Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to Food for Thought with Billy and Jenny,
brought to you by the Box Center. For more than
fifteen years, this dining duo has been eating their way
through New England, mixing it up with top chefs, jumping
behind the line of the hottest restaurants and giving you
the inside scoop on where to wine, dine and spend
your time. So get ready, it's Food for Thought giving
you something to chew on.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey there, welcome into Food for Thought, brought to you
by the Box Center. Today we are celebrating Women's History Months,
so over the course of March, you probably have heard
that is designated Women's History Month. The thing that I
like to say is it should be women's celebration months
every month of the year. But it feels nice to
be able to take some time away and celebrate some
(00:42):
folks in the hospitality industry here in New England. So
on Dining Playbook, we launched a special show that I
was able to chat with about six or seven of
the great female chefs and restaurant tours in the area,
showcase their histories, talk a little bit about what it
feels like to, you know, a prominent woman in the
(01:02):
business here in Boston and beyond. And our first guest
is someone that I had huge respect for and someone
that the industry trullly adores. Her name is Aaron Miller.
She's the executive chef and owner of Urban Hearth right
there in North Cambridge. Aaron, thanks so much for joining
the show. Thanks for having me, Jenny, So I want
(01:24):
to sort of start by saying, what does it feel
like to be a woman in this industry and has
that changed for you over the course of your career.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, I think it's I think it's changed quite a
bit over my career, and it's honestly changed us as
five aged. I'm turning fifty this year. I've become a
lot more reflective in the past couple of years, especially
as my kids have gotten older, you know.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
But it's been a journey. I started by going to
culinary school as a.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Career changer in the very early two thousands I think
it's two thousand and two in New York. And at
that time, as as someone going into the restaurant industry
in New York, the landscape was very different and the
experience was very different, especially for you know, a woman
who had worked in a career job.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Before and had made her way.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
So, you know, I think that my attitude has shifted
over the years. My expectations for what the workplace can
look like has shifted over the years. Honestly, I'm a
lot less angry about it, and I work the past
I feel. I think in the early days, I felt,
(02:38):
you know, at times, like a victim of the situation,
at times just kind of at a loss for working
in a place that was dominated by big personalities, mostly
male personalities, and just kind of feeling like I didn't
have a place that it didn't that workplace didn't resonate
with me. And it's been I think in the past
(03:00):
several years, as I've built my own restaurant, built it
around a model of bringing people together in a collaborative, joyful,
uh kind of synergistic environments, that I've begun to realize
how much control I have over my own fate and
(03:21):
how we.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
We realize the attitude that we project, you know.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
So so I feel I feel so positive now about
the potential for working into the power of working in
a restaurant environment, especially when you get together a group
of people, men and women and and of all strips
that can collaborate and work together and and work towards
(03:50):
the common goal. So you know, I think I think
it's a lot more complex than than it appears on
the surface. And you know, now more than ever, I'm
really excited about potential for our industry to be a
really love that healthy workplace.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah, you know, I love that you say it's a
complicated answer, and how you eloquently described sort of that
complexity and the evolution of this for you personally, I
think is something that people can connect with, women can
connect with, and you know, across all different walks of life.
But certainly, you know, Billy and I have been covering
this industry for the past twenty years, and that shift
(04:28):
is you know, palpable, like you can see it, you
can feel it, you can experience it in a way
that I find very powerful. You know, we were so
lucky to have you as part of our cookbook that
we launched this year, and one of the resounding things
for me was how many strong, talented, like unbelievable women
(04:49):
we had as a part of that of that cookbook.
And I know that when I started twenty years ago,
it just didn't look like that. So you briefly mentioned
that this is sort of your second career path. I
want to talk a little bit about where you came
from and what ultimately propelled you to make the shift.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Sure, Sure, yeah, I was just saying one more thing.
I think. I think that you know, the diversity that
you see in your cookbook is indicative of just more
voices in the conversation. And I think that that's that's
the power that we see trending in in this industry
right now. It's just more diversity, more complexity in our
(05:31):
in the conversation. So I started. I started on my
journey in food after leaving university, working for a long
while in the Washington d c. A Baltimore area in
nonprofit work in community development kind of I think following
my instincts to to nurture, to to work in a
(05:59):
place that felt philanthropic or a sector that felt philanthropic,
felt like I was making an impact on people's lives.
And what I discovered after working in that environment for
a long time is that I was in a place where,
at least for me in my career path, I was
doing a lot of implementation, a lot of writing of grants,
(06:24):
facilitating other people's abilities to have a direct a direct
impact on people's lives. And it wasn't that what I
was doing wasn't valuable. It's just that I didn't have
the direct connection with people that I wanted. And so
I kind of took a step back in my late
(06:46):
twenties early thirties and said, well, what is it that
I love? What do I feel passionate about? What can
I see myself doing for the next twenty thirty years.
And at that point, it was kind of the rise
of the network, you know, Juggernaut at that point, and
there were a lot of a lot of women, women included,
who were just starting to think, huh, you know, maybe
(07:06):
maybe there is a different path in food that is
maybe less traditional or maybe welcoming to me.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, so I when I loved school, and I love
that you took that leap. You know, so often we
get stuck in what feels like maybe the desire, and
yet we get stuck in sort of the day to
day and so it's so wonderful that you made that leaves.
We're so lucky that you made that leap. We're going
to take a break and move back with more food
for thought in just a.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Minute, you're listening to Food for Thought brought to you
by the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel in sweets.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Welcome back to Peep with Thought brought to you by
the Box Center. Aaron Miller of Urban Hearth there in
North Cambridge, just such a quaint, delicious restaurant. If you
haven't been there, please make sure to check it out.
So arin you make this big career shift, you are
classically trained in New York, and then and then what happens?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Yeah, So I went out and I did the restaurant thing.
You know in New York is the place to get
get your start. So my first job was actually a
Blue Hill with Dan Barber, a very early influence on
my lot and on my career and in my life,
and certainly you see, you know, his fingerprints on my
(08:19):
my dedication and passion for sustainability and locally sourced foods.
So I started there and then kind of worked my
way into my own, my own little space, because I
at that point started a family. And as most women
know and most people know in general, the hospitality industry
(08:44):
and raising a family are not very supportive of each other.
So I kind of built a career and built a
business around around those two lives of mine. So I
was mommy during the day and started running a culinary
event company of my own in the evenings, and teaching
(09:09):
as well, which turned out to be a real passion
for me. First started out teaching in recreational cooking schools,
you know, teaching home cooks, but then also started once
I moved to Cambridge, teaching in a professional program at
the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, and it's been so
fulfilling and a really important part of my career. So yeah,
(09:32):
So I did that while my kids were small and
just kind of hustled really and then and when they
were in school and a little bit older, that's when
doing the you know, kind of the independent contract work
that I was doing, it really took off and it
got too big for me to do out of borrowed
(09:53):
kitchen space, so I started looking for a dedicated space.
And that's kind of how Urban Heart the Restaurant evolved.
