Tailor-made menus and culinary classes with the Phantom Chef
I recently enjoyed fresh, homemade pasta in Endicott on a Saturday night. You could call it a Triple Cities tradition, except that this pasta (and red sauce, and pesto) was made collaboratively by a room full of friends and strangers, myself included. And it was delicious, thanks to good ingredients and the expert tutelage of Michelle McIlroy, the Phantom Chef.
In her newly-minted space on Downtown Endicott’s Washington Avenue, Chef Michelle is beginning to expand the potential of her business and craft. Phantom Chef has provided catering to the area since 2009, but up until recently served exclusively off-premises. The versatile kitchen is providing a place for on-premises, smaller-scale catered events, as well as classes. Which is perfect, because in addition to being a skilled, imaginative chef, McIlroy is a natural teacher.
“I love the teaching component,” McIlroy shares. “I enjoy sharing my culinary knowledge with others.”
Her knowledge stems from a variety of places and experiences. “My family is from South Africa, so there are different flavor profiles that I can bring based on the recipes that I grew up with. As I travel, and each place that I live, I see what’s out there and take from that and incorporate it into what I make.”
McIlroy studied at the Culinary Institute of America and has a foundational knowledge of French technique, but there is a singular philosophy that guides her cooking and teaching: “I just believe in fresh food. You should be preparing properly, and preparing with fresh ingredients.”
Chef Michelle has worked in food service since age 16, and always gravitated to catering. After several moves, she decided to finally start a business here, where her family is, and because she felt that this area, “needed something a little bit different” -specifically, a catering venue for smaller events that does not necessarily prepare “traditional wedding food.” Rather, she looks at all the pieces of the puzzle for each event that she caters: the people and their tastes, the venue, location, decorations, dress, the time of year, the style and feel of the event. Furthermore, McIlroy is able to borrow culinary gems from different places where she’s lived and visited, so a wedding menu may include anything from tacos to lobster rolls.
“I really take the input of the guests. I listen first, and then offer suggestions.”
As far as generic catering menus go, “I wouldn’t want that for myself, so I try to offer to others what I would want. And that’s the opportunity to provide different stuff for your day.” With the help of Chef Michelle’s knowledge and experience, clients create the menu that they desire.
In her catering as well as her classes, Chef Michelle enjoys variety. “Each menu I get to design, I get to plan, and then I get to execute. So, for me, it provides an ongoing challenge: what new menus can I design?”
She elaborates: “Someone may come to me and ask me to do something I’ve never done before, whether it’s an ethnic cuisine or perhaps it’s a dietary restriction, like vegan or gluten-free, so I need to improve my skills, in addition to providing what they need.”
Her new space has helped her to better serve clients, as well as provide a unique learning and dining experience for her students. “It’s a very mobile kitchen,” she says of open, spacious room. Her tables are on wheels, so she can move them around as the situation dictates. “Everything is designed to be flexible, and that’s really what I wanted.”
During Make Your Own Pasta Night, we worked at different stations, some of us making ricotta filling while others toasted pine nuts for pesto; later, some cranking out linguini while others hand-cut tagliatelle. The space allowed us to move around freely, and Chef Michelle’s culinary knowledge and intuitive pedagogy gave us the confidence to create an authentic product.
“I never say that I’m an expert in one cuisine, but I can pull flavors from various cuisines, and bring them into the food that I prepare.” Her courses reflect this, and her enthusiasm is infectious. “In terms of preparation, I like variety. That’s what inspires me - that every day, I’m experimenting with new flavors.” She claims to not have a favorite region for food, though she did admit to being partial towards the flavors of the Mediterranean, which she highlights in one of her classes.
Her Kids in the Kitchen classes, for ages 8-12, are also taking off and filling up quickly. For her, these classes are about “getting them interested in learning to cook, and being in the kitchen and eating real food, and saying, it’s not so hard to make something from scratch, versus buying the boxed product, or buying the frozen product.”
In terms of fostering healthy young people, this is invaluable. “I think that’s important, too, to get that word out that cooking isn’t that hard, if you learn some of the proper technique,” McIlroy reflects.
As for the kids: “They were just excited to get in the kitchen and work.”
Chef Michelle gets excited about whatever is about to be in season; that’s what dictates her menu. “As we get into spring, I look forward to doing fresh salads and grilled asparagus, and lighter food, and incorporating fresh herbs and tomatoes and strawberries, and things that are bright and fresh and seasonal in this here during the spring and summer.” She continues: “It changes, you know: in fall, I’m more excited about apples and squashes and pumpkins, and those flavors.”
Currently, McIlroy is looking to do more weekday catering, with hopes to elevate and expand these sometimes-mundane events. “If you have a lunch meeting, you can have a really interesting menu. You don’t need to have just sandwiches.”
Of her passion for cooking, Chef Michelle reveals: “It’s all about a continuous experimentation process.” Thankfully, she has structured her business so that, in literally catering to each client’s tastes and needs, she gets to do something new each day.
Phantom Chef is located at 49 Washington Avenue in Endicott. Call (607 )765-2408, or visit phantomchefcatering.com for more information on catering and classes.
