Everybody’s Got to Hustle

My guests this week on the LIVE! Culinary Series varied, yet one goal is clear: They're determined to keep their businesses alive with creative twists certain to catch on.

December is traditionally one of the busiest months of the year for restaurants, but this time around, even the most notable establishments find themselves in a struggle to stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic. 

A few of my guests this week on the LIVE! Culinary Series really stood out for their tenacity and creativity with new initiatives that have kicked off just in time for the holiday season. From a highly regarded restaurant group now packaging its signature items for nationwide delivery to how two “craft beer heads” have teamed up with two breweries to launch Michigan’s first-ever, Black-owned craft beer brewery, these experts are helping to give the industry the hope it desperately needs.

One Off Hospitality, for example, is behind such award-winning concepts as avec, Publican and The Violet Hour. With the visionary of culinary creative director Perry Hendrix (above photo), the restaurant group concepted One Off at Home. That’s an opportunity for food enthusiasts to have signature items shipped anywhere in the country, from a holiday brunch box to avec’s famed chorizo-stuffed Medjool dates.

“We’re really excited to extend our brand beyond the walls of Chicago and get it out coast to coast,” says Hendrix, who joined me to talk about the program in full detail. “Thankfully, we have some fabulous, loyal supporters all over the country, so we’ve been getting orders from California, Texas, Utah, New York, South Carolina. It’s fun to see [the orders come in] and see where they’re headed.”

At the brand-new Nipsey’s Restaurant, also in Chicago, manager Brittany Spears has come up with a way for out-of-work Black bartenders to make some cash while they’re perfecting their mixology skills.

Her to-go cocktail program, the “Black Mixologists Partnership,” teams up with mobile cocktail companies, she says, “to allow them to expand their businesses through us, to be able to use [Nipsey’s] as a vessel to be able to push their products out, and to just be able to give the exposure and notoriety that they deserve that they might not necessarily get any place else.”

Spears expounds upon the program in detail, and how it can be profitable for both the restaurant and the bartenders, during this episode.

And Terry Rostic (pictured above) and Jamaal Ewing set out to create Black Calder Brewing Co. because they wanted to see their culture get some spotlight in Michigan’s craft beer scene. The company debuted at the end of November, making it the state’s first-ever, Black-owned brewery. For now, Black Calder doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar establishment; they’ve collaborated with two Grand Rapids, Michigan, breweries to produce their products, including the brand new Black IPA, which sold out in three days after release.

During a LIVE! Culinary Series episode with Rostic, he discusses how the project came to fruition and how it will differ from other breweries. He had me at Boujee S'more Stout, plus he talks about how their beers will tickle the palate with flavor profiles popular in the Black community.

“What we’re going to try to do is just make the flavors that resonate with our culture,” explains Rostic. “We’re going to be brewing another stout in a few weeks, and it’s going to have coffee from Ethiopia and vanilla from Africa. … Beer pairs well with a lot of the foods we eat.”

Next up, he’s thinking about creating a sweet potato stout, sweet potato IPA, and more beers based off traditional Southern foods popular with the African-American community. Black Calder Brewing’s second release, Boujee S'more Stout, is set for Dec. 18.