Graham Elliot deftly positioned romaine hearts Monday night onto several sparkling white bowls, telling the staff with him in the kitchen at Horse Thief Hollow in Chicago’s Beverly community that “this is how it’s done.”
The 38-year-old celebrity chef took a break, of sorts, this week from managing his Randolph Street restaurant, Graham Elliot Bistro, to promote a new recipe book that attempts to solidify his interpretive style of cooking.
“There’s a lot of philosophy in it, my culinary manifesto, ways to cook and then the idea that everything is open to interpretation, how you want to mix and match different ingredients,” Elliot said. “There’s no right or wrong.”
Elliot, who co-hosts television cooking shows on the Fox network, is friends with Neil Byers, owner of Horse Thief Hollow, a craft beer bar and restaurant at 10426 S. Western Ave. The pair spent more than two months crafting a dinner event that also, they say, served as a chance to show off some of the best the Southland has to offer.
“This business represents everything I believe in,” said Byers, who opened Horse Thief Hollow in 2013. “What I’m trying to do with this business is bring recognition to all the talents that the South Side has. This is a great way to do that, with Graham and his food and the beer that we’re brewing.”
Five hours after notice of the dinner went up on social media, Byers had received more than 300 dinner reservations for what originally was a one-night seating. Sunday night sold out in four minutes, so a dinner was added for Monday. Tables for the second night sold out at a slightly slower pace, in about 14 minutes.
Byers wants to find more opportunities for Horse Thief Hollow to get the beers it brews into Chicago restaurants and other markets downtown. He plans to start distribution, buy the building north of the bar and double the size of the brewery in the future.
“I want to be the Revolution of the South Side,” Byers said, referring to a North Side brewing company.
In the calm before Monday night’s seating, Elliot buzzed between the salad station and the stove tops, where he sampled his short rib stroganoff. A few minutes later, he was leaning against the wall and chatting with restaurant staff about popular music and the power of social media.
Elliot lived downtown, closer to his restaurant, for years. But five years ago, he and his wife Allie, 30, a native of the Beverly area, bought a 140-year-old home in the Morgan Park community. The couple have three boys, ages 3, 5 and 8.
The chef said moving away from the hustle makes him more “centered and grounded” and allows him the freedom to not be “on” all the time while living downtown.
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“I’ll film ‘MasterChef,’ ‘MasterChef Junior,’ do these events, and people will think that I live in L.A.,” Elliot said. “This is where my kids go to school, where I live, where I have my restaurant down in the West Loop. It’s definitely the place I call home.”
Elliot’s book, “Cooking Like a Master Chef,” is available on Amazon and in bookstores. His restaurant, Graham Elliot Bistro, is in Chicago’s West Town community at 841 W. Randolph St.
Nick Swedberg is a freelance report for the Daily Southtown.