back of the house - Edible Communities

ack of the house
Amaryllis
BY CHRISTA GLENNIE SEYCHEW
PHOTO BY CHRISTA GLENNIE SEYCHEW
28 EDIBLE BUFFALO | FALL 2008

“I have vegetarians coming tonight,” she says as we step off the curb and
cross Buffalo’s Main Street, home every Tuesday and Thursday during the
warm season to the Downtown Country Farmers Market. With cash in
her pocket and a messenger bag slung over her shoulder, Chef Jennifer
Stainrook, owner of Amaryllis, tells me that her regular vegetarian guests
know to call ahead so that she can make a special effort for them.
“I like to check everything out first,” she tells me, perusing the day’s offerings,
“and then go back and pick up what I need.” She selects parsley
and brussles sprouts, some fresh fruit for the evening’s galette. “A couple
of years ago, people seemed very suspicious about what I was trying to
do with my menu, but it’s so much more common today.”
Stainrook is referring to the fact that Amaryllis’ menu changes dramatically
with the season—as is the tradition with many fine restaurants—
but subtle adjustments are made often enough that the restaurant has
found it easiest to simply print the menus themselves. The everevolving
offerings can be attributed to the fact that Stainrook shops for
the restaurant’s food supply every day herself, something that European
chefs think nothing of doing but which is a rare occurrence among most
American chefs. Every day she heads out into the city to procure the
freshest local fruits and vegetables she can find. Sometimes she hits the
farmers market; other times its Guercio’s (Buffalo’s West Side import
grocery store). In some cases, she’ll even stop at Wegmans, where she
ferrets out the produce specifically identified as locally grown.
And it isn’t just the produce, though the menu’s accent on fresh and delicious
preparations is full of it. Stainrook also sources her proteins locally,
but that’s not always an easy task. She’s found a number of local
resources, but if she can’t find local, her next step is to find what’s
freshest. It’s taken her almost a year to work her way through the entire
cow purchased last year. She also sites local sources for lamb and pork.
Amaryllis is located in the lower portion of the Westbrook Apartments,
a tall building where Summer and Delaware Avenues meet. The space is
of good size and well-appointed. Though Amaryllis has a captive audience
of apartment dwellers, many of whom would be happy if she
served chicken wings and pizza, Stainrook chooses to offer healthier
preparations; nothing on her menu is fried or laden with processed
cheese. Though her sauces have roots in traditional French cookery,
she’s worked to make them lighter, more progressive. Some of these
preparations can be complicated and her flavors pairings complex, but
more often than not the food is a simple, straight-forward approach to
contemporary cuisine with an accent on freshness.
Stainrook and staff have been in this space just under three years.
Stainrook’s formal training goes back to San Francisco, where her time
at the California Culinary Institute greatly influenced the way she
thinks about food. Her instructors took their students on expeditions
to local markets and farms and impressed upon them the importance
of cooking seasonally. From there, Stainrook went to the Las Vegas
kitchen of a French chef, a place where those concepts of freshness and
seasonality were driven home. “If I had just come back to Buffalo
after school, I may have forgotten all of those things and started
cooking like everyone else. I think that being in a kitchen where those
principles were practiced every day really made a difference for me.”
Stainrook then returned to Buffalo where she cooked in many of the
city’s kitchens before opening Amaryllis. “One of the other things I took
away from my experience in Las Vegas was the family meal that was
served to the staff every night. After working in restaurants in Western
New York for a few years I saw that the employees were really disconnected
and, well, hungry.” By offering her front and back of the house
staff a good meal every night, she not only ensures that everyone is fed,
but that the team functions more like a family. “This is a business,” she
said, “and we are here to make money, but it’s more than that.
“It’s about building community,” says Stainrook. “Going to the
market and buying directly from the farmers, it gives you a sense of
community. It’s about more than the food, though the food is important.
When I go to Guercio’s, I get to know them; they know what
I want, what I’m looking for. My orders from them are always perfect.
Buying locally gives me a better product, a healthier product. It also
helps to build a better community. I want Buffalo to succeed and if
everyone tried to buy local food, they’d boost our economy.”
As she plucks the delicate buds, one by one, from a periwinkle chive
blossom, Stainrook explains to me how she feels about cooking. “The
labor of cooking is what I really love. Going to the market is fun, and
then putting it all together. And then there’s the immediate pay off
you receive from a happy customer. It’s connected to the seasons,
more connected to life, to nature. Eating is a necessity of life. In that
way it’s more rewarding than other [occupations].”
“For some people, cooking is just a job, not a love. They don’t know
any different. It’s not their fault; they’ve learned what they know from
someone else. Sure I could serve chicken wings, but that wouldn’t be
satisfying to me—or to my staff.” Stainrook holds her staff in very
high regard. “They are all passionate about food in their own rite.
We all care about what we’re doing.”
The buzzer in the expansive kitchen sounds, signaling someone’s arrival
at the front door. I follow behind Stainrook, and then linger in
the foyer while she runs up the stairs to answer the door. She immediately
pops back down, buoyantly carrying a tall, sweeping stalk of
fresh, fragrant mint. Behind her comes the head waiter, carrying his
bicycle down the stairs. “He promised me he would bring some fresh
mint in with him today”, Stainrook says, somewhat breathlessly with a
big smile on her face. “It grows in his backyard.” eB
Christa Glennie Seychew is a former food editor for a popular Buffalobased
magazine. She is currently involved in a variety of projects that
focus on supporting and nurturing Buffalo’s bounty in addition to operating
Feed Your Soul, an event production company that creates
once-in-a-lifetime experiences for those who are culinarily inclined.
EDIBLE BUFFALO | FALL 2008 29