Jennifer Lyne Featured as StyleBlueprint’s FACE of Birmingham
By Candace Echols in StyleBlueprint, January 9, 2022
The pandemic laid a hard smack on the Manhattan restaurant industry, but Chef Jennifer Lyne (with husband Tyler — also a chef — by her side) thrived by mixing just the right amount of creativity with equal parts flexibility and genius. Her pivot has been an enviable thing of beauty and has taken her from a world of catering for clients that included Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop parties, Serena Williams’ wedding, and Lela Rose’s epic house parties to an entirely new version of her culinary career — but this time, in Birmingham, Alabama.
Jennifer and her family moved to Alabama to be near family, but at the request of a new friend during the height of COVID, she and her husband started hosting intimate chef’s tasting experiences in their home each Saturday. That has taken off in the form of Tasting TBL. Now, the next part of their dream is on the horizon as they have purchased Rucker Place, a site in Five Points South, in order to open a new, multidimensional restaurant concept. With her remarkable culinary background including training at the Culinary Institute of America as well as working with Daniel Boulud in New York City, Jennifer brings her talent and experience as a top-level pastry chef to the Birmingham dining scene. Join us as we welcome StyleBlueprint’s latest FACE of Birmingham, Jennifer Lyne.
Read the full article HERE.
Q&A: Chef Erik Mar
The most recent addition to the core Tasting TBL culinary team also moved to Alabama from New York City to continue his dynamic career under Chefs Tyler & Jennifer Lyne’s visionary leadership. Chef Erik Mar talks about what it’s like to work with the Lynes on Tasting TBL, his earliest food memories, and more. Learn more about another rock star chef from this close-knit family of NYC-trained chefs.
Are you originally from NYC and if not, what brought you there?
I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. I came to Alabama to work with Tyler & Jen. I’ve been with them since I was 18; I’m now 25, and it’s a never-ending learning experience. The familial relationship we’ve grown over these years has yielded me an infinite amount of knowledge, and as a group, we learn from each other every day—whether it’s related to culinary or not. It’s the epitome of the yellow brick road.
What are your earliest memories of food or memories from the kitchen?
My earliest memories of food were during Chinese New Year and cooking with my dad. He and my grandmother were always the default chefs during these family occasions. My ethnic background stems from being Caribbean and Asian. My mom would cook every Sunday and it would be the day I’d help out in the kitchen. During holidays and events, we’d have neighbors come over constantly just for my mom’s food. Both my parents were known for being great home-cooks and they still are ‘til this day. Having my interest piqued at such a young age was probably the reason why I instinctively became a chef. Thankfully they’re both proud of that decision I made for myself.
When did you know that you wanted to pursue a culinary career? Was there an ‘aha’ moment or was it a gradual realization?
The “aha” moment of my culinary career was when I went to college. I did three years of accounting and eventually realized that I didn’t want to have a desk job calculating math all day. I decided to pick up the most rigorous, painstaking, rewarding career of being a chef. My educational and professional journey started to develop on a deeper and more meaningful level once I met Tyler.
Was it hard to leave the elite culinary world in New York City to join Tyler & Jen in Alabama?
Leaving NYC wasn’t a difficult decision. I’m super flexible, and I enjoy traveling and venturing to different places. I’m simply starting a new chapter in my life in Birmingham.
What are your first impressions of the Magic City? Have you found any favorite spots so far?
I haven't explored the Magic City in the two months that I’ve been here. I’m not in a rush to do so since I will be here for a while. I'm also trying to change the fast-paced mindset which I’ve developed from being in NYC. I am looking forward to taking hikes on the trails and going to the museums and historical sites of Birmingham. As for food, I’m a sucker for take-out and the options in comparison to NYC are underwhelming. I haven’t been to many spots, but Marcos Pizza is the bomb.com.
What do you love most about Tasting TBL?
The entire concept of Tasting TBL is simply amazing. Cooking for guests in your own home is probably the coolest part. The supper club experience creates a community-like aesthetic, and it allows strangers the opportunity to socialize with one another. It’s very similar to meeting strangers in NYC. Tasting TBL is super casual and has a fun vibe where it’s easy to socialize. In addition, you also have that visual arousal of seeing how we create great food during the entire experience.
Meet Knox Fanelli of Larder Foods
Knox Fanelli of Larder Foods is our guy when it comes to the rarest and hardest-to-find ingredients. Specializing in foraged edibles and truffles, Knox not only knows the food industry from a forager-supplier standpoint, but he cut his teeth in the kitchen and service side of a humble meat-and-three, then moved on to experience the world of fine dining (front of house and back) where he learned more about the chef’s creative process, topping all of that off with a boots-on-the-ground education in wine distribution. As a purveyor of rarities, he is constantly adding to that well-rounded knowledge base with in-depth research and extensive travel. In fact, Knox has been to some of the best restaurants in the world—and we take full advantage of that in this article voyeuristically extracting all the juicy details on each of his epicurean adventures. So now that we’ve got your mouth preemptively watering, meet Knox Fanelli.
Currently, as of mid-June 2021, Larder Foods’ carries summer truffles from Spain, which are just now reaching peak maturity and aroma, as well as winter truffles from Chile and Australia.
Tell us about Larder Foods and your offerings.
Larder Foods aims to bridge the gap between chefs and their access to quality ingredients. One question I’ve always asked myself throughout my travels is, “Why can I not get this in Birmingham?” This question is where I started and it’s where I intend to do my life’s research. My offerings change from week to week as the seasons change, but at this moment it is mainly foraged edibles and truffles.
What was your original connection to the culinary world—personally and professionally?
Personally, it started with reading cookbooks and showing an interest in cooking at a young age. Cooking was one thing, but weekly trips to the farmers market during the summer was where seasonality came into play. These underlying ideas morphed into always looking forward to birthday dinners or any reason to eat at a nice restaurant in town.
Professionally, it started after college at Tracy’s Restaurant in Crestline Village. My fiance’s family had an intimate meat-and-three that focused on locally sourced ingredients. It is here that I fell in love with the work of serving, cooking, and the careful intention put into a meal. The sounds, the smells, the hustle and bustle of that hallowed ground amidst everything that goes into service is something that I still enjoy today. The camaraderie felt amidst a busy shift is something everyone should experience. Jimmy Tracy passed on that love, and for some reason I still have that bug.
After Tracy’s, I worked at Hot & Hot Fish Club and this is where I gained an understanding of the time, detail, and level of service that goes into a fine dining restaurant. I had the opportunity to work both front of house and back of house, which gave me a glimpse into the mind of a chef. Here I honed my knowledge for more obscure and expensive ingredients from wine to the farms across Alabama that supplied the restaurant.
Following Hot & Hot I worked for International Wine & Craft Beer, which is a locally owned distributor and one of the original companies to bring fine wine to Alabama. I was a part of the on-premise team for Birmingham, which focused mainly on restaurants and independent wine shops around town. Here I learned distribution, the power of a story, and the vast network of logistics to get wine from a small village in northern Italy all the way to Central Alabama. It also exposed me to the qualitative function of discerning what makes something great.
After early mornings and late nights of the hospitality industry from restaurants to wine distribution, I went back to school for a master’s degree, but really to give me enough time to come up with a plan for what I wanted to do. Larder is in essence a culmination of these experiences and my passion for this industry.
The beautiful cross-section of a black truffle
Do you aim to focus on truffles and other rarities?
Yes, I aim to focus on truffles and rarities. I will always enjoy the seasonality of ingredients, especially wild ones. The lack of control over supply is invigorating and elucidates the difficulty of the task. At one moment you have a mountain of supply; the next week bad weather destroys your ability to forage in certain areas. I only envision it getting more difficult as weather patterns change.
How do you source these hard-to-find products?
