The Beginning -- The Irregardless Café
An abbreviated history of a 45-year career as chef/owner of an innovative fresh food restaurant in Raleigh, N.C.
When I was in college at UNC-Chapel Hill, I started cooking for myself and friends. I applied to the Culinary Institute of America and wanted to train as a chef. They suggested that I should have at least a year of professional cooking experience. So in 1975 I got together two friends, found an old building in Raleigh, and we opened the restaurant, The Irregardless Café, on a shoestring budget.
At the time most of the food scene in Raleigh was cafeteria-style — big buffet-style meals with salt- and sugar-heavy menus. There weren’t many restaurants or ethnic options except a few Chinese restaurants. Certainly, there were no vegetarian restaurants. I wanted the community to have a choice to enjoy food that would promote their good health.
Business took off like a rocket, and I never considered the Culinary Institute again.
Instead, I learned from people that I met that were good cooks; I’d invite them into the Café’s kitchen to show me how they cooked dishes from their homeland and to teach me their culinary techniques.
And I realized, too, how important it was to get the right ingredients, particularly high-quality produce. I’d go to the farmers market in Raleigh daily, and often I was the only chef there. I got to know lots of local farmers. Initially I’d haggle with them to get the best prices possible, but it finally dawned on me that I should always pay the farmer their price because they were the most important link in the food system.
Whatever produce was available — and local — that day would determine what appeared on the menu. At first, we only had four fresh entrees each day.
Over the years we began locking in certain entrees and then we began expanding what we offered, though the extra entrees would vary according to what was available.
We were pioneers. At first we were completely vegetarian, but in 1977 we added a fish entree — based on what was available from a local fish market that went to the coast every day — and two years later, we added poultry. The emphasis, though, was that we provided fresh, healthy, local food prepared well, served with a smile and at an affordable price.
In 1978 we were the first restaurant in Raleigh to have Sunday Brunch — and at a fixed price so that as soon as you sat down, the server would bring coffee, tea, juice and freshly baked coffee cake.
From our earliest days, we also provided live music, something we continued for 45 years. This fit our belief that eating a meal should be an experience, that the atmosphere was important for an enjoyable meal.
Our biggest crisis as a restaurant was also one that cemented our values and our future direction. In 1994, the Café had a serious fire in the middle of the night, closing it down for 11 months. During the reconstruction period, I paid my staff full wages if they would volunteer at a non-profit agency. It seemed a natural thing to do, an act of respect to the staff who worked so hard and were so much a part of the success of the kitchen and the restaurant.
The reconstruction allowed us to build a totally new and efficient kitchen that could increase our efficiency and improve the quality of what we presented to customers. We also took the occasion of re-opening to introduce a meat entree — also using largely local meat.
But Irregardless remained focused on vegetarian fare and over time other restaurants began following our lead. As our grandmothers used to tell us, “Eat your vegetables.” Today nutrition experts tell us that our grandmothers were right: 50% of our diet needs to be fruits and vegetables.
On January 1, 2020 I sold the restaurant after 45 years, working seven days a week except for an occasional vacation. I was happy to release the stress.
But now it is time to give back, to honor those who taught me so much along my career.
So I will be sharing tips and techniques (Cooking), stories of my experiences (Philosophy) and, of course, specific and detailed Recipes.
Enjoy.