From Punk Drummer to Vegan Private Chef: Aaron Elliott’s Culinary Journey

In this episode of Chefs Without Restaurants, host Chris Spear speaks with Aaron Elliott, a vegan chef with a unique background in punk music. Aaron shares his journey from being a drummer in various bands to becoming a private chef for high-profile clients like Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and director James Cameron. In addition to being a private chef, Aaron recently launched his own vegan meal delivery service, Meal Ticket, in Los Angeles.

They discuss the intersections between music and food, the challenges of maintaining a vegan lifestyle on tour, and how Aaron's passion for cooking evolved from necessity to a full-blown career. Whether you're into punk rock, vegan cuisine, or just love a good story of following your passion, this episode has something for you.

For anyone in the Los Angeles area, Aaron will be hosting his first-ever pop-up at the beloved vegan bakery Baker’s Bench on September 17th. The evening will be an extension of Meal Ticket, as he’ll be cooking up a limited menu of fan-favorites from the meal delivery service.

AARON ELLIOTT and MEAL TICKET
Find Aaron and Meal Ticket on Instagram
The Meal Ticket Website
Recipe for Aaron's Vegan Pumpkin Gnocchi

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Chris Spear: What do you get when you mix punk rock, straight edge living, and a passion for plant based cooking? On today's show, that's what we're talking about. You'll hear from Aaron Elliott, a former drummer turned private chef, for some of the biggest names in the world. Think director James Cameron and Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker.

[00:00:19] Chris Spear: Aaron shares his story going from life on the road living off of five dollars a day and eating meals like rice and beans to staging at restaurants like Noma and cooking for some of the most well known people in the world. Whether you're vegan or not, or if your musical taste is more aligned with Taylor Swift than Rancid, this is an episode you're not going to want to miss.

[00:00:40] Chris Spear: This is Chris Spear, and you're listening to Chefs Without Restaurants, the show where I speak with culinary entrepreneurs and people working in the food and beverage industry outside of a traditional restaurant setting. I have 32 years of working in kitchens, but not restaurants, and currently operate a personal chef service, throwing dinner parties in the Washington, D.

[00:00:58] Chris Spear: C. area. [00:01:00] When Aaron was just 13 years old, he embraced the straight edge lifestyle. It was introduced to him through a middle school friend who was into minor threat. D. C. represent! This led to a vegetarian lifestyle, and now, 25 years later, Aaron's a vegan. We talk about the challenges of maintaining a vegan lifestyle on the road, which is one of the things that led him to becoming a chef in the first place.

[00:01:22] Chris Spear: We discuss having the confidence to cook the food that, uh, you're really passionate about. When he started his private chef journey, he wasn't cooking vegan food, he was still cooking meat and dairy. So we talk about, you know, having the confidence and drive to have those things aligned. His, his lifestyle and his interest with what he was doing for his career.

[00:01:43] Chris Spear: So we really dig into the private chef aspect of what he's been doing. And in addition to that, he also launched his own vegan meal delivery service called Meal Ticket. He's currently doing deliveries one day a week. For now, it's 10 couples, and it's meals that'll last you for a couple days. [00:02:00] Food looks super delicious and really creative.

[00:02:03] Chris Spear: Even if you're not vegan and you don't live in LA, I think you should check out his Instagram. Even if it's just for some inspiration, I think you're gonna like it. And of course, that's gonna be linked in the show notes as always. And I'd love to hear what you think. The easiest way is to hit me up on Instagram and threads at chefs without restaurants.

[00:02:22] Chris Spear: You can also go to chefswithoutrestaurants. org to find the latest podcast episode, but also our private Facebook group and a bunch of rotating, uh, links to things that I think are interesting. And, of course, if you're enjoying the show, please tell people about it. Spread the word. Spread the love. I know you have a lot of choices about what you listen to and how you spend your time, so I really appreciate you checking out the show.

[00:02:47] Chris Spear: Thanks again, and have a great week.

[00:02:48] Chris Spear: Hey, Aaron, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for coming on.

[00:02:50] Aaron Elliott: Hey, Chris, thanks for having me.

[00:02:52] Chris Spear: I'm really excited to talk to you today because I'm both a chef. So obviously I love having chefs on the show, but I'm also a big music fan and you're someone who has a music background. So that was really interesting to me.

[00:03:03] Chris Spear: I actually took my kids to see Green Day two days ago. So starting the kids off young getting out to some rock shows, is Green Day on tour with Rancid right now? So yes, and we had a thunderstorm. Rancid played two songs and did not get to come back out. I had my Rancid shirt, my son, my kids, my kids were so jazzed.

[00:03:24] Chris Spear: So we saw the Linda Lindas. They were great. Rancid came out, did two songs and they made us take a emergency shelter and said that they'd come back and we were inside for an hour. And then we came back and Smashing Pumpkins went on and there, listen, there's nothing wrong with the pumpkins, but my kids were there like super jazzed for Rancid and they're like, this is kind of.

[00:03:42] Chris Spear: Like bullshit, like, like, like who is this guy up there that is not, you know, this is not rancid, but I, yeah, but my son and I actually, we drove to Boston for, I live in the DC area. We drove up to Boston to see them last year. They did two nights at the house of blues and it was their only headlining show, so we did get to do that.

[00:03:54] Chris Spear: So my kids are big music fans. My daughter's 12. She plays bass in a rock band. So cool. Congrats,

[00:04:06] Aaron Elliott: man. That's amazing. Yeah,

[00:04:08] Chris Spear: we're really, we're really into music. So when I heard about you, I was like, Oh, well, this is really cool because I'm a lifelong music fan. And you know, any, anytime you can kind of have the intersection of music and food, which we're going to get to, because I think.

[00:04:20] Chris Spear: There's a lot of similarities, which, you know, maybe you see as well. But so let's kind of back this up and start about, start talking about the music. So you were a drummer in a punk band. Like, did you grow up loving music and playing as a kid? Like, what was that like?

[00:04:36] Aaron Elliott: Well, while we're on the subject of Rancid Yeah, yeah.

[00:04:39] Aaron Elliott: When I was, when I was 13 years old is when I started playing drums. I was, I was on a hockey team with this kid who, who was like, definitely more leaning more towards punk rock than he was sports. And he turned me on to Operation Ivy. And that was that's what, what did it. Operation Ivy, like just completely changed my life.

[00:04:53] Aaron Elliott: And I got drums and I was like, let's start a band. Let's start a band. Let's start a band. And we did. And our, the first show we ever played when I was 13 we played four Operation Ivy cover songs. And one original song.

[00:05:09] Chris Spear: Can't go wrong with that though. That's a really solid stuff to start with.

[00:05:12] Aaron Elliott: So, yeah, so that's kind of how how I got started.

[00:05:15] Aaron Elliott: I ended up stopped playing hockey and started playing drums and it just like completely changed my life. Consumed my life all through middle school high school and into like my mid 20s.

[00:05:29] Chris Spear: So like how did that look as far as like a like a pro like actually being a real band and doing shows and even Like touring like when did that really kick in for you?

[00:05:36] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, so as soon as I finished high school, I I joined a band in new jersey called I grew up in pittsburgh So I joined a band in New Jersey called the Escape Engine and they were they were like a very small, struggling punk band. But what I knew them as is they had a music video on MTV or maybe it was like MTV two.

[00:05:59] Aaron Elliott: So I was like this band that has a, Music video on MTV needs a drummer like I'm I'm out so I moved to New Jersey and played in their band ended up going on tour with them and You know, we would be touring the Midwest and playing to like 12 people a night So it was it was nowhere near what I thought the the band would be not as glamorous Yeah

[00:06:26] Chris Spear: Yeah,

[00:06:27] Aaron Elliott: not as glamorous as I thought it would be.