I like to joke that I'm an accidental restaurant tour
It wasn't my intention open open a restaurant, and and
anyone who's been a steady supporter and guest of ours
(10:14):
over the years has seen the evolution of Urban Hearts
as we've kind of figured out who we really are,
you know, what what are our role is in this
restaurant landscape, and what what story we have to tell,
And that's that's evolved along the way. And I feel like,
you know, in the past couple of years, that's really
(10:35):
jailed and you know, I feel more confident than ever
that I'm doing what I need to be doing, you know,
and I find joy still twenty twenty two years later,
I find joy still in every day that I go
to work.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
That's so special and so important, and it seems like
it was the you know, part of the path as
I think probably what helps you, you know, makes you
appreciate it so much is all of the things that
came before you that you've shared. So folks who haven't
been to Urban Heart described the space and give us
a sense of the menu.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Sure, so we are intimate. It is a twenty four
seat restaurant. It's a little storefront that is very small
and close. But also I think we've built a vibe
there that feels, or is meant to feel, very much
like you're hanging out at a friend's house. For a
dinner party, and that is not only in kind of
(11:33):
the closeness of the space, but in the design. The
kitchen is open to the dining room, so it's sort
of like being in an open home kitchen. We have
four seats in the kitchen with us where folks join
us for one of our menus, which is the chef
Tasting menu. It's a five to eight course menu that
we do in two seatings tonight.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
And that's not a printed menu.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
It sometimes changes day to day depending on what I'm
bringing in, what I forged, you know, what I'm working
on in my own creative space.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
So that's the.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
One menu, and then the remaining twenty seats are an
ala carte menu that is also highly driven by seasonality,
by locally sourced products and our relationships with local farmers
and fishermen, and that changes at this point probably eight
ten times a year on a rolling basis. It's very
(12:28):
it evolves, I think more than changes. And yeah, and
it's it's it's kind of a fun dinner party every night.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
That's the vibe that we're going for.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
And yeah, and it's been it's been really great the
past few months, certainly since the James Beeard nomination to
see so many new faces coming in and getting a
taste for what that kind of dining style can be.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Like, tell us about that moment. We know that, you know,
people don't get into this industry for the accol hator
for the awards. They get in it because of their
deep passion, which is clear in hearing you speak that
being said, this is sort of the the award of
all awards in this business. Uh. And so what did
(13:11):
what did it mean to you? Where were you when
you found out? And and and yeah, tell us about
that experience.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Yeah, So I knew, I knew the date that it
was it was going to be announced, and so I had,
as the stoic that I am, I had had steadily
over the past few days, been preparing myself not to
be nominated, you know. So I was in a in
a in a pretty a pretty neutral mood about it
by by that morning, and I was actually on a
(13:40):
conference call with our PR firm that we do every
couple of weeks, you know, just kind of the review call.
And while I was chatting along about whatever it was
we were chatting about, my husband brought over his computer
and showed me on the James brig website my name,
and I screamed in all their ears and they were like,
what's wrong, what's wrong? So it was actually it was.
(14:02):
It was wonderful. It was marvelous to be on that
call with those people, with my GM Abbie Taylor, with
our pr lead JP to share that moment with them,
because they are very much the reason why like coming
together as a team. I feel we were able to
(14:22):
get the nomination pulled together, or at least the application
pulled together, and tell the story of how special this
restaurant is, and how special this team is and how
unique it is, and I think in a way really
really groundbreaking in a lot of ways for particularly for
(14:43):
women and and non binary people in in this field,
to find a place that they can express themselves fully
and creatively is really powerful. So to shed a light
on this workplace that I've built, but also this phenomenal
(15:03):
team that I've put together was a powerful moment. After that,
it was a bit of a.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Sorry. After that, it was a bit of a roller coaster.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
You know.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
It's like one of those one of those things where
you can't quite absorb it because it's all coming so fast.
So it's it's actually taken us a little while too
as a team to kind of absorb what this means
for us, and uh, you know, and and now it
just now it just feels really good and it feels right,
(15:35):
and we're you know, we're so excited for the recognition
and I'm so proud of you, just so very proud
of this team because you know, my name is saw
the award, but my name's on the award. But I
wouldn't I wouldn't be in this position if it weren't
for for these people that I work with every day.
And it's it's you know, it's really remarkable.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
So nice to hear and thank you for sharing that story.
And so beat A well, you mentioned earlier on about
you foraging folks, about your ear experiences there, and for
some who aren't familiar with that means sure.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
So that's that's a great question.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
So foraging is it's kind of a complex answer too,
because it goes back to my childhood roots. Something that
I grew up doing in the mountains of Virginia in
the Blue Ridge that I didn't know was quote unquote.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Foraging at the time.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
We were just out picking blackberries or you know, picking
anything else that we could all summer long that was
growing wild in the landscape there. And it's always been
kind of part of my culture and my heritage and
part of my personality. I'm like a rabid squirrel in
the summertime when it's BlackBerry season, i.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Just can't get it out.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Like my kids absolutely hate hiking with me when the
wild borbries are out because they can't they can't get
me off the mountains, you know. And it's it's become
kind of part of of our ethos of the restaurant,
not only to shine a light on the bounty of
the farms and fisheries in our area, but also the
(17:09):
amazingly diverse and abundant natural landscape and wild landscape that
we have in New England, not only in the countryside
and the mountains, but right here in our urban environments.
And I think it's become a real passion for me
as a chef to introduce our guests to that amazing
(17:30):
like you know, moment of like wow, I didn't know
that was something that's in my park. I didn't know
that was something that's in my yard.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
To get the way is people to give people the
education of what is around them, and to be able
to experience themselves is so powerful. We're going to take
a break. We'll be back with more Food for Thought
in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
It's the Box Center and Sail and Waterfront Hotel in Swees.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
So, Aaron, I love hearing so much of your story.
I want to talk about the area that you're in
in North Cambridge, because not only can they come and
enjoy dinner with you, but there's a lot of great
businesses in the area.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Oh, it's a great neighborhood, Jenny, and it's really kind
of come into its own over the past several years.
I opened Urban Hearts about nine years ago now, and
in our little block on Matth Avenue, just outside of
Davis Square. Actually several business owners opened, all at the
same time, almost entirely women and almost entirely food related,
(18:31):
which is amazing. Our immediate neighbors are Curious Spice, led
by Claire Cheney, which a lot of your listeners may
know about. We've got Angela at Nusley, which is a
raw food company. We have Jeremy Spindler, It's Spindler Chocolates,
and several other businesses, and then beyond our little block,
we also have Mama's Specialty Grocery, which is also a
(18:54):
woman owned and Raspberry Beret, So you can kind of
cover the gamut of your shop being an entertainment activity
in our little North Cambridge block. And it's been such
a great community of people that have come together as
small business owners and as minority owners in particular to
support each other and provide resources and just kind of
(19:14):
mutual aid for everyone.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
It is such a special block, all right. So I
want to close by letting people know where they specifically
can find you and when you're serving sure.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
So we are open currently Tuesdays through Saturday, just for dinner.
We have reservations through our website at Urbanhearts dot net
and we're located at twenty two to sixty three Maths.
She's its Avenue in Cambridge, right on math Avenue and
we're about two blocks from the Davis Square Teeth stop.
So if you're a public transit writer, that's the best
way to reach us.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
It's such a special place and I hope everybody listening
heads there. Aaron. I'm so excited for your success. We
have just a few seconds left, But I want to
ask the question in celebration of Women's History months, when
you look back at your life and you think of
the great female men towards you've had in this space,
you know who was your sort of your culinary mentor
that helps guide you through this process, or you first
(20:08):
felt inspiration in the culinary space.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Yeah, I think I would speak to more to the
inspiration size.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Dominique Cren a real powerhouse in this industry, especially the
fine dining sector, and a woman who has carved her
own path has been a huge influence on me, and
then even earlier on Ruth Reichel and Paula Wolfert, writers
in this area who started far earlier than I did,
(20:36):
have been one.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Of the awesome, wonderful Well, Aaron, thank you so much
for joining us happy women to his three months. Congratulations.
We're rooting for you for James Beard and we'll talk soon.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yay.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Thanks Jennings.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Take care.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
We got more Food for Thought coming right up.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
It's the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel and sweets.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Hey, everybody, welcome back into Food for That to buy
the Box Center I'm so excited for this next guest.
She has been a friend of Billy and mine, certainly
for the twenty years I've been doing this, and I
know Billy even longer than that. She's one of the
great strong female voices within hospitality here in Boston and beyond.
(21:18):
Her name is Joanne Chang of Flower Bakery and Myers
and Chang. Joanne, thanks so much for joining us today.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Oh so, you know, Joanne, We're gonna get a little
bit into your background, but I want to sort of
start by asking the question. You know, this week, this month,
we are celebrating Women's History Month, and you know, what
does it mean to you to be a female in
this business in our area and how much has it
changed for you? I know you've been in this business
for you know, over thirty years.
Speaker 5 (21:49):
Yes, it's been an amazing thirty some years in Boston
in this business. And I was so fortunate when I
first started out. My very first chef was Lydia Shire
and her Sioux chef Susan Regis. Every single place that
I've worked has had strong female mentors and chefs and managers.
