Mentorship, Passion, & Delicious Dishes with Gg Graham of Hart's - No. 18
And is the secret behind McDonald's success a mayo caulking gun?
Welcome to Vegarie! Do you enjoy dips? Does the door of your fridge overflow with sauces, each one essential to a different dish? Are you motivated by success stories of badass women in food? Are you looking for a place that combines your abstract passions for both? Well, look no further.
If you haven’t already, subscribe (for free!) and you'll receive my biweekly newsletter on Tuesdays. Here, I interview women in food to share their inspiring tips and build a community that highlights the accomplishments of women in our field. I also include recipes for dips inspired by our chats...because who doesn’t love dip?!
If you live anywhere near Franklin Ave in Brooklyn, New York, odds are you’ve wandered past Hart’s. If you’ve peeked at the menu, I’m sure you noticed their lovely seasonal produce or felt your mouth water just reading about their famous clam toast. It’s here, tucked along the edges of Bed-Stuy, with its Mediterranean-inspired dishes and intimate seating, where today’s guest, Gill (Gg) Graham is Chef partner. Together, we talk about her family; who are cooks going generations back, her thoughts on sustainably-minded cooking, and tips she’s collected from mentors that led her to become the amazing chef that she is today. I walked away from our chat incredibly inspired and I know you will too.
The more I chat with chefs in the city, the smaller the our world becomes. As it so happens, Gg hales from Bellingham, Washington—Alabama Street to be specific, a street my closest friends lived on for years during my undergrad at Western Washington University. A small world indeed!
“The menu was exactly what you’d imagine—hand-written and scratched out in places where my grandma lowered prices from 10 to 8 cents. I think it had things like cream of wheat, cherry pie, canned peas…”
As you can imagine, growing up in Bellingham was quite different from New York City. I often describe Bellingham to people as the ultimate trinity of nature; stretch all three arms out and touch mountains, farmland, and the Puget Sound. Gg mostly grew up close to the town’s center at their home on Alabama Street—but she was always surrounded by farming, fresh produce, and sustainable eating practices. Apart from geography, this exposure also came from the generations of cooks in her family. Her father and uncle opened a restaurant up North near Mt.Baker, called Graham's, and ran it until the 90’s. Popular for decades, Graham’s serves diner classics like burgers, or fish n’ chips, and caters to locals and Mt. Baker ski bums. Her mother also cooked professionally at a restaurant that served Mt. Baker workers. Eventually, her mother also started her own farm.
“My parents are still really excellent cooks. Every time I go home I have what feels like Washington-classics. My mom makes this baked salmon with aioli, garlic, lemon, and lots of dill, it’s really comforting. Another one she loves is artichokes—steamed, and dipped into lots of melted butter and mayo, she’ll mix them together.”
She also recalls looking through old photographs and cookbooks of her great grandmother’s, including old menus from the restaurant she owned and operated in Spokane, Washington.
“The menu was just exactly what you’d imagine, hand-written and scratched out in places where she’d lower prices from like 10 to 8 cents. I think it had things like cream of wheat, cherry pie, canned peas, just really simple cooking.”
When it comes to developing the menu at Hart’s, which changes daily, creativity and seasonality are center points. Hart’s operates using mostly local products and Gg works closely with Early Girl Farm and Hog Farm, both in Long Island. “Patty at Early Girl is a legend. The produce that our farmers provide us is super inspiring, especially now as we dig deep into spring and get ready for the summer!” Another essential part of sustainable cooking is reducing waste, at Hart’s that means using everything they’re given. On any week, you can find her mentally mapping out the walk-in, thinking about how dishes can be adapted to use every bit of produce.
Just like any chef, Gg didn’t start out whipping up things like “Albacore tuna crudo with olives and fermented chiles,” which is featured on the menu right now. No, GG’s first kitchen job was at McDonald’s when she was just 16 years old.
“I didn’t want anyone to see me, so instead of working the counter, I’d just hide in the kitchen. It was hard. It taught me a lot about efficiency…and the mayo was in this big gun, like one you’d use for caulking. That was fun.”