Hard-to-find products are just as they are named: difficult. And there is not a science to it. It all begins with lots of reading and research, and in many cases, you figure out that maybe the reason that you cannot access certain ingredients is out of your control.
This week’s morels from Larder Foods are called Morchella Conica, or Conicas, from high elevation in Montana.
What is the most impressive ingredient you’ve ever had in your possession?
This is long before Larder was even a thing, but in college I had the opportunity to go to the Bahamas rather often. Many of the fisherman would dive for spiny lobsters and stone crab, but because the Bahamas is a chain of islands, beer costs a lot of money. So, we would barter terribly cheap beer for stone crab and lobster. I remember returning with a lot at one point to share with family and ended up with 50 to 60 pounds for myself. It is safe to say that a well-stocked freezer full of stone crab is my favorite on-hand ingredient, and especially when you are in college.
How do you hope to see Larder Foods grow as a business? Give us your ideal vision for its future.
I want it to grow, but all the while keeping chefs involved in the process. An ideal future is growing a business that places the stakeholder first and creating an environment that allows for others to enjoy this process as much as I do.
“Sea beans are foraged on the Washington coast and something really lovely for adding texture and a touch of salinity to a dish,” says Knox.
You’re quite the epicure, having travelled to and eaten at some of the world’s most lauded restaurants. I’m going to throw out some categories, aspects of the overall dining experience, and of these celebrated global restaurants, please tell us who did it best plus a description, so that we can live vicariously.
Most exquisite ambience/ decor:
Lima, Peru — Statera’s (now closed) minimalist interior with its open kitchen and a hanging garden above your head. It’s something truly crazy to walk into.
Best dish featuring caviar:
New York City, New York — Eleven Madison Park’s Corn Souffle with a dollop of Gold Osetra caviar. Sweetness of the corn and the warmth of the souffle intensify the caviar—it was one of those perfect dishes.
Copenhagen, Denmark — Barr’s Lumpfish caviar over crème fraîche and fermented greens. Much simpler than EMP’s but it has that time-and-place effect because I proposed before the meal.
Best canapé, a one-bite morsel you wish you could experience again:
Copenhagen, Denmark — Noma’s charred ramps brushed with virgin butter and whipped with a ferment. Simple and absolutely fucking delicious.
Most memorable plate presentation:
Lima, Peru — Central’s fried Piranha Skin, hands down. Two pieces of fried fish skin sitting atop frozen heads of piranhas takes it. Six to eight heads with their jaws open and facing the diner sets the tone for the experience.
Central’s Fried Piranha Skin
Strangest ingredient yet surprisingly most delicious:
Lima, Peru — Central’s use of Cushuro. It’s an algae that naturally does its own spherification found in small bodies of water high up in the Andes. Imagine caviar but with an almost earthy seaweed flavor profile, but it was rather good.
Best service:
New York City, New York — Eleven Madison Park’s team has perfect attention to detail from the start to finish. Everything was executed flawlessly from timing to sommeliers to having the chance to stand in the kitchen. It is an experience and something truly baffling that even though there is all this attention placed on a table, they are able to make you feel extremely comfortable.
Most interesting chef:
Lima, Peru — Pia Leon from Kjolle. After running Central for many years, she opened a restaurant above Central and it’s like getting the chance to experience the cuisine of a mastermind—food with incredible amounts of soul while still pushing you to explore new ingredients. If I could travel somewhere tomorrow to experience the work of a master chef, she’s the person I’d like to revisit. Pia was often described as the wife of Virgilio or the chef behind Central, but in reality she ran the kitchen, and I am glad to see her start her own restaurant and showcase her own creations as her own.
Best use of truffles:
Nashville, Tennessee — The Catbird Seat: Paul Liebrandt’s Uni-Truffle Bananas. Weird. Unique. Delicious.
Prettiest and most delicious dessert:
Lima, Peru — Statera’s Cacao de Oliva, which was pretty bonkers because it has eight to 10 different elements of Peruvian chocolate, then drizzled with olive oil. It was one of those singular, eye-opening desserts. It has a wild presentation and only a picture does it justice.
Statera’s Cacao de Oliva
Given all of these elevated dining experiences you’ve had around the world, what humble eateries or hole-in-the-wall-type joints rank among your favorites?
It’s essential to know that the Greeks created the food scene in Birmingham. Interestingly enough, most of them started with a hot-dog stand, and my favorite Birmingham hole-in-the-wall that is now closed is Pete’s Famous Hot Dogs. Constantine “Gus” Koutroulakis was a man committed to his craft and his no-bullshit approach was something to witness. If not a hot dog in Birmingham, then it’s one of the city’s meat-and-three’s or Falafel Café near UAB Hospital.
So, how did you come to know about Tyler & Jennifer and Tasting TBL?
At 12:30 a.m., two to three days before New Years Eve, I was doing some market research or just scrolling through restaurants that might need truffles for NYE. So, I sent him a DM on Instagram, and boom: Two seconds later, he got in touch with me and eight hours later, I am at his house selling him Périgord truffles, or French black truffles. We’ve been friends ever since and usually converse about all things food.
How would you describe your first Tasting TBL dinner experience and the Lynes’ culinary style?
Our first Tasting TBL experience was perfect, from the food and the ambiance to the table of industry people who were with us. I was and still am shocked at the things they are able to achieve. Tyler and Jen are chefs you might not have heard of yet, but get ready because it won’t be long before your addicted to their cooking.
Tasting TBL is a refreshing experience that gently pushes you out of your comfort zone to expose you to tastes and techniques you’ve likely never experienced. Tyler’s ability to showcase his vast breadth of culinary skills and combine them with the highest quality ingredients is something you cannot miss. Jen’s culinary style is showcasing incredibly balanced and thoughtful desserts that are extremely labor-intensive. Both Tyler and Jen combine their love for technique, quality ingredients, and presentation to create an unforgettable experience that redefines your conception of a perfectly executed meal. Tasting TBL is something you must experience.
What is your favorite thing about your partnership with the Lynes and Tasting TBL?
Walking in with some extremely niche ingredients and watching them run with it. I really enjoy the conversations around what they are doing and how they’re going to pull it off. Overall, it’s the friendship that has grown between us and their faith in me to bring them something to make the Tasting TBL experience even more unique.
We Bought a Home for Our New Restaurant!
We are delighted to announce that as the proud new owners of Rucker Place, we are getting to work renovating the space into an exquisite multifaceted restaurant concept. Read our press release below to learn more!
Press Release: Historic Rucker Place to Become Chic New Restaurant
BIRMINGHAM, AL (May 12, 2021) — Historic Rucker Place is now under new ownership and set to become a multifaceted high-end restaurant. T Squared Holdings LLC purchased the property from Jack and Gail Thompson who have been hosting elegant weddings and events in the home since extensively renovating it in 2002. The purchase price was $1.22M and new ownership plans to invest another $2M+ in future renovations. Built in 1900 as a family home, Rucker Place is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. And just as Jack and Gail breathed new life into the home 18 years ago, the new ownership group has plans to transform the space to realize their dream.
That dream is a multidimensional restaurant concept that combines a traditional restaurant and bar, a late-night bar and al fresco event space, pâtisserie and café for breakfast and lunch, full-service catering options, and e-commerce meal delivery for businesses and families. “This will be unique because of five distinct brand offerings that operate out of the same ‘cloud kitchen’,” says Executive Chef and new Co-owner of Rucker Place, Tyler Lyne. “The menu concept centers around classic culinary techniques and dishes enjoyed in thriving epicurean cities.”
Previous Rucker Place owner Gail Thompson is delighted to be passing ownership on to people who have a passion and vision that will honor the rich history and beauty of the property. “I’m so excited that they are creating something new, entirely different, and taking it to the next level. And it will be there for another 120 years, because they will honor it, take care of it, and keep the legacy alive,” she says, adding, “It’s their dream now. It was my dream once, and it’s been an amazing journey. Now it is theirs.”
