How Chef Mansour Gorji Of Gorji Restaurant and Gorji Gourmet Sauces Is Helping To Promote Healthy Eating
An Interview With Martita Mestey
Don’t Follow Trends. You don’t have to follow the trends to be able to compete. More and more business models are based on being a one-stop-shop so everybody can find something to like. Nothing wrong with this if your only goal is to make a lot of money. However, this means huge increases in inventory, labor pool and overhead. More importantly, in many cases, your creativity will leave the building!
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 Chef Mansour Gorji.
Chef Gorji, an engineer turned chef features New Mediterranean Cuisine, Steak & Seafood at his five-table Gorji restaurant that has recently been named Dallas’ Best Steakhouse by the Dallas Observer.
He is the back-to-back Texas Steak Cookoff Champion, and the author of Zing!, New Mediterranean Cuisine: Bold, Balanced, Simple & Savory.
Gorji Gourmet, his line of pasta sauces, dipping oil & marinade primer and pomegranate vinaigrette are made with olive oil, no added sugar and reduced sodium, are available at DFW Whole Foods and specialty grocery stores.
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?
After nine and a half years of engineering, I was ready to delve into all things food. Growing up all children were taught and had to cook from early ages. The family’s reasoning was to understand the culture and sensibilities associated with food. Needless to say, slacking was not an option. Nobody cared about one’s self-esteem and would pointedly praise or tell you otherwise!
I came to Dallas in 1987 and set out to learn the front of the house and the business aspect of restaurants before opening one. I worked in a couple of restaurants before becoming partners in a few. After some successes and failures, I opened my current restaurant and just passed 19 years of doing what I love to do!
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?
I have always been interested in flavor profiling of dishes, balancing flavors so they are harmonious and therefore delicious!
The culmination of all my upbringing and cultural influences of living on three continents (Asia, Europe and North America), has led me to focus on Mediterranean cuisine. I love the aromas and flavors of the lively and diverse culinary cultures of the Mediterranean basin countries. Their use of olive oil had me hooked. The pursuit of these flavors inspires me in the kitchen every day.
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?
When I was working in a tableside cooking restaurant, there were two booths at a corner. I was making a Steak Diane for one and Caesar salad for the other. I was talking away to both parties while holding a raw egg in my hand meant for the Caesar. I mistakenly dropped the yolk in the steak pan. Realizing what I had done I immediately asked my guests — by the way how would you like your omelet done?
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?
I have been very lucky that at every stage of my life I have enjoyed the backing and support of great people.
For the past 20 years, my significant other and soul mate has given me absolute intellectual support and has been my cheerleader through the toughest times, be it financial or emotional distress through hardships.
When guests began buying the sauces they had tasted in dishes from the restaurant, I suggested bottling them. She encouraged me to make the leap with the understanding that it is a notoriously difficult and expensive market to break into.
Shortly thereafter D Home Magazine named me Chef of the Month. In collaboration with Whole Foods, we did a cooking demonstration at one of their stores of my cioppino recipe which had been recognized by the magazine. At the demonstration, I had jars of my newly bottled sauces displayed. After the tasting, attendees wanted to take them home, but they were not available for purchase in their stores. The grocery team leader liked them and got them onto the shelves of Whole Foods later that year. They have now won 38 awards in blind judging competitions and are available in many DFW Whole Foods Market.
In your experience, what is the key to creating a dish that customers are crazy about?
Ratios, techniques and the natural flavor of ingredients in their prime pave the way to a great tasting dish. I cook what I like and hopefully, my guests appreciate and like it too. Thankfully it has worked so far. If it had not, I would have had a very short career!
Personally, what is the ‘perfect meal’ for you?
A perfect meal is comprised of a balance between flavors, acidity and alkalinity. When people complain about bland, too salty or sour, they are telling you that the whole meal was not perfect, even if only one dish among the few courses had not been balanced.
I was taught the hot and cold theory about food which has been used for millennia. It deals with the relationship between different ingredients in a dish. I learned that ratios are the base governing the balance of everything. A dish is balanced and harmonious when the ratios of all the ingredients work together. Think how well steak and potatoes or meat and pasta go together. There is usually a reason for the stereotypes! My favorite and sometimes complete meal is yogurt, salt and bread!
Where does your inspiration for creating come from? Is there something that you turn to for a daily creativity boost?
I like to shop every day which helps me develop a dish in my mind through the appearance, aroma and taste of my ingredients. I believe the continuation of observation, studying and understanding culminates in creativity.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? What impact do you think this will have?
I am currently working on a second cookbook (the first one took us four and a half years to finish!) I am emphasizing the importance of ingredient sustainability as I do at the restaurant with what I select to cook.