Post-McDonald’s stardom, Gg decided to give a traditional undergraduate program a try. Quickly, she realized it wasn’t for her and she found herself back in a kitchen and in culinary school at Seattle Culinary Academy. Her first line cook position was at Chico Madrid, a Spanish Café near the classic Sunset Tavern in Seattle’s downtown. Chico Madrid, now sadly closed, used to serve amazing sandwiches with tuna conserva, preserved lemon, and aioli—sound familiar my Cervo’s friends?!—their menu even featured a Tortilla Española. Gg’s experience is vast, working for Golden Beetle, a Maria Hines restaurant and several others abroad before moving to New York. After a few years as a sous chef in New York City, she found Cervo’s, where she started as a sous and worked her way to chef partner at Hart’s.
“Learning how to be a chef is a process, it’s not easy. But working with younger chefs—that’s rewarding.”
Her biggest takeaway so far has been that she has to wear many hats. She’s had to learn how to give feedback and help people grow in a way that is respectful and kind, while being firm. All while protecting the quality of the food. “The best way to do this is by learning to give your team the tools to do the job, coach them along the way, and then to trust them. Maybe the hardest bit is building that trust.” Through this process however, her favorite thing has become mentoring younger cooks and watching their confidence grow.
“We hired three people toward the end of the pandemic who didn’t have any experience in professional kitchens and now they’re hitting their one-year mark. The other night, we started to run low on our buttermilk dressing in the middle of a busy service and I had one of them run down to make a fresh batch. She did it in 5-minutes, without a recipe. Which would have completely freaked her out when she first started. It’s inspiring to see so much growth.”
I asked Gg to pass along some words of wisdom. Here’s what have stuck with her over the years.
Try to be better at something small every day, and take note of it. It can be keeping your knife sharp, cleaning the walk-in with more care, dicing an onion with more speed and agility. Focusing on small things builds to large things!
Try to not to get too ahead of yourself.
“I took leadership positions when I had only been cooking for a few years and got in a little over my head. I'd recommend that people who are just getting started dig into being a line cook and learn as much as they can - it can be hard to go from sous chef back to line cook and I think that focusing on the craft is super important. So many people get caught up in trying to climb the kitchen brigade and miss how much one can learn in every step of the process.”
Learn how to take up space and to be confident in the work that you are doing. Especially for women, or other underrepresented groups in the kitchen.
Find spaces that are nurturing and are not toxic, and don't settle for less. And then, bring people with you. It's important to remember that there is room for everyone.
Gg, I can’t thank you enough for joining me to chat. Your passion for your craft and your mentorship are inspiring for me, but also for so many women who love food. If you haven’t already, go see Gg at Hart’s! I know that’s where I’ll be, aaallll summer long baby.
Tasty Yogurt Dip with Preserved Lemon & Cucumber Salad
What is Gg cooking up at home?! Glad you asked, right now she’s really into slow roasting fish.
“We've been taking whole sides of high quality trout and marinating them with a mixture of dijon mustard, ground green peppercorns, and a few cloves of grated garlic. Then, I’ll add a splash of wine, and olive oil, and roast them at 175F for about 15 minutes until they just flake. We've been serving it with chickpeas, cucumbers, tahini and yogurt. All room temp. It's so easy and really luxurious. Great for a bbq or a picnic!”
To go along with this vibe, I have a simple recipe for a preserved lemon yogurt dip and cucumber salad. A great match for your slow roasted fish, my friends.
Ingredients
Preserved Lemon Yogurt Dip
3 cups full-fat greek yogurt
1 preserved lemon, finely diced
3 Tbs lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, grated
Salt to taste
Drizzle with your favorite olive oil
Herby Cucumber Salad
2 large cucumbers, diced
1 avocado, diced
4 Tbs lemon juice
5 Tbs olive oil
1 1/2 tsp sumac
1 tsp cardamom
Salt to taste
Small handful fresh mint
Instructions
Preserved Lemon Yogurt Dip
This is so simple, instructions aren’t really needed. But just in case; remove the flesh from the preserved lemon and discard. Dice the lemon peel finely.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients; micro-planed garlic, preserved lemon, lemon juice, and salt. Taste, adjust as needed for more acid or salt.
Top with a drizzle of olive oil.
Herby Cucumber Salad
Dice your cucumbers and avocado, this doesn’t need to be small, chunky pieces are great. Put together into a large mixing bowl and set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk to combine your lemon juice, olive oil, sumac, cardamom, and salt. This should taste bright and a bit floral. Add to your cucumber and avocado bowl, toss to coat. Top with mint.