(22:15):
And so for me, what's been wonderful to see is
how that has continued in the three plus decades that
I've been doing this. I think that, you know, when
you have a city or an industry that is filled
with strong females that other women want to join, and
that's what I've seen, and so I feel so fortunate.
I've grown up culinarily in Boston.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
I love that so much, and we often talk about that.
And you know, it's not like we have any necessary,
necessarily any data on it, but you know, the women
have been celebrated in the culinary industry here, you're, like
you're saying for a very long time. And you know,
I don't know that it's the same in every city,
but I know that as I was putting together, you know,
a compilation of our great chef friends for our cookbook,
(23:01):
it was so it made me so proud and so
happy to be able to see how many strong female
voices we have in this industry. And obviously you just
mentioned a few of them. So I want to talk
a little bit about a culinary mentor for you. You just
mentioned some that were, you know, certainly in the industry
or still in the industry in our area, but growing
(23:23):
up like what was the culinary story for you, and
did you have any female mentors or people that you
looked up to from a culinary standpoint.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
Then, well, I think from a culinary standpoint as a kid,
this was probably the same for many people in the
industry and probably many people in general. It was my mom.
My mom was a working mother and yet every single
day she came home from work and managed to put
a delicious meal on the table. In fact, we took
(23:51):
so many of her recipes, and that helped inspire Myerson Chang,
and I think just realizing like how much joy and
how much much fun we would have together on the weekends,
so planning meals and doing dumpling parties and all of that.
I think that for me is really what instilled for
me this desire to eventually enter into this business where
(24:14):
what I do for a living is to make people
happy through food. And that was so my mom. I mean,
she was always thinking about the next meal when we
were eating the first meal, and our whole life together,
my whole childhood was just one long meal planning session.
I'd carried out.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Rend you so awesome well and monitoring stumplings on the
menu of the best I know there's a lot of
you know, of your mother inspired this as like you mentioned,
it's so great. But you know, we don't have a
ton of time in this break, but I do want
to get like a little bit of your backstory because
you this wasn't necessarily a traditional path. So yes, she was,
(24:51):
you know, cooking delicious meals. You were used to, you know,
delicious and nutritious food. But you didn't, you know, you
didn't go to school knowing this something that you were
going to do and ultimately made a career change. Will
you share a little bit about that story with us?
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (25:06):
Yeah, I had no idea I would end up in
the food business. I come from a very traditional Taiwanese family,
and they wanted me to be a doctor or a
lawyer and that was it. And so I studied math
and economics at Harvard. After graduation, I spent two years
as a management consultant. You know, I flew to various
(25:28):
cities across the country and delivered PowerPoint presentations and sat
in front of a computer and created Excel spreadsheets. I
mean it was just an office job where I really
learned a lot. But after doing it for two years,
I realized that I was truly happiest in the kitchen,
and I said, I got to try this. I got
(25:49):
to see what it's like to work in a restaurant
and see if this is something that I could eventually
do for a living. And when I walked into that
first restaurant job, it was so vastly different from what
I was doing as a consultant, and I fell in
love with it. And I think for the first year
I wasn't sure that I wanted to keep doing it.
It was really, really hard, but I'm so glad I
stuck with it. Again. I had the mentorship of Lydia
(26:11):
and Susan and it was pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Well, we're so happy that you stuck with it. So
what was it like. What did your parents say when
you said, Okay, I'm done with my heart education and
now I'm working on to culinary school.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
They were very concerned. They were nervous. Understandably, they just
wanted to make sure that I was making the right decision.
And I think the way I was able to convince
them was that I wasn't sure that it was a
long term decision. I was just going to take a
year off and go work in the restaurant and see
what it was like. Once I got into the restaurant
and then eventually started working in bakeries, I loved going
(26:47):
to work so much and I was so happy. I
was learning every day. I was excited to go to work,
and I think they saw that in me, and so
then their initial concern was alleviated.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
So nice to be able to hear that. And obviously
your math comes in handy for a number of different reasons,
both on the baking side and also on the running
of the business side, which we know is so huge.
We're going to take a break. We'll have more of
joe An Chang celebrating women's history months on Food for
Thought brought to you by the Box Center.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and Sweet Welcome.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Back to Food for Thought brought to you by the
Box Center, Joean Chang, a Flower Bakery, and Myers and Chang.
All right, so talk to us about Flower. It's been
around for twenty five years. Congratulations, My god, So you
have nine soon to be ten. I mean, tell me
how many. I don't know. You can't even keep up
with you how many locations share with us, the neighborhoods
(27:50):
and what people can expect when they come inside.
Speaker 5 (27:52):
Oh yeah, So we started Flower twenty five years ago. Christopher,
my husband, a business partner, and I decided to expand
after about six years and that's what led to the
second and now it's continued to grow. We have nine locations.
We're getting ready to open Boston Common in early April,
and we're in Boston and Cambridge. There's a running joke
(28:17):
within Flower that we won't open a bakery if I
can't bike to it. I'm sure that at some point
that will change. But really realistically, what what we're trying
to do is make sure that if you go into
a Flower, you get the same amazing service, you get
the same wonderful food, you get the same sense there's
a team of people who are excited to see you
and who want to make your day, and you get
(28:39):
that feeling whether you walk into the original Flower which
is in the South End, or the newest Flower which
is in Beacon Hill, or this upcoming one in Boston Common.
And so being able to physically visit all of the
bakeries and connect with the teams and just be a
part of their everyday work life. Is something that I
think helps make Flowers so special because it's such a
(28:59):
personal thing to me and Christopher, and we really value
our team members because they're the ones who make it
happen every day.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
They have such great energy. No matter what Flower you're walking,
and I mean, you're going to be having like the
worst possible day, and not only you're going in to
get delicious food, but you're getting greeted by wonderful, happy people.
And that's not always the case, as we well know.
So there is something great going on there as far
as the culture. All right, So Myers and Chang, what
are some of the things that people can expect from
(29:28):
the dining experience and on the menu?
Speaker 5 (29:32):
Christopher and I wanted Myers and Chang to be super fun,
like really energetic, a casual place where you can cut
the neighborhood. A pan Asian restaurant in the South End.
Started about almost eighteen years ago. A lot of my
favorite dishes growing up that my mom taught me, a
lot of the dishes that Christopher grew up with growing
up on the North Shore, and we really just wanted
(29:53):
to combine his experience running fine high end fine dining,
high end restaurants. I was doing degree and at the time,
we said, let's join forces and create a place that
has food that we love, the food that we are
eating at home, and has the type of service that
we want when we go out to a place that's
really great service, but it's casual and you can go
(30:16):
a couple times a week. You can bring your parents,
you can go on a first date, you can go
with a bunch of friends, you can go by yourself.
So our goal at Myers and Chang, very similar to Flower,
is that we really really want when you when you
come into Myers and Chang, you have a great time
and when you leave, you cannot wait to come back.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
And you definitely created that vibe. I mean, it is
it is your It's different than Flower because it's you know,
obviously it's a it's a completely different concept, but that
vibe is the same. I mean, there's great music, there's
great you know, different places to be able to sit.
You can sit right at the bar, you I mean
sit right at the watch the kitchen, watch all the
meals being prepped, and and yeah, it's such a such
(30:57):
a great space and also so so delicious and obvious.
Your husband, Christopher, a long celebrated restauranteur in this area,
also worked with so many of the folks that we,
you know, have reference. Tonight, I want to talk about
the community you know, we are. You know, we're celebrating
Women's History Month just because I feel and we feel
so lucky that there are so many strong female chefs
(31:19):
in the area. But not every city is like that,
and so maybe that's why we do sort of celebrate it.
