Dishing It: From Soup to Nuts Inkandescent Radio

Before coming up with the concept for House of Steep, entrepreneur Lyndsey DePalma wanted something for herself—to relax, and just be, for a while each day. Not satisfied with any of the existing answers and armed with some entrepreneurial hard-wiring and a respect for natural healing, Lyndsey left her corporate career in human resources to bridge the gap. A firm believer in present living, this small business owner also publishes her thoughts and ideas on relaxation and a peaceful lifestyle at placidhouse.com.
Since 2010, House of Steep has been taking up residence in Lyndsey’s heart and will become the ultimate destination for busy corporate citizens, casual connections, bridal parties, street shoppers, believers in alternative healing, moms and grandmoms, yogis and yoginis, consultants, crafters, lovers, and the rest of us.
We sat down with Lynsdey in her lovely, relaxing shop and asked her:

How did you parlay your own desire to relax into a business idea?
How does it feel to have brought your dream to fruition?
What has been the reaction of your customers? Is it even better than you imagined?
What has developed that you didn’t predict?

To learn more about The House of Steep, the treasure that is tea, the power of reflexology, and the entrepreneur’s dreams for the future:
Download our podcast interview with Lyndsey DePalma, right.
Click here to read our interview with Lyndsey De Palma in BeInkandescent magazine.

Are you hungry to eat healthy? Do you want your kids to learn to cook well? Do you have a secret desire to become a professional chef? Have you always wanted to work in the restaurant business? Or, are you stumped about how to boil water? Do you live to eat, or eat to live?
Then you’ll want to meet Ann Butler, CEO and founder of Edible Education. The former high school cooking teacher took her skills to new heights in 2011 when she opened a commercial kitchen in Midlothian, VA (a suburb of Richmond), and began teaching after-school classes in schools and in her shop, as well as running what is now the most popular C.H.E.F. summer camp in the region.
Having graduated 20,000 students — and counting — from her programs in the last four years, last year she began a catering service for schools and other institutions that don’t have a chef or food service on site. Instead of chicken nuggets and pizza, her team whips up nutritious breakfasts and lunches — and works with teachers to educate kids and adults about what they are eating.
And the pièce de ré·sis·tance of Butler’s growing kid-focused food empire is her patent-pending brainchild, kitchen a la cart. This mobile cooking station comes complete with a running hot and cold water sink, a kid-safe cooktop stove, an oven, a blender, a food processor, and all the utensils and tools you need to whip up everything from an apple tart to zucchini pizza. Schools across the nation, military organizations, and backyard chefs are flocking to buy the kitchen on wheels to teach cooking in classrooms, roll into remote villages, or tailgate at Virginia Tech football games and Nascar. Really.

This fall, Butler launched Edible Education TV, where kids are the celebrity chefs who prepare the dishes and teach other children to make healthy meals in 10 minutes or less. She’s also an ambassador for Jamie Oliver’s annual Food Revolution Day, a partner in the James Beard Foundation’s Better Burger Project, and the assigned chef of Michelle Obama’s Chef’s Move to Schools program for the Richmond Public Schools.
In this podcast interview you’ll learn:

How Butler cooked up the idea of Edible Education one fall day in 2011.
How she became an ambassador to the stars of the cooking world.
What 20,000 kids have learned — and what they have taught her about the art of cooking well
And why kitchen a la cart is about to take America by storm!


Download the podcast now!

And look for more information on Edible Education’s new cooking show, and new website, in October 2015.
Butler will also be the cover girl on Be Inkandescent magazine in October, so don’t miss that!
In the meantime, check out her recipes for a Classic Hamburger, one made of mushrooms (that tastes like a meaty version), Chicken Cordon Bleu Burger, Sweet-Potato Fries, and a Fruity American Flag in our Cooking School column.

