An Interview With Martita Mestey
You might be the best cook, but if you can’t present yourself professionally, you will have a really difficult time getting ahead in this industry.
In this interview series, called “Chefs and Restaurateurs Helping To Promote Healthy Eating” we are talking to chefs and restaurateurs who are helping to promote and raise awareness about healthy eating. The purpose of the series is to amplify their message and share insights about healthy eating with our readers. As a part of this series, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Brett Newman, Executive Chef, Project Angel Heart — Denver, CO.
Newman found his passion for the hospitality industry early, following it from his very first restaurant job at 16-years-old through earning his associate of culinary arts degree at L’Ecole Culinarie in St. Louis. After working as a sous chef for Bon Appetit Management, Newman became the executive chef at Washington University School of Medicine, where his belief in the power of food as medicine blossomed. As the executive chef at Project Angel Heart, Newman uses his skills to help improve the health and well-being of people with life-threatening illnesses by crafting delicious, medically tailored meals.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know’ you a bit. Can you share with our readers a story about what inspired you to become a restauranteur or chef?
Growing up in the south, I came from a background of big, home-cooked meals. My great-grandma babysat me while my mom was at work, and she always cooked everything from scratch. So, I grew up playing with biscuit dough in her kitchen; she showed me how to make pound cake; she pickled, fermented and canned. Everything she made was delicious.
When I was in college, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I was doing restaurant work to earn money, but it took me until I was about 22 to realize that cooking was what I wanted to do with my life. At that point, I dropped out of college, started culinary school, and took it seriously, pushing myself to develop kitchen skills and treat cooking like a profession and not just a paycheck. My great-grandma was the person who laid that strong culinary foundation for me and inspired me.
Do you have a specific type of food that you focus on? What was it that first drew you to cooking that type of food? Can you share a story about that with us?
Southern low country cuisine is my favorite because I grew up on all those flavors and techniques. So, although I’m classically trained in French cuisine, and that’s what I did for the first few years of my career, eventually, I went back to my roots with Southern techniques and flavors.
Every Sunday while I was growing up, we’d have a huge meal with the family. People would be passing the cornbread, black-eyed peas and collard greens and having family moments over food. When I cook for people, I want to take them to that place of love, family, friendship, and everything I remember from my childhood. When I look back on my life, some of the best times I’ve ever had were eating at my great grandma’s and grandma’s table.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that has happened to you since you started? What was the lesson or take away you took out of that story?
Early in my career, I worked at a country club where we’d do a rack of lamb leg and carve it tableside. We roasted the lamb in the oven, and it came out with lots of drippings on the pan. The chef and sous chef had warned us about taking the lamb out — that the tray was going to be very heavy, the oven was at shoulder height, and there would be a lot of hot fat and drippings on the tray.
One day, I took it out by myself, and sure enough, a bunch of hot lamb fat spilled down my back. It was excruciating, but I couldn’t drop the tray and had to slowly and carefully set it down. I ended up with 2nd-degree burns on my neck and back. The lesson here is to ask for help! You can’t do everything by yourself, so don’t try to be a hero.
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
My first sous chef was a lady named Maggie. She was about 5 feet tall and 120 lbs. soaking wet, but she was tougher than any male chef I’ve ever worked with. She pushed me to be the best I could be, not just in the kitchen as a chef but outside of the kitchen as well. Of course, when you first start in the culinary industry, you want to be creative and cool, but Maggie taught me that there’s a lot more to it than that.
At the time, I was a young college kid who liked to stay out late and party, and she gave me a lot of guidance on how to stay healthy. As chefs, we’re on our feet constantly and might have unhealthy eating habits. Unfortunately, this can mean that we break down mentally and physically over time. Maggie taught me to be healthy, eat right, exercise, stay light on my feet, and respect the food you’re cooking — that it comes from a farmer who grew it to provide nourishment. I really looked up to her, and she was my first mentor in the kitchen.
In your experience, what is the key to creating a dish that customers are crazy about?
For our Project Angel Heart clients, I believe that flavors and diversity are the keys to creating dishes they love. It’s important to us to mix things up and give them different foods from different cultures. And when we name our dishes, we try to keep the names a little more accessible and identifiable so that our clients understand what they’re getting.
Personally, what is the ‘perfect meal’ for you?
A nice braised collard green, cornbread, braised short rib or pan-roasted chicken legs and thighs with gravy. Plus, something pickled like peaches or okra. Very similar to what I grew up eating!
Where does your inspiration for creating come from? Is there something that you turn to for a daily creativity boost?