The space will capture elegance and ease, with distinct areas for each dining experience: the light and airy pâtisserie and café, the elevated and chic formal dining room, a sophisticated upstairs bar au vins with seating for chef’s tasting menu, and the exclusive top-level members-only space—not to mention the property’s exquisite views of the city, spacious backyard, and gorgeous wraparound porches, which are being significantly widened to accommodate more outdoor seating.
“I have loved Birmingham, and the people here have been so welcoming,” says Tim Owens, a Texas native, recent Birmingham transplant, and new Co-owner of Rucker Place. “We knew we wanted to be somewhere in the South and we needed a metro area of at least one million people to support this kind of concept. When we came to visit for the first time, we immediately knew Birmingham was where we wanted to be. What sold it for us was the beautiful culture we found here and how the people treated us—like they had known us for years, extending the most genuine hospitality we had ever felt! Our vision is to be an integral part of the local community, whether guests want to dine in with us, stop by for a quick pastry, or order our catering or meal delivery. We’re also happy that Rucker Place will continue to serve as a gorgeous gathering place where Birminghamians can mark special occasions, connect over food and drink, and make amazing memories together!”
Our Exclusive Partnership with Dread River Distilling Co.
In November of 2020, when Chefs Tyler and Jennifer Lyne were still exploring the culinary landscape of their new Birmingham home, they attended a tour and tasting at Dread River Distilling Company. If you’ve ever entered this historic downtown building, then you know that the gorgeous interiors—the sumptuous jewel-toned color palette, gilded accents, and cozy low-lit lounges flanking the sprawling central bar-in-the-round—can’t help but make the first impression. So it’s easy to order a cocktail and happily settle into this Gatsby-esque glamour. But, true to their epicurean pedigree, Tyler and Jen were focused on the spirits that lie beyond the front-of-house elegance. And what they discovered through taste and tour in the back of house did not disappoint.
“We loved all of their spirits,” says Chef Tyler Lyne, “Each one has very unique flavor profiles, and we really enjoy the vodka. I can’t believe they are just getting started.”
The Kothe pot still, an exquisite German pot still, is the incredibly versatile piece of equipment that allows Dread River to create their diverse line of high-quality spirits.
The central bar at Dread River features an expansive and sleek modern chandelier in its soaring ceiling.
A Skyrocketing Start
Dread River’s success has been meteoric. In October 2020, at a mere eight months old, the distillery was named 5th Best Distillery in America in USA Today’s 10 Best Craft Distilleries in which a panel of American spirits experts nominated the country’s top 20—the Reader’s Choice vote solidified the winners. Other accolades followed with Dread River Rum winning the Gold Medal Award at New York’s Annual Fifty Best rum competition; and their whiskey, vodka, and gin each won silver at different competitions. They are excited to submit their recently perfected blue agave in upcoming competitions and are markedly anticipating the release of the first bourbon that’s been made in Birmingham in nearly 100 years, coming this June.
Dread River’s cavernous—and very popular—event space vies against the brand’s award-winning spirits for the limelight like two overachieving siblings. But Dread River Distilling Company’s founder, Jeff Dugas, is clear on what drives the business.
Dread River spirits: Rum, Blue Agave, Vodka, Whiskey, and Gin—with a Bourbon to debut this June! Image: Jenny Nicholson of Eating Alabama
“This is a distillery with an event space—not an event space with a distillery. So the part of this business that really has to stand on its own and be at the forefront is the backspace. If you haven't done the tour and the tasting, you really need to do that to see and learn why, how, and what we're doing. Otherwise you won't understand why what you taste in that glass is as good as it is. And you'll just think this is a cool bar with good cocktails—it’s way more than that. And to get to that point is an art and a science,“ says Jeff, who, by day, doubles as an Orthopaedic Surgeon, Sports Medicine Specialist, and Managing Partner at Andrews Sports Medicine, the elite Birmingham practice known to treat top athletes and celebrities. Even though Dread River began and remains a side hustle of sorts for him, Jeff wasn’t going to commit to the endeavor unless the drink could compete with his own standards—he was determined to dig deeper than just a catchy name, trendy label design, and a well-coiffed, mustachioed crew to serve the product up with distractingly clever garnishes.
Jeff Dugas visits with guests in one of the distillery’s chic and cozy lounge rooms.
Great Lengths
“I like to tell people, we bought a Ferrari and we hired a professional to drive it,” he says of the incredible piece of machinery at the heart of the operation: a unique, extremely high-quality German pot still made by a company called Kothe. “It has a 5,000-liter pot still with essentially two distillation columns totaling 17 distillation condensation plates. So effectively, each one of those plates is a mini version of the pot still. And the way we modified this still makes it possible for us to make rum, vodka, gin, blue agave, whiskey, bourbon—you name it—we can do the whole thing on one piece of equipment; it just depends on how we set it up that day.”
Not only is the pot still and its distilling team next-level, they source the highest quality raw materials. And with a current lineup of five spirits recipes, finding ‘the best’ ingredients takes time. “There’s a saying: Know Thy Farmer. You gotta know thy farmer in this industry, because you gotta taste their products, know their practices, and understand what efforts are taken to make sure that the quality is consistent from week to week, month to month, harvest to harvest,” says Jeff. “So we had to do a lot of due-diligence on all the raw materials that we use each time we picked one, so that we knew we could sustain the demand as well as the quality.”
Furthermore, in the distillation process, there are three elements: the heads, the hearts, and the tails. The heads are not for consumption. As Jeff explains it, “They’re poison, basically; The heads are why the old moonshiners went blind and died.” The hearts are the good stuff. And the tails, well, in Jeff’s very effective words: “smell like something that somebody wrung out of their sock after they wore it for a month ... And so we don't put any heads or tails in our products, we are heart-cut only.” Although this is costlier and very few distilleries adopt this practice (most keep the tails), this is another measure that gives Dread River’s products that next-level taste.
Heart-cut-only liquors have purer ethanol, lessening the likelihood or effects of a hangover.
Great Minds
And this next level taste is what Tyler and Jen recognized immediately. The day the Tasting TBL Chefs tasted the spirits, they decided to form an exclusive partnership with Dread River.
Jeff was taken aback. “For somebody of their level of quality to look to us and say, ‘I'm going to use your stuff, because it is so good, I can do things with this.’ That's amazing to me. I wanted it to be that good, but I didn't know it was that good. So that has been a little bit of confirmation for us,” says Jeff, adding, “Tyler and Jen are so creative, in terms of what they can do. Some of the cocktails they’ve made using deconstruction methods and centrifuges, I mean, it’s just been off the chain, in terms of what they’ve done.”
Tyler and Jen make Tasting TBL’s tinctures, bitters, and liqueurs using Dread River spirits. “We love milk clarification and making milk punches—both ancient preservation techniques,” says Tyler. “They found bottles of milk punch in Thomas Jefferson’s wine cellar that were decades old and still drinkable.” This clarified milk appears in Tasting TBL’s Negroni Clarified, a crystal-clear Negroni, that includes housemade wormwood tincture, Cocchi di Torino Vermouth, and orange liqueur made from grapefruit, Aperol, Dread River vodka, and clarified milk—all poured over Dread River Gin.
Pastry Chef Jennifer Lyne serves as barkeep at the March 14, 2021, Industry Dinner, co-hosted by Tasting TBL and Dread River. Here, she whisks a cocktail in liquid nitrogen. Image: Jenny Nicholson of Eating Alabama
“We also like to infuse the spirits with flavor. For example, we blend bananas with Dread River whiskey and then put it through a centrifuge to spin the whiskey back out to bring back its clarity but the banana flavor stays behind. It tastes like a bananas Foster whiskey without all the sugar,” says Tyler, noting that this technique works well with their rum too—as demonstrated in Tasting TBL’s Rum Milk Punch, which incorporates this banana-infused Dread River Rum with touches of fresh yuzu, lemon, and pineapple.