Named the “Best Burger of 2014” by Richmond Region Tourism’s Burger Beatdown, Brux’l Cafe has become one of the hottest new bistros in town.
Located between Virginia Commonwealth University and Carytown at 1731 West Main Street, this taste of Brussels is a welcome addition to Richmond, which is being touted as the next great American food city.
“We love Richmond,” says Chef Xavier Meers, who opened the restaurant with his wife, Stephanie Danis, last year. “And we love beer and great food. So this is a perfect marriage.”
Inkandescent Radio had the privilege of interviewing the couple in August, right before their busy season began.
In this podcast interview you’ll learn:

What inspired Chef Xavier and Stephanie to move from Brussels to Richmond and open a restaurant?
Beyond the vast selection of beer and that mouthwatering truffle burger, why do customers flock to Brux’l Cafe?
What is the chef’s favorite dish?
Known as a foodie town, how does Richmond rank in terms of the quality of restaurants you’ve experienced in Europe?
What’s next for Brux’l Cafe?

Download the podcast now!
Click here to read our review of Brux’l Cafe.
Reserve a table at: bruxlcafe.com
Address: 1731 W. Main St, Richmond, VA 23220
Phone: (804) 355-3683
Hours:

Tues-Thurs: 4:00 to 10:00 p.m.
Friday: 4:00 to 11:00 p.m.
Saturday: 11:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Sunday Brunch: 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Happy Hour: Tues-Sat, 4:00 to 6:30 p.m.

Michele Muska is a woman who speaks in textures. The fiber artist based in Enfield, Connecticut lives, creates, and works in a colorful world where fibers and textiles tell her story.
Michele started her company, LolaRae, over a decade ago to showcase her fanciful creations, wearable art, quilts, and adornments. But that’s her side business!
By day, she’s the Marketing Communications Manager for Simplicity Creative Group and their family of brands which include Simplicity Patterns, Wrights, Boye, EZ Quilting, Conso and British Trimmings.
During the last seven years, she has helped in the development and design of new product, implemented educational opportunities and worked with their customers to provide a clear vision of how Simplicity Creative Group can foster and inspire creativity in the individual.
Today, though, we are talking with the marvelous Michele about another one of her creations — the Midsummer Night’s Dream Pie that landed on the cover of the popular book, “Pie-ography,” by Where Women Cook creator Jo Packham.
In this podcast interview you’ll learn:

About her delicious pie: its history — and given the biographical theme of “Pie-orgraphy” — what the Midsummer Night’s Dream Pie tell us about her.
The other pies and dishes she creates that family and friends flock to her house to eat.
What she loves about cooking, quilting, and creating beautiful things.
How she got into the business of crafts in the first place.



You’ll learn about her delicious day job at Simplicity, and how to she has long balanced work and career — and the advice she has for other women trying to do the same.
She also gives us her insights as to why women, especially those in mid-life, struggle to admit how amazing they are!

Download the podcast now!

And click here to read Michele’s recipe for her magnificent Midsummer Night’s Dream Pie in the December 2013 issue of BeInkandescent.com.

Step inside the cozy Fredericksburg, VA, shop, Taste: Oil, Vinegar, Spice, and you may not know exactly what to do first.
Lining the walls are two rows of silver tanks, each filled with one of Taste’s 40 varieties of top-grade olive oil and vinegar. A spigot at the bottom of each tank invites shoppers to fill a tiny plastic cup with the nectar.
Do you dip in your finger? Do you instead dip one of the the petite salted crackers from nearby dish? Or is swigging the flavorful liquid straight from the cup the best way to get a taste?
“It’s up to you,” insist proprietors Jan Davis (pictured right) and George Farrar (pictured below.).
They are always just a few steps away—ready to assist any customers with quizzical looks on their faces. “We get asked that question a lot.”
What is obvious is that Davis and Farrar—both former Navy officers who got married just four years before opening their first Taste in Culpepper, Va., in October 2011—are passionate about providing only the highest-quality ingredients to enhance shoppers’ favorite dishes.
“At Taste, we believe that fresh trumps everything,” Farrar insists. “That is why we offer only the freshest olive oils and organic spices from around the world, complemented by the most flavorful balsamic vinegars imported from Modena, Italy.”
One swig of the blood-orange-infused olive oil, followed by a sip of the cranberry pear white balsamic vinegar (which, when combined with a few other ingredients, makes what may be the best coleslaw ever), and it’s tough not to get addicted to the offerings at Taste.

