Once or twice a month, chefs from Boston to Portland, Maine, gather in the kitchen of Stages at One Washington Place. Pictured is Chef Ben “Nighthawk” Comerford. (Kathy Gunst/Here & Now)
Chef Evan Hennessey is owner of the James Beard Award-nominated restaurant, Stages at One Washington Place. (Kathy Gunst/Here & Now)
When you think of chefs critiquing other chefs’ work, you might picture the Fox TV show “Hell’s Kitchen,” where master chef Gordon Ramsey dishes out withering criticism to those who don’t meet his high standards.
But Here & Now resident chef Kathy Gunst discovered a completely different vibe at a salon of chefs who meet regularly at the restaurant Stages at One Washington in Dover New Hampshire.
As Gunst wrote in a recent issue of Newsweek magazine, at the salon, chefs of varying levels of experience present dishes for feedback and ideas, and the criticism is both constructive and congenial.
The salon is the brainchild of Stages chef and owner Evan Hennessy, and as Gunst tells host Robin Young, “This is about building community. Chefs, like artists and writers and everybody else, need feedback from their peers.”
Read Kathy Gunst’s Newsweek piece about the Staging Project
Guest
Kathy Gunst, resident chef for Here & Now and author of cookbooks including “Notes from a Maine Kitchen.” She tweets @mainecook.