Then there’s the Bazooka cocktail, a sweet, fruity cocktail featuring bubble-gum-infused vodka. Or consider the wizardry Tyler and Jen worked with pumpkin-pie mix and Dread River whiskey at the Friendsgiving-themed dinner in 2020: Pumpkin-pie mix was blended with whiskey to form a thick magma, which was processed in a centrifuge to emerge clear yet pumpkin-pie flavored for use in the evening’s cocktail. Jen then took the solid, whiskey-infused mix and incorporated it into a pumpkin-pie dessert, giving the treat a complex whiskey flavor.
The Frozen Poblano & Cucumber Margarita with poblano-salt rim | Image: Jenny Nicholson of Eating Alabama
The Lynes and Jeff have since hosted an industry dinner together, and the collaborative partnership will no doubt yield other exciting cocktails and events. “We can’t say enough good things about Jeff and his generosity,” says Tyler. “Everyone at Dread River is amazing to work with. Their hospitality is legendary in my eyes!”
And it’s a Mutual Admiration Society of sorts: Jeff explains that he and his wife Tracy have lived in Italy as well as New York City, and they continue to travel all over the world, seeking out exquisite culinary experiences as an integral part of their travels. He can name a laundry list of the country’s best restaurants they’ve had the pleasure of enjoying, but he strikes a different tune when it comes to the Lynes in-home supper-club experience. “I mean, all you have to do is taste the first course, and you know you're seeing and tasting something different. Every course, everything they do, is so coordinated at a level that is Michelin quality—the presentation, how it looks, how it tastes, how it’s served—the whole thing. It’s exceptional.”
Assuming both parties in this culinary-spirits partnership continue to push the limits of what they can achieve, it should prove to be a deliciously exciting, fascinating, and fun journey ahead.
All images courtesy Dread River Distillery Co. unless otherwise noted.
Recipes: A Comfort-Food Feast
We’ve got three simple yet decadent dishes: a classic spaghetti and meatballs, short-rib with veggies, chicken pot pie, and a blueberry brown-butter tart.
Normally Chef Tyler Lyne, Pastry Chef Jennifer Lyne, and Chef Micah Cook are using their encyclopedic knowledge of molecular gastronomy, epicurean precision, and signature artistry to create dishes that push the boundaries of culinary creativity and that stir delectation and delight. The momentum and ingenuity only builds from the canapés with dishes that dazzle and astound, plates that double as works of art. The incredible combinations of ingredients and textures sweep diners into a reverie of flavor and feeling. Phones are ignored as diners lose themselves in the enjoyment of eating … but as each new plate is delivered to the table, phones are quickly grasped along with the viewers’ astonishment at the visual artistry. Then, in the final act, the secret weapon: Pastry Chef Jennifer Lyne follows up the stunning savory dishes with exquisite delicacies that regularly make jaws drop. Instagrammable moments are captured in a flurry of clicks, and looks of anticipation are shared as if to say, Are we really going to dig into this gorgeous creation? Then the crescendo of expectancy dissipates into a soothing wave of approving murmurs as guests are again lost in a new world of flavors and textures.
This is a regular experience each Saturday night at Tasting TBL, and the chefs are currently in a flurry of preparations for the newest menu and their own Easter Sunday celebration with family. So in anticipation of this special family weekend, we thought we’d share recipes for some of our favorite comfort-food dishes. We’ve got three simple yet decadent dishes: a classic spaghetti and meatballs, short-rib with veggies, chicken pot pie, and a blueberry brown-butter tart. You can make all four courses for your gathering or you can focus on just one!
These soul-satisfying dishes remind us of home and the ones who make us feel most at home—no matter where we are. So whip up your favorite dish, hide the Easter eggs for the kiddos, crack open a bottle of bubbly, and get ready to share this fabulous meal with your favorite people.
Celebrate With Comfort Food
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Yields 25 servings
Note: This recipe yields 25 servings, so you can make this for a big Sunday gathering or reduce the measurements for two.
Ingredients
Panade:
Butter, 150 grams
Garlic, sliced, 150 grams
Red onion, diced large, 150 grams
Rosemary, picked and chopped, 70 grams
Parsley, picked and chopped, 70 grams
Thyme, picked and chopped, 70 grams
Pullman loaf, diced large, 400 grams
Milk/Chicken Stock (50/50), as needed (start with 2 quarts)
Meatballs:
Beef, ground, 1,000 grams
Veal, ground, 1,000 grams
Pork, ground, 1,000 grams
Panade, 1,000 grams
Paprika, 35 grams
Nutmeg, 35 grams
Egg, 4 each
Salt, 54 grams
Pepper, 10 grams
Marinara Sauce:
Olive oil, 106 grams
Garlic, sliced, 106 grams
Onion, diced small, 425 grams
Canned whole tomatoes, 1,488 grams
Basil, 1 bunch
Salt, 21 grams
Directions
Panade:
Add all ingredients to large Rondue. Sweat for 45 minutes to an hour until fully tender. It is best to cook on an induction burner. The end product should not have any color.
Meatballs:
Place meat in the big mixing bowl. Add all ingredients except the panade. Using the grinder attachment, grind the panade mixture into the bowl. Using the paddle attachment, whip the meatball mixture together until fully combined but not over-whipped. (More whipping will create a tougher product.) Form into meatballs and deep fry till golden brown. Roast in an oven until fully cooked with some marinara sauce.
Marinara Sauce:
Cook garlic and olive oil on low or medium heat until slightly golden brown. Add the onions and sweat but no color. Add in canned tomatoes and cook for 45 minutes. Stir frequently, scraping the bottom of the pot. Do not allow it to burn. Add basil to steep. Food-mill everything and let cool. Taste and season accordingly.
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Beef Short Rib with Veggies
Yields 1 serving
Ingredients
Braised Short Rib:
14 oz. short rib, 400 grams
Salt
Pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Beef broth
Asparagus, 8 each
Red bliss potato, wedges, 6 each
Carrot, oblique cut, 6 each
Garnish:
Gravy, 225 grams
Parsley sprigs, 6
Directions
Season short rib.
Sear in a pan.
Vacuum seal in a bag.
Cook at 58C for 48 hours.
Cool and portion.
Sear again in butter and aromatics.
Slice and serve.
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Chicken Pot Pie
Yields 1 serving
Ingredients
Chicken Pot Pie Filling:
Pulled chicken, cooked and picked, 125 grams
Grapeseed oil, 25 grams
Button mushrooms, quartered, 55 grams
Onions, 33 grams
Celery, large dices, 75 grams
Dried parsley, 1 gram
Chicken Broth, 500 grams
Blonde roux, 100 grams
Peas & diced carrots, 125 grams
Salt, 5 grams
Pepper, 1 grams
Chicken Broth:
Knorr chicken base, 13 grams
Water, 500 grams
Rosemary stems, 0.5 stem
Thyme stems, 2.0 stems
Fresh bay leaf, 2 each
Crust Topper:
Mini cheddar biscuit, 7 each
Directions
1. Heat a large skillet, add grapeseed oil, and sautee the mushrooms and onion. Cook on medium heat to caramelize.
2. Add celery. Stir well to pick up some of the caramelization and flavor. Add the picked chicken.
3. Add your blonde roux and mix until it begins to melt.
4. Add chicken broth in three stages whisking the whole time to prevent lumps. Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer. Cook until the chicken is tender and the vegetables are soft, but still have bite and the liquid has thickened.
