We caught up with the brilliant and insightful MJ Adams a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi MJ, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
I believe the people that shine through in their endeavors are those who truly know their craft. Attending culinary school later in life, I felt it was important to have the degree but the degree was just part of it. I felt I really needed to understand the basis of cooking. Sautéing, braising, making a sauce, a pastry dough. I feel that a lot of people do not want to pay their dues to their craft. If you understand the basics it can take you far. It can also allow you to further your creativity. The fact
that I had a grasp of the basic allowed me to expand my culinary repertoire with food. I always tell people that even after
all these years of cooking, I am almost the full E of the word CHEF.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I like to think of myself as a renaissance woman. Someone who has traveled a lot, lead an interesting life and know what I want. I have lived many places…grew up on Vashon Island, WA. Lived with my maternal grandfather…lived with my paternal grandmother in Mitchell, SD. Went to college in Casper, WY, for theatre and ended up in NYC for 12 years. It was here that I became involved in The James Beard Foundation from its beginning and I truly fell in love with food. NYC is like living in a cookbook. I met people like Jacque Pepin, Judith & Evan Jones, Craig Claiborne, Jeremiah Towers through my job for the foundation with “meet the author” series. Jeremiah Towers did a dinner coordinated with Opus One and it was where I met Julia & Paul Childs. It made me want to leave my job at Woman’s Day Specials Magazine which was where I was working as the Editorial Business Manager at the time. It made me realize I wanted a job in the food industry, thinking I could transfer within the magazine. I never imaged it would lead me into the restaurant industry or seven years after graduating from culinary school that I would see my name in print in The New York Times under $25 and under review of restaurants by Eric Asimov. That was a proud moment for all I had worked for. I knew NYC did not need another restaurant and left wanting to open a restaurant in the Midwest showcasing the local foods of the Black hills of SD. I am proud to say that The Corn Exchange restaurant did just that for 15 years. We were written about by the likes Gourmet, Bon Appetite, Food & Wine magazines. The Wall Street journal. I believed it was because of the drive and level of excellence that I have strived for in my life. I closed the restaurant after 15 years and it allowed me to work with South Dakota Public Television on a show called “Savor Dakota” that explored the culinary landscape and the publishing of my cookbook “The Corn Exchange, from the Big Apple to The Black Hills.” Once again I saw my name in print in The New York Times, this time in a review by Florence Fabricant in the Wednesday Food Section. My cookbook has been out now for three years and it what I currently work on. Creating awareness through Social Media, teaching a cooking class, writing an article. I want my viewers to feel that creating a simple meal is something they can do. Reading a cookbook allows you to see how others in the world view food. I feel food can connect us all.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I have always felt a little Bohemian. I started out working 9-5 in the earlier parts of my life for someone else. Taking the leap of creating a job for myself, well that was a leap of faith. I like waking up every morning and starting with a fresh canvas. It is important to surround myself with color which if you visit my home you will find one wall painted cornflower and the other a royal blue. I love surrounding myself with objects that bring me joy. An old photograph of a grade school operetta from 1944 that I have blown up on the wall. A portrait of Edna Lewis from John T. Hill, the grande dame of southern cooking who I worked with at Gage & Tollner. (A restaurant that has been resurrected in Brooklyn and come back to life.) Truly being creative and an artist, one must put themselves out there. Criticism does come with that but if you truly feel in your heart that what you are doing makes you happy, then you push the negativity away. Negativity can drive an artist to want to succeed even more. I like calling the shots and thinking outside the box. I am lucky to have a partner that allows me the luxury to stop and smell the roses. I spend a lot of time alone which I think an artist must have a lot of solitude time. My cats have helped me through a lot of lonely periods but by spending time alone, it allows me to think and be away from all the noise. I feel lucky to have grown up in the age of a simpler life. I worry that all the technology will weigh down ones creative soul. Technology is great but there is nothing wrong with a pencil and a paintbrush.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When I decided to leave NYC and open a restaurant in the Black Hills of SD, I felt like NYC did not need another restaurant. I wanted to highlight the local food around me and celebrate the farmers. in 1998, in SD, nobody was really using local ingredients. Maybe in the 1930’s and 40’s, but over time the change to processed foods had taken over. Large food Conglomerates were delivering food to restaurants. Chains were what the average person wanted. people were excited because they felt like Rapid City was moving into the twentieth century with the chain restaurants. During my time in NYC, I always visited the farmers market shopping for ingredients for my home and later for the restaurants I would end up working for. These were the places I sought out. It was natural for me when I came back to want to do that but I never realized I would be ahead of my time here with local foods. Being a small restaurant certainly made it easier. I did not need 100 of this or 100 of that. I also did not mind if I had 10 of say a local ribeye. Having the waitstaff tell someone as a special and when it was gone it was gone. This is a good way to highlight local ingredients by running them as specials. The secret is making sure it is crossed of the chalkboard and letting the waitstaff now before going to another table. In the beginning I became known as the “woman’s restaurant” or a “vegetarian restaurant.” Woman would say, “my husband would like to eat here but he says the portions are too small.” This is where I feel chains ruin people. Do you really need a cinnamon roll the size of your head. Quantity is more important than quality. It was quite a struggle the first few years. I decided to close for lunch and just focus on dinner. My local bread source was closing and I would not longer have access to sandwich bread or focaccia for lunch which played into my decision. Closing for lunch allowed me to cook all day. Creating a larger array of desserts for dinner, spending the time to make a pheasant terrine for dinner. It allowed me to breathe a little easier. When it came time to walk away from the stove, it was my decision. I had put Rapid City on the map and am proud to say that the restaurant renaissance that followed over the years was because of The Corn Exchange and my resilience. When people meet me they here my soft voice and see my kindness. Don’t be fooled by that and think I am soft and a pushover. I am a force of nature to be reckoned with.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.chefmjadams.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/chefmjadams?utm_source=qr
- Facebook: Chef MJ Adams
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/mj-adams-16934512
- Twitter: Chef MJ Adams @chefmjadams
- Other: https://linktr.ee/chefmj