But you talked to me a little bit about the
community and how it doesn't feel like it's women or
men or it just feels like you are a diverse
melding pod, So talk to me about that.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
I mean, I of course love Women's History Months. But
what's interesting for me is that since I've been in
this industry for thirty five years and worked with incredible
femail chefs and male chefs, we have such a strong
community of great culinary professionals in Boston and they are
diverse in every single way, to the point where I
(31:58):
feel like very ofwfome and it's not hey you're a
female chef, or hey you're a chef of color or
this or that. It's that we are all really strong
people in our field and we love working in Boston
and supporting each other to the point where, you know,
celebrating chefs is really what we're trying to do when
(32:19):
we're celebrating women, so it's like, you don't have to
be highlighted because you're a strong female chef necessarily because
there are just so many of them in Boston.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah, it's so inspiring. And I will say it's one
of the things that I love most about this business
in this city is watching the camaraderie. I mean, I've
had the pleasure of being at a number of different
nonprofit events with you over the past twenty years and
with so many of the chefs that we have on
this show, and being with all of you together is
it's like pure joy. I mean because you you oftentimes
(32:52):
haven't seen each other since you know lasting you know,
nonprofit event, and so you're catching up and you're and
you're celebrating one another, and I think that's something that
you know, like, again, don't I don't live in other cities,
but I just I know in my heart of all
hearts that there's something special about this one. So Jane,
you're also very active from a philanthropic perspective. No Kid Hungry,
(33:15):
Share Our Strengths has been a part of yours and
Christopher's lives for a very long time. Can you share
a little bit about the organization with folks who aren't familiar.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
Absolutely. Share Strength is a national nonprofit that celebrates its
fortieth year this year, and they focus on hunger relief,
and most specifically, they have a No Kid Hungry campaign
that's been going on for about twenty years. And the
goal of No Kid Hungry is that no kid should
(33:46):
go hungry in America. And when you say that out loud,
you think to yourself, well, obviously, you know, we are
such a prosperous country in so many ways, and there
really shouldn't be childhood hunger, and yet there is, and
so No Kid Hungry and Share Our Strength work to
connect families and children who don't have access to food
and who are food and secure, and works to connect
(34:08):
them to all of the services that are available to
give them food, whether it's at school or during the
summer if there's a summer meals program. We've been supporting
Share Our Strength since we've been in the culinary industry,
and I joined the board of directors about four or
five years ago, and it's an it's such a wonderful
(34:29):
organization to watch from the inside to see how committed
they are to this goal. And you know, you hear
the statistics and you might go to these events and
learn a little bit about the state of food and
security in the United States, but until you're like on
the inside and you actually get to go to a
food delivery site or you get to go to a
(34:51):
quote grocery store and a food desert where it's really
not a typical grocery store like we think of, but
it's a lot of boxed, packaged goods. I realize how
much people how there are different experiences depending on what
your background is, and so it's such an honor to
be able to work with them.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
It's such a special special organization doing so much, and
we've loved watching all that you do with it. And
I know folks can get involved with some of the
ways that you fundraised throughout the year. But you're opening
your next flower and this one is in such an
awesome spot right in time for spring. Talk about the
new space.
Speaker 5 (35:30):
So if you've walked through the Boston Common in the
last probably fifteen years or so, there is a little
kiosky type of pavilion that was the Earl of Sandwich.
It had red awnings and a red sign. Well, we
have taken over that spot and we are getting ready
to open. We are planning on a unique to the
(35:51):
Boston Common location menu which will have things that are
not offered at the other Flower bakeries. We will of
course offer our famous sticky buns, our oreos, our egg sandwiches,
our belts, all of the things that are so beloved
at all of the other Flower bakeries. In addition, we're
going to be offering a Flower hot dog, which we're
(36:12):
making the bon ourselves. We're making a chili on top
and you can get it with all the fixings the
flower dog or you can pick your own your own fixings.
And we're also offering soft serve. We finally have finalized
our vanilla soft serve recipe. We're working on strawberry. We
have raspberry dip, chocolate dip, dual, see leche dips, and
(36:34):
altars of topping. So it's such an exciting experience for
us to create not only a new menu, but also
to be in this iconic location in the Boston Common.
And finally we're we've created a brand new pastry called
the Embrace. We are within a stone's throw of the
MLK Memorial statue the Embrace, and so we created a
(36:55):
tastry that looks very similar to that, and we're donating
all of the proceeds to the Embraced Foundation and the
Boston Foundation.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
I love that so much. I cannot wait to see it.
We will definitely be there in the SAFT service. What
a great edition. I wonder if we'll see it pop
up at other Flowers at some point. Anyway, Joanne, we
adore you so much. Thank you for coming on the show.
I know how busy you are. Also want to mention
you have a slew of cookbooks so that you can
pretend to be able to recreate the amazing things that
(37:26):
Joanne Shang does, and I will say they are incredibly helpful,
although not ever as beautiful. Anyway, Joanne, we love you
so much.
Speaker 5 (37:34):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Okay, Joanne Shang a Flower Bakery. We'll be back with
more Food for Thought in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and Sweet Well.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
It's so nice to be able to celebrate the great
women in our industry. Wanted to take a minute to
showcase some of the other folks that are on our
Dining Playbook special this week as we sort of come
to a close at Women's History Month. We were able
to showcase Aaron and we were able to showcase Joan Chang.
In addition, I was able to chat with Nia Grace,
(38:07):
who owns Grace by Nia. It's in the Seaport and
she was the first black owned liquor license. It's a
suffer club there in the Seaport, and she also at
the time owned Darrel's Cornerbarn Kitchen, which was a celebrated
restaurant in the South End. She has since closed it
for a bit because it's getting a major renovation is
(38:28):
going to come back with a with a new twist.
I can imagine it's music. So for folks who aren't familiar,
Grace by Nia is not only a delicious Southern inspired restaurant,
but it's also a music venue and they have live
music every single day that they are open, which is
I think every day of the week. And they actually
(38:50):
just opened a second location in Foxwoods, so they have
some of the greatest jazz musicians anywhere, and they also
really focus on low artists too, which is nice. So
as really popular local artists are coming up through the scene,
they make sure to cover them. And the space is
just gorgeous. It's a big, open, lively space. The sound
(39:12):
system is wonderful. No matter where you're seated, you feel
like you're right there in front of the stage. It's
intimate yet expansive, and the food is delicious. You got
to try to jumbalayah if you're there. It's very you know,
they certainly pay homage to New England Fair, but also
bring in that Southern twist. And Nia is another incredible
woman that I have loved watching her career grow. She
(39:37):
sits on a number of different boards throughout the city.
She's a very strong advocate and really has, you know,
sort of paid away for a lot of other women,
both within her business and otherwise adore her. Then I
also got to go to Lamora, which is celebrating their
twentieth year this year. We actually started around the same
time and so we were both celebrating our two decades together.
(39:58):
But Jensiskin and her Husban and Josh are the owners.
So Jen is an amazing wine director, Josh is a chef,
and they work with really wonderful small producers, a lot
of them female, which is not as you know, there's
not as many female producers as you might imagine, so
it's nice to be able to single them out. She
also has a big voice within an organization called Let's
(40:20):
Talk Women, which is a group of women who are
in the hospitality industry coming together to support one another.
And that really came out of COVID and we talk
about that on the show, which was a lot of
fun obviously. Joanne Chang James Beard winner nine locations, opening
a new one. She has I don't know how many
cookbooks six even I don't know. Aaron Miller again now
(40:42):
a semi finalist for James Beard. We talked with Karen
A Kanowit from barbol Day. Karen actually started or not started,
but she spent some time with Joanne Chang and Myers
and Chang for a long time did one of those
cookbooks with her, and now she has Barbol Bay and
Fox and the Knife, and she is amazing, She's incredible,
(41:02):
she's got a big voice. She does a lot of
you know, national TV. She and her family live in
the area and she has a young daughter, Rogue, who
she does some great things on social media. She shows
all of the delicious things that this little child eats,
which is awesome when you have a chef as a
mom to be able to cook these things. But she
eats things that yet not all the children eat, I
(41:24):
can't say, so it was lovely to have her on
the show as well. We also showcased Rachel Fundet, one
of the owners and chefs of Mamala's. It's great Jewish deli.
They have a location in Cambridge and Brookline and I
think all yeah, and also on High Street. So they
celebrate you know, Eastern European and Jewish cooking traditions and
do great things for the holidays, which I love including.
