Restaurant Brokers interview Chefs cooking from the Wild!

Written by WSR Operations | Jan 7, 2015 7:52:34 PM

January 2, 2015 – We’re getting wild this week! The restaurant brokers are hunting chefs and experts that work with fish and wild game. We interview Sportsman Channel's Scott Leysath, host of the series, “The Sporting Chef” and “Hunt Fish Cook!” We are also joined by Chef Tenney Flynn, co-owner and executive chef of the legendary GW Fins and Chef Mark Estee, Executive Chef and owner of Campo Reno!

Join us as we interview three guests working with fresh from the field items. Learn about this trend sweeping the nation as we say "Game On" to fresh caught and prepared cuisine. Chef Scott Leysath, better known as “The Sporting Chef” tells listeners how ended up on The Sportsman Channel with two TV shows and much more in this wild episode of the popular restaurant radio show.

These experts describe with fresh from the field items in restaurants and are share expertise on fresh caught and prepared cuisine. Join the restaurant brokers when Chef Mark Estee reminds us that “Do you know where your food comes from?” is a common question from customers. Listen as one of our guests describes literally “shooting fish with a spear” and then serving it up. These chefs say you have to “Take the game out of game” to get a very different flavor.

Listen in as our guests discuss how the proper way to eat is truly in the wild! Listen to the entire restaurant radio show live on Atlanta radio station WGKA, TALK 920 on Saturday at noon or the rebroadcast Sunday at 1 PM on Biz 1190.

This Week’s Guests:

Chef Scott Leysath – The Sporting Chef

Better known as “The Sporting Chef,” Scott Leysath has been an Executive Chef for more than 20 years and is the leading authority on the proper preparation of fish and game. He is the author of multiple cookbooks, the most recent being “The Sporting Chef’s Better Venison Cookbook.” As the Executive Chef for Sportsman Channel’s “Hunt.Fish.Feed.” program, he’s helped create the wild game menu the volunteers serve at shelters across the country. He is also the cooking editor of the Ducks Unlimited Magazine and writes for a number of other publications. Scott makes numerous appearances on outdoor television, radio programs, events and trade shows nationwide. His current TV shows include The Sporting Chef, HuntFishCook and Dead Meat on Sportsman Channel. Learn more at http://thesportingchef.com

Chef Tenney Flynn – GW Fins

During the many years of co-owning legendary New Orleans fine dining seafood restaurant, GW Fins, Executive Chef, Tenney Flynn, has become known as one of the country’s foremost seafood experts, as well as a vocal enthusiast for the bounty of seafood that is available in the Gulf. Chef Flynn is known throughout the region for his stringent seafood approval process for GW Fins, and is, as the Wall Street Journal has referred to him “widely acknowledged as the fishmonger czar of the Gulf region.”

”One of my favorite aspects of our restaurant is that we print out menu daily, so we don’t have to have any specific item on the menu. That way we don’t have to accept any seafood that isn’t pristine,” states Chef Flynn.

With the majority of GW Fins’ menu changing nightly, each evening is an entirely unique dining experience. Although there are perennial favorites on GW Fins’ menu such as Lobster Dumplings, Crab Potstickers with Pea Shoot Butter and Sizzling Smoked Oysters, the majority of menu items have evolved since the restaurant opened. Chef Flynn’s creativity has been instrumental in expanding the menu at GW Fins. Many of the dishes draw from his love of both local New Orleans cuisine as well as Asian influences. “My culinary philosophy is that if you are working with seafood that already has wonderful flavor, the cooking techniques should respect these natural flavors rather than overwhelm them,” states Flynn.

Growing up cooking in his father’s restaurant in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Flynn developed an innate understanding of Southern food and culinary traditions. From there he received his formal training at the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park. Chef Flynn officially began his fine dining career with Atlanta’s esteemed Buckhead Life Group, cooking at such famed restaurants as Pano’s and Paul’s, Fishmarket at Lenox and finally as Executive Chef of Chops. Ruth’s Chris Steak House then recruited his talents as the company’s Director of Culinary Operations, a position he held for seven years.

Since launching GW Fins more than ten years ago, Chef Flynn has developed a reputation as one of the most knowledgeable and discriminating seafood chefs in the country. Chef Flynn is a master of his craft, but one who is completely unassuming. That is, until you ask him about seafood. Then his wealth of knowledge and passion about seafood is unmistakable. A seafood icon, asked to judge national seafood competitions and provide cooking demonstrations for fellow chefs and consumers, Chef Flynn has become a national celebrity for his weekly cooking segments on the syndicated fishing show, “The Big Fish.” In fact, often guests come to New Orleans to dine at GW Fins after watching him prepare a variety of dishes on this popular show. For the second time in the past 10 years, GW Fins’ Executive Chef and Co-Owner, Tenney Flynn has been named “New Orleans Magazine’s Chef of Year,” both in 2004 and then again in 2011.

Chef Mark Estee – Campo Reno

Equally comfortable picking his favorite produce at the family farm of his friend Gary Romano or cooking up meals for celebrities like Sir Paul McCartney, Mark Estee’s culinary career has been driven by a deep love for the authentic ingredients that create true connections between land, farmer, food and diner.

Estee’s resume runs deep with stages in some of the world’s best kitchens — Gary Danko, Lespinasee, Chez Pannise. Taking lessons learned from some of the nation’s most iconic chefs, Estee returned to his Sierra Nevada restaurant Moody’s Bistro and Lounge and built one of the most authentic local food systems in the region. Local fisherman delivered fresh-caught Pacific salmon to Moody’s kitchen, and family farmers like Sierra Valley-based Romano kept Moody’s supplied with flavorful, unique and local produce. Estee’s relentless enthusiasm and renowned recipes have landed him prestigious guest chef appearances at the James Beard House in New York City, the 4-Diamond Awahnee Hotel in Yosemite and the world-renowned Pebble Beach Food and Wine Expo.

But it is back home in the Sierra Nevada where Estee continues to forge new territory in his own cooking technique and his relationship with farmers, fisherman and ranchers. Adapting his own unique take on the “Whole Hog Philosophy” Estee has been digging deeper into the fuller flavors produced from using every portion of every ingredient — whether it is vegetable or animal.

Owner of Moody’s Bistro and Lounge and Burger Me in Truckee, and a consultant at numerous Lake Tahoe restaurants including the West Shore Café and Bite, Estee is opening a new downtown Reno restaurant Campo on the city’s riverfront. His restaurants have been feature on the Food Network, and written up in publications across the nation, where critics have called his food “close-our-eyes-and-moan good.” Before opening Moody’s in 2002, Estee worked at Pot au Feu and Cafe’ Luigi, Hyatt Hotels in Boston and then in Lake Tahoe and as executive chef of the exclusive Lahontan Golf Club Community

Apart from his busy life as a chef and restaurant owner, Estee is deeply involved in the communities and nonprofits in the communities he works. He serves on the board of directors for Project MANA, a hunger relief organization in Truckee and North Tahoe. He is a member of the Nutrisystem’s Culinary Council, and was awarded the Paul Harris Fellowship Award by his local Rotary International chapter for his volunteerism. He can be found cooking or volunteering at numerous fundraisers and community events.

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