October 26, 2025 • 44 mins
A private chef who learned pasta in an Umbrian cellar, sold out DC markets with recipe cards, and now feeds Pittsburgh with allergy-aware comfort food? That’s Barbara Ann of A B Kitchen, and her story is a tour of how real-world cooking can be both nourishing and exciting without getting fussy.
We visit the nuts and bolts of Barbara's off-site private chef model: custom meal prep, catering that accommodates varied diets, and partnerships with trusted nutrition pros to align flavor with macros and recovery goals. Her background spans DC restaurant trenches, global travel influences, and seasons on Pennsylvania organic farms. Plus a stint at Whole Foods helped guide what cools quickly, reheats cleanly, and still tastes fresh on day two.
We also venture across town to spotlight Tram’s Kitchen, a cash-only Vietnamese staple where plastic tablecloths hide a kitchen making one of Pittsburgh’s most satisfying bowls of bún bò Huế. Creator Karen Hoang explains why the spicy broth, tender noodles, and “no ambiance, all flavor” ethos make it a must-visit when you want substance over scene.
For a quick home win, Lisa Ray from Hamajack Heat Company drops a three-minute guacamole: one avocado, a spoon of Sublime jalapeño sauce, lime, and salt. It’s the kind of recipe shortcut that we love.
Press play, then subscribe, rate, and share with a friend who loves hidden gems and smarter comfort food. Got a favorite no-frills spot or a go-to weeknight hack? Tell us—your tip might make the next show.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Doug (00:00):
Welcome to the Pittsburgh Dish.
I'm your host, Doug Heilman.
Do you have that unassumingfriend that has an incredible
backstory?
That's how I feel about thisweek's guest.
We meet Private Chef BarbaraAnn and learn about her food
journey to A B Kitchen.
What tasty Vietnamese spot hasgood food on the menu, but no
(00:25):
room for bouginess?
Karen Hoang takes us to Tram'sKitchen.
And are you interested inpossibly the most streamlined
yet tasty guacamole recipe?
Lisa Ray of Hamajack has it.
All that ahead, stay tuned.
Well, thank you so much forcoming over and for being on the
(00:49):
show.
Barbara Ann (00:50):
Thanks for having me.
Doug (00:51):
Would you introduce yourself to our listeners and
what you have going on right nowin the world of food?
Barbara Ann (00:58):
Sure.
My name is Barbara Ann.
And right now I rent acommercial kitchen called Fulton
Commons.
And I do it's sort of like I'ma private chef, but I'm not in
most people's houses.
So it's like custom mealdelivery, meal prep.
Doug (01:18):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (01:19):
And catering.
And I do go to one person'shouse every week.
Okay because they have foodallergies.
So they're being careful abouteverything about food.
Doug (01:29):
So you do all the cooking down in Fulton Commons.
This is where we met.
You were doing kind of atasting on like a lunchtime
once, and we got to talking.
Barbara Ann (01:40):
Yeah.
And I first met you at Artie'slunch.
That's right.
Doug (01:43):
Yeah.
So down in Fulton, I first metArtie Pitt of Artie's Hot Sauce.
And then since then, we've haduh Mike Harding on from Family
Table, we had Lisa Ray fromHamajack.
Yep.
And we were just talking.
We're like, well, why don't youcome on over?
So I'm so happy to have you.
Thanks.
Since you are in this uniquepart of being a private chef
(02:07):
that mostly does off-site, letme ask, what are some of the
meals you're preparing?
Like, give us some examples, orare there any like special
things you're doing for folkswith allergies?
Barbara Ann (02:18):
Yeah.
So I have gotten a lot ofclients, well through friends.
And also I asked my friendwho's from Pittsburgh, because I
tend to make stuff that leanstowards healthy.
Doug (02:37):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (02:38):
So I said, Do you know any like dietitians or
anyone who works with athletesor someone who would be
recommending that people eat acertain way, and then I could
connect with them and make ithappen.
Because sometimes when we'renot feeling well or busy, you
know, there's what you shoulddo, but then how do you actually
(03:02):
execute that?
Doug (03:04):
Yes.
Barbara Ann (03:04):
So she told me Leslie Bonsey had helped her
when she was running at Pitt.
And that she was awesomebecause there was no shame
around anything.
She just gave her goodpractical advice that helped her
to be stronger and healthier,right?
So I just out of nowherereached out to Leslie and she's
(03:27):
so kind and made time for me.
And we've had a couple ofconversations and then she's
referred people to me.
Oh wonderful.
She'll tell me, I don't evenknow the people's goals
sometimes.
Okay.
But she'll tell me, you know,they need this much protein,
this many veggies.
Then I speak with the clientand see what do you love?
(03:50):
What do you avoid?
What can't you not stand?
And um, and then I make ithappen.
So it's just easy for them toeat well and and improve.
Somebody was knew they had asurgery, so they wanted to be as
strong as they could beforehandand then recover as well as
possible afterwards.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (04:11):
Someone also through Leslie referred me to
um, I don't know if I'm allowedto say it, but like the the
pirates dietitian.
Okay, okay.
She told me what macros theyneeded.
And it's like healthy food, butnot like the basic, like
steamed vegetables.
Doug (04:31):
It still needs to be flavorful and something hardy
enough.
Barbara Ann (04:35):
So I sort of used what I learned, honestly, some
of it's from modifying thingsfor the food allergy family.
So like I had this mac andcheese sauce that came from a
vegan queso recipe.
Oh, because they couldn't havedairy.
And that sauce, instead ofdoing having a roux, it's made
(04:56):
with potato and a sweet potato.
Interesting.
And you know how potatoes, youdon't want to over whip them to
make mashed potatoes.
Right.
Doug (05:05):
You don't you don't want them to be gummy typically.
Barbara Ann (05:07):
So for this, you lean into that and you just
blend it like crazy.
Wow.
And it looks like queso.
Doug (05:16):
Like a cheese sauce.
Barbara Ann (05:17):
Yeah, but there's no flour, and you're not like
putting in some strangesubstitutes, just like something
nutritious.
Doug (05:24):
Right, still whole vegetables.
Barbara Ann (05:25):
And then you can either add vegan cheese or if
it's not an allergy, I just putreal cheese.
Yes.
And you have this like supernutritious sauce with lower in
calories than the other one.
Like if you want to do that.
Doug (05:42):
Does mac and cheese come up as one of the kind of
requested items that you makethen?
Barbara Ann (05:47):
Yeah.
So I just did that for someoneelse.
She she was asking, like shesaid she really liked collard
greens and was trying to eat,um, you know, trying to eat well
and have more veggies.
So I did collards with a smokedturkey leg.
Oh.
And then this high proteinpasta with that mac and cheese
(06:08):
sauce.
So it's like super comfortingand tasty, but you're getting
more nutrients than usual.
Doug (06:15):
I love this.
Barbara Ann (06:17):
Yeah, it's fun.
Doug (06:18):
So, Barbara, I do want to just call out too.
If folks aren't familiar withLeslie Bonsey, I know she is a
registered dietitian and she wasassociated for years, I think,
with uh University ofPittsburgh's uh Dietetics
program.
And then also at one point, shewas the dietitian for the
Kansas City Chiefs.
Barbara Ann (06:34):
Yeah, when they won the Super Bowl.
Doug (06:35):
I know.
And I just saw her recently onanother local podcast, the Yajov
podcast.
She goes on and she talks aboutnutrition.
I'm so glad you have made thatconnection to then connect with
the clients.
I think it's so smart.
Aw, thank you.
Let's talk about since we wereon that subject of the collards
and the mac and cheese.
Are there a few other dishes inyour repertoire that tend to be
(07:01):
popular or that you lean intofor you know many clients?
Barbara Ann (07:06):
It's funny.
I grew up in California.
I sort of feel like it I haveno business cooking all these
different ethnic foods.
But my mom grew up in SanFrancisco with neighbors of all,
you know, it was a diversefood.
At that time, all differenteconomics, and it was very
diverse then.
(07:27):
So I grew up eating, like shetaught me how to make wontons,
beef and broccoli, enchiladasfor Christmas.
Doug (07:35):
And was this at an early age that you were learning those
things?
Barbara Ann (07:39):
Yeah, she was so sweet, and like I couldn't do
anything wrong in the kitchenwith her.
And I really loved food.
I loved watching You're Like aHero because when I was little,
I loved watching PBS cookingshows.
So I was like, oh my gosh, youreally did it.
You made it big time.
Doug (08:00):
I don't know how I made it on the TV show.
Barbara Ann (08:02):
It's so fun.
Thank you.
But yeah, so my mom always letme be a part of making dinner,
and we ate ate dinner togetherall the time.
And then she ended, she, when Iwas little, she was diagnosed
with MS.
So I started doing more andmore of the cooking.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But she was adventurous, and wemade all different types of
(08:26):
things, but also just like myoldest brother, he's nine years
older.
He still sort of well, bothbrothers still dream about like
the roast chicken.
Oh we had roast chicken, rice,gravy, and a vegetable.
Doug (08:42):
Yeah.
I just love that story ofgrowing up with adventurous
eating, but also confidencebuilding as a young person in
the kitchen.
I share that with you in termsof my mom and dad let us be in
the kitchen.
Yeah.
And kind of let us do some ofour own things too.
(09:02):
Yeah.
It made it so fun.
So fun.
And that's why cooking today isfun.
Barbara Ann (09:07):
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's fun to share it withpeople because, yeah.
Oh.
I was like, wait a minute.
Like, she also, like, not everymeal was magical.
And she put dinner on the tableevery night, but there's a lot
of frozen vegetables.
And I really did not enjoyeating frozen, soft, you know.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
Right.
Barbara Ann (09:27):
And but then if there was something fresh,
because we were in California, Iwas like, oh, these vegetables.
So that's partly what got meinto like I went and worked on a
farm eventually.
Doug (09:39):
Yes, this is a story I want to talk about too.
Let me do this before we talk alittle bit more about that
adventure to the East Coast.
I do want to just hit like afew more things.
If folks are interested in whatyou're doing, are you still
taking some new clients?
Barbara Ann (09:55):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I have a mix of people, likethe people being really having a
certain goal where they'retrying to something for their
health.
And then I have people alsothat are just super busy.
Like there's a family who themother has adult children and
they have their families.
So she's also a grandmother.
She'll order big pans, likethose half pans, like you would
(10:18):
have a lasagna.
Yes.
Like four of those a week, andmaybe some chili to just like
help her feed her army ofpeople.
Doug (10:27):
Yes.
Oh my gosh.
Barbara Ann (10:29):
And then there's parents who like are just busy
and their kids are in sports.
So every all different stagesof life.
And so then we just talk aboutwhat they love, some popular,
yeah.
Enchiladas are popular.
Enchiladas are popular.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Doug (10:45):
Do you do like a beef or a bean or a chicken?
Barbara Ann (10:48):
Mostly chicken.
Doug (10:50):
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (10:50):
But there is, yeah, someone who wants to have more
plant stuff.
So I do a bean one for them.
Doug (10:57):
I love that it's just really let's get to know your
goals.
Let's get to know your tastesand your family's needs.
Right.
And you just kind of go fromthere.
Barbara Ann (11:06):
Yeah.
