Setting the stage for a world-class chef

Nathan Fountain, chef-instructor at the Culinary Institute of Virginia, arrived at 7 Saturday morning with a line of students, all fans of Flay. Knives flashed and mountains of parsley disappeared into small mounds, chopped, rinsed and squeezed dry in a cloth. Limes were squeezed and cilantro pinched carefully from its stalky stems.  “Yes, I’m a fan,” Fountain said. “My mother is from New Mexico, so this is all comfort food for me.”

In the front, John Seltzer of Lowe’s, one of the show’s sponsors, was checking the stage kitchen. “We were here late last night because one of the pantries obstructed the sight line,” he said.   Backstage, an oven, cooler and freezer stood in a bank behind the food prep tables. When it came time to roast the tomatillos, though, the loaner oven didn’t work right.

No problem: Seltzer, a kitchen designer for Lowe’s, had hauled in two or three of everything just in case of a malfunction. He also had a chopping block addition handy for the stage kitchen in case Flay needed more room to spread out. It was installed it minutes before the audience arrived for the first show at 11.

“These things usually go smoothly,” said Stephanie Banyas, Flay’s assistant. “One thing, though, that we tend to forget is, we’re not  in New York, where you can go out and get exotic ingredients at any hour of the day or night.”

Sure enough, there was a critical shortage of tortillas, poblanos and tomatillos at 8 a.m. Paul Doyle, director of special events for Farm Fresh – another of the show’s sponsors – was able to locate the ingredients at the nearest store and arrange for the manager to make a delivery. “It’s unusual for us to have that many poblanos,” Doyle said. “It’s just lucky we did.” 

Flay said his kind of cooking allows him to improvise in case something is unavailable or forgotten. “It’s not that precise,” he said. “It’s more likely that I’ll say something that gets me in trouble.” He gave an example as he cut up a California avocado for the appetizer. “I was in Florida, and I forgot where I was, having had too much rum the night before.”  Flay began talking about the importance of using California rather than Florida avocados when he noticed the audience becoming hostile. “So, I was booed in Florida,” he said, “over an avocado. “

- Theresa Curry