How long have you been cooking and where? I’ve worked in many places over the last 20yrs: cafés, delis, bakeries, etc. The last place I worked was for a butchery deli in upstate New York.
Where are you from? I grew up on Long Island. I moved to Austin in Feb 2019 from upstate New York, drawn here by the music scene. Upstate and the Hudson River area is beautiful! I lived there for about 3 ½ years and I loved it. But I needed a change of place – somewhere with a good music scene – so I packed up and headed to Austin. I didn’t know anyone when I first got here, but I immediately started going around town and getting into the music and art, and all that the city had to offer.
What do you do outside of work with your free time? (Or what do you imagine yourself doing if pandemic restrictions weren’t in place?) I’m a musician. I’ve sung and played guitar solo and in bands for about 20yrs. I’ve played all kinds of music and really like heavy rock when I can do it with a band. Recently, I’ve been working on my own music – mostly singer-song writer stuff. I had planned to do some studio recording of my songs this summer but the COVID-19 shutdown kind of put that on hold. But we deal with what we’ve got and so I’ve been focusing on using my time and forced isolation for writing songs and poetry. Before the shutdown I used to like to go to places like the Spider House café and listen to poetry slams or go try out my music at open mic nights at places like The Cactus Café.
What do you enjoy about Black Star Co-op? I really like the openness in the way the employees work together and run the business. There’s a lot of flexibility and everyone really helps each other out. Some places I’ve worked in the past there were maybe some personalities that clashed and caused tension, but the employees here get along well and pitch in to do what’s needed.
What is your favorite house beer? One of the benefits of working for a brewpub is getting the occasional beer shot during the shift, so when I’m working, Midtown Light is my choice to keep things light and easy. Outside of work, I really like Fructis. It has a really nice hoppiness and flavor. I’m also enjoying Roze Sap lately. I’m not usually into sour beers, but it won me over.
What’s one fun or unusual thing about working on the Black Star kitchen team? Honestly, the main thing is how everyone helps each other out – it really creates a good environment. It’s also fun to work in kitchen that changes up the menu seasonally and where you can experiment sometimes to add variety. One dish I created that we offered recently is the honey mustard chicken sandwich. The first week, we didn’t have pickles, so I topped it with thin cucumber slices, which turned out pretty good. But if you haven’t had the chance to try it with pickles, I suggest you do. I think it really makes it that much better.
The kitchen team is known for working with a soundtrack. What is one of your go-to songs or bands when you’re getting things done? Hard to pick a single song, but my go-to band is one from Australia called King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Literally anything from their album Infest the Rats Nest is guaranteed to get me going when things need to get done.
Any Last words to the co-op members? I just want to say that you have a really good thing going with Black Star Co-op. It’s a unique place in terms of both what it offers and how it operates. I think as the current pandemic concerns ease it will continue to grow into a great Austin spot.