So tune into Dining playbooks. You more women owned businesses
(41:46):
that are worth checking out. There's still so, so, so
many more. We always tell people to go to meet
Boston dot com because they have a great array of spaces,
but also follow us on Dining Playbook and it's been
great celebrating women's history months with you. Today we'll be
back next week with more food for thoughts sued by
the Box Center
You are listening to Food for Thought with Billy and Jenny,
brought to you by the Box Center. For more than
fifteen years, this dining duo has been eating their way
through New England, mixing it up with top chefs, jumping
behind the line of the hottest restaurants and giving you
the inside scoop on where to wine, dine and spend
your time. So get ready, it's Food for Thought giving
you something to chew on.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey there, welcome into Food for Thought, brought to you
by the Box Center. Today we are celebrating Women's History Months,
so over the course of March, you probably have heard
that is designated Women's History Month. The thing that I
like to say is it should be women's celebration months
every month of the year. But it feels nice to
be able to take some time away and celebrate some
(00:42):
folks in the hospitality industry here in New England. So
on Dining Playbook, we launched a special show that I
was able to chat with about six or seven of
the great female chefs and restaurant tours in the area,
showcase their histories, talk a little bit about what it
feels like to, you know, a prominent woman in the
(01:02):
business here in Boston and beyond. And our first guest
is someone that I had huge respect for and someone
that the industry trullly adores. Her name is Aaron Miller.
She's the executive chef and owner of Urban Hearth right
there in North Cambridge. Aaron, thanks so much for joining
the show. Thanks for having me, Jenny, So I want
(01:24):
to sort of start by saying, what does it feel
like to be a woman in this industry and has
that changed for you over the course of your career.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, I think it's I think it's changed quite a
bit over my career, and it's honestly changed us as
five aged. I'm turning fifty this year. I've become a
lot more reflective in the past couple of years, especially
as my kids have gotten older, you know.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
But it's been a journey. I started by going to
culinary school as a.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Career changer in the very early two thousands I think
it's two thousand and two in New York. And at
that time, as as someone going into the restaurant industry
in New York, the landscape was very different and the
experience was very different, especially for you know, a woman
who had worked in a career job.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Before and had made her way.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
So, you know, I think that my attitude has shifted
over the years. My expectations for what the workplace can
look like has shifted over the years. Honestly, I'm a
lot less angry about it, and I work the past
I feel. I think in the early days, I felt,
(02:38):
you know, at times, like a victim of the situation,
at times just kind of at a loss for working
in a place that was dominated by big personalities, mostly
male personalities, and just kind of feeling like I didn't
have a place that it didn't that workplace didn't resonate
with me. And it's been I think in the past
(03:00):
several years, as I've built my own restaurant, built it
around a model of bringing people together in a collaborative, joyful,
uh kind of synergistic environments, that I've begun to realize
how much control I have over my own fate and
(03:21):
how we.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
We realize the attitude that we project, you know.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
So so I feel I feel so positive now about
the potential for working into the power of working in
a restaurant environment, especially when you get together a group
of people, men and women and and of all strips
that can collaborate and work together and and work towards
(03:50):
the common goal. So you know, I think I think
it's a lot more complex than than it appears on
the surface. And you know, now more than ever, I'm
really excited about potential for our industry to be a
really love that healthy workplace.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah, you know, I love that you say it's a
complicated answer, and how you eloquently described sort of that
complexity and the evolution of this for you personally, I
think is something that people can connect with, women can
connect with, and you know, across all different walks of life.
But certainly, you know, Billy and I have been covering
this industry for the past twenty years, and that shift
(04:28):
is you know, palpable, like you can see it, you
can feel it, you can experience it in a way
that I find very powerful. You know, we were so
lucky to have you as part of our cookbook that
we launched this year, and one of the resounding things
for me was how many strong, talented, like unbelievable women
(04:49):
we had as a part of that of that cookbook.
And I know that when I started twenty years ago,
it just didn't look like that. So you briefly mentioned
that this is sort of your second career path. I
want to talk a little bit about where you came
from and what ultimately propelled you to make the shift.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Sure, Sure, yeah, I was just saying one more thing.
I think. I think that you know, the diversity that
you see in your cookbook is indicative of just more
voices in the conversation. And I think that that's that's
the power that we see trending in in this industry
right now. It's just more diversity, more complexity in our
(05:31):
in the conversation. So I started. I started on my
journey in food after leaving university, working for a long
while in the Washington d c. A Baltimore area in
nonprofit work in community development kind of I think following
my instincts to to nurture, to to work in a
(05:59):
place that felt philanthropic or a sector that felt philanthropic,
felt like I was making an impact on people's lives.
And what I discovered after working in that environment for
a long time is that I was in a place where,
at least for me in my career path, I was
doing a lot of implementation, a lot of writing of grants,
(06:24):
facilitating other people's abilities to have a direct a direct
impact on people's lives. And it wasn't that what I
was doing wasn't valuable. It's just that I didn't have
the direct connection with people that I wanted. And so
I kind of took a step back in my late
(06:46):
twenties early thirties and said, well, what is it that
I love? What do I feel passionate about? What can
I see myself doing for the next twenty thirty years.
And at that point, it was kind of the rise
of the network, you know, Juggernaut at that point, and
there were a lot of a lot of women, women included,
who were just starting to think, huh, you know, maybe
(07:06):
maybe there is a different path in food that is
maybe less traditional or maybe welcoming to me.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, so I when I loved school, and I love
that you took that leap. You know, so often we
get stuck in what feels like maybe the desire, and
yet we get stuck in sort of the day to
day and so it's so wonderful that you made that leaves.
We're so lucky that you made that leap. We're going
to take a break and move back with more food
for thought in just a.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Minute, you're listening to Food for Thought brought to you
by the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel in sweets.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Welcome back to Peep with Thought brought to you by
the Box Center. Aaron Miller of Urban Hearth there in
North Cambridge, just such a quaint, delicious restaurant. If you
haven't been there, please make sure to check it out.
So arin you make this big career shift, you are
classically trained in New York, and then and then what happens?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Yeah, So I went out and I did the restaurant thing.
You know in New York is the place to get
get your start. So my first job was actually a
Blue Hill with Dan Barber, a very early influence on
my lot and on my career and in my life,
and certainly you see, you know, his fingerprints on my
(08:19):
my dedication and passion for sustainability and locally sourced foods.
So I started there and then kind of worked my
way into my own, my own little space, because I
at that point started a family. And as most women
know and most people know in general, the hospitality industry
(08:44):
and raising a family are not very supportive of each other.
So I kind of built a career and built a
business around around those two lives of mine. So I
was mommy during the day and started running a culinary
event company of my own in the evenings, and teaching
(09:09):
as well, which turned out to be a real passion
for me. First started out teaching in recreational cooking schools,
you know, teaching home cooks, but then also started once
I moved to Cambridge, teaching in a professional program at
the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, and it's been so
fulfilling and a really important part of my career. So yeah,
(09:32):
So I did that while my kids were small and
just kind of hustled really and then and when they
were in school and a little bit older, that's when
doing the you know, kind of the independent contract work
that I was doing, it really took off and it
got too big for me to do out of borrowed
(09:53):
kitchen space, so I started looking for a dedicated space.
And that's kind of how Urban Heart the Restaurant evolved.