5. Thicken with a cornstarch slurry.
6. Remove from the heat and add the peas, carrots and dried parsley.
7. Season with salt and pepper.
8. To serve, fill a bowl with chicken filling and place 7 mini cheddar biscuits on top.
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Blueberry Brown-Butter Tart
Yield 2 servings
Ingredients
Brown Butter Batter:
Eggs, 38 grams
Sugar, 50 grams
Flour, 30 grams
Brown Butter, 38 grams
Vanilla Extract, 3 grams
Salt, 1 gram
Butterscotch Sauce:
Cream, 127 grams
Dark brown sugar, 71 grams
Butter, 18 grams
Vanilla bean, 0.6 each
Glucose syrup, 2 grams
Maldon sea salt, 0.6 grams
Blueberry Mousse:
Blueberry Puree, 150 grams
Yolks, 38 grams
Sugar, 38, grams
Cornstarch, 15 grams
Gelatin sheets, 2 each
Lemon juice, 6 grams
Heavy cream, whipped, 75 grams
Whipped Creme Fraiche:
Creme fraiche, 83 grams
Heavy cream, 13 grams
Sugar, 10 grams
Tart Dough:
Butter, 63 grams
Powdered sugar, 22 grams
Flour, 50 grams
Salt, 1 gram
Eggs, 13 grams
Fresh blueberries, 1 pint
Directions
Brown Butter Batter:
Put butter in small pot and cook until it turns light brown. Whisk eggs, sugar, and vnailla together to combine. Add in flour and salt. Slowly stream in hot brown butter. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Butterscotch Sauce:
Put cream, sugar, butter, glucose, and vanilla bean in a pot. Heat gently until sugar is dissolved. Simmer for 5 minutes until the mixture has thickened slightly. Test consistency. Strain and blend in Maldon sea salt. Cool and reserve in a container until ready to use.
Blueberry Mousse:
Bloom gelatine sheets in ice water. Whip heavy cream and put in fridge. Heat puree in a pot until warm. In a bowl, whisk together yolks, sugar and cornstarch. Pour some of the hot puree into the bowl and whisk together. Add this mixture back to the pot and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly. When mixture comes to a boil, cook for one minute. Take off heat. Drain gelatin and whisk into blueberry mixture. Cool mixture down in fridge until it is cool to touch. Whisk blueberry mixture to make it smooth again. To make it smooth again, fold in whipped cream.
Whipped Creme Fraiche:
Whip everything together until medium peaks form.
Tart Dough:
Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs slowly and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl. Add flour and salt. Chill dough for 1 hour. Roll out until ⅛-inch thickness. Cut out dough with 3-inch ring cutter.
Assemble:
Spray 3-inch ring mold with Pam spray. Put Tart Dough in the bottom of the mold. Top with fresh blueberries to cover the dough. Pour Brown Butter Batter over the top, about 3/4 full. Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and batter is set; toothpick should come out clean. Let tarts cool. Smear the Whipped Creme Fraiche on the plate, place tart down, pipe kisses of the blueberry mousse. Warm butterscotch sauce and pour some over the top of the tart.
Tasting TBL Cuban Dinner Recap
In the early days of the Tasting TBL Supper Club, Chefs Tyler & Jennifer Lyne and the talented Chef Micah Cook explored different culinary themes for the chefs’ tasting menu. In October, they pulled out all the stops to create a stellar Cuban-themed menu, and once all of the elements were perfectly fine-tuned, they were more than excited to share this unique supper club experience with their guests. Here’s a recap of Tasting TBL’s Cuban-themed dinner, which took place on October 10, 2020.
Cocktail hour featured a twist on rum and Coke with Mexican Coke, Dread River’s Caribbean-style rum, and a silky housemade coconut foam. “Everybody loved the rum-and-coke-style cocktail,” says Pastry Chef Jennifer Lyne. Even though it wasn’t your average rum and coke, it took one guest back in time, as he was overheard saying, “I haven’t had a rum and coke since college!”
Once guests were seated, the canapés were delivered: bite-sized morsels with major flavor. There was a crispy yucca with short rib, mole rojo, and cilantro; papas rellenas with roasted chili and herb aioli for dipping; and a picadillo empanada filled with chicken, olive, and raisin.
A refreshing yet decadent ceviche came next—red snapper intermingled with avocado, cilantro, cucumber, and peppers alongside crispy housemade tostones.
The next dish stole the show. Served in a glass ashtray, the Cuban cigar sandwich appears to be a half-smoked stogie resting in its ashes and even sporting a cigar label with the TBL signature. Guests were naturally confused. “There was a group of guys with their wives and they're like, ‘Wait, is this a real cigar?’” says Jennifer. “And I was like, ‘No. It’s food. You eat it.’”
The cigar wrapper is made of fuille de brick, a French pastry, that is then filled with the Cuban sandwich elements: mojo pork, Swiss cheese, and pickles. Fine sesame forms the ashes, and black sesame praline caps off the burning foot of the cigar. Real glass ashtrays and edible labels printed via 3D printer add to the illusion.
“Everyone was just blown away,” says Jennifer. “They were all taking selfies and pictures of each other pretending to smoke it like it was a cigar. They just went crazy over that cigar.” (Check out this video of Chef Tyler Lyne demonstrating a twist on the Cuban cigar, a Japanese tuna tartare cigar.)
A warming seafood bowl followed: A succulent giant shrimp and tortilla Espanola (Spanish egg-and-potato omelette) was served in a luscious carrot-ginger-coconut broth, aromatic and sweet.
And for the fifth course, they served a classic Caribbean congri dish with Forbidden black rice, back beans, and chicken. A lechon pork roast was the pinnacle of the savory dishes, served with maduros (fried sweet plantains), salsa verde, Cubanelle powder, and acelgas (sauteed chard).
Chef Tyler Lyne prepares the lechon-style slow-roasted pork for the final savory dish on the Cuban dinner menu.
A stunning plantain upside-down cake delighted guests’ palates for dessert. The sumptuous cake was served with rum caramel, passion fruit anglaise, lime cream, and coconut shortbread.
The evening ended with fireworks in the form of hot-from-the-oven madeleines and Cuban cigar-smoked s’mores, wherein Chef Tyler lit an actual Cuban cigar to infuse the glass smokebox and its confections with a decidedly Havanan essence.
It was a fabulous night and a theme Tasting TBL will surely revisit, refine, and share with our guests again!
Eating Alabama Podcast Host, Nick Nicholson
When the Lynes moved to Alabama in July of 2020, they wasted no time in researching the local food scene, and one of the first websites they stumbled across was Eating Alabama, launched by husband-and-wife team Nick and Jenny Nicholson. The food-loving duo soon joined the Lynes for one of the first Tasting TBL supper club gatherings, and Nick asked to interview the chefs on his Eating Alabama podcast. (Listen to the series: Part 1 & Part 2.) As 2020 came to a close, Tyler and Jennifer were humbled and honored when Nick and Jenny posted on Instagram that Tasting TBL was their most memorable culinary experience of the year.
We caught up with Nick to talk about the mission of Eating Alabama, some hidden gems he’s discovered along the way, his Tasting TBL experience, and his read on the Lyne Chefs’ place in the Alabama foodscape.
Nick Nicholson, host of the Eating Alabama Podcast
How did Eating Alabama come about?
My wife and I started it in 2018 as a hobby. We've been together for 20-something years and when our daughters were playing travel softball, we liked to find the local spots instead of chains. And then friends and family started asking us places to eat if they were in a different part of Alabama. And so that's when we decided to dive into it and start a blog and Instagram account. And then the podcast came from me always wanting to do a podcast, and it just kind of just felt like the perfect time to start one along with what we were doing.
What was your initial connection to the culinary world?
My first job was at a fast-food restaurant. And as I grew up in the ‘90s, there weren’t a lot of food-related shows on TV, but on Alabama Public Television, there was a show called Chefs of the World, and that was my introduction to the food world outside of fast food. Also, I was always told that I should have gone to culinary school; I ended up choosing a different path, but food has always been an interest of mine.