[00:06:30] Aaron Elliott: Yeah And then I went on to you know, I was in that band for a couple years You I moved to Richmond, Virginia, joined a band in there. And then when that band broke up is when I joined a band in Orange County, and that's how I kind of moved to California and never really left there since probably like 2007, 2008.

[00:06:45] Chris Spear: Well, and they have like a great history of music out there in like the Orange County area, right? Specifically for that kind of like punk stuff.

[00:06:52] Aaron Elliott: Yeah. Hardcore. A lot of good hardcore bands come from Orange County. I'm, I'm straight edge. I grew up straight edge. Still am a lot of good straight edge bands come from.

[00:07:01] Aaron Elliott: Orange County. So yeah, it was, it was a good place to be.

[00:07:05] Chris Spear: How does, how does, how do you become straight edge and eat your vegan and your vegan chef? Like, but you see the intersection of that a lot. Like, when did that become a thing for you that you just decided that was going to be your lifestyle?

[00:07:17] Aaron Elliott: I think when, I think when straight edge was introduced to me through a kid in high school, kid in middle school via minor threat, I think what It was a, it was something where I was young enough to where I didn't want to partake in those things.

[00:07:21] Aaron Elliott: So when I realized that like my peers, older kids that I looked up to were like, proudly claiming that they didn't do drugs or, or drink alcohol. That's kind of how I was like, Oh yeah, this is, This is all for me. This is exactly like what I want to do. I took it on. I started claiming straight edge when I, in 1999 when I was 13.

[00:08:17] Aaron Elliott: And then I think later on as I got older in high school I think it became more of like a, a rebellious thing for me. Where it was just so, it was just so normal and expected for somebody who listened to, Punk hardcore music to, you know, be on drugs. I think that's kind of how it was for me. It was more of a, a rebelling thing.

[00:08:39] Chris Spear: That's a good way to rebel. Cause usually rebellion is like, I'm going to do drugs and drink. So I think that's such an interesting movement of like, you know, rebelling, you know, one that parents could also get behind, you know,

[00:08:45] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, but same thing with my parents, you know, my parents when I was when I was playing in punk bands they assumed that I was probably smoking cigarettes, probably drinking.

[00:08:57] Aaron Elliott: So it was also kind of like rebelling against that that like stereotype that even my family thought was going on in the house. You know?

[00:09:08] Chris Spear: And like, when did being a vegan come in? Like, where did you like grow up doing that with your family? Like, were they vegan or vegetarian? No,

[00:09:16] Aaron Elliott: no, not at all. So my parents had an Italian restaurant and same thing with the straight edge thing.

[00:09:23] Aaron Elliott: I would be going to punk shows. And after the show, there's kids passing out zines, a lot of, one of the big topics and a lot of the zines were, was animal cruelty animal rights, vegan, vegetarian. So shortly after that, I think I saw probably like a PETA factory farm chicken video and and I went vegetarian at that same time, 1999.

[00:09:41] Aaron Elliott: And that's just something that kind of stuck with me. Just like Straight Edge has, where even as I like, you know, grow older, mature, it's still something that I kind of take with me and it's always just, when you, when I started learning about like healthy eating or started learning about environmental activism, stuff like that, that just kind of all tied into that same vegetarian lifestyle.

[00:10:08] Aaron Elliott: So it was just like an easy, easy way to bring it with me throughout my life. And then I went vegan probably 2000, 2008, 2009. Yeah. And I've been vegan since then.

[00:10:21] Chris Spear: Well, you and I, I'm not a vegetarian or vegan though. I was vegetarian. It was in 99. So timeframe wise, like I know what it was like back then.

[00:10:30] Chris Spear: I had actually, I Felt like crap. Like I wasn't eating well, I wanted to feel better. But I met my wife and she had been a vegetarian for three years at that point. So it was almost like a talking point. Like I was going through a trial and I meet this, you know, cute girl at a concert and she's like, I'm vegetarian.

[00:10:42] Chris Spear: I'm like, Oh, I am too. You know, just like, let's talk and see how this goes. And then you start dating. You're like. Am I going to be vegetarian for like 70 years, you know and we're not anymore, but I try and, you know, source my meats and, and stuff responsibly. And there's the whole argument, like that there's no responsible.

[00:11:00] Chris Spear: And, you know, that's a whole big thing with the vegan and vegetarians, but, you know, we eat a lot of vegetarian and vegan cooking at home. And I do a lot for them. And the great thing for me is it taught me to be a better chef overall. I think when you eat a lot of meat, you know, it's like this giant steak and then you're just throwing some like vegetables and a baked potato on the side.

[00:11:19] Chris Spear: But when you're doing vegetarian, it's like I'm getting into Vietnamese and Ethiopian and Thai and Middle Eastern and all these really cool cuisines that have great flavor profiles that then even if you decide to incorporate meat. and dairy and whatever back in your diet, you have this great repertoire of cuisines that you're comfortable with.

[00:11:33] Chris Spear: And then it's like, you know, I don't even miss eating meat that often. I mean, we'll eat very sparingly one or two times a week.

[00:11:40] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, that's amazing. I'm, I'm starting to hear that a lot more as of lately, too. I, I don't know if you've noticed, Chris, but a lot of a lot of my long, like, long time vegan vegetarian friends are kinda starting to introduce meat and fish into their diet, like, you know, kinda one thing, one day at a time.

[00:11:59] Aaron Elliott: And it, you know, it to be, it seems to be working for them. Me specifically, I've always been like, okay, I'm gonna be a vegan like under any circumstances. So how can I tweak my diet to make this work for me? And you know, just always been super up on getting blood work done and seeing what I am deficient in and how to fix that and, and stuff, stuff like that.

[00:12:25] Aaron Elliott: So I do think that. Like thriving as a vegan vegetarian does take a lot of work. I'm willing to put in the the work to, to, you know, to make it right.

[00:12:32] Chris Spear: And I think there's a difference between, you know, so many people do it for different reasons and yeah. Health and animal cruelty are two very different things.

[00:12:39] Chris Spear: I mean, animal cruelty is like, it is what it is. You're. killing an animal, right? But for me, when I went into it from a health wise, it's like I was eating, you know, a lean boneless, skinless chicken breast. But now, you know, I'm eating like a processed, you know, veggie burger, or I'm having like fried eggs with cheese.

[00:12:57] Chris Spear: It's like I'm eating more fat. fat. I'm eating less healthy. I wasn't vegan. And you're looking at, it's like, well, my health has actually gone down. So, you know, like really looking at what you're eating and how you're eating it. And I think that's one of those challenges. But if it's, you know, like I don't believe in killing animals and that's a pretty clear cut, we're going to do whatever it takes to like not eat animal and animal based products.

[00:13:18] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, exactly.

[00:13:20] Chris Spear: So I assume it was really challenging for you on the road to eat this way when you were in a band, especially as you get to maybe less big cities. I'm sure if you're hitting, you know, DC, Boston, LA, you can find some places to eat, but you're out in Iowa somewhere and like, what are you going to eat for dinner?

[00:13:33] Chris Spear: Is that the case?

[00:13:34] Aaron Elliott: That's 100 percent the case. And funny enough, that's kind of how I got into cooking, for myself anyway because that was the case, it was so hard to find food, and we were Our, our payment at the time was 5 a day. So that's what we were, that's what we were living off of when we were on the road.

