Polishing up a Greasy Spoon Take a Dowdy Roadside Diner (The U.K.’S Little Chef Chain)
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FEBRUARY 2010 | UNITED.COM 44 food&drink Polishing Up a Greasy Spoon Take a dowdy roadside diner (the U.K.’s Little Chef chain). Add one culinary mastermind (Fat Duck chef Heston Blumenthal). Whisk together, then bring to a boil... // BY JAY CHESHES FOR HALF A CENTURY, Fat Charlie, the known for its lowbrow British grub. a Little Chef next to a gas station on the toque-wearing mascot of the Little Massive breakfasts, served day and A303 near the tiny hamlet of Popham? Chef restaurant chain, has been a night, were by far the most popular And why were there Pop Rocks, black pudgy beacon for hungry truckers items. Though the food was nothing to olives and saf ron in the sweet custard and road-tripping families searching swoon over, whether you were outside trifl e I devoured for dessert? for sustenance during long hauls at of Manchester or just shy of Brighton, it Little Chef, it turns out, is growing up. the wheel. At its height in the 1980s, did a reliable job of fi lling you up. After being rescued from bankruptcy the chain had a virtual monopoly on So how to explain the mouthwatering in 2007 by new owners, the chain roadside dining in Britain, with 330 fare I discovered—red wine–braised ox embarked on an unlikely experiment, outlets across the U.K. But due to cheeks, steak with Béarnaise, mussels singling out a typical Little Chef changes in eating habits and increased fragrant with white wine and herbs—at for public fl ogging on the national competition, that number has dwindled airwaves. Producers for Britain’s to 177. Modeled on American diners, BURGERMEISTERS Popham cooks serve Channel 4 somehow convinced Heston the restaurant’s sprawling menu was revamped fi sh-and-chips and burgers. Blumenthal, the country’s most exalted SHORT OF JOHN PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY HEM_0210_Food&Drink.indd 1 06/01/2010 11:17 FEBRUARY 2010 | UNITED.COM 46 food&drink and imaginative chef—his acclaimed was an embarrassing mess, with ripped Fat Duck restaurant outside London seats, peeling paint and stained carpets. has won three Michelin stars for such Ian Pegler, the fi nancial executive outlandish dishes as snail porridge and enlisted to bring the chain back from the bacon-and-egg ice cream—to give their brink (and a dead ringer for the Little down-at-the-heels Popham branch a Chef mascot) seemed to be looking to makeover. If the experiment succeeded, Blumenthal to pull of a miracle. they’d roll it out companywide. At the “There’s the world of cooking—my very least, it’d make good television. world,” says Blumenthal, “and then “They said, ‘Please, can you not there’s Little Chef. It’s a dif erent do any research?’” recalls the stocky industry. The fact that they both Blumenthal, in his usual chef whites, produce food is amazing. when I catch up with him at the Hinds “But look, sometimes I will eat a ready- Head, the classic pub he runs across made meal,” he adds. “And I defi nitely the street from the Fat Duck in Bray. “I appreciate the dif erence between a hadn’t set foot in a Little Chef in twenty really good one and a bad one.” years. As I got more immersed in it, I By the third episode, the project realized the enormity of the project.” looked to be on the verge of collapse. Throughout Europe, star chefs are Blumenthal and Pegler were butting increasingly putting their stamp on heads, and the chef seemed to fear the mass-market cuisine. Jamie Oliver is whole scheme was nothing more than NOT-SO-FAST FOOD Scottish mussels with toast points, from the new menu reinventing school lunches, Ferran a publicity stunt. “He didn’t trust me,” Adrià is dabbling in fast food, and Joël recalls Pegler, sitting in a booth at the Robuchon is putting out canned soups Popham Little Chef. “But he didn’t know white tiles and red-apple banquettes and sauces. The Little Chef experiment me. And every time we’d meet we’d have courtesy of a Blumenthal pal, designer is Blumenthal’s way of joining in. a camera or a microphone somewhere Ab Rogers, whose work would normally be beyond the franchise’s After the Popham store makeover, reach. But the bigger change is what’s on the plates. The eggs are now free- someone called asking if the airfi eld was range, the ground beef organic; there nearby—he wanted to fl y in for lunch. are fresh herbs on the chicken and Belgian chocolate in the pudding. Big Chef Takes On Little Chef aired last between us.” Nonetheless, at the very There are enough signature January. On the pilot, Blumenthal had last minute, the new Blumenthal menu Blumenthal fl ourishes—the trifl e with to come to grips with a kitchen without made its splashy debut. Pop Rocks, for instance, and a fi sh-and- pots or pans—just a griddle, a deep fryer The Popham Little Chef was chips plate served with an atomizer that and a microwave. The kitchen staf was thoroughly remodeled and now boasts unleashes chip-shop aromas (really painfully unskilled. The dining room a spif y new dining room with shiny pickled onion juice)—that there’s no CLASSING UP THE JOINT The forlorn old Popham shop, left, and the spiffy Ab Rogers update PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF JOHN SHORT (BOTTOM RIGHT, OPPOSITE) (BOTTOM SHORT RIGHT, OF JOHN PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY HEM_0210_Food&Drink.indd 2 06/01/2010 11:18 47 THE LITTLE CHEF THAT COULD Popham suddenly became the hottest spot in the middle of nowhere. Announcing doubt the chef has left his mark. (working title: Michelin Impossible) in Still, it’s clearly not the Fat Duck, which he tackles other big projects, is One-Way where a 13-course tasting menu will set in discussions with a grocery chain you back £150 a head. Far from it. Most to develop his own line of packaged dishes remain under £10, and to ensure meals. Little Chef, in the end, may help Awards. chainwide consistency, the dishes, based sustain the Fat Duck, his very tiny on Blumenthal recipes, are prepared and exorbitant-to-operate fl agship by food packagers and reheated to order restaurant, which employs a staf of Use your miles in hot water (a variation on the sous-vide around 75 to serve just 44 diners. technique used by high-end restaurants). “There comes a point,” the chef allows to fly one way. Nonetheless, shortly after the with a smile, “you’ve got to try and get program aired, the Popham restaurant some level of fi nancial security.” Sometimes one way is all you need. became the hottest spot in the middle For times like that, Mileage Plus® of nowhere. The restaurant, which JAY CHESHES has covered star chefs for doesn’t take reservations, began getting Fortune and W. He’d happily devour is now offering One-Way Awards. calls from people looking to make one. anything Heston Blumenthal cooked. For half the miles of a roundtrip Celebrities popped in. “One day in the award (starting at 12,500 miles same lunch hour,” says Blumenthal, FEBRUARY CROSSWORD ANSWERS “you had pop star Suzi Quatro, Eric for a domestic Saver Award), Clapton and the bloke who played Doctor Who all queuing up for a table.” you can fly one way on United or One fellow called asking how far the United Express operated flights. restaurant was from the local airfi eld— it’s directly across the street—because To book a One-Way Award, visit he was planning to fl y in for lunch. “For mileageplus.com today. three or four months, business was up eight hundred percent,” Pegler says. Though the frenzy has subsided somewhat, aftershocks continue. Little Chef plans to transform fi ve more branches in the next year. Blumenthal, who may soon shoot a new program building on the Big Chef premise Restrictions apply. HEM_0210_Food&Drink.indd 3 06/01/2010 11:18.