Joanne Chang: Flour Bakery and Myers + Chang, Boston
Profile THREE in this series: Boston Chefs and the Covid-19 Pandemic
Photos by Kristin Teig
Food is a sensitive topic. It’s made up of memories, traditions and customs. You have people who have enough. You have people who don’t. Today, the pandemic is creating a larger group of those who would have to go without if it weren’t for those who are willing to share.
As Boston area chefs lay claim to their home kitchens once again, they have not closed themselves off from what’s going on beyond their doorsteps. Taking precautions to stay safe, they continue to serve their communities when and where they can. They (virtually) open their pantries and homes to us, sharing creative recipes and insights for how we will make it to the other side of this pandemic if we work together.
It is sharing and supporting others that defines the new normal.
What are your thoughts right now in the peak moment of the pandemic crisis?
We are in total survival mode! Trying every day to figure out how to operate in whatever way we can that is safe for our teams and our guests. No one knows how long this is going on for and so we have short term goals as well as longer term goals. If ever the expression “baby steps” applied. ... Caution is the only absolute rule of conduct to our current strategy.
When the guidelines were released in mid-March, what were your immediate thoughts?
I didn’t know what to think. Sometimes you just have to trust in government. I did not think the measures were draconian. At that point we had already shut down all operations. Again, we were in crisis mode, so I was just thinking about staff, families, guests, Boston—what the heck is happening? In times like these, to keep from succumbing to panic, we have to focus on the things we can do, like trying to help our teams apply for benefits, creating a fund to help those who can't apply and trying to keep others from worry and worse.
What steps did you take to prepare for the lockdown—both professionally and personally?
Professionally: We had to clear out all perishable food—we opened up the bakeries and restaurant to the staff so they could come and "free shop" with us. Anything they didn't take we immediately donated to Pine Street Inn and Women's Lunch Place. We also created bilingual Unemployment Benefit help desks at the bakeries open to all staff—sitting 6 feet apart, of course—to navigate the system. We were able to partner with Katsaroubis, our produce vendor, and offer free boxes of fresh produce to the teams as well. That was really gratifying and fun, actually. Personally: I packed our fridge with frozen dough and lots of cheese and sauce. We were going to have pizza night at the Myers and Chang household for at least a week! Or so I thought at the time.
Are you using this time to experiment with other dishes or are you not working with food at all?
Most of the baking at my house hasn’t been by me! Christopher has been baking from Pastry Love and Dorie's Cookies which has been fabulous. We have fresh baked pastries almost every day! I've been cooking a lot more though, which has been a lot of fun—we got a stack of Mi Niña tortillas from M+C before we closed so I have been frying up tortilla chips for nachos, layering tortillas for enchiladas, beans and eggs and tortillas. You get the drift. Also, we've been experimenting a lot with cocktails! Negronis, palomas, margaritas. We have cocktail hour almost every night. Again, survival mode over innovation mode is the present mentality.
Describe the differences you’ve experienced between being at home for the past five weeks as opposed to running your restaurant.
Honestly other than not running around to multiple restaurants it's not that much different. I'm still going to our production kitchen almost every day and visiting the restaurant now that we are open for takeout each day as well. Zoom meetings seemed like they would be a godsend—and they *are* helpful—but it is exponentially harder to manage a large group of people when you are not able to see them and gather as a group. We are a very touchy talky feely company. Always communicating, that’s our culture. Technology isn’t really helping...but it’s not hurting either.
Everybody’s talking about Netflix, HBO and other TV streaming, do you have any recommendations you want to share? Have you found the time to read, and if so, what are you reading now?
I'm still collecting that stack of New Yorkers from the last many months that I hope to read soon...To be honest, I’m not sure we’ve ever worked harder than we are right now. We’re not baking, but we’re thinking, talking, worrying, strategizing....praying!
What are the staples in your kitchen that you can’t do without?
Butter and bread, rice, eggs, vegetables, sriracha, cereal, milk, everything for pizza, wine.
Have you been able to keep these items in stock?
Yes! Thank god.
What is your go-to menu now that you are cooking at home?
PIZZA!!!! Salad. Repeat. Rice, mapo tofu.
What kind of safety precautions are you taking?
Masks at all times when we leave the house, gloves at all times, strictly practicing social distancing. When we shut down, Christopher had just come back from the hospital from some major surgery and we socially distanced at home for over two weeks. It was so hard!
How are you coping with stress?
I run every morning and that helps me calm my head a bit. I'm surrounded by REALLY GREAT people who help a lot, too. We are all talking every day. Keeping each other calm, to be honest.
Because of the stay-at-home rule have you been propelled to do things that you never thought you had time for? If so what?
Again, if you knew how hard we are working to stay alive, there’s about 45 people out of 500, keeping the little gears from grinding to a total halt, I haven’t had much time to do anything “new.”
Will this pandemic crisis change the way you do business in the future and if so how?
I’m not sure you have the space for how many different ways it will change the way we live, never mind do business.
Would the seating capacity of your restaurant change because of the social distancing even when the guidelines no longer exist?
I’m not sure how it couldn’t change. It has to. It’s a narrow restaurant. The bakeries are small and intimate. Both Myers + Chang and Flour are about people, closeness, neighborhood, intimacy. That’s in the DNA of the companies we’ve created. Everything will change. For now. But a smile from 10 feet is still a smile. And for the foreseeable future that will feel just as warm as a good old-fashioned hug!
Is there anything you would like to share in reflection on this crisis that we are all in together?
It’s going to sound trite. But you asked. I’ve been touched so deeply by the gratitude and prayers of our staff who have families in Latin America. I’m not a naturally religious person, but their relationship with God is hard to not appreciate. It’s life-affirming for sure. It’s only natural to think about myself, the Flour family, my own family, Boston, our guests. But it’s a global pandemic and the situation begs from all of us that we are constantly looking at the bigger picture, the poor, the elderly, medical workers, delivery personnel, Italy, Spain, NYC, Wuhan, India, the entire African continent. It’s absurd, scary and overwhelming, but we have to realize that we are all one, we have to see the world as one and we are all in this wicked crisis together. I always try to keep things in my world small, as small and focused as possible. But this requires that our heart expands in ways we’ve never attempted. We have to think bigger, to work better, and to create habits and skills that will allow us to deal with crises like this in the future with less finger pointing and more humility. Not sure where all that came from—you asked!
This interview has been edited for length and clarity; it appeared in May 2020 as an online exclusive, part of a larger series of interviews with local chefs during the Covid-19 pandemic.