[00:13:52] Aaron Elliott: So I would bring a rice cooker on tour and we'd get to the venue. I'd set up my drums, I'd plug in the rice cooker and I would have like dried lentils, quinoa, brown rice. I would throw it all in the rice cooker, turn it on, go back to, you know, whatever I was doing with the, with setting up the drums.

[00:14:13] Aaron Elliott: And then in an hour I would come and, and eat my my steamed grains, legumes.

[00:14:19] Chris Spear: So really glamorous living, 5 a day and like rice and beans in the bathroom. Very glamorous,

[00:14:24] Aaron Elliott: yeah. But that's how I, you know, that's kind of how I, that was like my first step into kind of falling in love with cooking for myself.

[00:14:32] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, that's kind of how it all started.

[00:14:35] Chris Spear: And again, like if this, you know, was years ago, it's gotten easier, right? Like in 2024, it's so much easier to find great products that are vegetarian, plant based, whatever. But, you know, 10 plus years ago, not as easy.

[00:14:48] Aaron Elliott: Not as easy for sure.

[00:14:50] Chris Spear: Yeah. So how did that continue to grow?

[00:14:53] Chris Spear: Like you were teaching, teaching yourself like cooking and just doing it for yourself on the road. And then what, like cooking for other people as well while you were out.

[00:15:03] Aaron Elliott: So no, those, those three techniques that I, that I just dropped on you. That was the extent of my cooking while, while I was on tour.

[00:15:12] Aaron Elliott: And so I just so happened to be playing in a band, band in Orange County. With a friend of mine named Ryan Wilson. Ryan's brother C. J. Wilson, was a pitcher for the Texas Rangers. And he was, he was aware of me, like, making these, you know, Meals for myself at the venue and when the band broke up, he reached out to Ryan and was like, Hey, would Aaron want to come out to Texas and, and be my private chef for me?

[00:15:35] Aaron Elliott: He's like, I'm, my diet's kind of gone to trash. The food I'm eating at the baseball stadium is garbage and I need more healthy food in my life. Is that something he would be into? So you could imagine what I was, what was going through my head of like, okay, there's a professional athlete that's asking me to be his private chef and I know how to steam quinoa, lentils, and brown rice.

[00:16:00] Aaron Elliott: So I kind of got back to him with that and then he was just like, look, come out here if you If you dig it, then stay and we'll just kind of, you know, you'll just kind of learn on the fly and see where it goes. So I took them up on it. I was working as a valet parker at the time. So I was It's going to be better than parking cars.

[00:16:11] Aaron Elliott: So I moved out to Texas with him and I became his private chef and 15 years later, here we are. I'm still, still cooking every day and still and still loving it.

[00:16:22] Chris Spear: That's crazy because you know, I'm sure at the time he could have found someone who was a more experienced chef. So to, to go through that process together of just saying like, Hey, you know, like I'm an experienced chef and I still think it would be hard for me today to even land a gig as like a private chef.

[00:16:37] Chris Spear: For someone, you know, so to reach out and say, Hey, I understand you don't really know your way around a kitchen, but I'm sure you'll figure it out. I'll I'm willing to take this ride with you and, you know, just cook me some good food that that's pretty cool. Because most people I don't think have it happened to them like that.

[00:16:52] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, it was really cool. It was really cool on his end. And I do think there was kind of you know, we were, we were friendly with each other at the time, and I think [00:17:00] he, he kinda was aware that the, the band was kind of like going downhill and his, his brother Ryan is an amazing artist and still is to this day.

[00:17:11] Aaron Elliott: So, like, he was like, you know, I know I, I know most of these guys are gonna be fine, but like, kind of worried about this guy. Maybe I'll bring him out here and , let, let him cook, cook for me and see where it goes.

[00:17:20] Chris Spear: So were you just like doing meal prep type stuff for him and his family, or?

[00:17:24] Aaron Elliott: So he was single at the time, so it was In Texas was him, his his personal assistant, who was another one of my best friends Brad Gilbo and me, we, we were at his house.

[00:17:35] Aaron Elliott: We would the way that the baseball schedule is, it's kind of two weeks at home, two weeks on the road. So we would come out to Texas when he was home and then we would go back to LA when he was on the road. And yeah, and it was, it was lunch and it was breakfast, lunch and dinner. He would typically leave for the, for the stadium around like noon for like a seven 30 game.

[00:17:54] Aaron Elliott: And so I, I would, I would make him breakfast and lunch at the house. And then he would take dinner with [00:18:00] them to the, to the stadium.

[00:18:02] Chris Spear: For an athlete, how much variety is there? Cause I know I have some friends who do this and they say sometimes it's kind of boring because they're just, you know, they've got someone who's trying to either bulk up or cut or whatever.

[00:18:12] Chris Spear: And it's a lot of the same stuff over and over. What was your experience with that? Was there variety? Was it interesting for you?

[00:18:18] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, he was he was definitely, like, a foodie type. He wanted to eat all styles of food, and there was no there was no like weight cutting or bulking up or anything like that.

[00:18:26] Aaron Elliott: He was, like, you know, there was a cal certain amount of calories that he wanted to hit, certain amount of protein that he wanted to hit, but, Other than that, he was very adventurous, which was so good for me because as I was learning on the fly, I was able to you know, it wasn't just the same bland protein and carbs and fats and stuff like that.

[00:18:45] Aaron Elliott: I got to have a lot of fun with it and kind of see what I liked and see what I didn't like. See what I was good at and what I really needed to work on.

[00:18:53] Chris Spear: So where did you pick up your cooking skills? Like now you clearly need to up your game. How are you learning to be a better chef?

[00:18:59] Aaron Elliott: [00:19:00] So, like I had said my parents owned a restaurant, so I, I grew up in the restaurant.

[00:19:05] Aaron Elliott: My mom is an amazing cook. So anytime he would request something that I was just like, I don't even know where to start here. I would get on the phone, call my mom. I'd be like, okay mom, I gotta make lasagna tonight. I don't know, I don't know what I'm doing. And she would just be like, okay, I, I got this.

[00:19:27] Aaron Elliott: Like, here's your shopping list, go get it. When you get back to the house, call me. I'll walk you through it. And I'd call my mom. She would walk me through, you know, making the pomodoro sauce. The ricotta, all the, all the components. And then she'd be like, okay, put it in the oven, 45 minute timer, call me in 45 minutes.

[00:19:47] Chris Spear: And then when he needs something that she doesn't know, then you just gotta, you gotta wing it there, you know, moms special recipes. You're on your own there.

[00:19:56] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, totally.

[00:19:58] Chris Spear: Was he eating meat? Like, were you doing [00:20:00] vegetarian, vegan or so? So

[00:20:02] Aaron Elliott: he was, he was the, the first and only client that I've ever had that I've cooked, that I was cooking animal protein for, and to be honest, at the time, I didn't know that there was an opportunity to be a, a vegan chef.

[00:20:19] Aaron Elliott: Like it was, it just didn't seem like that was a career path that, that I had known anybody doing it or anything like that. So, so I was cooking him chicken and steak and fish. And all that stuff and it was nice that he was a friend of mine because I wasn't tasting it so it would be something where I would serve it and if it needed a little more salt he wasn't like afraid to tell me and I wasn't, you know, okay, I'll write that down, I'll do it better next time kind of thing.

[00:20:48] Aaron Elliott: So yeah, he was the he, that was the first time I've ever, I was ever making steak and chicken and stuff like that. And then the, the transition into becoming a vegan chef was when I, I was [00:21:00] catering a party at his house and I did it all vegan and someone's assistant was there at the house and they had the food and they were like, Hey, I really liked this food.