I like to joke that I'm an accidental restaurant tour
It wasn't my intention open open a restaurant, and and
anyone who's been a steady supporter and guest of ours
(10:14):
over the years has seen the evolution of Urban Hearts
as we've kind of figured out who we really are,
you know, what what are our role is in this
restaurant landscape, and what what story we have to tell,
And that's that's evolved along the way. And I feel like,
you know, in the past couple of years, that's really
(10:35):
jailed and you know, I feel more confident than ever
that I'm doing what I need to be doing, you know,
and I find joy still twenty twenty two years later,
I find joy still in every day that I go
to work.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
That's so special and so important, and it seems like
it was the you know, part of the path as
I think probably what helps you, you know, makes you
appreciate it so much is all of the things that
came before you that you've shared. So folks who haven't
been to Urban Heart described the space and give us
a sense of the menu.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Sure, so we are intimate. It is a twenty four
seat restaurant. It's a little storefront that is very small
and close. But also I think we've built a vibe
there that feels, or is meant to feel, very much
like you're hanging out at a friend's house. For a
dinner party, and that is not only in kind of
(11:33):
the closeness of the space, but in the design. The
kitchen is open to the dining room, so it's sort
of like being in an open home kitchen. We have
four seats in the kitchen with us where folks join
us for one of our menus, which is the chef
Tasting menu. It's a five to eight course menu that
we do in two seatings tonight.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
And that's not a printed menu.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
It sometimes changes day to day depending on what I'm
bringing in, what I forged, you know, what I'm working
on in my own creative space.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
So that's the.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
One menu, and then the remaining twenty seats are an
ala carte menu that is also highly driven by seasonality,
by locally sourced products and our relationships with local farmers
and fishermen, and that changes at this point probably eight
ten times a year on a rolling basis. It's very
(12:28):
it evolves, I think more than changes. And yeah, and
it's it's it's kind of a fun dinner party every night.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
That's the vibe that we're going for.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
And yeah, and it's been it's been really great the
past few months, certainly since the James Beeard nomination to
see so many new faces coming in and getting a
taste for what that kind of dining style can be.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Like, tell us about that moment. We know that, you know,
people don't get into this industry for the accol hator
for the awards. They get in it because of their
deep passion, which is clear in hearing you speak that
being said, this is sort of the the award of
all awards in this business. Uh. And so what did
(13:11):
what did it mean to you? Where were you when
you found out? And and and yeah, tell us about
that experience.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Yeah, So I knew, I knew the date that it
was it was going to be announced, and so I had,
as the stoic that I am, I had had steadily
over the past few days, been preparing myself not to
be nominated, you know. So I was in a in
a in a pretty a pretty neutral mood about it
by by that morning, and I was actually on a
(13:40):
conference call with our PR firm that we do every
couple of weeks, you know, just kind of the review call.
And while I was chatting along about whatever it was
we were chatting about, my husband brought over his computer
and showed me on the James brig website my name,
and I screamed in all their ears and they were like,
what's wrong, what's wrong? So it was actually it was.
(14:02):
It was wonderful. It was marvelous to be on that
call with those people, with my GM Abbie Taylor, with
our pr lead JP to share that moment with them,
because they are very much the reason why like coming
together as a team. I feel we were able to
(14:22):
get the nomination pulled together, or at least the application
pulled together, and tell the story of how special this
restaurant is, and how special this team is and how
unique it is, and I think in a way really
really groundbreaking in a lot of ways for particularly for
(14:43):
women and and non binary people in in this field,
to find a place that they can express themselves fully
and creatively is really powerful. So to shed a light
on this workplace that I've built, but also this phenomenal
(15:03):
team that I've put together was a powerful moment. After that,
it was a bit of a.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Sorry. After that, it was a bit of a roller coaster.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
You know.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
It's like one of those one of those things where
you can't quite absorb it because it's all coming so fast.
So it's it's actually taken us a little while too
as a team to kind of absorb what this means
for us, and uh, you know, and and now it
just now it just feels really good and it feels right,
(15:35):
and we're you know, we're so excited for the recognition
and I'm so proud of you, just so very proud
of this team because you know, my name is saw
the award, but my name's on the award. But I
wouldn't I wouldn't be in this position if it weren't
for for these people that I work with every day.
And it's it's you know, it's really remarkable.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
So nice to hear and thank you for sharing that story.
And so beat A well, you mentioned earlier on about
you foraging folks, about your ear experiences there, and for
some who aren't familiar with that means sure.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
So that's that's a great question.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
So foraging is it's kind of a complex answer too,
because it goes back to my childhood roots. Something that
I grew up doing in the mountains of Virginia in
the Blue Ridge that I didn't know was quote unquote.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Foraging at the time.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
We were just out picking blackberries or you know, picking
anything else that we could all summer long that was
growing wild in the landscape there. And it's always been
kind of part of my culture and my heritage and
part of my personality. I'm like a rabid squirrel in
the summertime when it's BlackBerry season, i.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Just can't get it out.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Like my kids absolutely hate hiking with me when the
wild borbries are out because they can't they can't get
me off the mountains, you know. And it's it's become
kind of part of of our ethos of the restaurant,
not only to shine a light on the bounty of
the farms and fisheries in our area, but also the
(17:09):
amazingly diverse and abundant natural landscape and wild landscape that
we have in New England, not only in the countryside
and the mountains, but right here in our urban environments.
And I think it's become a real passion for me
as a chef to introduce our guests to that amazing
(17:30):
like you know, moment of like wow, I didn't know
that was something that's in my park. I didn't know
that was something that's in my yard.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
To get the way is people to give people the
education of what is around them, and to be able
to experience themselves is so powerful. We're going to take
a break. We'll be back with more Food for Thought
in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
It's the Box Center and Sail and Waterfront Hotel in Swees.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
So, Aaron, I love hearing so much of your story.
I want to talk about the area that you're in
in North Cambridge, because not only can they come and
enjoy dinner with you, but there's a lot of great
businesses in the area.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Oh, it's a great neighborhood, Jenny, and it's really kind
of come into its own over the past several years.
I opened Urban Hearts about nine years ago now, and
in our little block on Matth Avenue, just outside of
Davis Square. Actually several business owners opened, all at the
same time, almost entirely women and almost entirely food related,
(18:31):
which is amazing. Our immediate neighbors are Curious Spice, led
by Claire Cheney, which a lot of your listeners may
know about. We've got Angela at Nusley, which is a
raw food company. We have Jeremy Spindler, It's Spindler Chocolates,
and several other businesses, and then beyond our little block,
we also have Mama's Specialty Grocery, which is also a
(18:54):
woman owned and Raspberry Beret, So you can kind of
cover the gamut of your shop being an entertainment activity
in our little North Cambridge block. And it's been such
a great community of people that have come together as
small business owners and as minority owners in particular to
support each other and provide resources and just kind of
(19:14):
mutual aid for everyone.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
It is such a special block, all right. So I
want to close by letting people know where they specifically
can find you and when you're serving sure.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
So we are open currently Tuesdays through Saturday, just for dinner.
We have reservations through our website at Urbanhearts dot net
and we're located at twenty two to sixty three Maths.
She's its Avenue in Cambridge, right on math Avenue and
we're about two blocks from the Davis Square Teeth stop.
So if you're a public transit writer, that's the best
way to reach us.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
It's such a special place and I hope everybody listening
heads there. Aaron. I'm so excited for your success. We
have just a few seconds left, But I want to
ask the question in celebration of Women's History months, when
you look back at your life and you think of
the great female men towards you've had in this space,
you know who was your sort of your culinary mentor
that helps guide you through this process, or you first
(20:08):
felt inspiration in the culinary space.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Yeah, I think I would speak to more to the
inspiration size.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Dominique Cren a real powerhouse in this industry, especially the
fine dining sector, and a woman who has carved her
own path has been a huge influence on me, and
then even earlier on Ruth Reichel and Paula Wolfert, writers
in this area who started far earlier than I did,
(20:36):
have been one.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Of the awesome, wonderful Well, Aaron, thank you so much
for joining us happy women to his three months. Congratulations.
We're rooting for you for James Beard and we'll talk soon.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yay.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Thanks Jennings.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Take care.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
We got more Food for Thought coming right up.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
It's the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel and sweets.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Hey, everybody, welcome back into Food for That to buy
the Box Center I'm so excited for this next guest.
She has been a friend of Billy and mine, certainly
for the twenty years I've been doing this, and I
know Billy even longer than that. She's one of the
great strong female voices within hospitality here in Boston and beyond.
(21:18):
Her name is Joanne Chang of Flower Bakery and Myers
and Chang. Joanne, thanks so much for joining us today.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Oh so, you know, Joanne, We're gonna get a little
bit into your background, but I want to sort of
start by asking the question. You know, this week, this month,
we are celebrating Women's History Month, and you know, what
does it mean to you to be a female in
this business in our area and how much has it
changed for you? I know you've been in this business
for you know, over thirty years.
Speaker 5 (21:49):
Yes, it's been an amazing thirty some years in Boston
in this business. And I was so fortunate when I
first started out. My very first chef was Lydia Shire
and her Sioux chef Susan Regis. Every single place that
I've worked has had strong female mentors and chefs and managers.