And I worked for a long timewhen I first moved back to
Pittsburgh.
I worked at Whole Foods.
Okay.
Do in their prepared foods.
So I got a lot of experiencewith like, we would I get in at
four in the morning, make abunch of food, cool it right
down.
Doug (11:22):
Yes.
Barbara Ann (11:23):
And then what looks good?
What holds up?
How do you make something sothat it's good?
It's not like you're eatingleftovers.
Doug (11:32):
Right.
It reheats well, like as ifit's fresh or freezes well.
Yeah.
Um, and that's what you do.
You brought me some stufftoday.
And you brought me somethingthat's hot, which I'm gonna eat
as soon as we're done.
Is it French toast?
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Yeah.
Doug (11:44):
And you brought me a salad which was fresh, which went in
the fridge, but you also broughtme a frozen.
You brought me all three.
Yeah.
Which was what was that?
A curry, a butter curry?
Ah, I'm excited.
Yeah.
Thank you, Barbara.
So just giving folks an exampleof what you can do, you can
kind of do anything.
Barbara Ann (12:01):
A lot of things, yeah.
Doug (12:02):
Wonderful.
So you mentioned this earlier.
Um, you grew up on the WestCoast and somehow you made your
way to the East Coast.
Can we talk about that a littlebit?
Like what brought you out fromCalifornia and all that fresh
produce and sunshine to the EastCoast?
Barbara Ann (12:22):
Yeah, so um, yeah, my family's from California.
I I sort of just did what I Ithought you were supposed to do.
I was a good student in schooland got into college and I, you
know, worked through collegemyself.
And then at the end, I endedup, I really actually leaned
(12:43):
towards science things, but Iended up getting a degree in
sociology.
Doug (12:47):
And where did you go to school?
Barbara Ann (12:49):
UC Davis.
Doug (12:50):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (12:51):
And I always had a food thing going on the whole
time.
And then my last quarter ofschool, I had enough units to
graduate, but not no units in mydegree, but not to graduate.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Oh, okay.
Barbara Ann (13:05):
And so I went to Italy and studied there.
Doug (13:10):
Oh, and another great food adventure.
Barbara Ann (13:13):
Right.
And that's where I realizedlike, wow, in other countries,
people really understand fooddifferently than here.
Like, like just it's certainthings are just part of a place.
Doug (13:26):
Of the culture, of the location.
Barbara Ann (13:28):
Yeah, and the simple things just taste so
amazing.
I had a goal before I left, inaddition to just studying, I
wanted to find a cooking class.
Doug (13:39):
Oh, in Italy.
Barbara Ann (13:40):
In Italy.
Doug (13:40):
Yes, I would.
Barbara Ann (13:41):
Yeah.
Doug (13:42):
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (13:42):
So I was in Perugia, and I just kept asking
everyone around me, and theywould give an idea of a place,
but everything was a dead end.
There were I was like, oh no,that's a a school for
hospitality or other things.
And then somebody was like,just try this one alley.
(14:02):
And I walked down the alley andI didn't see anything.
And I heard a man speakingEnglish, which stood out, and I
just asked him, Do you happen toknow of any cooking classes?
He said, Actually, I'm aprofessor at this university for
for Americans.
And it's right here.
(14:23):
Come back on Tuesday and ringthis third bell down and ask
them about it.
And I did that.
Wow.
And they had just finished withtheir American group.
And they said, if you can get10 people, we'll do this class
at this.
It was like a villa, like amulti-generational home.
(14:45):
And they had these big tablesin the basement that were like
sheets of plywood.
And they would start everyclass with a weighed out amount
of flour.
Doug (14:55):
Yes.
Barbara Ann (14:56):
An egg.
And we would make pasta, but itit was a different shape every
class.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Each day.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (15:04):
Yeah.
And then while it was resting,we would have some, you know,
some wambrusco actually.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Some wine.
Barbara Ann (15:12):
Some cheap wine.
And a little snack and thenhave dinner together.
Doug (15:17):
Can I ask, like, what year is this?
And and how old are you?
Barbara Ann (15:20):
Oh, yeah, that was 2002.
Okay.
Doug (15:23):
Yeah.
So this is sort of before a lotof like the international like
phones didn't have all the mapsand all the apps.
Barbara Ann (15:29):
Oh, nothing.
Nothing.
When we got there, there were30 of us from UC Davis.
And this one guy said, let'slet's try to get lost.
Because that's like, how do youlearn your way around a city?
I didn't even realize how I Ithink it's kind of a big city,
but it felt like an old little,I don't know.
Doug (15:47):
Yeah, remind me the town of Perugia.
Barbara Ann (15:50):
It's like an Etruscan town, but I think it's
I don't know now, but I think itwas like 500,000 people at the
time.
Doug (15:56):
Yeah.
And you got lost and you founda cooking class.
Barbara Ann (15:59):
Yeah.
Doug (15:59):
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
What another formativeexperience.
So you're at UC Davis and yougo over to Italy, you have this
experience.
Right.
What happens next?
Barbara Ann (16:11):
So my cousin, she must have written me a letter
and had a picture of anultrasound of her daughter.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
Oh.
Barbara Ann (16:18):
And asked me if I would.
She said, I'm almost afraid toask, but would you come and be
the nanny for my daughter whenshe's born?
So after maternity leave.
And she lived in DC and she wassmart and kind.
And I was like, Yeah, I don'treally don't know what I want to
do.
So that would be a great thingto do.
Doug (16:38):
So that's what brings you to the East Coast in the DC
area.
Barbara Ann (16:41):
Yep.
Doug (16:42):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (16:42):
And then I loved it.
Um, she worked 80% as a lawyer,and so I had Friday, Saturday,
Sunday off.
Doug (16:51):
Oh.
Barbara Ann (16:52):
And I started like volunteering for habitat and
taking different classes.
And then one day I applied fora job as a prep cook in a
restaurant from a Craigslist ad.
And I showed up and they gaveme a written exam.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (17:10):
And I walked out and I was like, whoa, this is
it.
Like I was really into that.
Yeah.
Doug (17:18):
Like it was just that exam experience?
Barbara Ann (17:20):
Yeah.
I was like, I cared about everyquestion.
And I'm curious about the onesI wasn't sure about.
I didn't get the job, but thatnight I was going to an
anti-hunger benefit with myroommate.
And so all these great chefsfrom DC were there.
Oh.
And I was like, okay, I wassuddenly terrified to talk to
(17:42):
them because I was like, this iswhat I want to do.
Doug (17:45):
Yes, you had like an awakening.
Barbara Ann (17:46):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh so my friend broke the icewith Jeffrey Boobin from
Vidalia.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (17:52):
And he was like in Kitchen Confidential, and they
mentioned him.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (17:57):
I was like, oh.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (17:59):
Whoa.
And she fine finally I spoke upafter she was talking to him
for a bit.
And I said, Do you ever hirepeople who don't have
experience?
And he said, Yes, here's mycard.
Show up and no tourists.
Doug (18:14):
Okay.
Be ready to work.
Be ready to work.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (18:17):
So I would go and like walk down.
It was like undergroundkitchen.
I'd walk in and it smelled sogood.
They were making stock everyday and everything from scratch.
And I was like, okay.
This I just did whatever theysaid.
Yeah.
Doug (18:36):
Is Vidalia still open?
Barbara Ann (18:38):
Oh, I don't know.
Doug (18:39):
I want to look.
Vidalia DC permanently closedin 2016.
Barbara Ann (18:44):
Oh, it lasted.
That was a good run.
Doug (18:48):
Well, what a great experience, though.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (18:51):
Yeah.
This is Barbara Ann of A BKitchen, and you're listening to
the Pittsburgh Dish.
Then I asked every chef therehad either gone to the CIA or
Johnson and Wales.
Doug (19:06):
Because you hadn't gone to a culinary school yet.
Barbara Ann (19:08):
No.
And I was like, was it worthit?
What did you think?
They said it was great, but itgoes super fast.
Doug (19:15):
Uh-huh.
Barbara Ann (19:15):
Um, so if you want to dive into something, yeah.
It's hard, yes, but it's reallyamazing.
So I really wanted to get goodat making like fresh food, taste
good, and so that like not onlythe people that could go to the
very nicest restaurant couldget that delicious stuff.
Doug (19:34):
You could bring it to them.
Barbara Ann (19:36):
Right.
Doug (19:36):
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (19:37):
Then the farmer's market at the corner.
When I I said, Do you ever doyou take interns or do you hire
for the summer?
And I ended up going to thefarm, getting a job with this
organic vegetable farm.
Doug (19:51):
This is the story I know that we talked about at Fulton.
Yeah.
So can I back you up for asecond?
I just want to follow thetimeline here.
Yeah.
So you're working at Vidalia,you're contemplating going to a
culinary program.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Yep.
Doug (20:06):
But then you get talking with some of the big local
farmers markets in the DC area,right?
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (20:12):
Yeah.
Doug (20:12):
And you're just talking to this one random that you like.
Barbara Ann (20:15):
Yeah, it was at the end of our street.
Doug (20:17):
Yeah, exactly.
And it turns out that theirfarm is where?
Barbara Ann (20:22):
In Pennsylvania.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Doug (20:24):
So kind of like southern southwestern central in the
middle of nowhere.
Barbara Ann (20:30):
Yes, yes.
They drove three hours everySaturday.
Doug (20:34):
To deliver down in DC.
Barbara Ann (20:35):
Yeah.
Doug (20:36):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (20:36):
Yeah.
Doug (20:37):
And so you're on the fence between culinary and then doing
something else, and you decideto do something else.
Barbara Ann (20:44):
Well, I decided actually for that summer, it was
perfect because my cousin washaving a second baby.
So she was on maternity leaveagain.
Oh.
And so I was like, I'll go workon this farm.
And oh, the other advice thechef said was read as much as
you can.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (21:05):
And also when you go to cook something, before you
do that, write down the recipeenough that you don't even have
to look back at it.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Oh, okay.
Barbara Ann (21:16):
Like, and just practice doing that.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (21:18):
And so I was like, well, I was actually having a
lot of fun in DC and not readingthat much.
So I thought a farm might beperfect.
Okay.
Because uh I lived in AdamsMorgan.
Doug (21:32):
Oh, okay.
I'm familiar with that.
Barbara Ann (21:34):
Yeah, like the first night I went out, I was
like, what's everybody doing nowon a Tuesday?
Doug (21:39):
And it's just that way.
It's just every night.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (21:41):
Wow.
So I went to this farm and Iwas living in like a cabin in a
field.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (21:48):
So there wasn't much to do.
Part of the agreement was likeone of us, the family or me
would make a meal every dayusing the farm veggies, yeah.
Yeah, and it was either lunchor dinner.
And so I got to practice, andthe owner had celiac.
So that was one of the Ipracticed gluten-free things
(22:11):
there too.
Doug (22:12):
This is like your first experience into doing something
a little bit more specializedfor someone.
Barbara Ann (22:17):
Yeah.
Although my mom did that when Iwas a kid too.
Because my brothers, she likemilled her own rice and stuff.
Doug (22:25):
She was ahead of her time.
Barbara Ann (22:26):
Right.
My brother and oldest siblingsalso had food allergies.
