The term celebrity chef is a fairly recent addition to the American lexicon. While food is revered in many parts of the world, American tastes are just now starting to catch up. Food as a genre is exploding and just in the last few years we’ve seen new Websites, reality shows and entire networks devoted to the art of cooking. This upsurge is elevating chefs to media darlings along the same lines as actors, musicians and pro athletes. Amongst the standouts of this proliferation include the talented Carla Hall, who parlayed a catering business into a spot on Bravo’s Top Chef series and then as part of the cast of ABC’s daytime food culture show, The Chew. BlackEnterprise.com sat with Hall, who shares her view on cooking, her journey from chef to star and how the secret to her success is never forgetting to invest in her most valuable asset–herself.
How old were you when you started cooking?
I started cooking at 30. You thought I was going to say younger, right? I wanted to major in theater and attend Boston University. They didn’t accept me so I went to Howard University and majored in accounting. After I graduated, I worked at Pricewater House and then said, “I hate this.†I knew I didn’t like it and I didn’t want to be 40 years old and hate my job. So I quit and went to Paris and modeled.
Okay, so you’re modeling in Paris. When does food as a career enter your life?
It was in Paris when I realized I liked food. All the models would cook and eat and then debate on what went into different foods. I didn’t have a clue. Both of my grandmothers were great cooks and my father was a good cook and I was like, “This is amazing, all the socialization that happens in the kitchen and everything.†So I bought some cookbooks and tried to figure out what was in it. I modeled for three years then I came back to the States to live with my sister in DC and I started a lunch delivery company.
Was the lunch delivery company planned or happenstance?
I started it as a fluke. I was in Northwest DC and one of my friends from Paris moved back to DC, where she was from, and at the time I was making food for my sister’s baby shower. So my friend couldn’t make it but I told her I would bring some leftover food because she was always complaining that there was never any food in her neighborhood. And in my business mind I was thinking, Well, if she doesn’t have anything to eat then the people around her don’t either. Once a business major always one, you know. So I bring lemon blueberry bread, biscuits with smoked turkey, some random stuff and I put it into a picnic basket and went over to Kennedy St. Over there it’s doctor’s offices, hair salons, barber shops and all kinds of little businesses. And so I go inside and they’re like here’s Carla, she has a business and the people in the shop ask what’s it called and I look down at my basket and I say the Lunch Basket. They asked when I would be coming back and I was like tomorrow. And just like that it started. Within two weeks I had 14 clients and at the height of it I had 25 clients. I worked everyday for five years and after that I went to culinary school.
Some people might wonder why you decided to go to culinary school after you were already cooking professionally?
I always tell people I had the experience of cooking for people but I needed the theory. Why things worked, why things didn’t work, I didn’t know that… I used trial and error for everything. Like, why when I put my potatoes in the food processor they turned to glue. It was awesome for me to learn.
Where did you attend school and how did you transition into being a chef?
I went to L’Academie de Cuisine (Gaithersburg, MD). It was quick, a one-year program, six months in class
and six months in an externship. I had a really strong work ethic so I was ready to work what they call a half a day in the restaurant business, which is 12 hours. I had been doing that for five years. After school I worked as a Sous Chef for the Henley Park Hotel [in Downtown DC].How was the Top Chef experience? Are the challenges indicative of a quality chef?
Nobody really goes through all of that. What it does is deal with how you handle your stress. All the chefs are good. Every chef that makes it there is good. It may not always look like it, they may make mistakes, but in their own kitchen in another situation they’d be fine. It’s about how you adapt and keep your focus.
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Now you’re on daytime television. How did that gig come about?
They must have interviewed every food person across the country. So I interviewed with a bunch of people and they didn’t call me back and I was like okay. And it wasn’t until after they shot the first pilot that they called me and I had just won fan favorite from Top Chef All-Stars and I think that had a lot to do with it. I think because [ABC was] making a big change from soap operas and they were looking for people that people wanted to watch. Apparently one of the execs said, How about Carla? They called me in and Michael Symon, Mario Batali, Clinton Kelly and a couple of other people in for a retest and six days later they were like here’s the cast of The Chew. It was crazy. I was like is this serious? And everyone from the producers to the cameramen to the executives are great, it’s a beautiful place to work.
What is your role on the The Chew?
I do comfort food. Even though I’m from the south (Nashville, TN) I don’t really want be known for Southern food. I like all kinds of food. A lot of the food we gravitate towards is comfort food. I
just want to be known for food that hugs you, that inspires you to get back into the kitchen and take your power back. I consider it an honor to cook food for people and I take it very seriously. If I cook something for you, you’re saying you trust me to make something good. So what I want to do is inspire.We went through a phase when women were too proud to cook but now we’re getting back into the kitchen and with shows like this and the Food Network and Bravo people are starting to experiment more. It’s about good food. And it’s a lot easier than you think, that’s the philosophy of everyone on this show: Good food, good ingredients.
What’s the learning curve for doing a daily show like this?
This is not easy and if it looks easy that means were doing a good job. The show is real. People always say, “Well, you’ve been on TV before,†and I tell them I have but it’s another thing. People gravitated towards me and it’s about being authentic, on Top Chef I’m doing whatever I’m doing and the camera is there. They are shooting me and editing it. You figure 40 hours go into a one-hour show, here you have four minutes to make an impact. You have to pull in the audience, talk to the other hosts and make something good. When I first got here I was so robotic with trying to get the dish down that I lost who I was. I just couldn’t do it. I was worried that you would see me only as this robot. If you see the earlier shows, oh my, God, it was so bad.
So how did you make the adjustment?
Daphne [Oz] and I are the only cast members who don’t have any show hosting experience so I talk to everybody. I talk to [Executive Producer] Gordon Elliot and I do my homework. I prepare, read all of the articles that we sometimes go through; I have a teleprompter app on my iPad and I go
through my segment and read it to get better at that. I also get feedback from my friends who tell me when I stink–I don’t want those friends who tell me you’re great when you are not. Those aren’t friends, those are groupies.“Cooking with love†is a phrase that you use a lot. What is that exactly?
I always say if you’re in a bad mood the only thing you should make are reservations because all that negative energy goes into it. If you think back to something your grandmother made and I don’t care if it’s really simple, it can be a grilled cheese sandwich but it’s perfectly grilled and the cheese is melted and it’s awesome. Let’s say your wife knows you like it but she doesn’t really feel like making it then it won’t be the same. It will be jacked, bread is burnt, it’s just not right and it’s because they don’t really want to do it. That’s why I take it seriously, because you can taste the love. When someone really wants to make something for you they take and put all their pride and heart into that thing.
You’ve created something here, complete with several streams of income. How do you manage your brand?
You start by asking yourself, well, who am I? I love kids, I love empowering people so the brand starts there. When I’m dancing on the show that’s my energy, that’s me. Even though I have a manager it’s a struggle to be here in New York and have a business in DC and to have appearances to do and I’m working on completing a cookbook [out on November 6th]. But I have a good team and so the brand is all about don’t forget what you stand for and to always be authentic. That’s what I come back to every morning.