[00:21:11] Aaron Elliott: A guy I cook for is vegan and needs a chef. Are you available? And I was like, yeah, I'm available. So I went, I went over to his house and cooked him vegan food. He ended up hiring me. And then that was when I was once I got that gig, I, I was like, I fell in love with cooking. I knew I wanted to be a vegan chef and I just kind of, I went, that's when I went all in.

[00:21:37] Chris Spear: That's great. We talk a lot about this on this show, not just in relation to being vegan, but like finding your ideal client. Cause I think a lot of us, like you need work, you need money. Someone comes to you with what they want. And it's like, ah, it's not my wheelhouse. I don't really love this. I also don't have a lot of work.

[00:21:52] Chris Spear: Like, let me do my thing. And just like getting to that point where you're confident in what you want to do, finding who your ideal client [00:22:00] is and just like pushing and then. The food is so much better when every day you're going out there, like cooking your food and the stuff that you love, as opposed to like just muddling through for, you know, a paycheck.

[00:22:11] Chris Spear: Right.

[00:22:11] Aaron Elliott: I couldn't agree more. Yeah. It's, it's so important to find, to find a good fit with, with a family. And and you know, I, I just, I've gotten so lucky over the years. The family that I'm with now I've been with for like almost nine years. Before that, I was with a family for six years. So I, I, you know, I'm able to, I am able to find these like perfect fits and, and just kind of stick with it for as long as possible.

[00:22:38] Chris Spear: Now, how many clients, like you say, you've been with a family for nine years during that time, are you cooking for anyone else? Cause I know a lot of private chefs have like multiple clients and they have different cook days. What does that look like for you?

[00:22:50] Aaron Elliott: Yeah right now. There was a time when, when I was, I was exclusively with, with this family that, that I'm still with and then over the years, it kind of scaled [00:23:00] back.

[00:23:00] Aaron Elliott: Now I'm there three days a week. And I'm able to have two other clients as well, and I'm also able to do Meal Ticket, which is the meal delivery service that I just started in January.

[00:23:13] Chris Spear: Yeah, well, let's, let's talk about Meal Ticket, because the food looks amazing. Oh, thanks. But you're also only cooking for ten, it's for ten people, is that right?

[00:23:22] Chris Spear: It's kind of like, how, what does that work?

[00:23:25] Aaron Elliott: It's first come first serve. So what happens is the, I'll post the menu on a Wednesday night. So that'll go out that'll go out in a, in a few hours. And I just, you know, post it up on Instagram. First 10 to DM me that they got this. They got the spot. So

[00:23:42] Chris Spear: now is that multiple days?

[00:23:43] Chris Spear: Like I see there's a whole bunch of stuff. So is is that set up where it's like five entrees or is it like composed? Cause I see there's like a pasta and a salad, like how many days are people getting out of one of those pickup orders from you?

[00:23:55] Aaron Elliott: Yeah. So each menu has six items and each [00:24:00] menu feeds two people and it's meant to last, I would say about three to four days.

[00:24:06] Aaron Elliott: Of lunch and dinner for two people.

[00:24:09] Chris Spear: That's pretty good. I mean, especially if you don't have to cook, right?

[00:24:13] Aaron Elliott: Yeah. Yeah. It's it, it, it's, it's a lot of fun too. It's a lot of fun on, on my end. And yeah, I'm just, I'm just having so much fun with it.

[00:24:21] Chris Spear: So where did that come from? The idea to do that?

[00:24:24] Aaron Elliott: Yeah. So my, my younger brother, Jake is also in the restaurant.

[00:24:29] Aaron Elliott: Business still you know, grew up in a restaurant and still is today. So he works on a house. He's a general manager of restaurants and our dream has always been to open a restaurant. And and during the pandemic, we, we were looking for spaces and. You know, just having bad luck with landlords or with leases or whatever.

[00:24:51] Aaron Elliott: And all the spaces that we looked at ended up falling through, like, you know, at the, at the very last second, it seemed like, and it was just this bad luck. [00:25:00] Reoccurring pattern of this and about, I would say nine months ago, we were looking at a space that that a lady was gonna, was, she wanted to sell her, sell her lease and move back to France and at the very last second, she decided, you know what?

[00:25:18] Aaron Elliott: I don't want to sell. I'm going to stay here. So I call my brother and I'm, and we're just kind of like, this is crazy. This keeps happening. It's been so many years. And with so many restaurants closing right now and just like the state of restaurants and how bad it's, you know, it seems to be for, for a lot of restaurants, we decided to put it on old.

[00:25:41] Aaron Elliott: And I knew that I wanted to do something in the meantime. And over Christmas break, I was talking to my wife about, you know, maybe I'll do a kind of like a meal delivery thing. So over Christmas break, I sent an email out to about 10 friends. And I was like, Hey, I have this idea [00:26:00] of doing a meal delivery service once a week.

[00:26:04] Aaron Elliott: I'll send out a menu you either opt in or opt out. And everybody on the list was like, yeah, that sounds awesome. I'm in yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's do this. Let's do this. So January 1st happened to be a Monday. That was the first time I did meal ticket just to the close friends, that just to the email list that I had sent out and and it was awesome.

[00:26:21] Aaron Elliott: And I had so much fun doing it and I was able to you know, cook at a much lower price point than I would, if I was coming to your house and cooking. And yeah, so I was like, okay, cool. I'll do it. I'll try this again next week. And I just, every Monday I kept doing it and doing it and doing it. And then after a few months.

[00:26:40] Aaron Elliott: Of tweaking things and getting feedback from friends. I decided to launch it and just kind of make an Instagram page and, and make it what it is now of menu goes up. You, you, you direct message me in, if you want in and first 10 you'll get food on Monday.

[00:26:57] Chris Spear: And I'm sure you're in a great city and area for [00:27:00] that.

[00:27:00] Chris Spear: You know, one of the things with the show is I talk to people all over the country and I see so much depending on where you are. But I think when you're in these major markets, like I'm in the. Metro DC area and very similarly, you know, a lot of working people, disposable income, like just, you know, whatever, what's this thing cost?

[00:27:17] Chris Spear: Yeah, bring really awesome food to my house and go. I know it's a little different when you're in like Boise, Idaho, or whatever, to get something like this up off the ground. But I'm assuming you have had a pretty easy way to get it going out there.

[00:27:30] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, it's been, it's been great so far. And you know, It seems everybody's question is, okay, how do we, how do we expand this?

[00:27:39] Aaron Elliott: How do we do more than 10? And I'm just at a, at a spot right now where I'm, I'm having so much fun with it that I'm not even like thinking about like, if this can expand into something bigger. I'm just kind of, I'm happy where it's at and, and the more the more attention that it's getting and, you know, the more I'm turning away every week, [00:28:00] maybe the plan is to maybe add a second day.

[00:28:03] Aaron Elliott: So then this way I can do, I can do 20 a week and and that's, that'll be a way to, you know, add a, add a, not make it so exclusive but I'm not there yet. And it's. It's just, it's on Mondays and it's 10 people.

[00:28:15] Chris Spear: Well, doesn't the exclusivity add to the interest, right? Like if you're talking from a marketing standpoint, it's like you, how many people live in your area, you know?

[00:28:24] Chris Spear: And if 10%, like, what is that? Like 0. 01 percent or something, I mean, not even can get this thing. It kind of makes people want it a little more. So you'll be able to hopefully build up like this really strong interest for a while. So when you. If you do decide to expand I think that would be a good thing.

[00:28:42] Aaron Elliott: Yeah. Yeah, totally. I agree.

[00:28:44] Chris Spear: Now, I had heard you've cooked at some of the best restaurants in the world and done some stages. Can you talk about that a little bit and how you ended up doing those?

