Behind the Line
Topic: Inspirations
Culinary Inspirations
When it comes to crafting dishes, what inspires you most? Do you have a culinary muse?
- Jennifer Plank
- Toast
- Cleveland, Ohio
Actually the thing that inspires me most.. and usually produces the best meals is going out for beers with my colleagues. Talking food, spitballing ideas, and trying to figure out how to do the im...
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- Greg Biggers
- Executive Chef
- Café des Architectes
- Chicago, IL
The product. I love just looking through the cooler for inspiration. Or going to the market to see what's available. Beautiful ingredients are a chefs best inspiration. From the colors to the textu...
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- Gerard Craft
- Executive Chef/Owner
- Niche Restaurant and BRASSERIE by niche
- St. Louis, MO
I like to look at seasonal vegetable charts.. thinking about ingredients can trigger old food memories, which help me create new dishes.
- John Shields
- Executive Chef
- Chilhowie, VA
Long drives.
- Howard Hanna
- Chef/Partner
- The Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange and Manifesto
- Kansas City, MO
My city, Kansas City, our region and our people.
We’re in the center of the country, bridging the difference between the coasts. We have access to farmland, rivers, lakes, forests and prairie...
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- Matt Danko
- Pastry Chef
- The Greenhouse Tavern and Noodlecat
- Cleveland, OH
My peers and my personal history come into play quite a bit when crafting dishes.
- Jeremy Kittelson
- Executive Chef/Owner
- Denver, Colorado
I think the products are always the muse. Like when you get in some beautiful fish it just inspires you to cook well. It will never get old or me because something new is always coming around.
- Kevin Nashan
- Executive Chef/Owner
- Sidney Street Cafe
- Saint Louis, Missouri
books and a brutal workout
- Josh Galliano
- The Libertine
- Clayton, MO
I'd love to say the ingredients inspire me, but it's usually my stomach and what I want to eat.
- David Katz
- Executive Chef/Owner
- Philadelphia, PA
The seasons. The ingredients. Music. It's a combination of mood and rules for me mostly. I am a rule follower for sure when it comes to foods that go together, but my mood decides whether or not I'...
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- Sean Sanders
- Executive Chef/Owner
- Browntrout
- Chicago, IL
The flavors of the season...the farmers market is my muse.
- Jimmy Bannos Jr.
- Executive Chef/Owner
- The Purple Pig
- Chicago, IL
The ingredients
- Jill Barron
- Executive Chef/Owner
- MANA food bar
- Chicago, IL
I cook for my friends and family. If they like it, i am on to something good.
- Nathan Sears
- Executive Chef/Owner
- The Radler and D.A.S.
- Chicago, IL
The market. Nothing is better inspiration that wonderful full flavored ingredients.
- Chrissy Camba
- Chef
- Bar Pastoral
- Chicago, IL
I find everything inspirational even if I am not aware it is inspiring me. I feel like you create things based on your experiences and what you take from those experiences. I think my stomach is my...
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- Tony Priolo
- Executive Chef/Owner
- Piccolo Sogno
- Chicago, IL
My biggest inspiration in creating dishes is the season. I am highly influenced by what is at the market and I always have been a big fan. For example I love tomatoes, I do not use fresh tomatoes o...
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![Pastry chef patrick fahy b-w[1]](/system/avatars/146/thumb/Pastry Chef Patrick Fahy b-w[1].jpg?1319823449)
- Patrick Fahy
- Pastry Chef
- Sixteen
- Chicago
Research more than anything. I do a lot of research about fruits and vegetables to learn which are related and how, and from there I get a lot of inspiration and am encouraged to try out different...
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- Cary Taylor
- Executive Chef
- The Southern
- Chicago, IL
Just try to feel what is in season, how it can be rooted in southern cuisine and creative and unique
- Paul Fehribach
- Executive Chef/Owner
- Big Jones
- Chicago, IL
I like finding ways to reinvent very old traditional dishes for modern tastes.
- Jason McLeod
- Executive Chef/Owner
- Box Tree Restaurant, Inc
- San Diego, CA
Going to the farms and talking with the farmers, it is so inspiring to see them in action
- Carrie Nahabedian
- Executive Chef/Owner
- NAHA and Brindille
- Chicago, IL
I wish I had a culinary muse, but probably my cousin Michael is the closest thing. But otherwise, I am greatly inspired by the sky. Not the weather, but the sky dictates a menu. The sky can make m...
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