Episode 108: Charlie Mitchell of Clover Hill in Brooklyn
Today's guest, Charlie Mitchell of the one-star Michelin restaurant Clover Hill in Brooklyn, New York, has a wisdom that is hard to come across in a chef barely into his 30s and someone who has gripped the food headlines as becoming the first black Michelin-starred chef in New York City’s history and one of only two black chefs in America. Yeah, you heard read that correctly, the first. In 2022, the Michelin guide recognized the work that he and his partners were doing in Brooklyn Heights and saw that the work that he put in, the training, and his dedication to the craft of cooking helped leapfrog him over even some of the more established and well-known chefs in the country's most competitive restaurant city.
Here's what else we talked about:
Growing up in Detroit, Michigan, and hailing from a family of auto workers
Finding a mentor who pointed him in the right direction and inspired him to leave Detroit and go to New York, even though it was his last choice of city
Pushing himself to work in the hardest kitchen in NYC
Why his first cookbook, Eleven Madison Park, motivated him to work there
The layers of protection from failure that EMP has to ensure that each guest has the experience that they expect
Why working as a commis at EMP was one of the biggest growth point in his career
Going out on a ledge and taking over a smaller neighborhood restaurant in NYC, but then quickly learning he wasn't ready to be the man just yet
Meeting his future partners at Clover Hill and why it's such a great match
How they slowly transitioned to a tasting menu-only restaurant
Creating a fine dining restaurant that was reflective of the owners and why it's so important for Clover Hill to make people feel comfortable and at home without the pretension that you may find often in fine dining
Charlie talks about why honest cooking is so important to him
Raising their prices because they are getting better ingredients to work with, not just because they now have a Michelin star
When they started getting clued in that they may be on the Michelin radar
The conversations he had with his partners after they won the star
What it means to him to be the first black chef in New York City history to have a Michelin star
What he learned once he started writing tasting menus and deciding what kind of journey he wanted to take the guests on
How he sees the restaurant continuing to evolve over the next few years
How he folks on "doing his part" when it comes to being a leader and showing other black chefs what's possible. Leading by example
Sponsors
A huge shout out to our sponsors, Maxwell McKenney and Singer Equipment, for their unwavering support, which allows us to be able to bring these conversations to you. Check out their websites for all the amazing equipment they can supply your restaurant with to make your team more efficient and successful.
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