Celebrity Visits MCC to Discuss Successful Career in Culinary Arts

By Lynn Mastrangelo

Special to the Live Wire

Staying humble and willing to learn is part of the recipe of being a successful chef, and local restaurateur Tyler Anderson should know. The 2009 winner of Food Network’s competitive cooking show “Chopped” has been a member of the celebrity chef elite since he was on the show, but still maintains he has a lot to learn.

In an event organized by the Department of Social Science and Hospitality, Anderson, who is chef and owner of Millwright’s Restaurant and Tavern in Simsbury, visited Manchester Community College Oct. 26 and spoke to an audience of instructor chefs, students, and guests in the Great Path Academy Commons. The planned slide presentation was put on hold as this award-winning chef shared his journey into some of the finest kitchens in the U.S., with disasters and disappointments along the way. He started with some basic truths about cooking and hospitality.

“You never master cooking,” he said. “You will never know everything. Keep your egos in check, and be hospitable.” Anderson said he cooks to make people happy. In his mind, it is all about hospitality, and the two cannot be taken lightly. He compared the trade to being a member of a team. Everyone must work together to obtain the desired outcome of making the customer happy and pleased enough to keep coming back and recommending a restaurant to their friends and acquaintances.

Although he is experiencing success now, Anderson said it had not always been that way. He remembered his biggest kitchen disaster: a pan of blackened, braised spare ribs that were left overnight cooking in an oven and the subsequent fire that almost took everything. Times are tough for the restaurant business since the economy declined, Anderson said. He said his restaurant managers are doing everything they can to manage costs.

Planning for the future is key, he said. “Always have money in the bank, keep working hard and providing the very best service, everything will work out the way it is supposed to,” he said, adding that as long as the money going in and going out is watched carefully, working hard and having a desire for a dream will make anything happen. Being passionate and open to learning, failing and doing it again and again is the cornerstone of his business, Anderson said.

Other topics that came up in the two hours Anderson spoke were the need for pastry chefs, the impact of traveling on a chef’s education and skill level and turkey. Anderson hates it. “Turkey is meant for Thanksgiving and sandwiches the next day,” he said. “I tried a ground turkey burger because my wife wanted me to lose weight. It was OK, but I only eat beef and pork…not turkey and especially not chopped!”

Speaking of “Chopped,” Anderson had choice words for his time on the show. “It sucked!” he said, adding that the show, whose gimmick was that contestants were asked to cook a tasty dish with unusual ingredients, was rigged for participants to fail. He noted it was just not fun and that he would never do it again.

“Giving food to judges is not the way I cook.” But his win has led to other opportunities. He said he is working on a new project with the Bravo network and he looks forward to using his gifts in that space. For now, his efforts and talent are going into Millwright’s where, Anderson said, he leads a well-matched team of professionals passionate about food, service and making their guests feel welcome. Anderson ended his presentation with some closing advice for aspiring chefs and restaurateurs.

“If we are not failing, we are not pushing hard enough,” he said. “Make friends, don’t burn bridges … and do not burn the food.”