OFFER IS GOOD THROUGH FRIDAY (04/15/2012) 11:59 EST
This weekend only!!! Have 5 of your friends “Like” us on Facebook,
follow us on twitter,or sign up for our newsletter@ stovemonkeys.com
and get a free shirt. Have 10 of your friends signup and get 3 free shirts.
Have your referrals send us a message with your name and you
will be contacted to get shipping information.
Easiest way to tell your friends would be to just forward this email……..
I had the privilege of meeting Chad from Chadzilla while doing some work in Florida a few years back. I also met “Chef K”, Executive Chef of The International Trump Hotel in Hollywood, FL. After connecting with these guys, I called them up to attend a dinner called “Paradigm”. The dinner was an oppurtunity for the two chefs along with the staff to be creative & break out of the resort focused kitchen. You can find the courses posted on the blog along with what worked, what didn’t, and how to alter recipes. Not only is the blog about food, but is focused in foward thinking, but you fall in love with the personality of Chad and Kurt. These guys have great attention to detail, while still having fun in the kitchen & having no trouble drinking “High Life” (The Hillbilly Bubbly). This is a philosophy of mine and continues to shine through Stove Monkeys. Taste the food you cook, laugh with your guests, and punch the cook next to you.
Also, check out something Chef “K” & Chad do on Super Bowl Sundays. Sol Kitchen will deliver dishes “Sol” food for your tailgates on Sunday in Miami. For inquiries email solkitchenmiami@hotmail.com
This great forward thinking restaurant has closed it’s doors. Ferran Adria has decided to focus his culinary talents on creating an elite institution for chefs. Very exciting for the continued evolution of food!
Anthony & I heard of Flavor Tripping three years ago, and decided to throw a party. The party was a “trip” & since then we have teamed with Mberry for future parties. Mberry has taken the evolution a step further by teaming with Homaro Cantu of Moto & ING located in Chicago. Watch the video below to get an idea of how the miracle berry can improve the foods and drinks we consume daily.
We are introducing “Save The Foie” #2 in a few weeks. Our first “Save The Foie” design was a gamble. Anthony and I we’re not sure what kind of response we would receive. But holy shit you guys helped us sell a lot of fatty liver shirts. So please continue the consumption of fattened goose liver while eating and cooking it!
Chef Matthew Mytro owner of Stove Monkeys & Crisp Catering has teamed up with The Emerging Chefs again to create an outside POP-UP restaurant. Get your tickets before someone eats them all. http://emergingchefs10.eventbrite.com/
Wow, this past Naked Sushi was sexy, fresh, and tasty. Crisp Catering did an amazing job along with Dante Boccuzzi creating an amazing food event. Thanks to the Sponsors Stove Monkeys, Ginko, Happy Endings, Suite Sixx & Liquid, Kirin Ichiban, Grey Goose Le Poire, Harpin Lager, and Loud Mute Productions.
VIDEO FROM CASE WALTERS OF NEW LIGHT FILMS
For private naked sushi parties email Matt matt@crispflavor.com
Being a chef and having to slave in the kitchen all summer long can tend to suck. That’s why I look foward to a great summer jam band like 311. Below is a list of shows + a new album will be released July 19th. Also I’ll be wearing “Who’s Got The Herb”n T-shirt at all the shows.
07/08 – Bonner Springs, KS @ Capitol Federal Park at Sandstone
07/09 – St. Louis, MO @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
07/12 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
07/13 – Detroit, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theater
07/14 – Chicago, IL @ Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island
07/16 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
07/17 – Columbus, OH @ Lifestyles Community Pavilion
07/21 – Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Art Center
07/22 – Wantagh, NY @ Nikon at Jones Beach Amphitheatre
07/23 – Boston, MA @ Comcast Center
07/25 – Bethel, NY @ Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
07/26 – Philadelphia, PA @ Penn’s Landing
07/28 – Virginia Beach, VA @ Farm Bureau Live at VA Beach
07/29 – Washington, DC @ Jiffy Lube Live (Nissan Pavilion)
07/30 – Atlanta, GA @ Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood
08/01 – Charlotte, NC @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
08/02 – Raleigh, NC @ Time Warner Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek
08/04 – Live Oak, FL @ Pow Wow Festival
08/05 – Live Oak, FL @ Pow Wow Festival
08/06 – Live Oak, FL @ Pow Wow Festival
08/11 – Lake Charles, LA @ L’Auberge Du Lac Casino
08/12 – Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
08/13 – Dallas, TX @ GEXA Energy Pavilion
08/14 – Austin, TX @ TBA
08/16 – Denver, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
08/17 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Usana Amphitheatre
08/19 – San Diego, CA @ Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
08/20 – Irvine, CA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
08/21 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl
08/23 – San Francisco, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View
08/25 – Eugene, OR @ Cuthbert Amphitheatre
08/26 – Seattle, WA @ Marymoor Amphitheatre
I’m going to three shows this year which include Columbus, Pittsburgh, PA and the Pow Wow Festival in FL. Twitter us on what show’s your going to this year @stovemonkeys
At most restaurants, the kitchen is the toughest room in the house. Sure, the big show goes on in the dining room, but it’s in the kitchen where the real firepower burns.
It’s hot. It’s crazy busy. And the pressure does not let up.
That is why Dante Boccuzzi, owner of Dante in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood, has a favorite observation when anyone on the cooking line grouses and complains.
