Chef Profile: Eric Greenspan
—Contest now closed—
Undone By Grasshoppers
BehindTheKnife.com is thrilled to present profiles of a number of the current contestants on the second season of The Next Iron Chef, which debuted on The Food Network on October 4, 2009.
First up, Eric Greenspan, who unfortunately was also the first to be eliminated by Alton Brown & Company. The culprit? His challenge ingredient was dried grasshoppers…methinks he got off easy compared to the other contestants, who were faced with a gamut of items ranging from jellyfish to tofu reeking to high heaven and chicken eggs with fallopian tubes still attached.
Ah, right. Clearly, the next big food trend.
Despite the challenge, Chef Greenspan put a brave face on things and gathered his wits together enough to speak to us, and for that we are grateful.
Here goes:
The Chef: Eric Greenspan of The Foundry on Melrose in Los Angeles.
The Toolbox: Hmmmm, maybe Greenspan should have gotten the egg-and-fallopian-tube combo, given that he carries his knives and tools in an old school doctor’s bag. “It’s black leather,” he says, “and it just looks like that traditional bag you saw every doctor carry on TV back in the day.”
The Tools: When asked if he carried anything sentimental or meaningful in the Marcus Welby bag, Greenspan bluntly stated that he never brings anything sentimental into a kitchen. “It’s far too dangerous!” he said, citing the possibility of endless teasing and/or permanent loss.
Once upon a time, he kept his old nametag from culinary school in the bag, which was a JOKER from a deck of cards, but no longer. Indeed, he admits that overall, his tools are pretty tame compared to others.
A Tool That Inspired Him To Twist A Recipe: A gnocchi board. “When I first started using this, I fell in love with gnocchi and have made them ever since,” he says, adding that they’re always on his menu at The Foundry.
What A Psychological Analysis Would Say About His Toolbox: “On the outside, I might appear to be a quirky, off-the-beaten-path kind of guy, but at the end of the day, I take what I do seriously and have all the tools to get things done and stay focused,” he says.
What He Covets About Other Chef Toolboxes: “I know that Roberto Treviño, my fellow contestant on The Next Iron Chef, has something funky in his tool kit. I’d love to find out what it is!”
BehindTheKnife.com Bonus
One lucky reader will win a copy of the new book Cooking The Cowboy Way
It’s easy to enter. Just leave a comment below with your opinion on whether or not Chef Greenspan was unfairly booted, and then sign up for our new weekly newsletter The Blowtorch. The Blowtorch will contain many more giveaways that won’t be mentioned on the main BehindTheKnife.com site, so you’ll be part of the inner circle down here at the ranch.
In homage to Chef Greenspan, no grasshoppers appear in any of the recipes in Cooking The Cowboy Way…or at least we don’t think so.
Read our standard rules. Contest ends October 13th at 11:59 p.m.
Really sorry I missed that episode with the grasshoppers…gotta go find that one!
Nice bag! Would love to see those knives inside.