What do you hope to accomplish through the Eating Alabama platform?
I want to shed light on what Alabama is doing in the food industry, not only for people outside of Alabama, but also for folks within the state, because I think there are so many people in Alabama who don't really realize all of the food scenes going on in the state. A secondary goal would be to give a voice to some of these smaller restaurants that don't really utilize social media, like barbecue joints in little towns where everything they do is word of mouth. I hope others can see these restaurants and maybe want to do a destination trip to go dine there. We've done that plenty of times when we found a restaurant, which was a two-hour drive away, and we’d go just to eat the barbecue, just because we heard it was good. So, we really just want to shine a light on Alabama restaurants, whether it be small mom-and-pops, or nicer high-end places.
What was your first impression of Tyler & Jennifer and Tasting TBL?
The tasting menu concept is what interested me. We don't see that in Birmingham; every now and then you may get a restaurant that'll do a tasting menu as a special thing. When we travel to Chicago or another big city that offers a chef’s tasting menu, we try to hit those up because I've always found those menus very interesting—you get a diversity of different flavors and you're also really understanding the chef’s vision. I think when you deal with tasting menus, it gives chefs the ability to play more and expose things that they might not normally offer. So, I knew Tasting TBL was definitely something that we wanted to experience.
So, how would you describe that first experience and their culinary style?
There were a few canapés served at first—kind of playful, each with a different flavor profile. One was a play off of chicken and waffles with maple caviar. I think there was a play off of sushi with a sort of salmon mousse. To be able to layer the components, the textures and flavors, all within just one bite—it definitely stood out to me and really showed their ability. Also, there was a great variance in the flavor profiles per dish, but everything flowed and felt connected throughout the dinner, and you could see his vision within the dishes he presented. And of course the desserts that Jennifer put forth were just amazing. So, when we had the opportunity to speak with them after that, we hit it off and I was immediately like, “Hey, we gotta get you on the podcast, because I love what you do.” And I obviously wanted to hear his background.
I’m not going to put you in the unfair position of naming favorites, but I am going to give you some categories, and I want you to shine the light on an unknown gem in our state that you think people should know about. So, first let’s take your example of barbecue.
One of the ones that comes to mind is one that I grew up with: Bob’s Sykes Bar-B-Q in Bessemer. In years past, it had a bigger reputation in the state because they did franchise for a little while in the ‘80s. But now it’s just gone back to their home restaurant. And that one has just always been dear to me, because that’s the barbecue joint that I grew up with. Van Sikes, who is the owner now, is just a fantastic person. That’s one that when people ask about a real barbecue joint, I’m like “Y’all gotta go check out Bob Sykes.”
OK, what about Indian?
I would say Bay Leaf. They've recently changed ownership and brought in a new chef. And he's doing something really cool, because in India there is a major difference in cuisine based on locale. I mean, you can go 10 miles down the road and the style of cooking they're doing is different than where you’re standing. So what's cool about what they're doing at Bay Leaf right now is the menu changes to spotlight certain dishes from certain regions in India. So on the menu, you’re reading the ingredients, obviously, but then off to the side it gives information on the region and culture that each dish comes from—and to me that's an added bonus, because now I'm learning where the food comes from and the history behind it.
Wild card: Can you think of a place off the top of your head that is a real gem?
When we’re talking state, I definitely go to Auburn for some good restaurants. There's a place down there called The Irritable Bao, which has got a funny name to it. Whitley Dykes and Kunyu Li are the owners and you know they're doing some really cool stuff not just within the food—obviously the food's great. The reason he opened it was he lived in China for eight years and met his wife there. And she is the chef. So a lot of Chinese people go to Auburn, and they wanted to give an opportunity to give a little taste of home to some of those students, and then it just kind of blossomed into a community kind of place where everybody goes to just eat and hang out, study, whatever. And they’re putting out some really good food. It's just a really special place in my opinion, not only because of the food but the mission behind it.
So as a food connoisseur with a particular focus on Alabama's food scene. How do you think Alabama will receive Tyler and Jennifer, especially once they launch their brick and mortar and we can all move around again?
I think the style of food that Tyler and Jennifer are presenting is different than what you normally see in Birmingham. You know a lot of Birmingham’s fine-dining restaurants have similarities—don’t get me wrong, I mean they are really, really good. There's kind of that Southern heritage thing going on, which, like again, as I said, is awesome. But I just think that what Tyler and Jennifer can bring is something different than what we're already seeing. They bring in a different background, different experiences. And some of the knowledge that Tyler has, especially on the molecular gastronomy side of things, you don't see very often here in Birmingham. To balance some of that science with playful, creative food along with fresh ingredients and all the things they’re doing now—I think it'll go over really well. It's going to be different, and that's going to be exciting for people who want to see a different style of chef.
So, at the close of 2020, for Eating Alabama’s 1,000th Instagram post, you deemed the Tasting TBL dinner your favorite meal of the year.
Yeah, definitely. That was our favorite. To me, an experience is what I look for. Obviously we're interested in great food, but we look for an experience, and that was definitely what they give you with what they're doing at TBL, for sure.
Q&A: Pastry Chef Jennifer Lyne
Pastry Chef Jennifer Lyne is tough as nails. She has navigated the pressure-cooker conditions of New York City’s elite kitchens, meeting their high standards of excellence and achieving a culinary prowess that can compete with the best in the industry. Her desserts are triumphant feats of creativity and gastronomical excellence that evoke both child-like delight and grown-up bafflement. We sat down with Jen to talk about her early years, cutting her culinary teeth in New York City, and starting a new adventure in Alabama.
Where are you originally from and what was your childhood like?
I'm from a small town in New York called Grand Island, which is between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. I grew up with two older brothers. My mom was a French teacher. My dad runs his own auto mechanic shop. My mom would cook dinner every night for us.
Is that your earliest memory of the kitchen?
Well, I remember my mom would have me and my middle brother in the kitchen standing at these little step stools—we were only 17 months apart—so I remember being in the kitchen with my brother, helping her peel vegetables and doing that kind of stuff. I don't know how old I was—4, maybe. I was always helping her out in the kitchen, and once I got older, that's when I started really getting into it, cooking for my family. Over the weekend, I would go through the recipe books and plan a grocery list with my mom. And we would go grocery shopping, and I'd have all the meals planned out for the whole week, every week.
Then I started baking on the weekends, and that got really crazy, because I would come downstairs to the kitchen every Saturday morning at eight o'clock and just start baking right away. And I’d have the whole dining-room table filled with all kinds of baked goods. And if something got messed up, I’d be like, “Ah, throw this away; it’s garbage!” And my mom and brothers would say, “No, we’ll eat it! It’s still good!” And I said, “You can’t eat this. It’s not right; it’s not perfect.”
So did they always know that you were going to end up being a chef?
I mean, we didn't really talk about it until my senior year of high school, when I talked to my guidance counselor about how I was interested in cooking school. And she's the one that found the Culinary Institute of America for me. So, I don't think it really got serious until I was a senior.
What was it like at the CIA?
I had a great time. I had two really awesome roommates and an awesome group of classmates. It was hard, but it was fun, obviously, being away from home and you can kind of do whatever you want to do. And, you know, I met Tyler, so it was good.
How did y'all meet?
After he graduated from the CIA, he was a teaching assistant at one of the restaurants on campus. And I was going through as one of the students. And I was playing hard to get; he was playing hard to get. I was going back and forth to one of my friends in class, saying, “I don’t know; should I ask him out?” And finally, my friend wrote down my number on a piece of paper and shoved it into Tyler’s pocket, and he said, “Will you just call her? She wants to go out with you.” [Laughs] So he finally called me. And we went out on a date, and it just kind of just went on from there!