Doug (22:31):
Oh.
Barbara Ann (22:31):
Yeah.
Doug (22:32):
I want to ask a couple questions because we we've
talked about this story.
The farm in South Central PA.
Is it an organic farm?
Barbara Ann (22:42):
Yep.
And do you remember the name?
Well, that one was Star Hollow.
Doug (22:47):
Star Hollow.
Barbara Ann (22:48):
It was really small.
And they're still around.
They were part of an organicgrowers co-op.
Doug (22:54):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (22:56):
Fast forward, I was I decided to travel also to
learn about food in differentplaces.
And so the next summer I hadbeen saving, like working every
farmer's market.
I actually worked at a bar onSaturday nights, also.
Doug (23:13):
You're doing it all bar, bro.
Barbara Ann (23:15):
I was just like, well, I'm able to do this.
Might as well do it to save up.
So I didn't spend any money ona farm and I just kept saving
everything.
And I would work at the DuPontCircle Market, which was
beautiful Sunday market.
That's also a good way to learnabout good recipes for
vegetables.
Yeah.
Because you're like, you seesomeone buy like six bunches of
(23:37):
kale.
Doug (23:38):
You're like, what are you doing with that kale?
Barbara Ann (23:40):
Yeah.
And they love talking about it.
Yeah.
But anyway, so I was like, ah,maybe I should do one more
season on a farm and save upmore.
So then I worked at New MorningFarm.
Doug (23:56):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (23:57):
And actually, there's a connection in
Pittsburgh with that farm.
Doug (24:02):
Well, that's what I think this is a fact that I remember.
So where is New Morning Farm?
Barbara Ann (24:06):
That's neighbors with Sarhala.
Yeah, central area.
Doug (24:10):
Yeah, same uh South Central area.
Barbara Ann (24:12):
Yeah.
Doug (24:13):
And and what's the connection to New Morning Farm
with Pittsburgh?
Barbara Ann (24:17):
So uh the owner's daughter, Janie, I think she
might have gone to college hereand stayed.
And now Moe, the owner, shekeeps coming back on weekends,
and Janie now has a bakery.
Doug (24:31):
And is this 350?
Barbara Ann (24:33):
Yeah, yeah.
Doug (24:33):
Yeah, it's going up towards Allentown, like off of
the south side slopes.
Yes.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (24:39):
Yeah.
I love that.
I haven't tried it yet, but Iimagine it's amazing.
Doug (24:44):
We should go.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (24:45):
Yeah.
Because Jim had like the bestpalette.
Doug (24:48):
This is the farm owner.
Owner.
Barbara Ann (24:50):
Yeah.
He worked with like localpeople and orchards and brought
in their products to add to hismarket.
And he wouldn't bring anythingthat wasn't amazing.
Yes.
So eventually people knew it.
They they went to a schoolyardin Sheridan Square neighborhood.
They would have 10 cashiers inthe morning.
(25:12):
I think they did like 30,000 insales on a Saturday morning.
This is a farmer's market.
In 2003.
Wow.
Yeah.
Doug (25:22):
So they they really knew what they were doing.
Barbara Ann (25:24):
Oh, and they like good quality.
So customers realized, so theywould just stock up.
Doug (25:29):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (25:30):
He let us all do different things, like run
things.
Yes.
And he let me run a Tuesdaynight market there.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (25:38):
It was so much fun.
He was like, he would show me,he had all paper records of like
what they had brought tomarkets that week in all the
previous years.
And then I could decide what Iwanted to bring.
Doug (25:51):
Okay.
So you could see what did well.
Barbara Ann (25:53):
Yeah.
Doug (25:54):
Or what didn't go so well.
Barbara Ann (25:56):
So my thought was I'm gonna, whatever we have the
most of is the most in season.
I'm gonna bring like way morethan we ever did, but have
recipes that are easy and justreally display it.
And it got to be gorgeous.
Like people came, they werelike, I just had to come see
what this was.
(26:16):
And they would there'd just belittle recipes they could take
with that thing.
The first time he was like,Barbara Ant, I'm gonna let you
bring this much zucchini thisweek, but this is ridiculous.
Never again.
That was the first time.
And excel?
We got into the last box.
Doug (26:36):
Shut up.
Yeah.
Wow.
And did you say this isSheridan Square?
Is this in the world?
That was in DC.
Yeah.
Wow.
Well, you knew the market.
I mean, you had kind of beenthere too.
You've been in a goodrestaurant.
Yeah.
And then you you just sort ofyou know knew how to kind of
work that whole situation.
I love it.
Barbara Ann (26:52):
People want to know what to have for dinner, right?
You know, and so if you justyou have to give them a
suggestion, yeah, exactly.
But I learned a lot.
Jim wasn't and Moe, they werelike incredible marketers, and
he would be like, You have totry these peaches, you know.
Doug (27:10):
Really enthusiastic.
Barbara Ann (27:12):
Yes.
Doug (27:13):
Now, a little sidebar question.
Did you meet your husbandthrough the farm as well?
Was he working the farm?
Barbara Ann (27:20):
Yeah, so he was at New Morning.
Yeah.
That first year, it was a we aday off.
The literal moment I met him,the farm dog started barking.
I was just reading in my cabin,and I was like, There's a
person.
So I walked out, and he and hisbuddy were putting the canoe in
(27:45):
the creek to go to their farm,which was like five miles away.
And um, so we met, and then wemet at different like community
events, and they had someonefrom Thailand the year of the
cicadas.
Oh, and she she cooked cicadas.
Doug (28:04):
No.
Barbara Ann (28:05):
And we all went over and tried them.
Doug (28:10):
So you had some crazy shared experiences.
Barbara Ann (28:13):
There's just a giant, imagine the biggest
colander you've ever seen, fullof them.
She took the wings off so thatthey didn't fly away.
Doug (28:21):
Oh I don't know.
I don't know if that's for me.
Barbara Ann (28:24):
I don't know if I could do it, but everybody was
so open-minded that we tried itand it was sort of like French
fries.
They were fried, salty,ketchup.
Doug (28:34):
Yeah, so everything's kind of good.
So again, one of your earlybonding experiences with your
now husband.
Barbara Ann (28:39):
Yeah, we became like best friends, and then by
the end of the second season, itwas like, Oh, I love you.
Oh so he said, Could could Icome with you?
Because I was planning the tripto different countries.
I said, Sure.
Doug (28:52):
So you saved up all this money.
You went on this kind ofwhirlwind trip.
Can you just give us the cliffnotes?
Like what were some of thestops?
Barbara Ann (29:00):
So Tasmania, Japan, Thailand, India.
Uh, then we went to London andItaly, then Spain and France.
Doug (29:13):
Truly a worldwide adventure.
Barbara Ann (29:15):
You bought the ticket based on the number of
continents.
Then you got three stops ateach continent.
Doug (29:22):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (29:22):
How amazing.
Yeah.
Doug (29:25):
Oh, wow.
Well, I want to jump us forwardbecause um, so it's so much
great history.
How long have you both been inPittsburgh now?
Barbara Ann (29:33):
Um maybe 12 years.
Doug (29:34):
12 years.
Barbara Ann (29:35):
Yeah.
Doug (29:36):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (29:36):
He grew up in Shaler.
Doug (29:37):
Oh, he did.
Barbara Ann (29:38):
Okay.
Doug (29:39):
So that's kind of what sort of brought you back to this
area.
Barbara Ann (29:42):
Yeah.
Fast forward, we went to afterthe travel, we went to New York.
He he found a job across theriver from the Culinary
Institute.
Doug (29:52):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (29:53):
And so we lived on a farm.
He worked, that's a neat story.
He worked for this guy who was93 when we got there.
And he Had 90 acres.
So Marlin grew food andorchids, filled his bird feeder,
took care of the property whileI was in culinary school.
And then I got to use whateverfood that he grew.
Doug (30:14):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (30:15):
And that was so that was fun.
Doug (30:17):
And where did you go to culinary school?
Barbara Ann (30:20):
In Hyde Park, New York.
Doug (30:21):
You did.
Barbara Ann (30:22):
Wow.
Doug (30:23):
So you did all that and you still took the advice back
from the chefs.
And you're like, okay, I'mgoing to do this.
Yep.
But you got all this otherworld experience and farm
experience before that.
How incredible.
Barbara Ann (30:33):
Yeah, it was fun.
Doug (30:35):
Super fun.
Barbara Ann (30:36):
Yeah.
So I was like, I don't want togrow up too fast.
So I decided to do that stufffirst.
Yeah.
Doug (30:43):
So, Barb, I'm going to just jump us forward.
We've been in Pittsburgh.
You guys have been inPittsburgh now, what, 12?
Yeah.
12 years or so.
Tell me just a little bit aboutthe start of this latest
venture, A B Kitchen, and doingthe private chefing.
How did it all get going foryou?
Barbara Ann (31:00):
Yeah.
So I've always I had beendreaming of doing something, um,
but just actually in culinaryschool, they were like warning,
many warnings about thechallenges of making money,
making food, you know, startinga restaurant.
It's a private chef or owning arestaurant.
Owning a restaurant, owningyour own business.
It's yes, a lot goes into it.
(31:20):
It's hard to do that.
Sink a lot in, yeah.
Yeah, it's hard to make aprofit.
So I was being very careful.
And for my family's needs, I'vejust been adjusting my work.
So at one point, I was justthinking about it, working
part-time, taking care of thefamily.
(31:41):
And then I started working forthat one family.
Doug (31:45):
You did.
Barbara Ann (31:46):
Yeah.
I think I put a post onFacebook like, is anybody
interested in cooking classes ormeal delivery or what you know,
all these types of things.
And someone referred me tosomeone looking for someone to
help them because they had a lotof food allergies.
Doug (32:05):
Yes.
Barbara Ann (32:06):
So I spoke with her and started cooking in their
house weekly.
It's really fun.
She creates the menu.
She actually buys all theingredients too, and I just show
up and make the food.
Doug (32:19):
You execute.
Barbara Ann (32:20):
Yeah, because until then, like her set it was, she
was seven, her daughter wasseven at the time.
She had made all the food forthe family.
Like they couldn't ordertakeout.
It was too much.
Doug (32:30):
Because all these, yeah, all these dietary allergies or
restrictions.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (32:35):
So she still cooks, but I just supplements to make
it a little bit more easier forthem.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So cooking for her daughteractually built my confidence up
a lot because my kids are sopicky.
Oh.
I wouldn't think I was a verygood cook based on that.
Doug (32:52):
How many kids do you have?
Barbara Ann (32:54):
Two kids.
Doug (32:54):
Yeah, okay.
Barbara Ann (32:55):
A 13-year-old and an eight-year-old.
Doug (32:56):
Oh, so they're in a picky phase.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (32:58):
13-year-old's getting hungrier, so he's trying
more things.
Doug (33:01):
Oh, good.
Barbara Ann (33:02):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then actually, a mutualfriend is friends with Artie.
Doug (33:08):
Okay.
Of Artie's hot sauce.
Barbara Ann (33:11):
We talked.
I told him about FultonCommons, and then he beat me to
it.
Oh, he did.
He started there while I wasstill just thinking about it.
Wow.
