The Top Chef cheftestants hit the water tonight with a little guidance from Chef Jeremy Sewall and Island Creek Oysters’ founder and owner Skip Bennett. The pair has worked together closely on projects like Island Creek Oyster Bar and Row 34, so it’s no surprise they were tapped to show the final four the ropes down on Duxbury Bay. We talked to them both about their roles on the episode, advice for contestants and young chefs alike and plans for the forthcoming Row 34 Portsmouth.
Boston Chefs: So, can you give us a little background on how you came to work together?
Chef Jeremy Sewall: Skip, you can tell the story. I don’t remember. (laughs)
Skip Bennett: Oh, you remember! At Island Creek we’d heard about Hog Island on the West Coast having an oyster bar and doing really well and back in those days we were looking for a cool way to sell all the oysters we were growing. We went out to San Francisco and came back and started trying to figure out how to open our own restaurant and quickly realized that we’d never be able to do it alone at the level we hoped to accomplish. So, I just started talking to all of my favorite people in the city and that’s how we came together and opened Island Creek Oyster Bar. It was kind of serendipitous; Garrett Harker was helpful and Jeremy happened to be working in the kitchen at Eastern Standard at the time and the stars just kind of aligned. (laughed) It went from starry-eyed conversations to becoming a very real thing, very quickly and we’ve all just rolled up our sleeves and done it. And I couldn’t be happier.
BC: How did your participation in this season of Top Chef come about?
Sewall: They came down to Duxbury and saw the farm and basically what it came down to was the farm and the relationship with Skip and I was interesting.
BC: What can you tell us about your episode or challenge?
Sewall: We ended up taking the contestants down to the farm. It was cool; Skip had some contestants on one boat and I had some on the other and we just helped them find some really cool products.
Bennett: Yeah, it was a beautiful day.
BC: So, this is Top Chef’s first time coming to Boston and you two obviously have strong roots in the community. What does it mean for either of you to have a national show turn up here? What does it do for the culinary scene?
Sewall: I don’t know if it’s validation, but it’s certainly recognition from the food community of the level of restaurants here in Boston. Over the last…like, countless years our restaurants have just got better and better, you know, and talented chefs are able to cultivate long careers here and it’s a community that supports chefs and restaurants. I think that when you have a national show come and a community of chefs get to participate in that it’s a nice little pat on the back for Boston. It’s like, “yeah, we’re for real here and we’re working hard at it.”
Bennett: That’s exactly what I was going to say. Validation is the right word for it because like, we travel all around the world selling oysters and Boston has one of the best food scenes in the country right now. We have a demographic that cares enough to support these restaurants and they just keep opening, one amazing restaurant after another. There’s room for everybody because people in Boston care about food.
BC: What can a chef do with their cooking, on Top Chef or otherwise, to standout to you?
Bennett: Keep it really simple. Honor the ingredient
Sewall: It’s got to be what it intended to be. It’s got to have focus and clarity on what you were trying to accomplish and it’s supposed to taste how it’s supposed to taste. I think for young chefs sometimes it’s really hard to resist putting one more ingredient on the plate.
BC: Do think cooking competitions like Top Chef are good for young chefs? Would you have done it at the beginning of your career, Chef Sewall?
Sewall: No. I wouldn’t. I mean, that’s just me personally. I don’t think it’s bad for young chefs but I don’t think it’s a good thing either. It will be a footnote in the evolution of food and restaurants when we look back over the last one hundred or two hundred years. It’s just part of the evolution of restaurants and chefs and it’s what people are interested in right now. I think for young chefs to focus too much on that stuff is not healthy. You get a little taste of notoriety or fame or recognition and you have to understand that this is a business. It’s an industry where you have to work really hard for a long time not only to be successful but also to maintain success. I think people lose sight of that. Tom Colicchio has worked for a long time to be a successful chef and restaurant owner and that didn’t happen overnight or after one book or show. Sometimes these young chefs forget that. You have to establish a career.
BC: Can you tell us a little bit more about Row 34 Portsmouth?
Sewall: It’s well underway. It’s in a brand new building. I’ll probably be there a lot in the beginning, certainly the first 3 to 6 months. I’ll be trying to get it off on the right foot and develop a staff in the front and back of house that we feel really good about and we’ve been really fortunate to do that at Row 34 and Island Creek.
BC: So, Skip, you have until May to double your production of Row 34 oysters?
Bennett: Yeah, but that won’t be a problem. We have a lot in the pipeline and it’s something that we’re really excited about. We added a new farm this year and we’re growing a new oyster and hopefully by May we’ll have a lot of those oysters as well. It’s really exciting for us on the farm and at the wholesale company cause we’re expanding our efforts and having a restaurant up there will give us a toehold in a new area.
BC: Are there any more television appearances in the future for either of you on the horizon?
Sewall: Not for me. I’m pretty committed to getting this book thing done, promoting the book for the next few months and am equally committed to getting back in the kitchen on a daily basis right after that. And then Row 34 Portsmouth is opening in May, so my dance card is full.
