Anyone who has conducted an interview, especially over the phone, knows what a blessing and a curse these conversations can be. Such was the case when I spoke with Food Network’s Adam Gertler about his new show, Will Work For Food. We were both on a time constraint, which meant I couldn’t get into the Syracuse food scene as much as I wanted. Plus I sat in my car in the parking lot of the restaurant conducting the interview via my cell phone’s speakerphone. Not the ideal situation, but it worked out because Adam is a naturally funny and charming guy.
Talking to him you can understand why the Food Network flagged him for their reality competition, The Next Food Network Star. Adam graduated from Syracuse University in 1999 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting, and he worked at a little diner like place called Cosmos. It’s funny that a guy who studied acting has made a profession out of cooking. I’m fairly certain that about 80% of people working in the food service industry have acting, or modeling, aspirations. OK, that’s probably high unless you’re in New York City or LA.
When you look at this new crop of Food Network personalities, especially those who come from TNFNS like Adam or Guy Fieri, you wonder how they got there. What is the road that was taken by a foodie to become a part of the Food Network? Adam is like most anyone working in a kitchen or a dining room, except he has an easiness about him that makes you take notice. This is a guy that you want to listen to. Not because he knows more than you, but because he’s entertaining to watch. And as Adam himself mentions doing all of the odd food service jobs for his show has taught him a lot. So maybe he does know more than you. At least he entertains while passing along the knowledge.
Will Work For Food airs on the Food Network at 9:30 pm EST on Monday nights.
You’re a guy who comes from a non culinary trained background, and got into the food business. You went to SU [Syracuse University], and you got a BFA in acting, is that correct?
Adam: Yes, that is correct.
How did, going from acting, you decide to go into the food industry? Where did that come from?
Adam: They were kind of always interwoven. I’ve always kind of worked in food. I started working in restaurants when I was sixteen. I worked in Dunkin Donuts, and I worked as a waiter at Bennigans. I always had a strong interest in food preparation, then I started working in my summer camp kitchen. And in that kitchen is where I first got exposed to any kind of professional cooking on a large scale. Through college I worked as a short order cook, and I just loved cooking.
I never expected to do it professionally, but doing a BFA program is in a way like a conservatory program. So I didn’t have to take a lot of real classes, I took food science classes. The kind of classes where your assignment – because I don’t like typing very much – so Food Science 1, for example, we’re making biscuits: all butter; all shortening; half butter and half shortening, to see how the fats affect the end product. That kind of stuff I love. I’ve always had a fascination with food science and food preparation.
I fell in love with barbecue also while I was in college. There’s a place called Dinosaur Barbecue that I fell in love with.
Yeah.
Adam: Are you familiar?
I’m actually in Syracuse right now.
Adam: Shit, I didn’t even know that. I worked at Cosmos [a diner near Syracuse University].
I have a friend who works there now. My friend’s [uncle] owns the place.
Adam: Yeah, George is the older guy. I had that job for four years, and it was just the best. I would have my friends come by and I’d make them New York style Reuben sandwiches. At Cosmos they make a Reuben sandwich; it’s the most ridiculous thing in the world. It’s corned beef, bacon, Russian dressing, and coleslaw – which are fine – but it’s on a long roll and there’s no cheese. They call it a Reuben sandwich. So I would have my friends come in and I would use the rye bread with the swiss, like a grilled cheese, with the corned beef, the Russian dressing, and the coleslaw to make them a real style Reuben sandwich.
I kept cooking after college as sort of a hobby. My brother and I started doing big parties for people. So it was always going on at the same time as I was being an actor. I moved out to California to try acting and I did alright, nothing crazy. Did a couple commercials, a couple plays, and eventually we got the loan to open our restaurant in Philadelphia. So I said, you know what, I don’t have this incredible acting career going right now, let’s see about opening a business and being a chef. Let’s act like a chef, even though I didn’t have any serious chef training. And I did not know how to run a professional kitchen, which I would get seriously schooled at over the next two and a half years. That’s kind of how it all happened.
From there you opened The Smoking Joint with your brother Keith, which you did for awhile. When, and what, was it when you were looking around that you decided you would try doing The Next Food Network Star and get into that?
Adam: Well I figured I always wanted to be on television, ever since I was a little kid. I always loved performing. You kind of look away, and I realized I never really had a niche as an actor. There was nothing that set me apart, and you realize how hard it is to make it in that business; you need to have something special. Little did I know this food thing I had going on the whole time was that thing, I just never realized it was going to be something professional.