[00:28:52] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, absolutely. So restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, I've never heard of

[00:28:56] Chris Spear: it.

[00:28:58] Aaron Elliott: Just kidding,

[00:28:59] Chris Spear: just

[00:28:59] Aaron Elliott: [00:29:00] kidding. Was on my radar for sure, as it was with every chef in the world, I'm sure.

[00:29:06] Aaron Elliott: And I was especially drawn to NOMA because of their you know, what they were doing with vegetables they were known for foraging and they were known, known for going out like in the forest and to the beach and like foraging these things, bringing 'em back to the restaurant and making amazing dishes with them.

[00:29:27] Aaron Elliott: So I, I reached out to friends that I knew that had ate there and asked if they had any contacts there. And a friend of mine, Ben Curtis, was like, yes, I've been there multiple times. And I'm in touch with their PR, with their PR person. And I'm like, okay, can you introduce us and tell them I want to come?

[00:29:47] Aaron Elliott: I want to come intern at the restaurant. So he put me in touch with them and they were like, yeah, cool. Come next summer, 2015. Yeah. And I was like, okay, this was like nine months before. [00:30:00] So I just, you know, told the family I was with ahead of time. Like this is, I have this opportunity. I'm going to, I'm going to go intern at NOMA for 13 weeks and I'll be back.

[00:30:09] Aaron Elliott: And I hope that, you know, hope that you'll give me this kind of leave of absence and know that I'm going to, to make your food better.

[00:30:18] Chris Spear: How hard is that for someone who doesn't really have like, Cooking experience, restaurant experience, I mean, and I guess, do they take anyone? You know what I mean? Like, I know it's super hard to get into, so, not coming from a background of like, Michelin star restaurant cooking.

[00:30:35] Chris Spear: What was, I'm sure that was challenging. I mean, I'm sure it's challenging for anyone to go there, but especially like not really being of the same kind of cut as many of the other cooks there.

[00:30:45] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I was, I was able to be creative with my words and explain that I grew up in a restaurant and that I transitioned You know, all the years that I put in at the restaurant, at my [00:31:00] parents restaurant into becoming a private chef.

[00:31:02] Aaron Elliott: And I named dropped a little of who I had on my resume and made it, you know, I left the part that I've never really worked the line at a restaurant. I left that part out. And they were, they were like, yeah, come on out. And so I, I got through the door and once I got there, it was, it was It was very clear that I wasn't on the level as far as like, you know, restaurants, restaurant skills as the other 49 people working there.

[00:31:29] Aaron Elliott: But it was, it was cool. I was you know, I picked, I picked things up fast and the amazing thing about that internship is that they, they, it's so, it's such a dialed program that they, You put each intern through every station of the restaurant. So it's typically like two weeks. You start off your two weeks, you're, you're prepping, you're peeling herbs, you're, you know, peeling peas.

[00:31:53] Aaron Elliott: Then you move on to like the grill station. Then you're doing family meal. Then you're doing, [00:32:00] then you're foraging for two weeks. So the way that they just have that set out was, you

[00:32:07] Chris Spear: Would you still recommend it to someone like today to go stage at a top tier restaurant like that?

[00:32:12] Aaron Elliott: Absolutely. I, I didn't, I didn't go to culinary school, so I don't really have that to To you know, to say good or bad things about being that I did get into cooking kind of like at a later age it wasn't really a possibility as far as like, you know, I was already, uh, tried to be a musician for over a decade, so I wasn't going to go to culinary school.

[00:32:35] Aaron Elliott: All the chefs I was, we're talking to. Suggested that I did stodge at restaurants or, or work as a line cook in restaurants rather than culinary school. So yes, I would absolutely recommend that, that program,

[00:32:50] Chris Spear: well, and I'm sure for being interested in vegetarian and vegan, like having such a focus on plant based cooking there, even though they do have meat and animal proteins, [00:33:00] you know, I'm familiar with their menu and what they do, they're such a very vegetable focused restaurant.

[00:33:04] Chris Spear: So, again, like finding a place that's the right fit for you.

[00:33:08] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, yeah, yeah, a hundred percent.

[00:33:11] Chris Spear: So what, like, you come back from there, then what, what changed? Like, was that a transformative experience for you? Like, could you feel your cooking changing for your clients? You know, cause you said, I'm going to come back and be a better chef.

[00:33:26] Chris Spear: So then what did your cooking look like when you got back?

[00:33:29] Aaron Elliott: Well, I think I was just so inspired by the way that they were creating their dishes based off of what was available to them. And that's when I started getting obsessed with the, the farmer's markets around Los Angeles and just having the mindset of, okay, I'm going to start my day at the farmer's market and I'm going to, I'm going to buy what's available and I'm going to come back to the kitchen and figure out what's, what the menu is going to be [00:34:00] based off of what I just, What I just picked up at the market.

[00:34:03] Chris Spear: And I guess your clients have to be somewhat, I mean, it sounds like they had already bought in, but I know that that's not always the case with everyone's clients. Like some are a little more particular and they like this and that, and they like to have the menu spelled out, but it sounds like you have a little more leeway with who you were cooking for to just kind of run with that.

[00:34:18] Aaron Elliott: I, yeah, I had a lot of flexibility and I think that, I think it was so nice because You know, before my internship at Noma versus after, it was, it was like they had a completely different like a whole new menu basically. Rather than just having the things that I was used to the same, whatever, 12, 13, 14 things that I was making.

[00:34:40] Aaron Elliott: Now it's just like this whole Like secondary menu that we get to choose from.

[00:34:45] Chris Spear: Have you ever worked with chefs to ask them to grow something or get something for you? Like, is there anything that you've really wanted that you've had trouble getting? And now you're working with them directly in that manner?

[00:34:54] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, absolutely. Funny that you asked that. So the, the family that I was with During the [00:35:00] internship at Noma was James Cameron and his family who are big time vegans.

[00:35:06] Chris Spear: Makes movies, right? Yeah.

[00:35:08] Aaron Elliott: Yeah. Indie movie. He's an indie movie filmmaker. So they had a, they, yeah, they had, I don't think they still do, but they had a school called Muse.

[00:35:18] Aaron Elliott: And Muse was known for the farm that was on the school. So I was able to work really closely with Paul Hudak, who was the, was a teacher. He taught farming at the school, but was also in charge of growing. Foraging and then bringing this food to the kitchen at the school. And we became like so close and it was just like, you know, I had this in Copenhagen, can, is there any way we can get the seed and we can plant it?

[00:35:50] Aaron Elliott: And. And yeah, that, we, I mean, we still have a, a good relationship to this day and we're still just like bouncing things off. He put me on to have you ever had a [00:36:00] habanera?

[00:36:01] Chris Spear: So I love row seven and I grow a lot of the row seven seeds. So I've, I've seen the, have you ever seen the videos of them playing like Russian roulette with a bowl of like, it's like nine habanadas and one habanero in there.

[00:36:13] Chris Spear: No, that's a bowl around the table. Are you familiar with like row seven, who started the habanadas and all that with Dan Barber and them? Yeah, yeah. I know Dan Barber. Yeah. So like in conjunction with that, like he was really investigating, like Breeding vegetables for flavor and not necessarily yield or whatever.

[00:36:30] Chris Spear: So that was like a Dan Barber project. So like every year I buy the seeds, I just got their sweet garlic seeds, which is like a garlic leak hybrid they have. And then they have all these like funky fall squashes and their cucumber that I. I think it was just called an 828 or something. And they say that it's like really good for grilling.

[00:36:47] Chris Spear: Like it's a little firmer, less seeds, less water. And those are cool. So every year I buy seeds from, from row seven. So I've been growing the habanadas for like five or six years.