And then I think that was like,ugh.
I actually had a dream when Iwas like in the dream.
It was like, would you juststop thinking about it and just
do this?
Doug (33:30):
Do it.
Barbara Ann (33:30):
Yeah.
Doug (33:31):
Oh, you told yourself, get going.
Barbara Ann (33:34):
You can do it.
Yeah.
Doug (33:36):
I totally can.
Think about all of thisexperience and training and life
experience.
How long has A B Kitchen beenlike an LLC and kind of going
now?
Barbara Ann (33:46):
Almost two years.
Congratulations.
Thanks.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think it was in February.
Doug (33:52):
Two years in February.
Well, I have had theopportunity to taste your food
in the past, and I'm excited totaste the food you brought
today.
So now that you're two yearsin, do you have any new goals or
or any even events coming upfor the business for where you
want to go with it?
Barbara Ann (34:12):
I would love to do more catering, especially for
businesses.
Yeah.
Like breakfasts, lunches.
People always love it becausethey feel good afterwards when
it's tasty.
Also, an office is likesometimes it's hard to find
stuff to accommodate differentdiets.
Right?
Yeah.
So I can do like a spread whereeveryone can get something that
(34:35):
works.
Doug (34:36):
Well, that was kind of the tasting that you had where I
went at Fulton.
You were kind of showing, hey,if you had a group of folks,
this is all the things I coulddo.
And they were uh, you know,just a variety of sort of
specialty or not so specialty.
You could just do whatever.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (34:50):
Yeah.
Doug (34:51):
How do people contact you?
What's the best way if they areinterested in reaching out?
Barbara Ann (34:56):
Yeah, so I have a website.
It's abkitchenpgh.com.
Doug (35:02):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (35:02):
And for personal chef type things, you can fill
out a form and it sort of sayswhat you like and don't like.
There's all kinds of like waysto reach out through the
website.
Okay, good.
Doug (35:15):
And Barb, while we're on the subject, are you on social
media?
Could you remind us thosehandles too?
Barbara Ann (35:21):
Oh yeah.
I think I'm on Instagram.
I think so.
Yeah.
That's A B Kitchen PGH too.
Doug (35:27):
And so people can see a little bit more of your products
too.
Barbara Ann (35:30):
Yeah.
Doug (35:31):
I love that.
Barbara Ann (35:32):
Thanks.
Doug (35:33):
Well, I'm so excited.
I was so happy to talk with youin the past and all about just
that journey from college torestaurant to I'm not sure,
world travel, all of the farms.
I just, it's a great story.
And I'm so glad you're here inPittsburgh.
Barbara Ann (35:48):
Yeah, me too.
This is such a great place.
Doug (35:50):
It is.
I do have one more question foryou.
The name of the show is thePittsburgh Dish.
What's the best dish you've hadto eat this past week?
Barbara Ann (36:02):
Whoa.
Oh, that's tricky.
I honestly don't really eat outvery much.
I should do it.
Doug (36:09):
It could be your own food.
I'm just asking you what thebest bite is.
It could be your own food.
It doesn't have to be arestaurant.
Barbara Ann (36:16):
All right.
Um, I really loved thosecollards.
Doug (36:22):
Oh, that you made for the lady?
Barbara Ann (36:24):
Yes.
Doug (36:25):
With the, what did you say?
A smoked turkey leg?
Barbara Ann (36:27):
Yeah, yeah.
Doug (36:28):
Oh.
Barbara Ann (36:29):
And I had made them before, but I really wanted it
to be as good as possible.
So I was reading about it.
And then I also I have a friendin the kitchen.
She works for Harvey.
Doug (36:42):
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
The food delivery, local fooddelivery.
Barbara Ann (36:46):
So she is like an encyclopedia.
So I was like, okay, Jess, ifyou're making collards, what are
you doing?
And we talked through it, andthat was what I was gonna do
too.
So it worked out.
Um, and then that curry withthe butternut, I think it's like
the perfect thing for this weekbecause it was like it's
(37:07):
getting cold and windy, and likeall those.
It starts with onions andginger and garlic, and there's
carrots and then red curry,hearty warming spices.
And you're getting like allthese good vitamins that protect
you for the the cold season.
Doug (37:25):
Oh no.
Barbara Ann (37:27):
Yeah.
Doug (37:27):
Well, it sounds delicious.
So that maybe that'll be mybest bite this week.
Barbara Ann (37:30):
I hope so.
It's defrosting.
Doug (37:34):
Well, it's been such a delight to talk with you.
Barbara Ann, thank you so muchfor taking some time with me
this morning.
And thanks for being on thePittsburgh Dish.
Barbara Ann (37:44):
Ah, my pleasure.
Thank you so much.
Doug (37:46):
And thanks for that food.
Barbara Ann (37:48):
Anytime.
I like feeding people.
Doug (37:53):
And if you reach out to Chef Barbara Ann, let her know
you learned about her from thePittsburgh Dish.
Up next, looking for a spotwhere great food is the focus
with no frills.
Karen Huang sets the stage fora trip to Tram's Kitchen.
Hey everybody, we're joinedtoday with Karen Huang of
(38:13):
Karen.huang on Instagram.
Karen, you're a content creatorand self-professed foodie and
adventurer.
A lot of times when I see yourfood post on Instagram, I think
that a lot of folks might getthe idea that you're really
about the, I don't know, morebougie places.
Is there a place that maybedoesn't fit that mold that
(38:36):
you've been to recently and hada great meal?
Karen (38:38):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So I am a bougie girl.
I do love the finer things inlife, but I also love a locally
owned place, hole in the wallwhere maybe you don't go for the
vibe, but you go for the food.
So a recommendation I have isTram's Kitchen.
So it's Vietnamese.
It's in Lawrenceville.
And uh you do not go here forambiance.
(38:59):
No, I've been there.
Doug (39:00):
It's so delicious, though.
It is right on Penn Avenue.
Yes.
They've been open for years.
Karen (39:04):
Yep, they've been open for a long time.
And you go in and you're like,this looks, you know, a little
bit like a shady officebuilding.
Let's go inside.
You go inside, you're like,okay, I see, I see the plastic
tablecloths.
I see um, you know, theindustrial carpet.
Yeah.
Um, and then, you know, you getthe menu, you order, they only
take cash.
They do have an ATM, they onlytake cash, but that's how you
(39:26):
know it's good.
When they when they only takecash.
Which I agree.
Exactly.
And then um, you get served andthen uh perhaps a tiny bit of a
language barrier.
You know, they bring your foodout in a pretty quick fashion, I
would say it's good.
The boom ba way there, slaps.
Highly recommend.
Boom ba way.
And they make their, I heardthat they made their bang mi
(39:49):
bread like they're fresh.
Oh and at the end of night, youdo not even think about getting
a printed receipt.
That is not a thing.
You will get a handwrittenreceipt, you will barely be able
to read it.
It will have the total for thewhole table.
You just put down some cash andyou hope for the best.
And that is how Trans Kitchenis.
Um, but yes, I love whole inthe wall places and I love
(40:09):
sporting local.
So that's what I'm all about.
Doug (40:12):
I think you've given us the perfect expectation.
I do want to ask a little bitmore about uh maybe the last
time you visited.
Do you recall trying any newdishes or something that really
wowed you that you coulddescribe to our listeners?
Karen (40:25):
Uh so I'm afraid that every time I go, I usually do go
for the boom ba we.
I look at it and I go, Yeah, Ihave to.
I'm sorry.
It's my favorite.
It's spicy, it's the best boomba we in Pittsburgh, in my
opinion.
Doug (40:37):
If someone is not familiar with that dish, describe for us
a little bit more on what arewe eating?
What do we see on the plate?
Karen (40:43):
Uh so it reminds me of Fub Butter.
So definitely spicier.
So if you're not into spicy,maybe sear clear of this one,
but spicier.
Same thing with um with likethe rice noodles.
And I think it's just thatincredible umami flavor in the
broth.
You really have to try it toreally get what it's about.
Doug (41:01):
So this is a bowl of broth with other additions.
Karen (41:04):
Yeah, you know, you'll have your rice noodles, you'll
have some kind of meat, um,usually beef of some sort, if I
recall.
But yeah, it's it's come forfood at its finest.
Doug (41:14):
And you have mentioned before that you like spice.
So this is a higher spicelevel.
Karen (41:18):
Yes, it's a higher spice level.
Oh, I'm I'm the type of personthat will order an eight out of
10 at a truth high place.
Doug (41:25):
Oh, we cannot.
Well, we'll just not fightabout it.
I will not be that person.
So we're talking about trams inLawrenceville.
It's actually up along PennAvenue.
Karen, thanks so much.
Yeah, thank you.
You can follow Karen onInstagram at Karen.huang.
Are you interested in possiblythe most streamlined yet tasty
(41:49):
guacamole recipe?
Lisa Ray of Hamajack has it.
Hey everybody, we're joinedtoday with Lisa Ray of Hamajack
Heat Company.
They make the Hamma Jack hotsauces.
Lisa, when we were here last,we talked all about the sauces
and your hot sauce festival, thefirst of its kind.
I was wondering when you're athome, do you have a recipe that
(42:11):
you go to that uses one of thehot sauces?
Lisa (42:14):
I have many recipes that are our go-to's with our hot
sauces now.
However, there's one recipe inparticular that I share at
events.
It often results in non-hotsauce lovers purchasing one of
our sauces.
Doug (42:28):
Oh, I like this.
Lisa (42:29):
This is our sublime sauce.
It makes a delicious, quick,easy guacamole.
All you need is one largeavocado, a tablespoon of sublime
sauce.
Doug (42:42):
And is this the sauce that's made with the jalapeno?
Am I remembering that right?
Yes.
Lisa (42:47):
It is a green sauce made with jalapeno.
So one tablespoon of thatsauce, one tablespoon of fresh
lime juice, just because I likea lot of lime in my half in my
guacamole, and then an eighthteaspoon of salt.
Literally, that's all.
Okay.
Mash it up.
Of course, you can add onion ifyou want, you can add tomato if
you want.
But this is the quickestdelicious guacamole.
(43:10):
And I often will even have itat events for people to taste.
Doug (43:13):
Yes.
Lisa (43:14):
And when people walk by and I try to engage with them
and they say, Oh, I'm not intohot sauce, and I'll ask them, Do
you like guacamole?
And most people do likeguacamole.
Right.
There's some crazy people whodon't, but most people do.
So I will sometimes have asample of that that they can
try.
And I have had a number ofpeople buy the sublime sauce
claiming to not like hot sauce,but they love the guacamole so
(43:37):
much.
Doug (43:37):
Wow.
All right.
So sublime guacamole needs tobe in my rotation here the next
time I watch it.
Lisa (43:44):
Absolutely.
The next time you want someguacamole, fast.
Barbara Ann (43:48):
Yes.
Doug (43:48):
I love a quick hit like that.
And I can imagine it adds allthose layers of flavor.
Lisa (43:53):
Yes.
It has a lot of the ingredientsthat you would put in guacamole
already in the sauce.
Doug (43:58):
Sounds perfect.
Lisa Ray, thank you so much forthe recipe, and thanks for
being on the Pittsburgh Dish.
It's been wonderful.
