Cheftimony Episode 017 – Black Sheep
“Chef works to maintain extremely high culinary standards at Black Sheep, while keeping an eye on work-life balance for her employees.”
As I reported on the most recent snack-sized episode of the show, I was back in Las Vegas, this time for a bachelor party weekend. A joy of bachelor partying in middle age is that one need not pretend to enjoy staying out late. I was lucky to hit Vegas with three very close friends, and we focused on craps, blackjack, good food and sensible bedtimes. Let the mayhem begin!
After one particularly raucous night (we did actually stay out past midnight), I was up early in the morning to meet my new friend Kristy Totten of the Spicy Eyes Podcast. Kristy and her podcasting partner Sonja Swanson explore food and culture in Las Vegas through this wonderful show. Check out Spicy Eyes if you haven’t already.
Kristy had kindly lined up an interview with Chef Jamie Tran of Black Sheep Las Vegas, and Chef was the perfect guest to talk to about my growing fascination with off-Strip dining options in Vegas. There is much to love about the Strip, of course, but there are annoyances, too. To my mind, those are its enormous size, its enormous crowds and its trending-to-enormous menu pricing. Restaurants away from the Strip can offer more by providing less. They have fewer seats, smaller crowds, more focused menus and often a more direct connection between kitchen and guest. There’s even an event you’ll hear about in the interview – UnStripped – that celebrates the off-Strip culinary scene.
Chef Tran is no stranger to the big operations of the Strip. As you’ll hear, she worked in some high-end French kitchens on Las Vegas Blvd and did a stint in banquet options at one of the biggest operations of all, the Venetian/Palazzo. Successful though she was on the Strip, Chef Jamie wanted more creative control over her food and made the move with some partners into owning her own space, Black Sheep. Here, Chef brings her varied background to the dishes, describing her food as “me on a plate.”
In Jamie Tran’s case, “me” brings a lot to the table. You’ll hear how Chef (a self-described “pest” to her parents) pressed first her mother to let her cook and then her father. During the rolling blackouts in 1980s California, four-year-old Chef stood next to her mother on an overturned crate and cooked fried rice. Jamie also helped her mother cook in tins over open fire and learned the deliciousness that smoke can impart to a dish. It’s a technique Chef still uses at Black Sheep.
Later, Chef kept at her chef father (who was firmly of the view that any of Jamie’s six brothers should be given a chance to cook before her) until he finally let her cook on the line in his restaurant kitchen. It was here that Chef learned the old-school kitchen virtues of hard work, efficiency and dealing with a loud, demanding chef.
Now, Chef works to maintain extremely high culinary standards at Black Sheep, while keeping an eye on work-life balance for her employees. She’s an advocate for change in the kitchen, and doesn’t rely on yelling or throwing pans to convey any disappointment. That’s no small thing – kitchens are having to change to attract and retain cooks in a very challenging time for the whole industry. Young cooks are much less likely to stay in a job that requires them to duck flying cookware.
You’ll also hear Chef’s thoughts on identify in cooking and on this question that seems to surface a whole lot these days – should there be any rules around who can cook what? To add to the overuse of a phrase, is cultural appropriation happening in the kitchen? And is “appropriation” even the right word? Don’t miss Chef’s thoughts on whether white guys can cook pho.
And finally, don’t miss Chef’s tips for picking up your own cooking game! With just four simple ingredients (plus a fifth if you’re cooking fish), Chef has a recommendation on how to finish just about any dish. “It just works out!”
So join me and Kristy Totten of the Spicy Eyes Podcast on a beautiful Saturday morning in southwest Las Vegas for our talk with Chef Jamie Tran.