Know your chefs interview series, episode 1.

One part Head Chef, one part simple food enthusiast, Josh Henderson makes plain what good food is – and isn’t. Since 2007, he has created a loyal following with Skillet Street Food (best known by the iconic Airstream trailer seen around western WA) and most recently, Skillet Diner. Henderson extrapolates on sustainable living, upcoming trends, as well as how (and how not) to maximize a culinary education – all over a round of IPAs at his go-to neighborhood spot, The Pub at Third Place.

–Ashley Davidson, food writer, The Monarch Review

A: How did Skillet come about, and why a food truck at first?

JH: I didn’t want to work in restaurants, and I felt like there was a niche that was not being explored. I love the idea of promising low, delivering high. In a trailer, you get that. It felt like it would be an easy win – to do food that people were blown away by, but in an environment that they weren’t expecting it. The time was ripe.

A: How has the food truck culture changed since Skillet?

JH: Street food is not a foreign concept. You go around the world and it’s everywhere – it was only a matter of time before it was coming here [to Seattle]. It’s not like we created a vaccine for polio. It was time, and people were ready, and it worked.

A: What was the transition like from food truck to sit-down diner? How did the four years of food-truckery influence the way you run Skillet now?

JH: The thing about food trucks is, they have a revenue ceiling. They are so much harder than a restaurant from a logistical standpoint. You’re constantly beating up your trailer. It’s just so much harder. So, the restaurant seemed easy, honestly – compared to the food truck. It still does today. Obviously, the diner is a success – far and away more successful than the trailer. But the only reason the diner is as successful as it is is because of the trailer. There’s equity that you put in a trailer – [in the form of] brand and customers. It may not necessarily translate to the bank but you’re brand-building.

A: Do you often have to make moral decisions between the quality/sustainability of food and price?

Yes. There’s always compromises. Looking back, there’s nobody who could say they do it perfectly – it’s impossible. You have to be able to say, ‘I did more than I did less.’ When you’re younger you think in absolutes. You realize, as you go on, that that there’s a lot of – I don’t like to use the word compromises – but gray areas. Because in the end, you have to ask, ‘What is the end goal?’ Make sure you keep the end goal in sight, and be proud of what you do. At Skillet we make fried chicken sandwiches; that’s not amazing cuisine from a world perspective. But, at the same time, I am proud of what we do. We take care and time. It’s not something we drop out of a bag. That’s all you can ask. As a chef, you look at little things. Do you buy chicken from a small farm at double the price, or do you buy it from a cheaper producer that’s not as pristine but still ethically raised? Does somebody want to pay $18 for a chicken sandwich? At Skillet, you couldn’t charge $18 for a chicken sandwich. No, people want to pay $12. But restaurants will need to continue to increase [prices], and people have to change their expectations. I would rather go out of business charging the price I need to make it right for everybody involved, rather than do a disservice and go out.

A: What do you cook for yourself at home?

JH: Basic stuff like pastas – fresh pastas. One-pot dinners. I don’t get too crazy. My go-to is, honestly, good salami and cheese. Or tamales.

A: Do you make them from scratch?

JH: Sometimes I make them, but you can find great tamales in the city. Especially when you have children, which I do, you’ve got to keep it as simple as possible. We push the boundaries with [our son] Huck – but, he’s a kid. He’ll eat crackers all day. He does love vegetables though. In fact, we can’t get him to eat meat.

A: Where do you shop?

JH: Trader Joes. So damn cheap! And, you know, that’s probably the majority. I try and stay away from the Safeway’s and QFC’s. I feel like, if you’re going to go to those stores, you’re going for the cost. Trader Joe’s is cheaper than both. From a quality standpoint, I shop at the markets. Trader Joe’s isn’t local, but I certainly can’t afford to shop at Whole Foods. It’s kind of insulting – so fucking expensive. Good food is so out of reach for normal people. You either give up time and buy cheaper cuts of meat and vegetables, or spend money on convenience.

A: Any solutions to this problem?

JH: I think the number one, people are going to have to get used to spending money on food. I think they should. In this country, we have a skewed opinion on how cheap food should be. I think people’s expectations of what food is supposed to cost are going to need to adjust. I also think that you’re going to see conventional food start to increase in price. Hopefully it comes to the point that we won’t see a difference between the organic, local food and the manufactured mass-produced food. That will make it an easier choice. The problem is, there’s still that segment of the population that can’t afford either. They’ll still be eating mac and cheese and drinking Mountain Dew. We need to find a way to subsidize that. Good food needs to be a choice and a priority. We’ll get there, but it’s going to take some time.