Thank you.
You can find Sublime Hot Saucealong with many others at Lisa's
website, hamajack.com.
Do you have a recipe?
Share it with us.
Just visit our website atwww.pittsburgdish.com and look
(44:21):
for our share a recipe form.
If you enjoyed the show,consider buying us a coffee for
this episode or supporting theshow monthly.
You can find links to thoseoptions at the bottom of our
show description.
And if you want to follow myown food adventures, you can
find me on social media at DougCooking.
That's our show for this week.
Thanks again to all of ourguests and contributors, and to
(44:43):
Kevin Selecki of CarnegieAccordion Company for providing
the music to our show.
We'll be back again next weekwith another fresh episode.
Stay tuned.
Welcome to the Pittsburgh Dish.
I'm your host, Doug Heilman.
Do you have that unassumingfriend that has an incredible
backstory?
That's how I feel about thisweek's guest.
We meet Private Chef BarbaraAnn and learn about her food
journey to A B Kitchen.
What tasty Vietnamese spot hasgood food on the menu, but no
(00:25):
room for bouginess?
Karen Hoang takes us to Tram'sKitchen.
And are you interested inpossibly the most streamlined
yet tasty guacamole recipe?
Lisa Ray of Hamajack has it.
All that ahead, stay tuned.
Well, thank you so much forcoming over and for being on the
(00:49):
show.
Barbara Ann (00:50):
Thanks for having me.
Doug (00:51):
Would you introduce yourself to our listeners and
what you have going on right nowin the world of food?
Barbara Ann (00:58):
Sure.
My name is Barbara Ann.
And right now I rent acommercial kitchen called Fulton
Commons.
And I do it's sort of like I'ma private chef, but I'm not in
most people's houses.
So it's like custom mealdelivery, meal prep.
Doug (01:18):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (01:19):
And catering.
And I do go to one person'shouse every week.
Okay because they have foodallergies.
So they're being careful abouteverything about food.
Doug (01:29):
So you do all the cooking down in Fulton Commons.
This is where we met.
You were doing kind of atasting on like a lunchtime
once, and we got to talking.
Barbara Ann (01:40):
Yeah.
And I first met you at Artie'slunch.
That's right.
Doug (01:43):
Yeah.
So down in Fulton, I first metArtie Pitt of Artie's Hot Sauce.
And then since then, we've haduh Mike Harding on from Family
Table, we had Lisa Ray fromHamajack.
Yep.
And we were just talking.
We're like, well, why don't youcome on over?
So I'm so happy to have you.
Thanks.
Since you are in this uniquepart of being a private chef
(02:07):
that mostly does off-site, letme ask, what are some of the
meals you're preparing?
Like, give us some examples, orare there any like special
things you're doing for folkswith allergies?
Barbara Ann (02:18):
Yeah.
So I have gotten a lot ofclients, well through friends.
And also I asked my friendwho's from Pittsburgh, because I
tend to make stuff that leanstowards healthy.
Doug (02:37):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (02:38):
So I said, Do you know any like dietitians or
anyone who works with athletesor someone who would be
recommending that people eat acertain way, and then I could
connect with them and make ithappen.
Because sometimes when we'renot feeling well or busy, you
know, there's what you shoulddo, but then how do you actually
(03:02):
execute that?
Doug (03:04):
Yes.
Barbara Ann (03:04):
So she told me Leslie Bonsey had helped her
when she was running at Pitt.
And that she was awesomebecause there was no shame
around anything.
She just gave her goodpractical advice that helped her
to be stronger and healthier,right?
So I just out of nowherereached out to Leslie and she's
(03:27):
so kind and made time for me.
And we've had a couple ofconversations and then she's
referred people to me.
Oh wonderful.
She'll tell me, I don't evenknow the people's goals
sometimes.
Okay.
But she'll tell me, you know,they need this much protein,
this many veggies.
Then I speak with the clientand see what do you love?
(03:50):
What do you avoid?
What can't you not stand?
And um, and then I make ithappen.
So it's just easy for them toeat well and and improve.
Somebody was knew they had asurgery, so they wanted to be as
strong as they could beforehandand then recover as well as
possible afterwards.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (04:11):
Someone also through Leslie referred me to
um, I don't know if I'm allowedto say it, but like the the
pirates dietitian.
Okay, okay.
She told me what macros theyneeded.
And it's like healthy food, butnot like the basic, like
steamed vegetables.
Doug (04:31):
It still needs to be flavorful and something hardy
enough.
Barbara Ann (04:35):
So I sort of used what I learned, honestly, some
of it's from modifying thingsfor the food allergy family.
So like I had this mac andcheese sauce that came from a
vegan queso recipe.
Oh, because they couldn't havedairy.
And that sauce, instead ofdoing having a roux, it's made
(04:56):
with potato and a sweet potato.
Interesting.
And you know how potatoes, youdon't want to over whip them to
make mashed potatoes.
Right.
Doug (05:05):
You don't you don't want them to be gummy typically.
Barbara Ann (05:07):
So for this, you lean into that and you just
blend it like crazy.
Wow.
And it looks like queso.
Doug (05:16):
Like a cheese sauce.
Barbara Ann (05:17):
Yeah, but there's no flour, and you're not like
putting in some strangesubstitutes, just like something
nutritious.
Doug (05:24):
Right, still whole vegetables.
Barbara Ann (05:25):
And then you can either add vegan cheese or if
it's not an allergy, I just putreal cheese.
Yes.
And you have this like supernutritious sauce with lower in
calories than the other one.
Like if you want to do that.
Doug (05:42):
Does mac and cheese come up as one of the kind of
requested items that you makethen?
Barbara Ann (05:47):
Yeah.
So I just did that for someoneelse.
She she was asking, like shesaid she really liked collard
greens and was trying to eat,um, you know, trying to eat well
and have more veggies.
So I did collards with a smokedturkey leg.
Oh.
And then this high proteinpasta with that mac and cheese
(06:08):
sauce.
So it's like super comfortingand tasty, but you're getting
more nutrients than usual.
Doug (06:15):
I love this.
Barbara Ann (06:17):
Yeah, it's fun.
Doug (06:18):
So, Barbara, I do want to just call out too.
If folks aren't familiar withLeslie Bonsey, I know she is a
registered dietitian and she wasassociated for years, I think,
with uh University ofPittsburgh's uh Dietetics
program.
And then also at one point, shewas the dietitian for the
Kansas City Chiefs.
Barbara Ann (06:34):
Yeah, when they won the Super Bowl.
Doug (06:35):
I know.
And I just saw her recently onanother local podcast, the Yajov
podcast.
She goes on and she talks aboutnutrition.
I'm so glad you have made thatconnection to then connect with
the clients.
I think it's so smart.
Aw, thank you.
Let's talk about since we wereon that subject of the collards
and the mac and cheese.
Are there a few other dishes inyour repertoire that tend to be
(07:01):
popular or that you lean intofor you know many clients?
Barbara Ann (07:06):
It's funny.
I grew up in California.
I sort of feel like it I haveno business cooking all these
different ethnic foods.
But my mom grew up in SanFrancisco with neighbors of all,
you know, it was a diversefood.
At that time, all differenteconomics, and it was very
diverse then.
(07:27):
So I grew up eating, like shetaught me how to make wontons,
beef and broccoli, enchiladasfor Christmas.
Doug (07:35):
And was this at an early age that you were learning those
things?
Barbara Ann (07:39):
Yeah, she was so sweet, and like I couldn't do
anything wrong in the kitchenwith her.
And I really loved food.
I loved watching You're Like aHero because when I was little,
I loved watching PBS cookingshows.
So I was like, oh my gosh, youreally did it.
You made it big time.
Doug (08:00):
I don't know how I made it on the TV show.
Barbara Ann (08:02):
It's so fun.
Thank you.
But yeah, so my mom always letme be a part of making dinner,
and we ate ate dinner togetherall the time.
And then she ended, she, when Iwas little, she was diagnosed
with MS.
So I started doing more andmore of the cooking.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But she was adventurous, and wemade all different types of
(08:26):
things, but also just like myoldest brother, he's nine years
older.
He still sort of well, bothbrothers still dream about like
the roast chicken.
Oh we had roast chicken, rice,gravy, and a vegetable.
Doug (08:42):
Yeah.
I just love that story ofgrowing up with adventurous
eating, but also confidencebuilding as a young person in
the kitchen.
I share that with you in termsof my mom and dad let us be in
the kitchen.
Yeah.
And kind of let us do some ofour own things too.
(09:02):
Yeah.
It made it so fun.
So fun.
And that's why cooking today isfun.
Barbara Ann (09:07):
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's fun to share it withpeople because, yeah.
Oh.
I was like, wait a minute.
Like, she also, like, not everymeal was magical.
And she put dinner on the tableevery night, but there's a lot
of frozen vegetables.
And I really did not enjoyeating frozen, soft, you know.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
Right.
Barbara Ann (09:27):
And but then if there was something fresh,
because we were in California, Iwas like, oh, these vegetables.
So that's partly what got meinto like I went and worked on a
farm eventually.
Doug (09:39):
Yes, this is a story I want to talk about too.
Let me do this before we talk alittle bit more about that
adventure to the East Coast.
I do want to just hit like afew more things.
If folks are interested in whatyou're doing, are you still
taking some new clients?
Barbara Ann (09:55):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I have a mix of people, likethe people being really having a
certain goal where they'retrying to something for their
health.
And then I have people alsothat are just super busy.
Like there's a family who themother has adult children and
they have their families.
So she's also a grandmother.
She'll order big pans, likethose half pans, like you would
(10:18):
have a lasagna.
Yes.
Like four of those a week, andmaybe some chili to just like
help her feed her army ofpeople.
Doug (10:27):
Yes.
Oh my gosh.
Barbara Ann (10:29):
And then there's parents who like are just busy
and their kids are in sports.
So every all different stagesof life.
And so then we just talk aboutwhat they love, some popular,
yeah.
Enchiladas are popular.
Enchiladas are popular.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Doug (10:45):
Do you do like a beef or a bean or a chicken?
Barbara Ann (10:48):
Mostly chicken.
Doug (10:50):
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (10:50):
But there is, yeah, someone who wants to have more
plant stuff.
So I do a bean one for them.
Doug (10:57):
I love that it's just really let's get to know your
goals.
Let's get to know your tastesand your family's needs.
Right.
And you just kind of go fromthere.
Barbara Ann (11:06):
Yeah.
And I worked for a long timewhen I first moved back to
Pittsburgh.
I worked at Whole Foods.
Okay.
Do in their prepared foods.
So I got a lot of experiencewith like, we would I get in at
four in the morning, make abunch of food, cool it right
down.
Doug (11:22):
Yes.
Barbara Ann (11:23):
And then what looks good?
What holds up?
How do you make something sothat it's good?
It's not like you're eatingleftovers.
Doug (11:32):
Right.
It reheats well, like as ifit's fresh or freezes well.
Yeah.
Um, and that's what you do.
You brought me some stufftoday.
And you brought me somethingthat's hot, which I'm gonna eat
as soon as we're done.
Is it French toast?
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Yeah.
Doug (11:44):
And you brought me a salad which was fresh, which went in
the fridge, but you also broughtme a frozen.