We are also constantly making improvements to our Gorji Gourmet sauce line. With the Dipping oil & Marinade Primer, Pomegranate Vinaigrette and three pasta sauces (Pomodoro, Arrabiata Diavolo and Puttanesca) we are emphasizing the “healthy and tasty” aspects. They are all made with olive oil, have no added sugar, no preservatives, are gluten-free, vegan and have reduced sodium.
We hope to show that sauces don’t have to be laden with sugar and unhealthy oils to be tasty — one jar at a time!
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?
Oh, where does one start? Obesity, diabetes, heart and cancer problems. I’m trying to educate myself and others that healthy food and exercise are the cornerstones of at least not accelerating the deterioration of our biological body parts. In other words, prevention measures rather than taking a pill and then having more of the same thing that is creating the problem. At the restaurant, I try to do the same without preaching but letting guests experience for themselves what I cook. I use only olive oil for sauteing, grilling and baking. There are no flour batters, or roux. Sometimes I use yogurt instead of cream and very little sugar. The seafood is sustainable, and meats are without antibiotics, hormones or preservatives. The wild game is grass-fed from start to end.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
I first realized that balanced healthy food can have magical effects on our body and well-being when my mother lived with cancer, surviving it for 19 years solely through a macrobiotic diet. Also being taught from childhood about the hot and cold theory of balancing dishes to create flavor rather than depending on additives like sugar, it came together in a Eureka moment.
Without saying specific names, can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was helped by your cause?
Some of my guests at the restaurant tell me they cook their steaks, fish, vegetables and even eggs only with our olive oil primer now. Many say they learned about how much healthier olive oil is for cooking than other oils in our cooking classes that I used to hold before the pandemic. I hope we can soon do those again.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
More education about healthy and tasty food as a preventive measure for health problems is essential. More rigorous oversight regulation regarding harmful elements in food processing manufacturing is needed. We can’t eliminate the ravages on the body of sugar and fast food until poverty is addressed and reduced. But as we all know not everybody is inclined or has the time, or the financial means to think of health issues.
What’s the one dish people have to try if they visit your establishment?
I don’t have a signature dish. Our menu changes weekly. I cook and present the best I find in the market that week. I stand behind every dish or I don’t make it.
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. 🙂
I would like to ask Michelle Obama about the intricacies of an effective political approach to getting politicians interested to start educating all of us in healthy eating.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
gorjirestaurant.com, gorjigourmet.com, zingbygorjicookbook.com
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.
- Pay Your Staff a Living Wage.
When I first started in the restaurant business the model in the US was to sell as much as possible through wait staff. The motivation was so they made more tips, therefore everyone wins. Not true, the ones who are the guests lose, since they are always the target of upselling. The win-win situation in my mind is the no-tipping model where the staff get a living wage and don’t have to constantly be worried about their financial standing. Therefore, their suggestions are better and create a better reflection on the business and the guest experience. Also, the kitchen staff who actually make the dishes should be on par with what the floor staff makes. I decided to go no-tipping in 2016. Six years later it is still working well for us.
2. Bigger Is Not Necessarily Better.
In my opinion, even though we have been raised to believe that bigger is better, the theory doesn’t always hold water. Long before the pandemic, we remodeled the dining room of the restaurant to be smaller and reduced the number of tables to five.
Downsizing has actually been scaling up for us in quality guest experience.
Since starting this model we have been awarded the Best Steakhouse in Dallas and one of the most romantic restaurants.
3. Don’t Follow Trends.
You don’t have to follow the trends to be able to compete.
More and more business models are based on being a one-stop-shop so everybody can find something to like. Nothing wrong with this if your only goal is to make a lot of money. However, this means huge increases in inventory, labor pool and overhead. More importantly, in many cases, your creativity will leave the building!
I chose to go a different route to create a niche by cooking food that I love and bucking the trend of sugar-infused everything. I also chose to have no televisions, a no children policy, no double seating and no tipping.
4. Treat Customers the Way You Want to Be Treated.
When I go to a restaurant, I would like to know what I’m being charged with no sticker shock at the end. I will tell you the prices of everything, even if you don’t ask. If you ask for my suggestion of wine, I’ll give you some options based on what dishes you have chosen and the prices so you can choose them or not.
As well, no one likes to be rushed and chased out so the next customers can have their turn. We choose not to have a waitlist or turn tables so guests can enjoy their time with us.
5. Ability to Do Different Tasks.
I was lucky that I was advised by my grandfather that if I wanted to start a business, it would behoove me to learn every job associated with it. In my case, it was being able to clean the restrooms up to cooking and understanding the business aspects.
Once you can do the task, you have a good grasp of how long it takes and how difficult it can be so you don’t have false expectations from your staff.
If one is too good to do the lower-level tasks in your business, it is probably the wrong choice of career.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
How Chef Mansour Gorji Of Gorji Restaurant and Gorji Gourmet Sauces Is Helping To Promote Healthy… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.