We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Clara Park. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Clara below.

Alright, Clara thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?

Any time I do a dinner for a pop-up, client or event, I always leave the guests with a little something sweet to say thank you. For a while, it was saltine toffee. I learned the recipe from Nicole Plue, a James Beard award winning pastry chef I had worked with. More recently, I did little gift bags with the “Brekkie Sandos” that I made when I was a contestant on Netflix’s “Snack v. Chef”. It can be anything and does not necessarily require that much more time but the impact is insane. I learned this from working at/dining at fine dining restaurants that sent the guests home with treats. At Bouley, they sent me home with a delicious miniature pound cake after an equally memorable dinner. At Gary Danko, they had blueberry lemon muffins that you could enjoy for breakfast the next morning. It keeps the high of the meal going and makes the guest feel special long after they’ve left the restaurant. I bake cookies all the time but the thrill of receiving a Jacques Torres fleur de sel chocolate chip cookie for the road is incredible. The ROI on little treat bags is crazy. It always cracks me up when guests insist on inhaling the treat right then and there. One guest I had told me she hid the treats so that she wouldn’t have to share with her children. Hysterical.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’ve been cooking for almost 20 years professionally. But you could say I’ve been cooking my whole life. I bought my first cookbook when I was 11 and threw my first dinner party that year as well (simple 3 course affair). I also grew up in a house where food was so important and everything was made from scratch. I think it’s also relevant to note that my parents entertained all the time. We have had parties for 200 in my parents’ home. Food, feeding people and enjoying meals together were all center stage for me growing up. I love cooking, teaching and feeding people. It should be fun for all involved. I think people tend to view cooking as a chore but it doesn’t need to be like that. I strive to make cooking more enjoyable and approachable. I love that at the end of any of my cooking classes the students seem genuinely surprised at how good the food comes out. Anyone can cook with the proper instruction. I think my classes are fun AND informative. My tone and pacing is relaxed and reassuring. There are no kitchen gods or bullies in sight.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

A very long time ago, I was tasked with serving a couple hundred fried chicken drumsticks to extremely well dressed patrons who had paid hundreds of dollars a ticket for a formal event. Even in a well equipped kitchen, this would be a challenge. However, we were in a warehouse with no indoor plumbing, cooking equipment or refrigeration. We had some rickety tables, extension cords, 2 Coleman coolers and 2 tiny Barbie fryers. I’m somewhat paranoid about salmonella and food borne illness in general. This whole scenario was my nightmare but I am not a quitter. I looked to my chef partner and said we would fry every single piece of chicken to 165 degrees F and then properly cool it before the event even began that evening. Under proper cooking and cooling procedures, the chicken would have been fine to serve but not hot and crispy. Seeing as how this wasn’t a picnic in the park but a black tie affair, I wanted to serve the best possible version of the chicken. We then did a second fry to order for the chicken for every single guest making sure to bring it to temp again. I consider it a badge of honor that numerous guests told me it was the best thing they ate all night. In most situations nothing is impossible but just extremely difficult. I told my partner, let’s just fry the drumsticks one at a time and keep going. It’s like they say, every journey begins with just a single step.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I was trained in super abusive kitchens with the old French model where anything goes. I can’t begin to tell you the verbal and emotional abuse I endured because that’s just the way it was. If you wanted to work in the best kitchens, it was a given that you would be treated poorly. When I started to run my own kitchens those same patterns of abuse and behavior emerged from me. It was horrifying to hear the same insults coming out of my mouth. One night I had a breakdown and unleashed the beast in a way that is still frightening to think about. My cooks literally looked scared of me. The next day one of my cooks took me aside and told me that the yelling and abuse were so severe that he couldn’t sleep the previous night. I was mortified and embarrassed. I apologized profusely to him and the rest of my team and swore it would never happen again. I always look at that night as a turning point where I saw what I had become and knew it wasn’t who I wanted to be. My approach is more encouraging and less punishing these days.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.claraparkcooks.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/claraparkcooks/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claraparkcooks/