You brought me all three.
Yeah.
Which was what was that?
A curry, a butter curry?
Ah, I'm excited.
Yeah.
Thank you, Barbara.
So just giving folks an exampleof what you can do, you can
kind of do anything.
Barbara Ann (12:01):
A lot of things, yeah.
Doug (12:02):
Wonderful.
So you mentioned this earlier.
Um, you grew up on the WestCoast and somehow you made your
way to the East Coast.
Can we talk about that a littlebit?
Like what brought you out fromCalifornia and all that fresh
produce and sunshine to the EastCoast?
Barbara Ann (12:22):
Yeah, so um, yeah, my family's from California.
I I sort of just did what I Ithought you were supposed to do.
I was a good student in schooland got into college and I, you
know, worked through collegemyself.
And then at the end, I endedup, I really actually leaned
(12:43):
towards science things, but Iended up getting a degree in
sociology.
Doug (12:47):
And where did you go to school?
Barbara Ann (12:49):
UC Davis.
Doug (12:50):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (12:51):
And I always had a food thing going on the whole
time.
And then my last quarter ofschool, I had enough units to
graduate, but not no units in mydegree, but not to graduate.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Oh, okay.
Barbara Ann (13:05):
And so I went to Italy and studied there.
Doug (13:10):
Oh, and another great food adventure.
Barbara Ann (13:13):
Right.
And that's where I realizedlike, wow, in other countries,
people really understand fooddifferently than here.
Like, like just it's certainthings are just part of a place.
Doug (13:26):
Of the culture, of the location.
Barbara Ann (13:28):
Yeah, and the simple things just taste so
amazing.
I had a goal before I left, inaddition to just studying, I
wanted to find a cooking class.
Doug (13:39):
Oh, in Italy.
Barbara Ann (13:40):
In Italy.
Doug (13:40):
Yes, I would.
Barbara Ann (13:41):
Yeah.
Doug (13:42):
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (13:42):
So I was in Perugia, and I just kept asking
everyone around me, and theywould give an idea of a place,
but everything was a dead end.
There were I was like, oh no,that's a a school for
hospitality or other things.
And then somebody was like,just try this one alley.
(14:02):
And I walked down the alley andI didn't see anything.
And I heard a man speakingEnglish, which stood out, and I
just asked him, Do you happen toknow of any cooking classes?
He said, Actually, I'm aprofessor at this university for
for Americans.
And it's right here.
(14:23):
Come back on Tuesday and ringthis third bell down and ask
them about it.
And I did that.
Wow.
And they had just finished withtheir American group.
And they said, if you can get10 people, we'll do this class
at this.
It was like a villa, like amulti-generational home.
(14:45):
And they had these big tablesin the basement that were like
sheets of plywood.
And they would start everyclass with a weighed out amount
of flour.
Doug (14:55):
Yes.
Barbara Ann (14:56):
An egg.
And we would make pasta, but itit was a different shape every
class.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Each day.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (15:04):
Yeah.
And then while it was resting,we would have some, you know,
some wambrusco actually.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Some wine.
Barbara Ann (15:12):
Some cheap wine.
And a little snack and thenhave dinner together.
Doug (15:17):
Can I ask, like, what year is this?
And and how old are you?
Barbara Ann (15:20):
Oh, yeah, that was 2002.
Okay.
Doug (15:23):
Yeah.
So this is sort of before a lotof like the international like
phones didn't have all the mapsand all the apps.
Barbara Ann (15:29):
Oh, nothing.
Nothing.
When we got there, there were30 of us from UC Davis.
And this one guy said, let'slet's try to get lost.
Because that's like, how do youlearn your way around a city?
I didn't even realize how I Ithink it's kind of a big city,
but it felt like an old little,I don't know.
Doug (15:47):
Yeah, remind me the town of Perugia.
Barbara Ann (15:50):
It's like an Etruscan town, but I think it's
I don't know now, but I think itwas like 500,000 people at the
time.
Doug (15:56):
Yeah.
And you got lost and you founda cooking class.
Barbara Ann (15:59):
Yeah.
Doug (15:59):
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
What another formativeexperience.
So you're at UC Davis and yougo over to Italy, you have this
experience.
Right.
What happens next?
Barbara Ann (16:11):
So my cousin, she must have written me a letter
and had a picture of anultrasound of her daughter.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
Oh.
Barbara Ann (16:18):
And asked me if I would.
She said, I'm almost afraid toask, but would you come and be
the nanny for my daughter whenshe's born?
So after maternity leave.
And she lived in DC and she wassmart and kind.
And I was like, Yeah, I don'treally don't know what I want to
do.
So that would be a great thingto do.
Doug (16:38):
So that's what brings you to the East Coast in the DC
area.
Barbara Ann (16:41):
Yep.
Doug (16:42):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (16:42):
And then I loved it.
Um, she worked 80% as a lawyer,and so I had Friday, Saturday,
Sunday off.
Doug (16:51):
Oh.
Barbara Ann (16:52):
And I started like volunteering for habitat and
taking different classes.
And then one day I applied fora job as a prep cook in a
restaurant from a Craigslist ad.
And I showed up and they gaveme a written exam.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (17:10):
And I walked out and I was like, whoa, this is
it.
Like I was really into that.
Yeah.
Doug (17:18):
Like it was just that exam experience?
Barbara Ann (17:20):
Yeah.
I was like, I cared about everyquestion.
And I'm curious about the onesI wasn't sure about.
I didn't get the job, but thatnight I was going to an
anti-hunger benefit with myroommate.
And so all these great chefsfrom DC were there.
Oh.
And I was like, okay, I wassuddenly terrified to talk to
(17:42):
them because I was like, this iswhat I want to do.
Doug (17:45):
Yes, you had like an awakening.
Barbara Ann (17:46):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh so my friend broke the icewith Jeffrey Boobin from
Vidalia.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (17:52):
And he was like in Kitchen Confidential, and they
mentioned him.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (17:57):
I was like, oh.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (17:59):
Whoa.
And she fine finally I spoke upafter she was talking to him
for a bit.
And I said, Do you ever hirepeople who don't have
experience?
And he said, Yes, here's mycard.
Show up and no tourists.
Doug (18:14):
Okay.
Be ready to work.
Be ready to work.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (18:17):
So I would go and like walk down.
It was like undergroundkitchen.
I'd walk in and it smelled sogood.
They were making stock everyday and everything from scratch.
And I was like, okay.
This I just did whatever theysaid.
Yeah.
Doug (18:36):
Is Vidalia still open?
Barbara Ann (18:38):
Oh, I don't know.
Doug (18:39):
I want to look.
Vidalia DC permanently closedin 2016.
Barbara Ann (18:44):
Oh, it lasted.
That was a good run.
Doug (18:48):
Well, what a great experience, though.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (18:51):
Yeah.
This is Barbara Ann of A BKitchen, and you're listening to
the Pittsburgh Dish.
Then I asked every chef therehad either gone to the CIA or
Johnson and Wales.
Doug (19:06):
Because you hadn't gone to a culinary school yet.
Barbara Ann (19:08):
No.
And I was like, was it worthit?
What did you think?
They said it was great, but itgoes super fast.
Doug (19:15):
Uh-huh.
Barbara Ann (19:15):
Um, so if you want to dive into something, yeah.
It's hard, yes, but it's reallyamazing.
So I really wanted to get goodat making like fresh food, taste
good, and so that like not onlythe people that could go to the
very nicest restaurant couldget that delicious stuff.
Doug (19:34):
You could bring it to them.
Barbara Ann (19:36):
Right.
Doug (19:36):
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (19:37):
Then the farmer's market at the corner.
When I I said, Do you ever doyou take interns or do you hire
for the summer?
And I ended up going to thefarm, getting a job with this
organic vegetable farm.
Doug (19:51):
This is the story I know that we talked about at Fulton.
Yeah.
So can I back you up for asecond?
I just want to follow thetimeline here.
Yeah.
So you're working at Vidalia,you're contemplating going to a
culinary program.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Yep.
Doug (20:06):
But then you get talking with some of the big local
farmers markets in the DC area,right?
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (20:12):
Yeah.
Doug (20:12):
And you're just talking to this one random that you like.
Barbara Ann (20:15):
Yeah, it was at the end of our street.
Doug (20:17):
Yeah, exactly.
And it turns out that theirfarm is where?
Barbara Ann (20:22):
In Pennsylvania.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Doug (20:24):
So kind of like southern southwestern central in the
middle of nowhere.
Barbara Ann (20:30):
Yes, yes.
They drove three hours everySaturday.
Doug (20:34):
To deliver down in DC.
Barbara Ann (20:35):
Yeah.
Doug (20:36):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (20:36):
Yeah.
Doug (20:37):
And so you're on the fence between culinary and then doing
something else, and you decideto do something else.
Barbara Ann (20:44):
Well, I decided actually for that summer, it was
perfect because my cousin washaving a second baby.
So she was on maternity leaveagain.
Oh.
And so I was like, I'll go workon this farm.
And oh, the other advice thechef said was read as much as
you can.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (21:05):
And also when you go to cook something, before you
do that, write down the recipeenough that you don't even have
to look back at it.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Oh, okay.
Barbara Ann (21:16):
Like, and just practice doing that.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (21:18):
And so I was like, well, I was actually having a
lot of fun in DC and not readingthat much.
So I thought a farm might beperfect.
Okay.
Because uh I lived in AdamsMorgan.
Doug (21:32):
Oh, okay.
I'm familiar with that.
Barbara Ann (21:34):
Yeah, like the first night I went out, I was
like, what's everybody doing nowon a Tuesday?
Doug (21:39):
And it's just that way.
It's just every night.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (21:41):
Wow.
So I went to this farm and Iwas living in like a cabin in a
field.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (21:48):
So there wasn't much to do.
Part of the agreement was likeone of us, the family or me
would make a meal every dayusing the farm veggies, yeah.
Yeah, and it was either lunchor dinner.
And so I got to practice, andthe owner had celiac.
So that was one of the Ipracticed gluten-free things
(22:11):
there too.
Doug (22:12):
This is like your first experience into doing something
a little bit more specializedfor someone.
Barbara Ann (22:17):
Yeah.
Although my mom did that when Iwas a kid too.
Because my brothers, she likemilled her own rice and stuff.
Doug (22:25):
She was ahead of her time.
Barbara Ann (22:26):
Right.
My brother and oldest siblingsalso had food allergies.
Doug (22:31):
Oh.
Barbara Ann (22:31):
Yeah.
Doug (22:32):
I want to ask a couple questions because we we've
talked about this story.
The farm in South Central PA.
Is it an organic farm?
Barbara Ann (22:42):
Yep.
And do you remember the name?
Well, that one was Star Hollow.
Doug (22:47):
Star Hollow.
Barbara Ann (22:48):
It was really small.
And they're still around.
They were part of an organicgrowers co-op.
Doug (22:54):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (22:56):
Fast forward, I was I decided to travel also to
learn about food in differentplaces.
And so the next summer I hadbeen saving, like working every
farmer's market.
I actually worked at a bar onSaturday nights, also.
Doug (23:13):
You're doing it all bar, bro.