(22:15):
And so for me, what's been wonderful to see is
how that has continued in the three plus decades that
I've been doing this. I think that, you know, when
you have a city or an industry that is filled
with strong females that other women want to join, and
that's what I've seen, and so I feel so fortunate.
I've grown up culinarily in Boston.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
I love that so much, and we often talk about that.
And you know, it's not like we have any necessary,
necessarily any data on it, but you know, the women
have been celebrated in the culinary industry here, you're, like
you're saying for a very long time. And you know,
I don't know that it's the same in every city,
but I know that as I was putting together, you know,
a compilation of our great chef friends for our cookbook,
(23:01):
it was so it made me so proud and so
happy to be able to see how many strong female
voices we have in this industry. And obviously you just
mentioned a few of them. So I want to talk
a little bit about a culinary mentor for you. You just
mentioned some that were, you know, certainly in the industry
or still in the industry in our area, but growing
(23:23):
up like what was the culinary story for you, and
did you have any female mentors or people that you
looked up to from a culinary standpoint.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
Then, well, I think from a culinary standpoint as a kid,
this was probably the same for many people in the
industry and probably many people in general. It was my mom.
My mom was a working mother and yet every single
day she came home from work and managed to put
a delicious meal on the table. In fact, we took
(23:51):
so many of her recipes, and that helped inspire Myerson Chang,
and I think just realizing like how much joy and
how much much fun we would have together on the weekends,
so planning meals and doing dumpling parties and all of that.
I think that for me is really what instilled for
me this desire to eventually enter into this business where
(24:14):
what I do for a living is to make people
happy through food. And that was so my mom. I mean,
she was always thinking about the next meal when we
were eating the first meal, and our whole life together,
my whole childhood was just one long meal planning session.
I'd carried out.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Rend you so awesome well and monitoring stumplings on the
menu of the best I know there's a lot of
you know, of your mother inspired this as like you mentioned,
it's so great. But you know, we don't have a
ton of time in this break, but I do want
to get like a little bit of your backstory because
you this wasn't necessarily a traditional path. So yes, she was,
(24:51):
you know, cooking delicious meals. You were used to, you know,
delicious and nutritious food. But you didn't, you know, you
didn't go to school knowing this something that you were
going to do and ultimately made a career change. Will
you share a little bit about that story with us?
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (25:06):
Yeah, I had no idea I would end up in
the food business. I come from a very traditional Taiwanese family,
and they wanted me to be a doctor or a
lawyer and that was it. And so I studied math
and economics at Harvard. After graduation, I spent two years
as a management consultant. You know, I flew to various
(25:28):
cities across the country and delivered PowerPoint presentations and sat
in front of a computer and created Excel spreadsheets. I
mean it was just an office job where I really
learned a lot. But after doing it for two years,
I realized that I was truly happiest in the kitchen,
and I said, I got to try this. I got
(25:49):
to see what it's like to work in a restaurant
and see if this is something that I could eventually
do for a living. And when I walked into that
first restaurant job, it was so vastly different from what
I was doing as a consultant, and I fell in
love with it. And I think for the first year
I wasn't sure that I wanted to keep doing it.
It was really, really hard, but I'm so glad I
stuck with it. Again. I had the mentorship of Lydia
(26:11):
and Susan and it was pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Well, we're so happy that you stuck with it. So
what was it like. What did your parents say when
you said, Okay, I'm done with my heart education and
now I'm working on to culinary school.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
They were very concerned. They were nervous. Understandably, they just
wanted to make sure that I was making the right decision.
And I think the way I was able to convince
them was that I wasn't sure that it was a
long term decision. I was just going to take a
year off and go work in the restaurant and see
what it was like. Once I got into the restaurant
and then eventually started working in bakeries, I loved going
(26:47):
to work so much and I was so happy. I
was learning every day. I was excited to go to work,
and I think they saw that in me, and so
then their initial concern was alleviated.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
So nice to be able to hear that. And obviously
your math comes in handy for a number of different reasons,
both on the baking side and also on the running
of the business side, which we know is so huge.
We're going to take a break. We'll have more of
joe An Chang celebrating women's history months on Food for
Thought brought to you by the Box Center.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and Sweet Welcome.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Back to Food for Thought brought to you by the
Box Center, Joean Chang, a Flower Bakery, and Myers and Chang.
All right, so talk to us about Flower. It's been
around for twenty five years. Congratulations, My god, So you
have nine soon to be ten. I mean, tell me
how many. I don't know. You can't even keep up
with you how many locations share with us, the neighborhoods
(27:50):
and what people can expect when they come inside.
Speaker 5 (27:52):
Oh yeah, So we started Flower twenty five years ago. Christopher,
my husband, a business partner, and I decided to expand
after about six years and that's what led to the
second and now it's continued to grow. We have nine locations.
We're getting ready to open Boston Common in early April,
and we're in Boston and Cambridge. There's a running joke
(28:17):
within Flower that we won't open a bakery if I
can't bike to it. I'm sure that at some point
that will change. But really realistically, what what we're trying
to do is make sure that if you go into
a Flower, you get the same amazing service, you get
the same wonderful food, you get the same sense there's
a team of people who are excited to see you
and who want to make your day, and you get
(28:39):
that feeling whether you walk into the original Flower which
is in the South End, or the newest Flower which
is in Beacon Hill, or this upcoming one in Boston Common.
And so being able to physically visit all of the
bakeries and connect with the teams and just be a
part of their everyday work life. Is something that I
think helps make Flowers so special because it's such a
(28:59):
personal thing to me and Christopher, and we really value
our team members because they're the ones who make it
happen every day.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
They have such great energy. No matter what Flower you're walking,
and I mean, you're going to be having like the
worst possible day, and not only you're going in to
get delicious food, but you're getting greeted by wonderful, happy people.
And that's not always the case, as we well know.
So there is something great going on there as far
as the culture. All right, So Myers and Chang, what
are some of the things that people can expect from
(29:28):
the dining experience and on the menu?
Speaker 5 (29:32):
Christopher and I wanted Myers and Chang to be super fun,
like really energetic, a casual place where you can cut
the neighborhood. A pan Asian restaurant in the South End.
Started about almost eighteen years ago. A lot of my
favorite dishes growing up that my mom taught me, a
lot of the dishes that Christopher grew up with growing
up on the North Shore, and we really just wanted
(29:53):
to combine his experience running fine high end fine dining,
high end restaurants. I was doing degree and at the time,
we said, let's join forces and create a place that
has food that we love, the food that we are
eating at home, and has the type of service that
we want when we go out to a place that's
really great service, but it's casual and you can go
(30:16):
a couple times a week. You can bring your parents,
you can go on a first date, you can go
with a bunch of friends, you can go by yourself.
So our goal at Myers and Chang, very similar to Flower,
is that we really really want when you when you
come into Myers and Chang, you have a great time
and when you leave, you cannot wait to come back.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
And you definitely created that vibe. I mean, it is
it is your It's different than Flower because it's you know,
obviously it's a it's a completely different concept, but that
vibe is the same. I mean, there's great music, there's
great you know, different places to be able to sit.
You can sit right at the bar, you I mean
sit right at the watch the kitchen, watch all the
meals being prepped, and and yeah, it's such a such
(30:57):
a great space and also so so delicious and obvious.
Your husband, Christopher, a long celebrated restauranteur in this area,
also worked with so many of the folks that we,
you know, have reference. Tonight, I want to talk about
the community you know, we are. You know, we're celebrating
Women's History Month just because I feel and we feel
so lucky that there are so many strong female chefs
(31:19):
in the area. But not every city is like that,
and so maybe that's why we do sort of celebrate it.