[00:36:56] Aaron Elliott: Oh, I'm going to flip this to Paul as soon as we get [00:37:00] off here and They have some really,

[00:37:01] Chris Spear: they have some really great stuff.

[00:37:02] Chris Spear: Yeah. And I met one of their seed breeders or scientists at a culinary convention in Philly back in 2020. So it was really interesting. Like when they were just starting the, their seed program there. So I love that kind of stuff. Cause you go to the grocery store and even to some extent, the farmers markets, it's like, It's like the same tomatoes that like everyone has, but then you go to a nursery and there's like 80 kinds of tomato plants.

[00:37:26] Chris Spear: Like, why are we just stuck with the same, you know, one or two kinds? And, and I understand a lot of why, but as a chef, it's frustrating. Cause I want like the good flavorful stuff.

[00:37:36] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, for sure.

[00:37:37] Chris Spear: Yeah. No, those habaneros are pretty cool.

[00:37:40] Aaron Elliott: So cool.

[00:37:42] Chris Spear: Looking at Meal Ticket what has been the most fun for you with that?

[00:37:47] Chris Spear: Like, are there dishes that you love? I, I see a lot of this artichoke thing. Like, people talk about the artichoke sandwich and maybe I've seen that. Do you have some favorite dishes or signature dishes or things that you really enjoy doing with that? [00:38:00]

[00:38:00] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, the artichoke sandwich has been, has been a, a favorite a favorite lately.

[00:38:05] Aaron Elliott: Which is Awesome. Because being that it's it's fried, it was something that I was, I would make for dinner parties or but because it's breaded and fried, I was like, I don't think this is going to work with meal delivery because you know, there's a chance that, you know, If I'm frying this on Monday, someone might not get to it till like Thursday.

[00:38:25] Aaron Elliott: I don't think it's gonna hold up like from a, from a flavor crispness standpoint. But I was like, you know what, let me try it. Have you ever, have you ever worked with Mochiko flour?

[00:38:38] Chris Spear: Yes, but only a couple of times, like the rice, like a rice, is it a rice flour?

[00:38:41] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, it's a sweet, sweet rice flour that that they used to make mochi with.

[00:38:46] Chris Spear: Yeah, my daughter and I made some desserts last year for her birthday, like these little, like, mochi, squishy kind of flower shaped desserts with it. I think, but I don't know that I've used it for anything else.

[00:38:56] Aaron Elliott: So I had mochiko flour and I'm like, you know what? Let me try, let me try it [00:39:00] with this. Let me try it with mochiko flour and topo chico.

[00:39:03] Aaron Elliott: So I do, I make it, I send it out and every text that I got was, I'm eating this like two days later, three days later, and it's still crispy and crunchy. And like, how, how is this? It's happening. And it's because of the, the combination of the Mochiko flour with the sparkling water that it's just, and I tested it at home.

[00:39:25] Aaron Elliott: I did it with some cauliflower, like kind of like a cauliflower tempura, fried it, put it in the fridge, took it out you know, a few hours later and it still has that like crispness to it.

[00:39:35] Chris Spear: So is it a wet batter? Is it like mixing the water in that and you batter it? And like shallow, is it shallow fried or deep fried?

[00:39:42] Aaron Elliott: It's shallow fried.

[00:39:44] Chris Spear: Wow. So then I guess, what do you do? Just throw it in like a frying pan just to like warm it up and it crisps it back up or the oven or something?

[00:39:51] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, exactly. So with, with the food I send out heating instructions for all the, for all the food as well. So yeah, that's a that's a [00:40:00] reheat in the oven.

[00:40:02] Aaron Elliott: I don't think it would be crispy if you put it in the microwave, but. Is

[00:40:05] Chris Spear: it a whole, like, is it artichoke heart? Is that what it is? It's like a smashed artichoke heart or.

[00:40:10] Aaron Elliott: Yeah. So it's a it's an artichoke that gets steamed and peeled. And then the artichoke heart gets, marinated in pickle brine.

[00:40:18] Chris Spear: Ooh, sounds good.

[00:40:20] Aaron Elliott: And then take it out of the pickle brine, put it in the batter, fry it. And then it comes with a fermented Fresno Buffalo sauce. Ranch dressing and slaw.

[00:40:34] Chris Spear: I want one of those right now. I might have to figure out how to bullshit one of those with some of the stuff I have in my house. Oh yeah, for sure.

[00:40:41] Chris Spear: How do you decide like what to make like from scratch versus buying? Like, what's that look like for you? Because there's so many, you know, condiments, like you can buy great fermented stuff. There's maybe a local producer who's making like a tempeh or tofu or something. How have you balanced like buying a pre made product versus doing it yourself?

[00:40:59] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, so I'm [00:41:00] trying to, I'm trying to do everything from scratch. So, you know, started making vegan mayo with the, with the aquafaba chickpea chickpea liquid, which is, turns out so awesome. And then, you know, I, I'm claim, Claiming that everything's made from scratch. And then yesterday someone asked a question.

[00:41:20] Aaron Elliott: They're like, Hey, where's, how did you make these buns? And I'm like, I didn't make the buns. And I'm like, oh man, I gotta start making, I gotta start making buns. Now, if I want to claim that everything's made from scratch, I got to make hamburger, like the sandwich buns from scratch. So that's kind of, that's kind of how it is.

[00:41:36] Aaron Elliott: It's kind of, it's, it's one step at a time, but but over the, over the six to seven months. Pretty much, pretty much we're making everything from scratch.

[00:41:45] Chris Spear: And if you grow in scale, that gets to be tough because I did the same thing when I started my business, but I have so many different met. Like the way I work is I have a different person, like every day.

[00:41:55] Chris Spear: So it was flexible. It's not like you you're set menu. And the first time I had a gluten free customer, I [00:42:00] made like gluten free crackers to go with pimento cheese. And then you're like. What? And it was one person of a party. So it's like a party of 10 and one person's gluten free and like, what am I doing?

[00:42:08] Chris Spear: Like, this is not sustainable because tomorrow's party is totally different. And the day after like, yeah, it'd be making gluten free crackers. But I said like, Oh, I'm going to make everything. And then I'm like, eh, that doesn't really work. Like the things that really matter I'll make, but like maybe find a really good gluten free cracker.

[00:42:24] Chris Spear: If I have like one person at a party, cause it just, I couldn't figure out that part.

[00:42:29] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, for sure. What's, what's, what's I'm struggling with, what I'm, I'm, I'm finding as like a big challenge is with the fermentation pickling side of it. So, like, I know next week that I want to have a Reuben on the menu.

[00:42:47] Aaron Elliott: So, I almost have to start because I, I always do the menu on Wednesday, but I, I need to now almost be like one week behind for those reasons. So now [00:43:00] when I was prepping on Sunday for, for, for Monday, I was like, I added to the prep list. I'm like, okay, I need to make pickles. I need to make sauerkraut. And those need to sit on the counter until Next Monday.

[00:43:12] Chris Spear: Yeah. There's no way to speed do that. You can't like, you can't, it's not just a tomorrow project.

[00:43:17] Aaron Elliott: And you know, if it, if it does fail, for some reason, the fermentation didn't work. I can always go to farmer's market and buy pickles or sauerkraut or stuff like that. And what's, what I do like to do is if it is something that I'm not making from scratch, for instance, like on a Reuben, I'm, I'm not going to make the, the sourdough.

[00:43:36] Aaron Elliott: So I'll go to an awesome bakery here and I'll shout them out on the menu to, to just be like, look, not only am I promoting this place, but I'm letting you know that like, I didn't, I didn't make the sourdough this week.