Barbara Ann (23:15):
I was just like, well, I'm able to do this.
Might as well do it to save up.
So I didn't spend any money ona farm and I just kept saving
everything.
And I would work at the DuPontCircle Market, which was
beautiful Sunday market.
That's also a good way to learnabout good recipes for
vegetables.
Yeah.
Because you're like, you seesomeone buy like six bunches of
(23:37):
kale.
Doug (23:38):
You're like, what are you doing with that kale?
Barbara Ann (23:40):
Yeah.
And they love talking about it.
Yeah.
But anyway, so I was like, ah,maybe I should do one more
season on a farm and save upmore.
So then I worked at New MorningFarm.
Doug (23:56):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (23:57):
And actually, there's a connection in
Pittsburgh with that farm.
Doug (24:02):
Well, that's what I think this is a fact that I remember.
So where is New Morning Farm?
Barbara Ann (24:06):
That's neighbors with Sarhala.
Yeah, central area.
Doug (24:10):
Yeah, same uh South Central area.
Barbara Ann (24:12):
Yeah.
Doug (24:13):
And and what's the connection to New Morning Farm
with Pittsburgh?
Barbara Ann (24:17):
So uh the owner's daughter, Janie, I think she
might have gone to college hereand stayed.
And now Moe, the owner, shekeeps coming back on weekends,
and Janie now has a bakery.
Doug (24:31):
And is this 350?
Barbara Ann (24:33):
Yeah, yeah.
Doug (24:33):
Yeah, it's going up towards Allentown, like off of
the south side slopes.
Yes.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (24:39):
Yeah.
I love that.
I haven't tried it yet, but Iimagine it's amazing.
Doug (24:44):
We should go.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (24:45):
Yeah.
Because Jim had like the bestpalette.
Doug (24:48):
This is the farm owner.
Owner.
Barbara Ann (24:50):
Yeah.
He worked with like localpeople and orchards and brought
in their products to add to hismarket.
And he wouldn't bring anythingthat wasn't amazing.
Yes.
So eventually people knew it.
They they went to a schoolyardin Sheridan Square neighborhood.
They would have 10 cashiers inthe morning.
(25:12):
I think they did like 30,000 insales on a Saturday morning.
This is a farmer's market.
In 2003.
Wow.
Yeah.
Doug (25:22):
So they they really knew what they were doing.
Barbara Ann (25:24):
Oh, and they like good quality.
So customers realized, so theywould just stock up.
Doug (25:29):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (25:30):
He let us all do different things, like run
things.
Yes.
And he let me run a Tuesdaynight market there.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (25:38):
It was so much fun.
He was like, he would show me,he had all paper records of like
what they had brought tomarkets that week in all the
previous years.
And then I could decide what Iwanted to bring.
Doug (25:51):
Okay.
So you could see what did well.
Barbara Ann (25:53):
Yeah.
Doug (25:54):
Or what didn't go so well.
Barbara Ann (25:56):
So my thought was I'm gonna, whatever we have the
most of is the most in season.
I'm gonna bring like way morethan we ever did, but have
recipes that are easy and justreally display it.
And it got to be gorgeous.
Like people came, they werelike, I just had to come see
what this was.
(26:16):
And they would there'd just belittle recipes they could take
with that thing.
The first time he was like,Barbara Ant, I'm gonna let you
bring this much zucchini thisweek, but this is ridiculous.
Never again.
That was the first time.
And excel?
We got into the last box.
Doug (26:36):
Shut up.
Yeah.
Wow.
And did you say this isSheridan Square?
Is this in the world?
That was in DC.
Yeah.
Wow.
Well, you knew the market.
I mean, you had kind of beenthere too.
You've been in a goodrestaurant.
Yeah.
And then you you just sort ofyou know knew how to kind of
work that whole situation.
I love it.
Barbara Ann (26:52):
People want to know what to have for dinner, right?
You know, and so if you justyou have to give them a
suggestion, yeah, exactly.
But I learned a lot.
Jim wasn't and Moe, they werelike incredible marketers, and
he would be like, You have totry these peaches, you know.
Doug (27:10):
Really enthusiastic.
Barbara Ann (27:12):
Yes.
Doug (27:13):
Now, a little sidebar question.
Did you meet your husbandthrough the farm as well?
Was he working the farm?
Barbara Ann (27:20):
Yeah, so he was at New Morning.
Yeah.
That first year, it was a we aday off.
The literal moment I met him,the farm dog started barking.
I was just reading in my cabin,and I was like, There's a
person.
So I walked out, and he and hisbuddy were putting the canoe in
(27:45):
the creek to go to their farm,which was like five miles away.
And um, so we met, and then wemet at different like community
events, and they had someonefrom Thailand the year of the
cicadas.
Oh, and she she cooked cicadas.
Doug (28:04):
No.
Barbara Ann (28:05):
And we all went over and tried them.
Doug (28:10):
So you had some crazy shared experiences.
Barbara Ann (28:13):
There's just a giant, imagine the biggest
colander you've ever seen, fullof them.
She took the wings off so thatthey didn't fly away.
Doug (28:21):
Oh I don't know.
I don't know if that's for me.
Barbara Ann (28:24):
I don't know if I could do it, but everybody was
so open-minded that we tried itand it was sort of like French
fries.
They were fried, salty,ketchup.
Doug (28:34):
Yeah, so everything's kind of good.
So again, one of your earlybonding experiences with your
now husband.
Barbara Ann (28:39):
Yeah, we became like best friends, and then by
the end of the second season, itwas like, Oh, I love you.
Oh so he said, Could could Icome with you?
Because I was planning the tripto different countries.
I said, Sure.
Doug (28:52):
So you saved up all this money.
You went on this kind ofwhirlwind trip.
Can you just give us the cliffnotes?
Like what were some of thestops?
Barbara Ann (29:00):
So Tasmania, Japan, Thailand, India.
Uh, then we went to London andItaly, then Spain and France.
Doug (29:13):
Truly a worldwide adventure.
Barbara Ann (29:15):
You bought the ticket based on the number of
continents.
Then you got three stops ateach continent.
Doug (29:22):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (29:22):
How amazing.
Yeah.
Doug (29:25):
Oh, wow.
Well, I want to jump us forwardbecause um, so it's so much
great history.
How long have you both been inPittsburgh now?
Barbara Ann (29:33):
Um maybe 12 years.
Doug (29:34):
12 years.
Barbara Ann (29:35):
Yeah.
Doug (29:36):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (29:36):
He grew up in Shaler.
Doug (29:37):
Oh, he did.
Barbara Ann (29:38):
Okay.
Doug (29:39):
So that's kind of what sort of brought you back to this
area.
Barbara Ann (29:42):
Yeah.
Fast forward, we went to afterthe travel, we went to New York.
He he found a job across theriver from the Culinary
Institute.
Doug (29:52):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (29:53):
And so we lived on a farm.
He worked, that's a neat story.
He worked for this guy who was93 when we got there.
And he Had 90 acres.
So Marlin grew food andorchids, filled his bird feeder,
took care of the property whileI was in culinary school.
And then I got to use whateverfood that he grew.
Doug (30:14):
Wow.
Barbara Ann (30:15):
And that was so that was fun.
Doug (30:17):
And where did you go to culinary school?
Barbara Ann (30:20):
In Hyde Park, New York.
Doug (30:21):
You did.
Barbara Ann (30:22):
Wow.
Doug (30:23):
So you did all that and you still took the advice back
from the chefs.
And you're like, okay, I'mgoing to do this.
Yep.
But you got all this otherworld experience and farm
experience before that.
How incredible.
Barbara Ann (30:33):
Yeah, it was fun.
Doug (30:35):
Super fun.
Barbara Ann (30:36):
Yeah.
So I was like, I don't want togrow up too fast.
So I decided to do that stufffirst.
Yeah.
Doug (30:43):
So, Barb, I'm going to just jump us forward.
We've been in Pittsburgh.
You guys have been inPittsburgh now, what, 12?
Yeah.
12 years or so.
Tell me just a little bit aboutthe start of this latest
venture, A B Kitchen, and doingthe private chefing.
How did it all get going foryou?
Barbara Ann (31:00):
Yeah.
So I've always I had beendreaming of doing something, um,
but just actually in culinaryschool, they were like warning,
many warnings about thechallenges of making money,
making food, you know, startinga restaurant.
It's a private chef or owning arestaurant.
Owning a restaurant, owningyour own business.
It's yes, a lot goes into it.
(31:20):
It's hard to do that.
Sink a lot in, yeah.
Yeah, it's hard to make aprofit.
So I was being very careful.
And for my family's needs, I'vejust been adjusting my work.
So at one point, I was justthinking about it, working
part-time, taking care of thefamily.
(31:41):
And then I started working forthat one family.
Doug (31:45):
You did.
Barbara Ann (31:46):
Yeah.
I think I put a post onFacebook like, is anybody
interested in cooking classes ormeal delivery or what you know,
all these types of things.
And someone referred me tosomeone looking for someone to
help them because they had a lotof food allergies.
Doug (32:05):
Yes.
Barbara Ann (32:06):
So I spoke with her and started cooking in their
house weekly.
It's really fun.
She creates the menu.
She actually buys all theingredients too, and I just show
up and make the food.
Doug (32:19):
You execute.
Barbara Ann (32:20):
Yeah, because until then, like her set it was, she
was seven, her daughter wasseven at the time.
She had made all the food forthe family.
Like they couldn't ordertakeout.
It was too much.
Doug (32:30):
Because all these, yeah, all these dietary allergies or
restrictions.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (32:35):
So she still cooks, but I just supplements to make
it a little bit more easier forthem.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So cooking for her daughteractually built my confidence up
a lot because my kids are sopicky.
Oh.
I wouldn't think I was a verygood cook based on that.
Doug (32:52):
How many kids do you have?
Barbara Ann (32:54):
Two kids.
Doug (32:54):
Yeah, okay.
Barbara Ann (32:55):
A 13-year-old and an eight-year-old.
Doug (32:56):
Oh, so they're in a picky phase.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (32:58):
13-year-old's getting hungrier, so he's trying
more things.
Doug (33:01):
Oh, good.
Barbara Ann (33:02):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then actually, a mutualfriend is friends with Artie.
Doug (33:08):
Okay.
Of Artie's hot sauce.
Barbara Ann (33:11):
We talked.
I told him about FultonCommons, and then he beat me to
it.
Oh, he did.
He started there while I wasstill just thinking about it.
Wow.
And then I think that was like,ugh.
I actually had a dream when Iwas like in the dream.
It was like, would you juststop thinking about it and just
do this?
Doug (33:30):
Do it.
Barbara Ann (33:30):
Yeah.
Doug (33:31):
Oh, you told yourself, get going.
Barbara Ann (33:34):
You can do it.
Yeah.
Doug (33:36):
I totally can.
Think about all of thisexperience and training and life
experience.
How long has A B Kitchen beenlike an LLC and kind of going
now?
Barbara Ann (33:46):
Almost two years.
Congratulations.
Thanks.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think it was in February.
Doug (33:52):
Two years in February.
Well, I have had theopportunity to taste your food
in the past, and I'm excited totaste the food you brought
today.
