We interviewed the legendary Jimmy Schimdt, a three-time James Beard Award recipient, at The London Chop House. While the London Chop House already had a reputation as one of the Motor City's great restaurants due to the leadership of restaurant owner Lester Gruber, Chef Schmidt’s involvement made it even more well-known in the community.
After having spent years working with Madeleine Kamman, both in France and in Boston, and even working with Lester previously during his time in Boston, Chef Schmidt would find his way to Detroit. The London Chop House was only the beginning of Chef Schmidt’s career in 1977. In the 80s, he would open The Rattlesnake Club, one of Detroit’s and the nation's most respected restaurants.
We then stepped into the kitchen with Chef RJ Scherer, who gave us his perspective of what it feels like to be the chef at the London Chop House for the last 10 plus years. There was a nice moment when Chef Jimmy Schmidt came into the kitchen to meet Chef RJ for the first time.
We also filmed with world–renowned sommelier, Madeline Triffon, who stopped by to reminisce with Chef Schmidt. Triffon, who we will be interviewing soon, is not only a well-known sommelier, she was the first woman Master Sommelier in America and second woman in the world. She had worked with Jimmy at the London Chop House and again at the Rattlesnake Club. Since 2011, Triffon has been the in-house Master Sommelier for Plum Market.
Consulate of Italy in Detroit
We also had the privilege of sitting down with the Consul General of Italy for our region in North America, Paola Allegra Baistrocchi. Her duties as Consul of Italy in Detroit, comes with jurisdiction over the States of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.
Our talk with her was centered around the deep roots that the Italian community has here in Metro Detroit to the food distribution and early restaurants, all of which stemmed from the early Italian immigrants.
Since our story of Detroit's culinary heritage really starts with those early immigrants who brought foods and cooking styles from their homelands, Consul Allegra's discussion about the Italian community will be so important to the story.