“Shut up and cook!” he yells.
That potent command promptly landed as the motto on one of chefs-wear designer Matt Mytro’s best-selling products.
Mytro is the creative force behind Stove Monkeys urban chef wear, a line of T-shirts geared toward chefs, foodies and others devoted to the culinary world. The line of clothing has an irreverent and provocative vibe.
Many of the designs are quirky takes on a food theme, like “Ideas in Food,” presenting a cracked egg that reveals a light bulb in the yolk, or “I Love Pork,” featuring the traditional chart of cuts of meat. Another shirt sporting a bold goose and the proclamation “Save the Foie” (think Dan Aykroyd as Julia Child) is a popular seller. Some lean toward the gross, such as an array of charcuterie dripping blood; others are more provocative, like the tee festooned with bouquets of oregano, dill, cilantro and other aromatics, topped with the question “Who’s Got the Herb?” — street slang for marijuana.
“The whole idea is to be playful and imaginative — not so serious,” says Mytro, 28.
The Stove Monkey brand is whimsical all on its own. It’s a not-so-polite reference to life in the chefs’ lane, where young dudes deadly serious about what they do in the kitchen don’t necessarily take themselves all that seriously.
“We’re ’stove monkeys’ because we’re always monkeying around in the kitchen, spoofing each other and having some fun while we turn out all this really good food,” Mytro says. “If there are people who take it as an offensive term, then let them. I’d say 90 percent of the people like the creativity.”
Mytro himself is a chef. Born in El Paso, Texas, he was raised in New Braunfels, Texas, before moving to Northeast Ohio and graduating from Euclid High School in 2001. Mytro went on to work in various Cleveland- area restaurants — including stints at Crop, Paladar, Lockkeepers and Boulevard Blue — as well as the Boca Raton Resort & Club in south Florida. These days he operates Crisp Catering and specializes in events, such as staging the Naked Sushi series in partnership with Boccuzzi.
When the peripatetic young chef was looking for a new enterprise, he and a childhood friend, Anthony Lynch, came up with the apparel concept.
“As a chef, you eat, breathe and sleep cooking. But not every chef feels comfortable in ‘whites,’ ” Mytro says, referring to the traditional kitchen uniform of a stiff, white double-breasted jacket; black-and-white checked pants; and, typically, a white hat referred to as a toque. “Even if they do, why not give the chefs something that reflects their passion for outside of the restaurant? A lot of us want to wear something casual after hours — so you’re walking down the street and you see the logo and you know that person is a chef, or a foodie, someone who really loves the whole food thing.
“It’s definitely the camaraderie,” Mytro says, adding, “Food is one of those things that brings people together, a feel-good thing. It’s a conversation starter.”
As Stove Monkeys took shape, Mytro, who refers to himself as “the creative side,” realized he would have to do some marketing to spread the word. That’s when he got friend and colleague Boccuzzi on board.
“It’s a Cleveland company, which is great, and I thought it was cool promotional items that cooks and restaurant people would relate to,” Boccuzzi says. The “Shut Up and Cook” shirt reflects a personal philosophy, he says, but the chef also boasts a shirt featuring his likeness (including his signature touch of facial hair, a soul patch) with a more mellow message: “Got Soul?”
From there, other opportunities arose — such as when Boccuzzi’s own mentor, famed New York City chef Charlie Palmer, had his annual “Pigs and Pinot” benefit on the horizon in Healdsburg, Calif., and Stove Monkeys created a shirt for the occasion.
With more than 5,000 shirts sold thus far, Mytro has both high hopes and modest expectations. He’s hoping sales will gradually generate enough money to open his own restaurant and shop where food lovers can enjoy daily specials, buy takeout and browse among funky kitchen items, such as reconditioned vintage KitchenAid mixers and customized cutting boards.
To do that, sales have to grow, he says. But his destination isn’t a display at Macy’s or a glossy insert in the Sunday paper. “But frankly, it’s not the Bobby Flays and Michael Symons that we’re aiming for — no offense to them,” Mytro says. “We’re more of a counterculture thing than a celebrity brand. We want to get them onto the guys who are line chefs, maybe front of the house [waitstaff]. Kind of grass roots, you know?
“And if they wear them, the word will spread. If they do, all we ask is ‘Would you, you know, put out the word and send us some love?’ That’s how it’s going to grow for us.”
Kombucha is a fermented tea and contains amino acids, active enzymes, organic acids, & probiotics.
I was first introduced to this a few years ago in Arkansas from a “Hippie” sous chef. This dude was a health nut and I shrugged this drink off. I ran into this product again the other day and stocked my refrigerator! I have offically fallen in love with this drink and encourage all my “foodies”, chefs, & “hippies” to try.
Where To Buy
Local Coffee Shop or Health Food Store
Check out GT’s Kombucha! I prefer the Multi-Green.
Yesterday was the release of TV ON THE RADIO’S - Nine Types of Light. I totally dig this album as each and every song is unique. Check out this video! Pick this album up for increased flavor power. www.tvontheradio.com
Another album I suggest on picking up is any Sage Francis album. Lyrics are uniqe and twisted. www.sagefrancis.net
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As a chef you can't make a great meal with poor ingredients and the same holds true with anything that you do in life. We pride ourselves in the quality of our work and stand behind each product. We know that the character of our merchandise speaks for itself and that you are proud to represent as a "Stove Monkey".
