Nathan Anda
Nathan Anda didn't settle on a culinary career until he'd been on his own for awhile. Nathan left New Hampshire to go to college, first in Nebraska and then at school in Charlottesville, Virginia. He enjoyed making extra spending cash by working in area restaurants. To try something different, Nathan spent the summer before his senior year working in an office from nine to five. He knew right away that he could never do that again.
With only one semester left before graduating, Nathan left school and started to toss around ideas of what to do next. He really enjoyed working in restaurants so he decided to take cooking seriously and headed back to New England to attend NECI. Nathan understood that he needed to get rid of the bad habits he had developed working in restaurants and figured that with NECI's small class size he'd be able to work closely with the instructors. Going to NECI was a "no brainer."
Nathan arrived in June for the Culinary Arts AOS program. He considers himself lucky that his classmates already had a lot of experience in the kitchen. His group had a kitchen mentality and came together quickly to work hard, learn and have fun. He remembers his AM Chef's Table class during foliage season. Lots of pressure, lots of work and really crazy!
Wishing to return to Charlottesville, Nathan found an internship at the Ivy Inn Restaurant, a wonderful place just outside of town. It was here that he started working with local farmers, who would show up at the back door to offer their produce. While on his internship, he met Chef Todd Gray and did some stages at The Equinox. This fine dining restaurant, a block from the White House, showed Nathan a significantly elevated cuisine from what he knew. Before he returned to NECI he arranged for his second internship to be at The Equinox.
After 15 months at The Equinox, Nathan was looking for a change. The late hours and intense work conditions made him dream of a day job - if only so he could have a more normal life. The fact that he had met the woman of his dreams was just another factor! Nathan worked at Ceiba, a Latin inspired restaurant, for only two months before he acknowledged to himself that the hours and craziness really was the life he wanted.
It was fortunate that just as Nathan was ready to return to the kitchen rat race, Chef Todd Gray was looking for help to open another restaurant, Market Salamander, in Middleburg, Virginia. Nathan returned to work for Chef Gray and opened the new place. However, it still wasn't perfect.
Nathan finally found a home as Executive Chef at Tallula Restaurant, a part of the Neighborhood Restaurant group. The restaurant group had an interesting concept - two distinctly different restaurants sharing a single kitchen. With Nathan at the helm, they opened Tallula, a fine dining restaurant and two years later, EatBar, a gastro pub. Needless to say, it wasn't easy. With two menus at once, the kitchen staff never knew what kind of meal was being prepared next. In the beginning it was hard to find the rhythm.
But Nathan knew what his priorities were and he started to make those old connections with local farmers to make sure his product was of the absolute highest quality. It was interesting to him that all the restaurants in the city used the exact same meats from the exact same purveyors. Nathan wanted to have quality meats at a good price so he started buying whole animals and converted an old receiving area into a butcher shop.
Having never learned how to butcher an animal, Nathan taught himself how to process the meat. It was like a treasure hunt. As he learned to breakdown the animal he'd discover different cuts, the tenderloin, the top round, and of course some cuts he had never used. It was exciting to have fresh cuts of meat that used to come to the restaurant in a cyrovac bag!
Though he started small, with just half of a cow, Nathan was soon receiving a whole cow and pig each week. He remembers calling the farmer who sold him his beef to ask for his first whole cow. The farmer, not used to delivering an entire animal, put the cow in his pick up truck and drove into Arlington! It was a sight to be seen - and Nathan and the farmer soon found a better way transport the meat. It wasn't long before Nathan was fully utilizing the animals he purchased. With two distinctly different restaurants, the high end cuts ended up at Tallula's while the ground beef and pork belly would go to the bar.
Nathan feels very fortunate to work for the restaurant group. As his butchering operation grew, Nathan realized he really wanted to spend his time learning charcuterie instead of in the kitchen. The owners of the restaurant group let him run with his ideas and Red Apron Butchery opened last spring. Nathan is putting all his efforts into developing the butcher business and hopes to purchase a larger production facility and open a retail shop soon.
For Nathan, cooking is still in his blood. He enjoys experimenting with different flavors to make his sausage and cured meats. If a chef has an idea for a dish, the two will brainstorm and cure a meat with ingredients that will go into the final dish. However, patience is required. From inspiration to a final cured product can take over two months. Flavors as diverse as cumin, coriander, cinnamon, chocolate or vanilla can end up flavoring Red Apron's sausages and cured meats and Nathan has developed over 30 different recipes.
Nathan doesn't plan on moving on anytime soon. He has found a niche for himself with Red Apron Butchery that combines his love for the culinary arts as well as his desire to work closely with farmers and their local product. There still is much to learn, but Nathan looks forward to his next culinary experiment and his next sausage creation.