourmet meals each evening. Bondy brings decades of food experience to the table, having worked at restaurants from Dallas, to Phoenix to Altanta. Below is a question-and-answer with the executive chef.

Name: Joanne Bondy, executive Chef at Old Hickory

Age: 48

Family: Single

School: Graduated with a degree in Banking and Finance, Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.

Experience:

Executive Chef and Partner, Ciudad D.F., Dallas, 2000-2006;

Chef of Specialty Outlets, Mirage Corp., Biloxi, Miss., 1999–2000;

Chef de Cuisine, Arizona Biltmore Resort, Phoenix, 1996–1999;

Banquet Chef, The Fairmont Hotel, Dallas, 1993–1996;

Chef and Partner, Let Them Eat Cheesecake, Atlanta, 1992–1993;

Executive Chef, Parkside Restaurant, Atlanta, 1990-1992;

Freelance Chef, Rowlands Catering, Atlanta, 1990–1993;

Executive Bakery Chef, Worthington Hotel, Fort Worth, 1987-1990;

Sous Chef, Sam’s Crescent Café, Dallas, 1986–1987;

Food Production Manager, Marriott Corporation, Tampa, Fla., 1981–1986.

When did you get your start cooking? Ever since I was 14, I worked in a restaurant ... Started out at Wendy’s. My grandparents owned a grocery story, so that helped. I grew up around good food."

Favorite dish: I like to find out what my guests like ... [and] that’s what I like to cook. I like to be spontaneous. I can go to your refrigerator and make a complete meal with what you think is hopeless.

Least favorite dish: Cheap Tex-Mex. Cheesy, saucy, beany, ricey Tex-Mex.

Favorite kitchen tool: Knives. I don’t even use a food processor.

Favorite ingredient: I like corn. You can add corn to anything, and people go crazy ... The white corn that [Brentwood Farms] produce is unbelievable. Old Hickory Steak House’s recipe for Habanero Creamed Corn is the most requested at the restaurant.

When you go out to dinner, where do you go? Chef Sharon Hage’s York St. off Skillman Avenue in Dallas’ Lakewood area. She’s very focused on her craft. You can tell she’s a chef. She’s the real deal.

Best kitchen memory: Working as a banquet chef with the Fairmont in Dallas two, eight self-ovens were overloaded and collapsed. We were going to feed probably 2,000 people in six hours. Someone had to crawl into the ovens to pull out all the food. Wehad to cook the items in other hotel ovens. We had to run around pretty intensely . . . It actually worked out OK.

Worst kitchen disaster: When working at the Ciudad, a restaurant in Dallas as a partner, investor and executive chef, the fire extinguisher went off spraying powder all over the New Year’s Eve dinner. Most of the food was protected from the powder, but the powder covered the gas stove and put the fire out. The rest of the meal was cooked in what was available: a convection oven, a steamer and butane burners. Nobody new the difference, but it was kind of crazy getting ready for that first seating. It didn’t turn out to be a disaster, but it was pretty close.

What’s in your ’fridge at home?: Right now I’ve got some red mole. I’ve got a buttermilk pie, some manchego cheese, white wine, Dos XX beer, a Himalayan truffle.

Favorite indulgence?: Vanilla ice cream topped with chopped, salted Virginia peanuts.

Farmer's Mac & Cheese

Makes 8 Servings

Ingredients:

4 Cups Dry Pasta

1 Head Cauliflower cut into floweret's.

2 Cups Heavy Cream

1 Tablespoon Whole Grain Dijon Mustard

4 Hits of Tabasco Sauce

3 Cups Gruyere Cheese, grated

1 Cup fresh Parmesan

salt to taste

pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook pasta in lightly salted water with a little Olive Oil. Drain.

Microwave cauliflower in covered dish until al dente. YOu can either steam or boil the floweret's, whichever you prefer.

Meanwhile, have heavy cream simmering so that you can quickly add the cooked hot pasta.

Cook pasta with cream until the cream coats the pasta. Turn off burner.

Add to pot:

1 Tablespoon Whole Grain Dijon Mustard

4 Hits of Tabasco Sauce

3 Cups Gruyere Cheese-grated

1 Cup Parmesan (the good stuff…Kraft Green Shaker Not Allowed

Stir together.

S&P to taste. Let it absorb into the ingredients…before you over season!