We couldn’t agree more! That’s why we wanted to sit down with George and Jan to talk about their shop, how they got into the Taste business, and what are some of their favorite recipes.
In this podcast interview we discuss:

Whether George and Jan had any retail experience before they opened their first shop in Culpepper in 2011
How do you manage that shop, and the one they opened on main street in Fredericksburg, VA in 2012
What have been the most fun interesting, enjoyable, and challenging things about being entrepreneurs
How they balance love and business.
And more …

Download our podcast interview with George Farrar and Jan Davis, at right.

Click here to read our the article we crafted for Be Inkandescent magazine based on our interview with George and Jan.


Want a sneak peak? Scroll down for more.



Be Inkandescent: What made you want to open Taste?
George Farrar: We were on vacation in Maine, and saw a shop that was offering fresh, extra virgin olive oils (EVOOs) and balsamic vinegars. We had a grand time in there sampling everything. It was our first exposure to that business model, and through the rest of our vacation, we made a point of seeking out other oil and vinegar shops and then started doing some research. That was in May of 2011, and by October we had opened our first store.
Be Inkandescent: Wow, that is really impressively fast. Did you already have experience in the retail industry?
George Farrar: Other than working in a grocery store when I was about 16—absolutely none. Both Jan and I are retired Navy officers, and then we both spent about 10 years in the government consulting world before we launched Taste on our own.
Be Inkandescent: Tell us a little bit about your background, Jan, what was your career like, and what inspired you to open Taste in addition to seeing something like it in Maine and saying, “We have to do this!”
Jan Davis: Well, I joined the Navy decades ago, and I had a Navy career for years before working as a contractor for the federal government. As I was nearing retirement age, I started looking to do something else—something that didn’t involve a long commute. My little sister is an entrepreneur, and she has a frozen custard store in the Del Ray section of Alexandria, VA, called The Dairy Godmother. She was having too much fun to let her be

Back in 1997, Taqueria el Poblano founder and chef Glen Adams landed in DC, his latest stop in a career that led him through the States and Europe. By 1999 the California native was eager to showcase the food he grew up with in LA.
From the taco trucks of his youth to the regional Mexican specialties he tasted during his travels, Glen developed a menu to showcase his favorites—duck tacos, frijoles charros, and steak tampiquena. Then he took on two partners, pastry chefs Dan and Lindsay Michel.
More than a decade after they opened a second restaurant in North Arlington, which they lovingly refer to as Taq 2, we sat down with the couple to talk about the restaurant business.
Download our interview with these this fascinating couple, at right.
Download our podcast interview with Lindsay and Dan Michel, at right.

Click here to read our the article we crafted for the February 2013 issue of our business magazine, Be Inkandescent.


Want a sneak peak of our Q&A? Scroll down for more.


Be Inkandescent: What made you want to be restaurant owners?
Dan Michel: When Glen and I worked together in the hotel business, he was a chef of cuisine and I was a pastry chef, and we became good friends. About 13 years ago, he wanted to open the Taqueria in Northern Virginia, I helped him as a friend, not a business partner, painting, gutting the place, doing carpentry.
The first restaurant did so well that three years later he called me up and wanted to know if I would be interested in helping him open up a second location. That’s when I left my career as a hotel pastry chef and went into the Taqueria business.
Be Inkandescent: From pastry chef to tacos, was that a big leap?
Dan Michel: I worked my way through college at jobs in restaurants and hotels before realizing I wanted to work with food to make a living. At the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, I discovered that pastries was my thing. After 22 years as a pastry chef, making the transition to running a restaurant was huge. I had no idea how different the two careers would be.
Be Inkandescent: Lindsay, tell us about your background. You also have experience as a pastry chef.
Lindsay Michel: After I graduated from college, I worked in finance for a while. When Dan and I got married and moved to Hawaii, there wasn’t much for me to do there, so he got me into a course back East with Roland Mesnier, the White House pastry chef.
Dan and I thought that we would open our own pastry shop one day, but once we were back in Virginia, I got pregnant and neither of us wanted to work eight days a week, so we stuck with what we were doing, Dan as a pastry chef and me doing wedding cakes for one of the DC hotels for about 15 years. When Glen came along with the idea for the Taqueria, our kids were more grown up and we thought, “What the heck, let’s do something really fun together!”
Click here to read more!