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Retro Bizzaro pastry chefs: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
This Valentine’s Day weekend, I couldn’t resist showing off the fridge of Michael and Amanda Joyner of Retro Bizzaro, mainly so I could retell their tale of falling in love in pastry chef school.
Back in 2005, they were in the same class at the Texas Culinary Academy. They’d gotten off on the wrong foot when Amanda asked Mike if she could partner up with him on a project, and he replied, according to her, “Don’t you know who I am? I work alone.” The rivalry began. Once, she tried to ruin his dessert by putting salt in his sugar. He would taste her desserts and tell her that they were “just OK.”
The tension was so strong between them that their instructor called them out on it one day in front of the whole class. “That’s where animosity turned into curiosity,” Amanda says. Fighting turned into play fighting and flirting. He asked out her for coffee, but she’d conveniently “forget,” until one day, he had to come by her house to drop off notes she’d missed in class. “He just grabbed me and kissed me,” she says. “We’ve been together ever since.”
Because they are both pastry chefs, they still occasionally fight in the kitchen, but now that they have two little kiddos (3-year-old Arthur, named for King Arthur flour, and 1-year-old Isabella) running around the house and are starting a new business, most of the energy goes elsewhere.
(And yes, Amanda says, that is a giant bottle opener/corkscrew on the top of their fridge.)
With Retro Bizzaro, the Joyners are bringing back old-school favorites like snack cakes, candy bars, Twinkies and other treats but making them from scratch using local and sustainably made ingredients. They’ll be selling their products at the HOPE Farmers Market at Fifth and Waller Streets starting Feb. 21, and Amanda says they are on the hunt for a trailer. You can also place orders online.
They’ve also launched a video blog in which they answer questions — mainly gathered from Twitter — about the world of pastry-making.
“He’s good at the science behind pastries, and I’m good at design and flavor,” Amanda says. “It’s a good combo like sweet and salty: two completely different flavors but great depth together.”
What three things are always in your fridge? Amanda’s bacon jam, yogurt (for Arthur), and fresh veggies
What’s your favorite condiment? Amanda’s is hot sauce and Michael’s is mustard.
What’s the strangest ingredient you’ve ever incorporated into a dessert? We do a lot of experimenting in the kitchen with all sorts of things, but the strangest ingredient would be cilantro, which Michael used in a citrus sauce for a key lime pie. Amanda says she’s used jalapeños in a lime pot de creme with caramelized jalapeño chips. “I liked it even if no one else ate it,” she says. “This was way back in the day before spicy was in.”
Photos by Amanda Joyner.
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By Kay
February 12, 2010 3:22 PM | Link to this
What a great love story!
By enerislaplece
May 9, 2011 11:22 PM | Link to this
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