But you talked to me a little bit about the
community and how it doesn't feel like it's women or
men or it just feels like you are a diverse
melding pod, So talk to me about that.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
I mean, I of course love Women's History Months. But
what's interesting for me is that since I've been in
this industry for thirty five years and worked with incredible
femail chefs and male chefs, we have such a strong
community of great culinary professionals in Boston and they are
diverse in every single way, to the point where I
(31:58):
feel like very ofwfome and it's not hey you're a
female chef, or hey you're a chef of color or
this or that. It's that we are all really strong
people in our field and we love working in Boston
and supporting each other to the point where, you know,
celebrating chefs is really what we're trying to do when
(32:19):
we're celebrating women, so it's like, you don't have to
be highlighted because you're a strong female chef necessarily because
there are just so many of them in Boston.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah, it's so inspiring. And I will say it's one
of the things that I love most about this business
in this city is watching the camaraderie. I mean, I've
had the pleasure of being at a number of different
nonprofit events with you over the past twenty years and
with so many of the chefs that we have on
this show, and being with all of you together is
it's like pure joy. I mean because you you oftentimes
(32:52):
haven't seen each other since you know lasting you know,
nonprofit event, and so you're catching up and you're and
you're celebrating one another, and I think that's something that
you know, like, again, don't I don't live in other cities,
but I just I know in my heart of all
hearts that there's something special about this one. So Jane,
you're also very active from a philanthropic perspective. No Kid Hungry,
(33:15):
Share Our Strengths has been a part of yours and
Christopher's lives for a very long time. Can you share
a little bit about the organization with folks who aren't familiar.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
Absolutely. Share Strength is a national nonprofit that celebrates its
fortieth year this year, and they focus on hunger relief,
and most specifically, they have a No Kid Hungry campaign
that's been going on for about twenty years. And the
goal of No Kid Hungry is that no kid should
(33:46):
go hungry in America. And when you say that out loud,
you think to yourself, well, obviously, you know, we are
such a prosperous country in so many ways, and there
really shouldn't be childhood hunger, and yet there is, and
so No Kid Hungry and Share Our Strength work to
connect families and children who don't have access to food
and who are food and secure, and works to connect
(34:08):
them to all of the services that are available to
give them food, whether it's at school or during the
summer if there's a summer meals program. We've been supporting
Share Our Strength since we've been in the culinary industry,
and I joined the board of directors about four or
five years ago, and it's an it's such a wonderful
(34:29):
organization to watch from the inside to see how committed
they are to this goal. And you know, you hear
the statistics and you might go to these events and
learn a little bit about the state of food and
security in the United States, but until you're like on
the inside and you actually get to go to a
food delivery site or you get to go to a
(34:51):
quote grocery store and a food desert where it's really
not a typical grocery store like we think of, but
it's a lot of boxed, packaged goods. I realize how
much people how there are different experiences depending on what
your background is, and so it's such an honor to
be able to work with them.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
It's such a special special organization doing so much, and
we've loved watching all that you do with it. And
I know folks can get involved with some of the
ways that you fundraised throughout the year. But you're opening
your next flower and this one is in such an
awesome spot right in time for spring. Talk about the
new space.
Speaker 5 (35:30):
So if you've walked through the Boston Common in the
last probably fifteen years or so, there is a little
kiosky type of pavilion that was the Earl of Sandwich.
It had red awnings and a red sign. Well, we
have taken over that spot and we are getting ready
to open. We are planning on a unique to the
(35:51):
Boston Common location menu which will have things that are
not offered at the other Flower bakeries. We will of
course offer our famous sticky buns, our oreos, our egg sandwiches,
our belts, all of the things that are so beloved
at all of the other Flower bakeries. In addition, we're
going to be offering a Flower hot dog, which we're
(36:12):
making the bon ourselves. We're making a chili on top
and you can get it with all the fixings the
flower dog or you can pick your own your own fixings.
And we're also offering soft serve. We finally have finalized
our vanilla soft serve recipe. We're working on strawberry. We
have raspberry dip, chocolate dip, dual, see leche dips, and
(36:34):
altars of topping. So it's such an exciting experience for
us to create not only a new menu, but also
to be in this iconic location in the Boston Common.
And finally we're we've created a brand new pastry called
the Embrace. We are within a stone's throw of the
MLK Memorial statue the Embrace, and so we created a
(36:55):
tastry that looks very similar to that, and we're donating
all of the proceeds to the Embraced Foundation and the
Boston Foundation.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
I love that so much. I cannot wait to see it.
We will definitely be there in the SAFT service. What
a great edition. I wonder if we'll see it pop
up at other Flowers at some point. Anyway, Joanne, we
adore you so much. Thank you for coming on the show.
I know how busy you are. Also want to mention
you have a slew of cookbooks so that you can
pretend to be able to recreate the amazing things that
(37:26):
Joanne Shang does, and I will say they are incredibly helpful,
although not ever as beautiful. Anyway, Joanne, we love you
so much.
Speaker 5 (37:34):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Okay, Joanne Shang a Flower Bakery. We'll be back with
more Food for Thought in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and Sweet Well.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
It's so nice to be able to celebrate the great
women in our industry. Wanted to take a minute to
showcase some of the other folks that are on our
Dining Playbook special this week as we sort of come
to a close at Women's History Month. We were able
to showcase Aaron and we were able to showcase Joan Chang.
In addition, I was able to chat with Nia Grace,
(38:07):
who owns Grace by Nia. It's in the Seaport and
she was the first black owned liquor license. It's a
suffer club there in the Seaport, and she also at
the time owned Darrel's Cornerbarn Kitchen, which was a celebrated
restaurant in the South End. She has since closed it
for a bit because it's getting a major renovation is
(38:28):
going to come back with a with a new twist.
I can imagine it's music. So for folks who aren't familiar,
Grace by Nia is not only a delicious Southern inspired restaurant,
but it's also a music venue and they have live
music every single day that they are open, which is
I think every day of the week. And they actually
(38:50):
just opened a second location in Foxwoods, so they have
some of the greatest jazz musicians anywhere, and they also
really focus on low artists too, which is nice. So
as really popular local artists are coming up through the scene,
they make sure to cover them. And the space is
just gorgeous. It's a big, open, lively space. The sound
(39:12):
system is wonderful. No matter where you're seated, you feel
like you're right there in front of the stage. It's
intimate yet expansive, and the food is delicious. You got
to try to jumbalayah if you're there. It's very you know,
they certainly pay homage to New England Fair, but also
bring in that Southern twist. And Nia is another incredible
woman that I have loved watching her career grow. She
(39:37):
sits on a number of different boards throughout the city.
She's a very strong advocate and really has, you know,
sort of paid away for a lot of other women,
both within her business and otherwise adore her. Then I
also got to go to Lamora, which is celebrating their
twentieth year this year. We actually started around the same
time and so we were both celebrating our two decades together.
(39:58):
But Jensiskin and her Husban and Josh are the owners.
So Jen is an amazing wine director, Josh is a chef,
and they work with really wonderful small producers, a lot
of them female, which is not as you know, there's
not as many female producers as you might imagine, so
it's nice to be able to single them out. She
also has a big voice within an organization called Let's
(40:20):
Talk Women, which is a group of women who are
in the hospitality industry coming together to support one another.
And that really came out of COVID and we talk
about that on the show, which was a lot of
fun obviously. Joanne Chang James Beard winner nine locations, opening
a new one. She has I don't know how many
cookbooks six even I don't know. Aaron Miller again now
(40:42):
a semi finalist for James Beard. We talked with Karen
A Kanowit from barbol Day. Karen actually started or not started,
but she spent some time with Joanne Chang and Myers
and Chang for a long time did one of those
cookbooks with her, and now she has Barbol Bay and
Fox and the Knife, and she is amazing, She's incredible,
(41:02):
she's got a big voice. She does a lot of
you know, national TV. She and her family live in
the area and she has a young daughter, Rogue, who
she does some great things on social media. She shows
all of the delicious things that this little child eats,
which is awesome when you have a chef as a
mom to be able to cook these things. But she
eats things that yet not all the children eat, I
(41:24):
can't say, so it was lovely to have her on
the show as well. We also showcased Rachel Fundet, one
of the owners and chefs of Mamala's. It's great Jewish deli.
They have a location in Cambridge and Brookline and I
think all yeah, and also on High Street. So they
celebrate you know, Eastern European and Jewish cooking traditions and
do great things for the holidays, which I love including.
So tune into Dining playbooks. You more women owned businesses
(41:46):
that are worth checking out. There's still so, so, so
many more. We always tell people to go to meet
Boston dot com because they have a great array of spaces,
but also follow us on Dining Playbook and it's been
great celebrating women's history months with you. Today we'll be
back next week with more food for thoughts sued by
the Box Center
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