To answer your question I was waiting tables, somebody saw an ad on Craigslist, and told me about it – for an open call for chefs, foodies, people with good personalities, what have you, for an open call at a restaurant called 707 in Philadelphia on Chestnut Street. I went and they had me come back the next day, and cook some stuff up on camera and talk about my restaurant. I think they really liked the story of a failed restaurant dream. They asked me to come back again, and I went to another call back in New York. There were probably about thirty or so people at that level.
Then that led to getting on The Next Food Network Star, and I loved that experience. Having the cameras on you all the time, being on all the time. That comes very naturally to me, so I had a great time doing it.
Now you have your new show, Will Work For Food. Talk a little about what that show’s about. Because I think some people might think you’ll be in a kitchen working at a sauté station. What is the show itself gonna be about?
Adam: No, no, no. No working on the line, nothing like that. I do different food jobs, and there tend to be your less typical, slightly more obscure or interesting, or dirty, or dangerous kind of food jobs. Such as farming pheasant or digging wine caves in Napa Valley. Making goat cheese, which is quite fascinating actually. I was a competitive eater, I worked at a barbecue pit in Texas, and I filleted fish on the docks in San Pedro before the fish get shipped to the market. I got to be the guy that receives the fish from the boats; cuts ‘em, guts ‘em, and packs ‘em. So just anything you can imagine in the food world. Some of them are as hands on as dirty as that, and then you get jobs where I’m carving ice sculptures with a chainsaw or designing a Barbarella costume out of chocolate.
What’s the thing you’ve done so far that’s the craziest? The one when you went in you thought, “I don’t know if this is going to work out that well or if I’m going to enjoy this.”
Adam: Probably working on the oyster boat, that was the most physically toiling. That was just very, very, very difficult work. I’m not necessarily a body builder, I’m not out of shape, but I’m not really strong and these guys [are]. Aside from just the hard work of fishing the oysters and culling them, they have to sack them. You know, pack them into those burlap sacks. They weigh between ninety five and a hundred and ten pounds; they have to, if they’re less than ninety five pounds they don’t get paid for them. They do have to drag them down the boat, along a deck that has no railing on one side – why there’s no railing, I’m not quite sure – and they pull them into the cooler, because sometimes you’re out for a long time.
So you gotta bring the oysters into a cooler, and stack them five high. That was the one time – [normally] I can get through a job, eight hours and one day. It’s not like I have to come back and do it every day, I can usually get through it. That was one job where I was like, “This is not going to be good. I can’t do this.” I couldn’t do it, after five of them I was dead. That was physically the toughest job.
Another job I was dreading doing the whole time was the ice sculpting, the ice carving. Because I am not a visual artist, I’ve tried to draw and I don’t do well at it. So that was interesting, stepping up to a block of ice with a chainsaw and trying to make something that looked like an actual sculpture.
Congratulations on the show. When I first heard the idea I thought, “This is a fantastic idea for a show.” I’ve seen the instructional shows, I’ve seen the Alton’s getting behind the science of it, and all these different aspects. The idea of seeing this level of the food industry where it’s where the food is coming from, I think it’s very important for people to see where their food is coming from.
Adam: I do too. I definitely think that it is really important for people to see. And I hope, that’s exactly what I hope people get out of the show. I hope people are learning and having a good time while they’re doing it, because that’s what makes knowledge stick. When you’re enjoying it you don’t realize you’re being taught a lesson, so to speak. That’s when you really learn stuff.
I’ve learned so much doing all these jobs. It’s not like – I mean, you can ask me about any of the jobs. I did them for a day or two, and it’s not like I have a sheet of notes to go on because I’m far too disorganized for that kind of thing. But I can remember, I’m brought right back to the day and I’m like, “Oh man, that was wild. We milked all those goats, then had to pasteurize the milk, and added the rennet.” You know curds and whey. This is the kind of stuff you hear about, but I’ve never done it. I’ve never seen it before, I’ve never spread mold on cheese and watched it age. If you’re into food that stuff is awesome.
One last question: what’s the dish you enjoy making, and eating, the most?
Adam: Hmm. Dish I enjoy eating and making the most? This past weekend we made a really, really awesome jambalaya with all kinds of sausages that were direct from New Orleans, and tasso ham and stuff. That’s probably one of my all time favorite foods. I just love something like that where you put a lot of love into one big pot, and it just comes out amazing. We smoked the whole chickens and then removed the meat, then made stock from the carcass, and then got the imported sausages. That’s just awesome to me. So that’s probably one of my favorite foods