So what was it like leaving that beautiful campus bubble of the culinary school and then going to the real-world food scene in New York City?
It’s definitely a shock. I mean, they do prepare you [at culinary school], but not for New York City-level restaurants and what you're going to experience in terms of the harshness of the chefs, what they expect of you, the long hours. Those chefs don't care if you're sick or if a family member dies—they want you to be there, six days a week for 12 to 14 hours a day. It was hard.
Tell me about the transition from savory cooking to pastry?
Even before culinary school, I knew I loved baking, but I also liked cooking. And I think we just kind of came to a decision to go to culinary school to be more well-rounded. And you do a small baking class in the culinary program, so the idea was that after I graduated, I could decide which way I wanted to go.
So when I started at Bar Boulud, it was really hard, and I was around 20 years old and,felt like, Oh my God, maybe I don't know what I'm doing?! But I worked my way up. I worked two or three stations on the hotline, but all the while I was kind of dreading going to work every day; I just wasn't as passionate about it and it just wasn't really that fun to me.
So I asked their corporate pastry chef if there was any chance I could try to switch to pastry. And he was all for it, because he did the same thing, switched from savory to pastry. So he was great. He helped to find a position for me in the company. He had originally found a position for me at db Bistro Moderne which is a bistro-style place, kind of casual for a pastry cook, which was going to be the perfect place to learn, but then the girl that was supposed to leave didn’t end up leaving. So then he said “Well you can go to Restaurant DANIEL,” which is the 3-Michelin-starred restaurant. [Laughs]
That’s where you started as a pastry chef?
Yeah, it was intense, to put it mildly. But I only worked there for a couple weeks, because the girl finally left db Bistro, so I started working there. And that was an amazing experience. The pastry chef was super awesome and sweet, and I learned a lot.
Was it hard to leave the exciting elite culinary world in New York City and take the Lyne family to Alabama?
I’ve actually been out of the culinary world of NYC for a while, because I never went back after having our son, TJ. And we were in Jersey City when TJ was born, so it was a nicer area and a slower pace than Manhattan. I had some nice ‘mom friends’ there. But I just didn't want to work for someone else anymore; I just wanted to do something of our own.
So now you guys are doing something of your own! You’re helming the Tasting TBL supper club. What do you like most about it?
What I like most about it is that it's in our home. TJ is still here with us and we’re not working crazy hours at a restaurant right now. So we both get to spend a lot of time with him. It's just nice always being together and being home with the family, being able to have dinner during the week together, which most chefs don’t often get to enjoy. It's kind of fun and relaxing—I mean it is stressful on Fridays and Saturdays when we’re getting down to the wire. At the end of the day, it is an awesome gig, though, and we're so thankful that we have something to do during the pandemic.
What is it like when you're running a restaurant six or seven days a week? Does it feel “down to the wire” every day?
No, a restaurant is different, because right now it's just me, Tyler, and Micah. At one point I asked Tyler, “Why is this so hard? Why are we so exhausted on Sundays? Are we rusty?” And he pointed out that we’re doing everything ourselves—the cooking, the cleaning, the front-of-house duties, figuring out the wine. We don't have a full team. So, I think once we get the restaurant up and running and we have a sous chefs and cooks, management, front-of-house team—a restaurant is different because you have an infrastructure.
What does dinner in the Lyne house look like?
Well Sundays and Mondays usually incorporate leftover ingredients that we need to use up from the dinner on Saturday. And then the rest of the week, we try to eat healthy as much as we can—a lot of roasted chicken, some kind of grain or quinoa salad, super-simple stuff. I mean, we don’t eat crazy-fancy. We do a lot of soups—we love soups and stews.
Pet peeves in the kitchen?
Especially when we're working in New York City, I hated when people didn't consolidate; they just left a sauce or a compote in a huge container, when instead of being in an 8-quart Cambro, it could be condensed to a 4-quart Cambro. I like to stay organized and keep everything clean.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Take everything with a grain of salt. Criticism makes you improve. I’m still working on this one.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
Clean.
What do you like to do for fun, when not working?
I like to watch movies and shows on Netflix.
Guilty pleasures?
Buffalo chicken wings, burgers, pizza ... I love anything chocolate—chocolate and peanut butter.
What is your idea of joy?
I love family. I love spending holidays with family and celebrating birthdays. I love making birthday cakes for people. That makes me happy.
Team Spotlight: Chef Micah Cook
Chefs Jennifer & Tyler Lyne regard team member Chef Micah Cook as their “Secret Weapon.” In fact, when COVID sunk its claws into New York City and the Lynes decided to take advantage of the house that was for sale next to Chef Tyler’s sister in Ross Bridge in Hoover, Alabama, Chef Micah didn’t hesitate to drop his glamorous culinary life in the Big Apple and head to the Magic City with the Lynes. “We have worked together for many years years now and he was our right hand in NYC,” says Jennifer. Tyler agrees, adding, “There is that saying, ‘Everyone has two families: The one they are born with and the one they choose.’ Micah is FAMILY. He is the secret weapon who handles so many details that make a dinner service happen—he is the guy. We are truly privileged to call him friend. We are brothers for life!” Learn more about a chef who is at the beating heart of the Tasting TBL team … Micah Cook.
Where are you originally from? Give us a snapshot of your childhood and upbringing.
Born in Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay, I remember crabbing for blue crabs and the Naval Air Force base near our house where we could watch air shows. We moved just south of Raleigh, North Carolina, when I was around 7 or 8 years old. I have one older brother and two younger sisters (the youngest was born while we were in North Carolina). My parents cooked almost every meal, so we ate lots of different things and were always encouraged to try new things.
How did all of your travels influence your relationship with food?
I have always loved cooking for the simple fact that I love eating. Traveling the world has been amazing as it relates to being able to try genuine food from other cultures, rather than American-imported fare in the style of another culture.
What are your earliest memories of the kitchen?
Cooking with my parents and grandmothers. My dad's mother loved to bake and made lots of varieties of cookies, breads, and cakes, as well as ice creams. My mom’s mother always wanted us to be involved in anything she did, so with me showing interest in the kitchen, she always loved having me help.
When did you know that you wanted to pursue a culinary career? Was there an ‘aha’ moment or was it gradual?
It was semi-gradual. I originally planned to go into architecture, but my high school was unable to get computers for the drafting classes and it was during the coming of the digital age of drafting. So not having any experience with AutoCAD would have put me behind had I pursued it in college. Fifteen minutes from my parents home, the Culinary School at Wake Technical College opened as the first culinary program in the entire state, so I got my start there. I got my degree in Culinary Arts as well as certificates in Baking & Pastry Arts and Hospitality Management.
What was the first dish you made prior to your official culinary career that you really wowed yourself with—let’s call them the greatest hits from your teenage years…
Can't say really ... I was pretty experimental in my early years, playing around with flavors and ideas. When I decided to cook dinner, I’d use whatever mom bought or whatever we had on hand and what ended up on the plate would be new to us all.
Tell us a bit about the trajectory of your career after culinary school.
My first job was at a sushi restaurant, then I worked everywhere doing almost everything: pizza places, high-end Mexican cuisine, bar & grill food, Italian restaurants, poolside cafes, country clubs, hotels, catering …
It has very much been a “who you know” first and then proving “what you know” path. From job to job or city to city, every action has stemmed from a network connection or a friend’s introduction leading to a new move.
Was it hard to leave the exciting elite culinary world in New York City to join Tyler & Jen in Alabama? What was that transition like pre-move and post-move?
Definitely a bit hard ... New York City is full of such strong energy and liveliness that nowhere else really compares. Tyler and Jen are family to me, though, so I'm always happy to be with them wherever we may be. It was kind of an all-in move situation. I mean, it became the plan to move to Birmingham on a Monday; so the decision was made, then I packed up and left the following Saturday. So it happened very quickly.