A: What’s the best thing you ate in 2012?

JH: I don’t know – Spring Hill’s cheeseburgers in West Seattle are pretty awesome. It’s just a perfect marriage of sauce and burger and bun and burger. Really though, it’s about expectation. Sometimes the best thing is a Dick’s Deluxe and a milkshake. Most people go into a restaurant with expectations. If they go in expecting it to be one thing and it’s not, you’re never going to live up to that expectation. White table clothes, linens, bistro aprons create an expectation of a certain level of food that you’re never going to meet – unless you’re Canlis or something. That is the hardest aspect of [running] a restaurant – the fine dining aspect. It’s easier to be a little bistro or brasserie, like Skillet Diner, where you can knock it out of the park every day with good service and a killer atmosphere. It’s when people come in and say, ‘impress me’ – that’s going to be a little bit more of a challenge.

A: Any food superstitions?

JH: Don’t look at salmon in the eyes? No, I don’t have any. A lot of times I won’t eat the last bite. I don’t know why – I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if it’s superstition or not. I just leave it on the plate.

A: What do you feel is coming up next in Seattle food trends? What food trends do you find completely ridiculous?

JH: I think comfort food as a trend is a little ridiculous. People would be like, ‘What are you talking about, you’ve got Skillet!’ but I don’t think of us as comfort food – we’re just a good restaurant. As for what trend is next, I think you’re going to see a ton of restaurants that are bar-focused. People are going to try and label them as gastro-pubs, but really you’re going to see a lot of neighborhood joints that produce great food and have a pretty strong bar program.

A: What do you think about the molecular gastronomy trends emerging? Do you ever have the itch to try a more ‘modernist’ style of cooking?

JH: Probably not. That’s not my background, not my passion. It takes a bit more of a scientific mind. I tend to be a little more broad-strokes. But I think it’s necessary to push the boundaries of whatever you’re doing creatively. If we don’t have that, we’re going to be doing the same food five years from now, and that’s boring. While that may not be my thing, the reason food has gotten where it is is because people have been pushing it. The only reason street food policies changed is because we were there breaking the rules and getting hassled by the health department. We pushed it. It’s the same with food. How will that make food look in five to ten years as a result of people pushing the boundaries? Maybe it means that people will be cooking sous vide salmon at home. It will be interesting to see.

A: Have you used one (sous vide)?

JH: We bought one for the diner to cook eggs in, but ended up not using it – we’re too high volume with eggs.

A: Did you take it home?

JH: No. It broke – somebody dropped it. That always happens.

A: You graduated from CIA in 1998; was it worthwhile? Is a culinary education an absolute prerequisite to a career as a chef? What about folks who work their way up the kitchen, without formal training?

JH: I think that a culinary education, at the rate you get paid, is a waste of money. If someone owes 50-grand [coming out of culinary school] and makes $10 an hour, it doesn’t make sense. Half your paycheck will be loans. I think culinary schools need to wake up and charge for an education what their students are going to be making. You can find a great culinary education at community colleges that don’t break the bank. So, I think culinary schools have extreme value but you better understand the reality of them and know you’re going to be hurting if you can’t make that payment.

As far as working your way up, go to a community college cooking school for a year – minimum – and learn the basics of how to cook. Pick two or three restaurants and intern for free or minimum wage. Find the best restaurants you can and work them for a few years, and you will have gained so much right there. You might have to have a second job, but you’ll essentially have a four-year education. You would have enough knowledge to be very dangerous. Maybe not necessarily [starting as] a chef, but you could come in as a lead line cook somewhere. Most people don’t reach the top of their profession in their twenties anyway, that doesn’t happen. So either way you’d have to work your way to the top.

A: What is your manifesto? What is your goal?

JH: I enjoy creating. Obviously, to provide a sustainable living for my family, and to do something that I enjoy at a very basic level. That I don’t hate what I do when I go to work everyday. That I can look back on what I do with pride. How I develop that is what I am working on now. My method – or medium – is food. I want to make sure I can look back on what I do with integrity and be proud of the fact that I take seriously the craft of being a chef and the craft of food. Be able to be looked at not only by other people in my profession but also be able to look in the mirror and say I did it right. How that plays out, I don’t know.

Josh Henderson’s Skillet Diner can be found on the 1400 block of E Union in Capitol Hill; the newest location, Skillet Counter, is located in Seattle Center’s Armory building. Skillet Street Food is, naturally, always on the move – check online for it’s next stop.