[00:43:48] Chris Spear: A hundred percent. And we, we, I have a friend who's a regular on this podcast and we've talked about this a lot.

[00:43:53] Chris Spear: Like, there's nothing wrong with sourcing, like one supporting another business to, you know, leaving the things up to the expert. [00:44:00] Similarly, I have a friend here in town Andy at Twin Bears Bakery. He's been on the podcast. He does all naturally leaven. Like, he's buying Flour that was literally milled like yesterday or the day before.

[00:44:10] Chris Spear: Like there's a small mill in Pennsylvania. They're growing amazing, like grains. They're milling it. And then like two days later, he has it back at his place and he's fermenting and making sourdough. And I would rather just go buy a 8 loaf of sourdough from him and, you know, put my Christine, like make it in the Christine ease or whatever I'm doing with bread, because I'm not going to be able to make sourdough like he makes, it's not worth my time.

[00:44:32] Chris Spear: But again, a hundred percent. sharing the love with someone who that's his business, like putting money back in his pocket. But again, saying to all my customers, yeah, this is twin bears, you know, single origin, you know, rye sourdough. I would rather do that than trying to figure it out on my own.

[00:44:47] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:44:48] Chris Spear: I notice you also use Yuba a lot on your menu, which is something I don't feel is very common. So how did you get into, like, cooking that? I mean, maybe it's huge in the [00:45:00] vegan circles, but just like in general, going to places, I don't ever see it on menus and rarely in cookbooks.

[00:45:05] Aaron Elliott: It, yeah, it's not rea I, same.

[00:45:07] Aaron Elliott: It's it was never on my radar. My wife and me are obsessed with Japan. We've we've been a few times now. We're actually going back. In like eight, in like 10 days, we're going back to Japan, but our first time in Japan, we went to a Yuba restaurant. And I think that was the first time that I had it.

[00:45:27] Aaron Elliott: And I was just like, fell in love with it. Came, came back home, sourced it. There's this company called Hodo. Hodo makes tofu, but they also make yuba. So I got Hodo, yuba, and just started, like, basically playing around with it. And and you know, it, it's really good at taking on a marinade similar to tofu is.

[00:45:49] Aaron Elliott: And it's the way that you slice it. You can almost, it can almost like replace noodles in a pasta dish. And the, the reason I like to do it so [00:46:00] much with meal ticket is because it's I like to use Yuba as the protein of a, of a seasonal item that is basically the showcase of what I picked up at the farmer's market that week.

[00:46:14] Aaron Elliott: So last I had it on the last week's menu and I had squash vines with it. I had Japanese broccoli red shishito peppers. yellow squash braised leeks, just like basically everything that I found at the farmer's market came home, figured out a different way to kind of cook everything up and then serve that with Yuba.

[00:46:36] Aaron Elliott: And it's almost like, kind of like a, like a stir fry vegetable dish, but with with Yuba.

[00:46:42] Chris Spear: That's what a lot of people do with chicken breast, right? Like it's a pretty plain blank canvas, like almost any sauce, any vegetable. It's like, okay, I know I'm just going to use that for the protein. What do we have?

[00:46:52] Chris Spear: That's like fresh and seasonal.

[00:46:54] Aaron Elliott: That's a perfect comparison.

[00:46:55] Chris Spear: I saw you, is it yuba andouya? Something that was on your [00:47:00] Instagram? Is that something you're messing around with?

[00:47:02] Aaron Elliott: That's something that I'm messing around with. That's a

[00:47:04] Chris Spear: mouthful.

[00:47:05] Aaron Elliott: And yeah, my my buddy Sean who who works with me for this for the family that I'm with now, we have days that overlap and he's a he's an amazing chef and he's a meat eater.

[00:47:18] Aaron Elliott: So I'm able to bring things like in Yuba and Duya because I've never, I've never had in Duya before.

[00:47:26] Chris Spear: Yeah. So no reference point, right?

[00:47:28] Aaron Elliott: I don't have a reference point. So I'm able to make something like that and kind of bring it to him and be like, okay, where, like taste this, let me know if you like it or not.

[00:47:40] Aaron Elliott: And then from there, does this represent and do you in any way, or what's it lacking, what's it need more of and and just kind of go from there, if it is something that I'm going to try and, you know, Mimic cause I don't have to call it Yuba and Duya. I could just call it crumble, like Yuba's paste or something like that.

[00:47:58] Aaron Elliott: I

[00:47:58] Chris Spear: think that's the interesting thing is like [00:48:00] reference points. So if you're cooking for people who have been vegan or vegetarian for a long time, like they might not know, but then if you have someone like me who eats meat or like, let's say I even recently became a vegan, like I would know you'd be like, Oh, that doesn't really taste like that.

[00:48:15] Chris Spear: So it's like, you know, finding that balance of if you've never had it before, But has your customer ever had like the original version? And if they haven't, then you can kind of do whatever and they'll be like, Oh, okay, I guess, sure. That's what that tastes like.

[00:48:29] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, but I don't wanna, I don't wanna call something in Douya if it, if it doesn't even have any resemblance to it other than other than appearance.

[00:48:38] Aaron Elliott: So, that's something that I'm, if it doesn't work out, I'm totally fine with just calling it something else.

[00:48:43] Chris Spear: Now, are you, like, thought, this could be a long thing, and I don't want it to be a long thing, but like, thoughts on, like, all these pre prepared, you know, like, there's vegan chorizo crumbles, like, the super processed, like, that doesn't seem like your thing that you're really into, but, like, what are your thoughts on all of [00:49:00] those super processed vegan foods that, you know, sure, we're not killing animals, but we're also putting a ton of weird stuff in there.

[00:49:07] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, no I'm not, I'm not really into it at all. I I think that there's a place for it, and I think that it's it's, Like you said, we're not killing animals. I think it's amazing that it exists and I think it's a good kind of transitional item for somebody who's a little bit more curious of that.

[00:49:27] Aaron Elliott: But I think personally for me, when I do try new products like that, I think that it's I think it's really cool the first few times I have it. And and then eventually the novelty of it kind of wears off. And then I just want to go back to eating vegetables.

[00:49:42] Chris Spear: Yeah, and then sometimes it inspires for me, like, it inspires me to find a way to make something close.

[00:49:47] Chris Spear: That's maybe not the same because like, there is a pretty decent, like, vegan chorizo, but I find it's so salty from, like, the processing. You're like, okay, I like this idea. Like, I can buy a no salt chorizo spice [00:50:00] and just, you know, figure out what the protein is going to be in that. And it won't taste exactly the same.

[00:50:04] Chris Spear: But like, to get the salt, like, my mouth is already watering, just thinking about, like, how salty some of those things are. You're like, Ooh, that's a lot.

[00:50:12] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, and that's what I like so much about, that's why I chose the, the crispy artichoke sandwich when you asked me what I'm excited about, is because clearly it's It's inspired by a buffalo chicken sandwich, but nobody's, nobody's biting into it and being like, oh my god, this tastes exactly like chicken.

[00:50:32] Aaron Elliott: It's like, no, this is clearly an artichoke heart.

[00:50:36] Chris Spear: Nothing wrong with that, though.

[00:50:37] Aaron Elliott: Exactly. There's nothing wrong with that.

[00:50:39] Chris Spear: Have you been to Superiority Burger? Yeah. So like I talk about that, that the burger it's amazing. I'm not like, this is, and I've been to Brooks's restaurant, the old, I haven't been to the new one yet.