I try to keep up to date on trends on social media, and a lot of my inspiration also comes from what’s fresh. Every Saturday, I go to the farmer’s market to see what’s growing locally, what’s indigenous and get inspiration from seeing the food, colors, and textures.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? What impact do you think this will have?
Right now, Project Angel Heart is working on developing breakfast bag offerings. In the past, we’ve provided our clients with packaged breakfast foods such as hard-boiled eggs, applesauce, peanut butter, etc. But now, we’re preparing to expand our breakfast offerings into scratch-made flavorful, delicious and nutritious recipes that will still align with our clients’ dietary needs — things like overnight oats, breakfast burritos, parfaits and smoothies.
Ok super. Let’s now jump to the main part of our interview. You are currently leading an initiative to help promote healthy eating. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change in our world today?
Project Angel Heart wants all Coloradans living with severe illness to have access to nutritious food that supports their health and well-being. So every week, we prepare, package and deliver medically tailored meals to Coloradans living with cancer, heart failure, kidney disease, HIV/AIDS and other severe illnesses. Our meals are created and prepared from scratch by our team of professional chefs and registered dietitian, then packaged and delivered by hundreds of volunteers each week — at no cost to our clients — to their front doors.
As a chef, I am a strong advocate of improving health and nourishment. So, I really appreciate the opportunity I have at Project Angel Heart to provide nutritious meals for people who cannot prepare this type of food for themselves. I hope we inspire our clients to eat healthfully, in proper portions, and to incorporate fruits and vegetables into every meal.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
Health concerns have always been a big issue in my family, especially for the women. My mom passed away at age 48 due to health reasons, and my grandmother had terrible arthritis and other health problems. Seeing their struggles from a young age inspired me to want to help my community become healthier and stronger.
Without saying specific names, can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was helped by your cause?
We have one client who had been a long-time supporter of Project Angel Heart himself and then unexpectedly found himself on the receiving end of our meals when the side effects of his HIV medications caused some serious health issues. He spent six months in and out of the hospital. After he got home, he relied on deliveries of Project Angel Heart’s medically tailored meals to help him eat healthfully, regain his strength and eventually get well enough to go back to work.
He told us that Project Angel Heart meal deliveries helped him tremendously when he didn’t have the energy to cook nutritious meals or the ability to get to the store. We helped him stay well and eat nutritious, balanced meals that were much lower in sodium and better for him than frozen, processed foods.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
I’d like to see better access to health care, more education around proper nutrition and exercise for kids in school, and more money going to our school system to support healthy eating.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started as a Chef or Restaurateur” and why? Please share a story or an example for each.
- How tough this industry is! It can be very hard to grow in this industry; it’s competitive, and the pay can be low for the amount of work and effort young chefs are putting in. Many people fail or leave altogether when they experience firsthand how challenging it is. So, I tell my young cooks now, it’s not going to be easy. You’ll have to outwork everyone around you and not just cook well but present yourself well if you want to succeed.
- You might be the best cook, but if you can’t present yourself professionally, you will have a really difficult time getting ahead in this industry.
- Chefs are on their feet A LOT, and if you’re on your feet 70–80 hours a week for 10 years straight, you need to be healthy and less indulgent in your nightlife. Eat right and light, stay healthy and get some exercise in. Doing that will make this career much easier on your body.
- Use timers! When I was a young chef at the country club, I was in charge of toasting the pine nuts for the salads. Chef Dave always reminded us to set timers, especially for the pine nuts, because they are so expensive. One day, I had five pounds of pine nuts on sheet trays to lightly toast, and I forgot to set the timer. Sure enough, Chef Dave was the one who opened up the oven and found all five sheets of pine nuts burned. He didn’t yell, he just brought me over to look at them, and I was so embarrassed I thought I might cry! Always use a timer.
- Put a lid on it. Another time early in my cooking career, I ran a blender full of chocolate for a chocolate ganache without a lid on it. It was 9 a.m., and we started the day with chocolate all over the kitchen and ceiling, and the head chef had to wear his white chef coat splattered with chocolate for the rest of the day.
What’s the one dish people have to try if they visit your establishment?
I would say the butter chicken. We make our own curry spice blend in-house with fresh ground spices, and it’s delicious! We also use coconut milk instead of butter and cream and add a ton of veggies, ginger and garlic to make it super flavorful.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Thomas Keller. His book, French Laundry, inspired me so much and kept me going as a chef. I love watching and reading about him and seeing what he does for the culinary industry in terms of giving back to the community, supporting local farmers and using indigenous ingredients. I would love to sit down for a beer, steak and frites with him and just talk.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
@ProjectAngelHeart on Facebook and Instagram; @proj_angelheart on Twitter
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
How Brett Newman Of Project Angel Heart Is Helping To Promote Healthy Eating was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.