In working with Clairemont client, Briar Chapel, I recently had the great honor of interviewing Chef Arthur Gordon of Irregardless Cafe. As you will learn from the Q&A below, Arthur pioneered cooking with local ingredients and supporting area farmers in Raleigh. I love his food, and I think he would be as equally as successful at the comedy club next door to the cafe!

1. What’s it like to be the chef at Irregardless Café? In French, the word chef means chief, so it’s a real pleasure to be the chief, the head, the operating honcho of a group of people who are like-minded. I like to think that Irregardless Café is an oasis in Raleigh – no TV, live music, fresh food – and to be able to provide this to the community at large is a real honor. This concept is the vision I had 35 years ago, when I began Irregardless, and it’s a real blessing to see it realized.
2. When did you know you wanted to be a chef? From an early age. When my mom and dad got married, my mom said to him, “I’m going to be good in one room in this house, you pick it.” So, as a dysfunctional family, I learned how to cook. Dad was happy, and I learned to cook. French toast was my forte. We grew up in Durham, and we owned a ladies dress shop, where dad bought the clothes and mom sold them. You see the room dad picked was actually the dress shop – see, it wasn’t what you were thinking.
3. Where did you start your career as a full-time chef? In 1972, I graduated from UNC, and I wrote to the Culinary Institute of America, the CIA, about coming to be trained as a professional chef. They wanted everyone to have at least one year of experience first, so I thought I’d open a restaurant for a year or two. Well, I haven’t gotten to cooking school yet. I started here in 1974. I built the building by converting it from a laundry into a restaurant, and I just kept expanding over the years. In 1994, we had a fire, so when I rebuilt, I made the kitchen as large as the dining room. I figured if I was going to spend my life in that kitchen, I would make it big, and it’s worked out well. It’s allowed us to be able to have a catering business, and not bog down the kitchen that’s also serving the dining room. Continue reading “Earth Day Goodness – Part 3”