So now that you're two yearsin, do you have any new goals or
or any even events coming upfor the business for where you
want to go with it?
Barbara Ann (34:12):
I would love to do more catering, especially for
businesses.
Yeah.
Like breakfasts, lunches.
People always love it becausethey feel good afterwards when
it's tasty.
Also, an office is likesometimes it's hard to find
stuff to accommodate differentdiets.
Right?
Yeah.
So I can do like a spread whereeveryone can get something that
(34:35):
works.
Doug (34:36):
Well, that was kind of the tasting that you had where I
went at Fulton.
You were kind of showing, hey,if you had a group of folks,
this is all the things I coulddo.
And they were uh, you know,just a variety of sort of
specialty or not so specialty.
You could just do whatever.
Yeah.
Barbara Ann (34:50):
Yeah.
Doug (34:51):
How do people contact you?
What's the best way if they areinterested in reaching out?
Barbara Ann (34:56):
Yeah, so I have a website.
It's abkitchenpgh.com.
Doug (35:02):
Okay.
Barbara Ann (35:02):
And for personal chef type things, you can fill
out a form and it sort of sayswhat you like and don't like.
There's all kinds of like waysto reach out through the
website.
Okay, good.
Doug (35:15):
And Barb, while we're on the subject, are you on social
media?
Could you remind us thosehandles too?
Barbara Ann (35:21):
Oh yeah.
I think I'm on Instagram.
I think so.
Yeah.
That's A B Kitchen PGH too.
Doug (35:27):
And so people can see a little bit more of your products
too.
Barbara Ann (35:30):
Yeah.
Doug (35:31):
I love that.
Barbara Ann (35:32):
Thanks.
Doug (35:33):
Well, I'm so excited.
I was so happy to talk with youin the past and all about just
that journey from college torestaurant to I'm not sure,
world travel, all of the farms.
I just, it's a great story.
And I'm so glad you're here inPittsburgh.
Barbara Ann (35:48):
Yeah, me too.
This is such a great place.
Doug (35:50):
It is.
I do have one more question foryou.
The name of the show is thePittsburgh Dish.
What's the best dish you've hadto eat this past week?
Barbara Ann (36:02):
Whoa.
Oh, that's tricky.
I honestly don't really eat outvery much.
I should do it.
Doug (36:09):
It could be your own food.
I'm just asking you what thebest bite is.
It could be your own food.
It doesn't have to be arestaurant.
Barbara Ann (36:16):
All right.
Um, I really loved thosecollards.
Doug (36:22):
Oh, that you made for the lady?
Barbara Ann (36:24):
Yes.
Doug (36:25):
With the, what did you say?
A smoked turkey leg?
Barbara Ann (36:27):
Yeah, yeah.
Doug (36:28):
Oh.
Barbara Ann (36:29):
And I had made them before, but I really wanted it
to be as good as possible.
So I was reading about it.
And then I also I have a friendin the kitchen.
She works for Harvey.
Doug (36:42):
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
The food delivery, local fooddelivery.
Barbara Ann (36:46):
So she is like an encyclopedia.
So I was like, okay, Jess, ifyou're making collards, what are
you doing?
And we talked through it, andthat was what I was gonna do
too.
So it worked out.
Um, and then that curry withthe butternut, I think it's like
the perfect thing for this weekbecause it was like it's
(37:07):
getting cold and windy, and likeall those.
It starts with onions andginger and garlic, and there's
carrots and then red curry,hearty warming spices.
And you're getting like allthese good vitamins that protect
you for the the cold season.
Doug (37:25):
Oh no.
Barbara Ann (37:27):
Yeah.
Doug (37:27):
Well, it sounds delicious.
So that maybe that'll be mybest bite this week.
Barbara Ann (37:30):
I hope so.
It's defrosting.
Doug (37:34):
Well, it's been such a delight to talk with you.
Barbara Ann, thank you so muchfor taking some time with me
this morning.
And thanks for being on thePittsburgh Dish.
Barbara Ann (37:44):
Ah, my pleasure.
Thank you so much.
Doug (37:46):
And thanks for that food.
Barbara Ann (37:48):
Anytime.
I like feeding people.
Doug (37:53):
And if you reach out to Chef Barbara Ann, let her know
you learned about her from thePittsburgh Dish.
Up next, looking for a spotwhere great food is the focus
with no frills.
Karen Huang sets the stage fora trip to Tram's Kitchen.
Hey everybody, we're joinedtoday with Karen Huang of
(38:13):
Karen.huang on Instagram.
Karen, you're a content creatorand self-professed foodie and
adventurer.
A lot of times when I see yourfood post on Instagram, I think
that a lot of folks might getthe idea that you're really
about the, I don't know, morebougie places.
Is there a place that maybedoesn't fit that mold that
(38:36):
you've been to recently and hada great meal?
Karen (38:38):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So I am a bougie girl.
I do love the finer things inlife, but I also love a locally
owned place, hole in the wallwhere maybe you don't go for the
vibe, but you go for the food.
So a recommendation I have isTram's Kitchen.
So it's Vietnamese.
It's in Lawrenceville.
And uh you do not go here forambiance.
(38:59):
No, I've been there.
Doug (39:00):
It's so delicious, though.
It is right on Penn Avenue.
Yes.
They've been open for years.
Karen (39:04):
Yep, they've been open for a long time.
And you go in and you're like,this looks, you know, a little
bit like a shady officebuilding.
Let's go inside.
You go inside, you're like,okay, I see, I see the plastic
tablecloths.
I see um, you know, theindustrial carpet.
Yeah.
Um, and then, you know, you getthe menu, you order, they only
take cash.
They do have an ATM, they onlytake cash, but that's how you
(39:26):
know it's good.
When they when they only takecash.
Which I agree.
Exactly.
And then um, you get served andthen uh perhaps a tiny bit of a
language barrier.
You know, they bring your foodout in a pretty quick fashion, I
would say it's good.
The boom ba way there, slaps.
Highly recommend.
Boom ba way.
And they make their, I heardthat they made their bang mi
(39:49):
bread like they're fresh.
Oh and at the end of night, youdo not even think about getting
a printed receipt.
That is not a thing.
You will get a handwrittenreceipt, you will barely be able
to read it.
It will have the total for thewhole table.
You just put down some cash andyou hope for the best.
And that is how Trans Kitchenis.
Um, but yes, I love whole inthe wall places and I love
(40:09):
sporting local.
So that's what I'm all about.
Doug (40:12):
I think you've given us the perfect expectation.
I do want to ask a little bitmore about uh maybe the last
time you visited.
Do you recall trying any newdishes or something that really
wowed you that you coulddescribe to our listeners?
Karen (40:25):
Uh so I'm afraid that every time I go, I usually do go
for the boom ba we.
I look at it and I go, Yeah, Ihave to.
I'm sorry.
It's my favorite.
It's spicy, it's the best boomba we in Pittsburgh, in my
opinion.
Doug (40:37):
If someone is not familiar with that dish, describe for us
a little bit more on what arewe eating?
What do we see on the plate?
Karen (40:43):
Uh so it reminds me of Fub Butter.
So definitely spicier.
So if you're not into spicy,maybe sear clear of this one,
but spicier.
Same thing with um with likethe rice noodles.
And I think it's just thatincredible umami flavor in the
broth.
You really have to try it toreally get what it's about.
Doug (41:01):
So this is a bowl of broth with other additions.
Karen (41:04):
Yeah, you know, you'll have your rice noodles, you'll
have some kind of meat, um,usually beef of some sort, if I
recall.
But yeah, it's it's come forfood at its finest.
Doug (41:14):
And you have mentioned before that you like spice.
So this is a higher spicelevel.
Karen (41:18):
Yes, it's a higher spice level.
Oh, I'm I'm the type of personthat will order an eight out of
10 at a truth high place.
Doug (41:25):
Oh, we cannot.
Well, we'll just not fightabout it.
I will not be that person.
So we're talking about trams inLawrenceville.
It's actually up along PennAvenue.
Karen, thanks so much.
Yeah, thank you.
You can follow Karen onInstagram at Karen.huang.
Are you interested in possiblythe most streamlined yet tasty
(41:49):
guacamole recipe?
Lisa Ray of Hamajack has it.
Hey everybody, we're joinedtoday with Lisa Ray of Hamajack
Heat Company.
They make the Hamma Jack hotsauces.
Lisa, when we were here last,we talked all about the sauces
and your hot sauce festival, thefirst of its kind.
I was wondering when you're athome, do you have a recipe that
(42:11):
you go to that uses one of thehot sauces?
Lisa (42:14):
I have many recipes that are our go-to's with our hot
sauces now.
However, there's one recipe inparticular that I share at
events.
It often results in non-hotsauce lovers purchasing one of
our sauces.
Doug (42:28):
Oh, I like this.
Lisa (42:29):
This is our sublime sauce.
It makes a delicious, quick,easy guacamole.
All you need is one largeavocado, a tablespoon of sublime
sauce.
Doug (42:42):
And is this the sauce that's made with the jalapeno?
Am I remembering that right?
Yes.
Lisa (42:47):
It is a green sauce made with jalapeno.
So one tablespoon of thatsauce, one tablespoon of fresh
lime juice, just because I likea lot of lime in my half in my
guacamole, and then an eighthteaspoon of salt.
Literally, that's all.
Okay.
Mash it up.
Of course, you can add onion ifyou want, you can add tomato if
you want.
But this is the quickestdelicious guacamole.
(43:10):
And I often will even have itat events for people to taste.
Doug (43:13):
Yes.
Lisa (43:14):
And when people walk by and I try to engage with them
and they say, Oh, I'm not intohot sauce, and I'll ask them, Do
you like guacamole?
And most people do likeguacamole.
Right.
There's some crazy people whodon't, but most people do.
So I will sometimes have asample of that that they can
try.
And I have had a number ofpeople buy the sublime sauce
claiming to not like hot sauce,but they love the guacamole so
(43:37):
much.
Doug (43:37):
Wow.
All right.
So sublime guacamole needs tobe in my rotation here the next
time I watch it.
Lisa (43:44):
Absolutely.
The next time you want someguacamole, fast.
Barbara Ann (43:48):
Yes.
Doug (43:48):
I love a quick hit like that.
And I can imagine it adds allthose layers of flavor.
Lisa (43:53):
Yes.
It has a lot of the ingredientsthat you would put in guacamole
already in the sauce.
Doug (43:58):
Sounds perfect.
Lisa Ray, thank you so much forthe recipe, and thanks for
being on the Pittsburgh Dish.
It's been wonderful.
Thank you.
You can find Sublime Hot Saucealong with many others at Lisa's
website, hamajack.com.
Do you have a recipe?
Share it with us.
Just visit our website atwww.pittsburgdish.com and look
(44:21):
for our share a recipe form.
If you enjoyed the show,consider buying us a coffee for
this episode or supporting theshow monthly.
You can find links to thoseoptions at the bottom of our
show description.
And if you want to follow myown food adventures, you can
find me on social media at DougCooking.
That's our show for this week.
Thanks again to all of ourguests and contributors, and to
(44:43):
Kevin Selecki of CarnegieAccordion Company for providing
the music to our show.
We'll be back again next weekwith another fresh episode.
Stay tuned.
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