Have you found any favorite Birmingham spots?
Yes! My favorite spot so far is a taco truck called Taqueria Juarez. It is amazing. And when I discovered it, I went four times that week. Carnitas and beef cheek tacos are my go-to!
When you’re not working, what do you do for fun during your Covid-era introduction to Alabama?
I've been trying to play some golf weekly since, living right here in Ross Bridge, there are four courses basically in my backyard. And to be honest, Dave & Buster’s on Wednesdays are definitely a thing—half-price games! [Laughs]
What do you like most about Tasting TBL?
I think what I like most is the freedom to do whatever we want. It’s probably the first time in my career where we can own total creative control. From the style of cuisine, choice of food, and presentation to mood and atmosphere ... I mean we can literally do whatever we want without anyone to answer to, so it’s lovely.
What is a goal you are still aiming to achieve?
I'm looking forward to having a few spots in which the operations are being handled by me on a multiple-location level.
What is something that most people would be surprised to learn about you?
I was on the Fuquay Varina High School Step Team, and we were state champions! I was also a pretty amazing soccer player in high school, always leading the season in goals and yellow cards. [Laughs]
What are bad recommendations, misguided assumptions, myths, or terrible trends you hear about or see in your area of expertise? Bust the myths for us.
Putting oil in the pasta-cooking water doesn't do anything except keep your pasta sauce from sticking to your pasta.
What one to three books have most greatly influenced your life and how?
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie — It’s amazing on every level. I probably read this book seven or eight times and will continue to reread it.
The 4-Hour Work Week and The 4-Hour Body, both by Timothy Ferriss — I love the 80/20 “short-cut” ideology to everything he does.
Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold — It contains every bit of knowledge you could ever want to know about food and more.
Paint me a random snapshot: a treasured memory that brings you joy.
It was my birthday about 3 or 4 years ago and I was in Paris. My girlfriend works as a cabaret dancer on the Champs-Élysées, so after they finished dancing for the night, she invited all of her dancer friends to a nightclub to celebrate my birthday with us. We all meet up and get instant VIP access to L’ARC, which is a world-famous nightclub owned by Lenny Kravitz that has a convertible roof which opens up to view the Arc de Triomphe right at the tip of the Champs-Élysées. It was me and about seven or eight female cabaret dancers, along with multiple magnum bottles of Grey Goose and Dom Pérignon until the sun came up! I couldn't have felt more like Leonardo DiCaprio!
What are your pet peeves?
A hang nail or a rough nail end is my worst pet peeve, or a piece of laundry coming out of the dryer inside-out. I want them ready to fold right out of the dryer.
Share with us a white lie that you have told.
That I enjoyed the meal while in all honesty I planned to never come back because it was so bad! [Laughs]
If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
Architect
Favorite movie, show, or TV series?
I'm a big movie guy. My favorites include Snatch, City of God, Fight Club, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Space Jam, of course.
Favorite band(s)?
Jay-Z, Bob Marley & the Wailers, The Fugees ...
If faced with the prospect of facing your last day on a death-row sentence, what would you request for your last meal?
I would request an all-you-can-eat buffet … because I can eat forever!
Recipe: Pumpkin Bread
This past Saturday’s supper club dinner, themed Friendsgiving, featured a show-stopping dessert: Chef Jennifer Lyne’s Pumpkin Pie, a dessert in the shape of a pumpkin adorned with fall leaves—all in mouthwatering flavors like butterscotch, pumpkin mousse, spiced hazelnut streusel, and vanilla cream, delivered in sumptuous textures…pillowy, crunchy, silky, spongy, creamy…needless to say it was a hit.
“I love that it’s like a cupcake with the frosting on the inside, or an inside-out cupcake,” says Jen. One of the Tasting TBL team overheard a guest, marveling at the artistry of the presentation, say that they felt guilty eating it—and Jen takes that as a high compliment. “The presentation is what sets it apart: the pumpkin bread in the shape of a pumpkin, filled with cream-cheese frosting and dipped in orange chocolate.”
We know that not everyone is going to have pumpkin-shaped molds lying around or the equipment required to inject frosting into your pumpkin-shaped pie. But everyone can make the heart of this quintessential fall dessert: the delectable cake-like pumpkin bread. So we’re sharing the recipe. It’s great for Thanksgiving morning or a sweet late-night snack in the aftermath of your Thanksgiving feast. Toast it, butter it, add a schmear of cream cheese or your favorite frosting, or just eat it as is. Jen’s favorite way to enjoy this bread is “for breakfast with coffee in the fall!” Enjoy!
Pumpkin Bread Recipe
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup oil
2 eggs
1 1/8 cups pumpkin purée
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Whisk together sugar, oil, and eggs. Add in purée.
Mix remaining dry ingredients together.
Sift dry ingredients into wet mixture until combined.
Bake until toothpick comes out clean and the loaves are golden brown.
Listen to the Chefs on Birmingham Mountain Radio’s “She Show”
Chefs Tyler and Jennifer Lyne recently appeared live on Birmingham Mountain Radio’s “She Show” with radio host Dru of the daytime “Flipback Lunch.” Her nighttime “She Show,” which airs on the popular indie radio station at 7 p.m. each Wednesday on 107.3 FM, features a playlist of all female artists hand-selected by a new guest each week. And Tyler & Jennifer didn’t disappoint, bringing an all-star lineup that they not only like to listen to, but have cooked for (and become friends with, in some cases) during their days in New York City.
From private lunches for Ed Sheeran and his producer as they refined soon-to-be hit songs to an elaborate first birthday party for Cardi B’s daughter, which involved a star-studded guest list and a city-wide power outage — the playlist is not only a great listen, but offers an exciting glimpse into Tyler and Jennifer’s early career as elite chefs in an incredible city. Jen’s baking skills, specifically a birthday cake for SAINt JHN, even inspired a song penned by the rapper, “I Heard You Got Too Litt Last Night,” which delighted Dru.
And the love went both ways. As Tyler & Jen regaled Dru with awesome anecdotes and stories, Dru — who attended Tasting TBL herself — heaped praise on the chefs, saying, “Word is spreading quickly about their talent — I honestly had one of the best dinners I’ve ever had at their Tasting TBL supper club. Once they establish a restaurant, your chance for a 10-course meal at a chef's home will be over. True magic.”
Magic indeed … Listen here to hear the full “She Show” featuring guests Tyler & Jennifer Lyne.
From NYC to Birmingham
It all begins with an idea.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story can make all the difference.
My wife and I have spent 15 years in New York. We met in culinary school right out of high school, and we have been together ever since. We have had an amazing ride, traveling the world and getting to know our global neighbors. Food excites us. It makes us get up in the morning and smell the roses.
We bought a home in Birmingham, Alabama, next door to my sister, site unseen. When we moved from New York to Hoover, it was the first time we had even seen the house, but everything about it felt right! We have a 23-month-old son who’s turning 2 on Aug 21, and it was important to my wife and I that he grow up with and be close to his cousins.
As we were getting settled in someone said we should do a supper club and it just stuck in my mind. Eventually I succumbed to the draw of it, and we then plunged ourselves into getting everything ready for our first event. We didn’t know what the demand would look like; we didn’t know what we were going to cook—and we didn’t know how to get the word out! We plugged away one step at a time…finding plates, silverware, and glasses. I redid our deck in the backyard with my literal saint of a brother-in-law, Denton Fromme. We decided to build a table on the backyard deck that would seat 20 people.
At this point we are 100% in a Kevin Costner moment in field of dreams: If you build it they will come! Here we are two days away from our first attempt at our Tasting TBL experiential supper club, with every detail running through our minds and emotions pumping through our veins, we are hoping for the best and excited about the future…