[00:50:53] Chris Spear: I want to go to the new one, but when it was like a little six seater with the weird, like arm that swings around in front of you, you [00:51:00] know but you eat that and you're like, I would rather eat this than a beef burger, like any day of the week. And I've have his cookbook and I've made them at home, but you're not going to say like, Oh, this tastes like beef, but you're like, this is an amazing frigging burger.

[00:51:13] Chris Spear: And I would rather have that than any of those major like meat replacer burgers on the market. I just tell people like, spend an hour, prep out a dozen of these, put them in your freezer, and you're going to be so much happier having that at home than like these other things that I don't think resemble meat or vegetables.

[00:51:32] Aaron Elliott: I, I couldn't agree more. I don't, I don't need my veggie burger to bleed, to be bleeding.

[00:51:36] Chris Spear: And there's another hardcore music guy who, you know, with the vegetarian cooking and stuff.

[00:51:42] Aaron Elliott: He's so, I've never met him, but he's so awesome. I love, I love what he's, he's done with superiority burger. And and there's just so many things that that inspire me that come from, from that restaurant.

[00:51:53] Aaron Elliott: He, I remember when they first started, he was making zines. Yeah. I don't know if you, yeah. And I, I had [00:52:00] my friend who lived in New York, I was like, hey, please go grab me one of these zines. I, I, like, need to see what he's, what he's doing and it's, I, I just think it's, it's, that's one of my favorite restaurants for sure.

[00:52:09] Chris Spear: Yeah. I'm, I'm super inspired by what he's doing. And again, like, that's the kind of food I love and would love to see more places like that. I would eat like vegetarian and vegan all the time. If. That food was around. I think just having conversations with people like you inspire me to like, look at what I'm making this week for my family and for my customers and be like, what can I do?

[00:52:27] Chris Spear: That's like really awesome. Like I just I had Steve Sandoe from Rancho Gordo on the podcast and he sent me a box of like 12 pounds of beet, like 12, one pound bags of beans. So I have all these beans in my pantry and it's like, okay, what am I going to like make with this? I need to just throw a pot on, cook some beans and then I'll figure out what I'm going to get into.

[00:52:45] Aaron Elliott: I saw your your sp was it the cranberry bean dip?

[00:52:48] Chris Spear: Yes, it was like a, a spin on like a refried beans kind of just because I had those.

[00:52:54] Aaron Elliott: I'll be making that this week.

[00:52:55] Chris Spear: You know what the trick that I picked up in from another chef who, it was his recipe for black beans, is like [00:53:00] brining, like you don't cook any salt in the beans, but afterwards when they're done you soak them in a salt water brine for like an hour.

[00:53:08] Chris Spear: And it really like seasons them well and it just like almost like I don't know if it breaks them down but like after you've cooked his recipe for black beans like you cook your black beans for you know 2 3 hours whatever drain them off but then put them in salt water and I don't remember what the ratio is I'd have to look like 2 percent or something like that and then just let them sit and then drain them off.

[00:53:29] Chris Spear: And they come out so much more flavorful. And then you don't need to add any salt to whatever you do. So it's the chef in DC who has Mexican restaurants. And his recipe for black bean, I think it was like for black bean soup was in a cookbook. And I picked up that trick and now that's how I cook all my beans.

[00:53:44] Chris Spear: It's like no salt goes in when you're cooking. Oh, amazing. But afterwards you strain them out and give them a salt water brine for about an hour. And that's, you know, and it's like for one bag of beans is maybe like a tablespoon of salt or three quarters of a tablespoon salt water. [00:54:00] Yeah.

[00:54:00] Aaron Elliott: Oh, I can't wait to try that.

[00:54:01] Chris Spear: Yeah. Transformative, like a really cool technique. And that's I love. Like you just pick up that trick. You see like one thing in a cookbook or something somewhere. And it's like, I can apply this across the board. Like anytime I cook beans now.

[00:54:13] Aaron Elliott: Yeah.

[00:54:14] Chris Spear: Well, what didn't we talk about that you want to share with our listeners before we get out of here today?

[00:54:18] Chris Spear: Is there anything that is on your mind?

[00:54:22] Aaron Elliott: No, I, I, I can't think of anything. This has been awesome, man. I, I'm, I'm so happy that that you had me on. It's been.

[00:54:29] Chris Spear: I'm glad that you came on. I I, again, like when I have these conversations, I get inspired to go back to looking at like vegetarian and vegan cooking.

[00:54:36] Chris Spear: So this might've been what I needed at this point is like a good reminder that I should be making awesome food like that. And I have a lot of customers who ask for this, so I'm always trying to like put together interesting menus. You know, it's a weird, like. There's such a stigma with non vegetarians and vegans.

[00:54:52] Chris Spear: So like people say, I don't want that vegan food. I'm like, you know, like guacamole and chips is like, you know, they just have this like really weird, [00:55:00] like I can make instead of shrimp and grits, like a tempeh and grits, like that's one of my signature dishes is like a vegan tempeh and grits, you know? So if I have a dinner party where.

[00:55:08] Chris Spear: Eight people are having shrimp and grits. It's like, I just make it with vegetable stock and I'll take some tempeh and like I par boil or steam. And then I like do this hard saute and do like a stewed tomato on top and some smoked paprika to kind of like mimic the flavor of bake it. Like I have a.

[00:55:24] Chris Spear: Spiceology makes a candied bacon spice. So there's no meat in it, but it's like brown sugar, dried sriracha, smoked paprika, some chilies, and it gives you like a flavor of bacon, but not. So I'll add that into a lot of my vegetarian and vegan dishes to kind of give you that like smoky, salty kind of umami that you would get out of a bacon, but without bacon or adding like a processed like vegan bacon.

[00:55:46] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, that sounds amazing.

[00:55:48] Chris Spear: Because I'm a music fan. I want to ask you if. Do you have a favorite drummer? Like, who's your favorite? Is there anyone who inspired you, like, as a drummer, like, maybe even to this day?

[00:55:58] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, John Bonham was [00:56:00] always my favorite growing up. And I was always I was always a huge Travis Barker fan.

[00:56:06] Chris Spear: Yeah, I can get down with Travis.

[00:56:08] Aaron Elliott: Yeah yeah.

[00:56:09] Chris Spear: You've also gotten to know him a little bit, so, you know. Yeah, yeah. Little friendship, little friendship. I I mean, I'm, I'm a big fan. I mean, I saw I've been going to Blink shows when, was it Scott was their drummer? Like before Travis, like the first, the first time I saw them, it was like 10.

[00:56:24] Chris Spear: It was like a bill that had like eight bands and they were there, but I met Travis on that first tour and I got signed, like I have a signed Blink 182 poster and like, I'd never heard of him before cause that was their first. Like, I don't even know if that album had come out yet, but he had just started drumming with them, so I have like a signed thing and I have pictures with the guys from.

[00:56:44] Chris Spear: I don't know, nine, like, early 2000s, right? So I'm a big fan there. And yeah, yeah.

[00:56:51] Aaron Elliott: Yeah. Yeah. Me too. That's a that's a full circle kind of moment for me. When I, you know, when I started cooking for Travis because I grew up just kind of, [00:57:00] you know, he was, he was my guy and I had blank posters on my walls and stuff like that.

[00:57:05] Aaron Elliott: And it was just yeah, it's really cool.

[00:57:07] Chris Spear: Thanks so much for coming on the show. I enjoyed talking to you and I hope we cross paths again at some point.

[00:57:13] Aaron Elliott: Yeah, I hope so too, man.

[00:57:15] Chris Spear: If you find yourself in D. C., Pittsburgh, or Philly, or whatever, and have some time, give me a holler.

[00:57:21] Aaron Elliott: I definitely will."