Ex-Publix GreenWise Corporate Chef – Scott Andres is Florida’s Food Liaison – Part 2

Part Two–Part One was featured on April 6, 2012.

This is just in: Chef Andres has named his food truck: “CRButts smoke”

Scott Andres- Florida’s latest Food Truck Chef to enter Tampa Bay’s Foodie scene.

As a creative; I want to create. Whether it is written words or complex delicacies that build an edgy spark for your tastebuds. These words are screaming in my mind while listening to Chef Scott Andres talk.

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The pearl that one discovers while writing about cooking with a Fusion cuisine head is that there are no limits to your subsequent footing. (the foodbrat)

As a Florida culinary creative, you always strive to produce new compositions and new-fangled twists on cookery classics. That is where Food Trucks and Fusion Cuisine have made a big impact with seriously experimental chefs. Doing it with style is what any chef tries to accomplish to gratify his characteristic Top Chef’s golden-era head, as he works to build a treasure trove of ingredients spiked with bold and sassy flavors of cultures from around the World.

A chef’s responsibility is to keep true to his own culinary foundations while building upon BLUNT bedrock to his culinary esteem. We as creatives have found these descriptors are our lineage and our future. Tomorrow’s cuisine necessitates the establishment of an innovative cuisine based upon culinary classics that are newly fused with innovative cookery philosophies. This is how Fusion Cuisine and Food Trucks are going to blossom.

Throughout the centuries, change arose this way. Every innovative culinary break through began by first using the current culinary wisdom and augmenting it with a new hook.

Back to our interview with Chef Scott Andres.
Throughout America, today’s hottest culinary trend is operating a Food Truck. The entirety of what Food Trucks are doing is different business-wise yet, is based upon what has come before it.

Before it all Started….
As we left off in our first part of this interview, Chef Scott Andres was describing his experiences developing new menus and a gourmet culinary concept for the prolific grocery store chain – Publix | Greenwise market. (the FoodBrat)

Years before the first Publix GreenWise concept was constructed in 2007, Chef Scott Andres worked on defining this project with top Publix Executives. Due to his life-long culinary experience and Fusion Food philosophies he would define their new globally-inspired Fusion menu strategies used at all new GreenWise markets. That is when the ball started rolling and Chef Andres ideas were implemented at multiple high-trafficked Publix markets.

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Lake Mary (Florida) Publix was the first regular Publix to be retro-fitted with the new gourmet-market menu marquee and it became his recipe testing ground for all other Greenwise market concepts to follow. This beta situation helped with framing new GreenWise menu strategies and hundreds of recipes which developed an abundant following.

Fusion Food Chef Scott Andres harkens back to the time when he was a young foodie, all the way back to when his mother taught him about the classic American home-style “comfort foods”. He maintains, “Everyone I know loves recipes such as: beef Stroganoff, Shepherd’s pie and Brown gravy, simmered pork chops with buttery White rice and, they still hold a special spot in my heart. To this day I use them to evaluate any of the new, yet wonderfully intricate recipe that I create.”

A Journey that starts now….
“My life’s journey has afforded me what I consider to be my biggest challenge and greatest opportunity yet. It seems as though I am going to finally create and cultivate what I set out to do when I began attending culinary school many years ago”, Chef Andres admits. “I am discovering my aloof dream by fashioning a mobile bistro from the ground up. My vision will be on wheels, not your usual brick and mortar restaurant, that young chefs dream about. I am creating my culinary legacy for myself and my forthcoming family.”

“It will be a full-on kitchen Food Truck concept. My dream is to create a professional mobile kitchen based inside an edgy logo-wrapped truck with a boisterous menu that has a funky name for funky-little menus that vaunt plenty of personality and of course a brilliantly executed dishes. The concept will center around smoked meats offered with a variety of traditional barbecue sides. The smoked meats will be served in non-traditional ways by incorporating many boldly flavored personalities from formable cuisines such as: Southwest, Indian and Asian influences,”,states the chef.

From the Chef:
“The goal is to incorporate as many fresh components as possible as a way to accent the smoked meats and set them off with complementary and assertive hand prepared sauces.

“In some dishes the smoked meat may stand alone and others will BE FASHIONED as hand held, dashboard cuisine-style dishes. The smoked meat may be served on a warm flatbread or tortilla then garnished with additional fresh ingredients that add color, textures and flavors to enhance the presentation and the overall eating experience. We will also provide daily changing chef inspired creations to keep the menu options new and exciting.

“I wish I could tell you the name of the food truck at this time but, you’ll have to stay tuned for that information at a later date.”

“The truth is, I have not been able to land on the definitive name. Trust me this will be an exciting time for everyone pursuing the same goal. During the phase of recipe development and menu targeting, I will be merging emphasis on building in a streamlined linear menu execution plan that can be replicated for additional trucks or a brick and mortar location. My ultimate goal would be to create a food brand with such a committed customer following that franchising will be a possibility down the road.”

Any thoughts about the growing trend – of chefs putting their own name on packaged foods?

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“When I was a young cook I remember having a few buddies that went into construction and were making much better money than me; they were usually done working by 3 pm; holidays and weekends were always taken off. I did not care because I had found harmony in my life and money did not matter (Ok, I was a little confused). Then, I worked for a chef who was pretty famous, had multiple restaurants and was making loads of money”. He asked, “why did I cook for a living?” “I said because it is my passion.”

He looked me in the eye and said, “Passion does not pay the bills, money does. You should do whatever it takes to make as much money as possible because there are very few old chefs that are still successful cooking on the line at 60 years old.”

Chef Adres went on to say, “So, I am good with chefs that put their names on packaged foods.”

Part 3 will be published on April 10, 2012.

About Michael Bennett:

Michael’s status as a chef and author has been highlighted in publications that include; the New York Times, Ocean Drive magazine, Cooking Light magazine, Travel and Leisure magazine and National Culinary Review as well as his cookbooks being highly placed on Amazon’s cookbook list. He has appeared on television cooking segments and has been featured as one of South Florida’s pivotal figures in the Florida’s exotic tropical fusion cooking. Michael Bennett is a well-known,award winning chef – as Chef of the Year – whose clients are a Who’s Who of Media and Sports personalities. He earned critical culinary kudos as the Executive chef for the 26 year, culinary tour d’ force – Left Bank restaurant. Under his auspices he brought the restaurant its first ever Best of -Zagat Survey, Four Stars – AAA and Four Diamonds -Mobil. He is affiliatted with several culinary and food-related organizations.

You can find out more: http://www.foodbrats.com