About Stephanie

Experience

In Chicago, my restaurant Scylla and before that sous chef at La Tache, roundsman at Spring, line cook at Vong.  In Phoenix, line cook at Christopher’s Fermier Brasserie and other restaurants. In 2008 I was the winner of Bravo’s Top Chef.

Hometown

Born in Evanston, IL but grew up in Stamford, CT.

Education

University of Michigan, with a degree in Sociology, then headed to Arizona, where I attended the Scottsdale Culinary Institute in Arizona.

Chicago Love

In a very spur of the moment decision, I decided to just pack up and move to Chicago nine years ago from Phoenix.  It is such a great food town, with a wonderful community of chefs.  I plan on staying here for a long time.

Scylla Seedling

I was working at La Tache and in charge of creating the seafood special every day.  One day a colleague told me I should open my own place, and I thought “wow, he’s right.”  I am a very spur-of-the-moment person, and when I set my mind to something, I go for it 110%.  So I quit and a year later, I was able to open Scylla, which in 2007 was named one of the 10 finest small restaurants in the country by Bon Appetit magazine. The first time around was a one-woman battle since I was doing everything on my own, so it will be great to be able to have more resources with the next one!

Girl and the Goat

It’s definitely going to be representative of my style. There will be a lot of seafood, definitely a lot of pork products and some fun flavor combinations going on. I will take comfort-style foods and just bring them that one step further. It’s going to be a lot of tasty food.

Early Years

Growing up, my parents were very global in their cooking.  Not necessarily gourmet all the time, but every month they would have themed dinner parties where they would cook different cuisines and dress up around a certain country, so I was lucky enough to have a variety of international flavors in my youth.

Light Bulb

When I was younger I played “restaurant” with my friends and family so that I could cook for them.  Although it was always a passion for me I always thought that I should go into business or something, but I kept coming back to my love of cooking.  Finally in my junior year of college I had a long talk with my dad and he said once I graduate I should go to culinary school.  So that is what I did.

Cooking Style

My style is ever-evolving, although I try to always incorporate creativity into my dishes. My credo is that contrasting and complementary elements are essential, but balance is non-negotiable.

Culinary Influences

I have taken a lot from each kitchen I’ve worked in, but I don’t think that my cooking style is really the same as any of the chefs I’ve worked for. I also pick up new flavors and ingredients every place I travel– for example on my recent trip to South East Asia I discovered all the fantastic uses for fish sauce and definitely will be using it in some of my future dishes. In Sydney, Australia I was blown away by Tetsuya Wakuda’s amazing preparations of seafood – the lightness and intensity of flavors opened my eyes to working with fish and shellfish.

Top Chef Strategy

I tried to just focus on the food, “Make sure it tastes good!” I tried not to worry about all the drama and things around me that were going on, I concentrated on the flavors and on just being myself, which I think I pretty much did.

Favorite Ingredients

Seafood and all things pork. I also love cooking with mushrooms- there is such a wide variety and so many different flavors and textures… sautéed shitake mushrooms, grilled lobster mushrooms, slow roasted morels… even a raw button mushroom makes me happy.

Can’t Live Without

Salt. It brings out the flavor in foods although it’s something you have to add gradually so you can stop once it tastes just right.

Local Food Shopping

There is a great little Korean market called Chicago Food Corp. It’s reasonably priced and I mostly go for fresh sushi fish and meat. When it’s warm, Green City Market produce is the best. I always find interesting spices at The Spice House.

Chicago Favorites

Crab wontons at Chens, Schwa’s quail egg-filled ravioli, and the gelato at Piccolo.

Cooking Music

I like to rock out and sing to bad 80s and 90s music – but before the rest of the kitchen staff arrives… I don’t want to embarrass myself or subject them to that!

Life Outside of Cooking

I am usually thinking about food, going out to eat, hanging out with friends. I love to scuba dive.

Travel Bug

I have been lucky to travel, most recently to been to Europe (Spain and France) but want to get back and explore more of Spain plus visit Italy. Before competing on Top Chef I went to Southeast Asia where there were tremendous flavors, but there are so many places for me to still explore - I don’t want to repeat any place until I am older.

Life Goal

To never stop growing, learning and having fun.

Surprising Fact

My fridge it usually empty except for ranch dressing.