"Veal stock, plum wine and a watermelon." Those were the only ingredients Blue Light Grill‘s new executive chef, Jeff Achterhoff, says he requested in advance for his cooking interview. Cooking interview? you ask. Yep, that’s how big-time chefs get hired—they have to show up and cook on demand for the powers that be. Kinda makes those "behavioral" corporate-type interviews seem pretty lame now, doesn’t it? And not surprisingly, in those, ahem, pressure-cooker situations, interviewing chefs typically request a long list of favorite stocks, sauces, spices and such so they can show off their slam-dunk dishes. But not Achterhoff. When he showed up in town a few weeks ago seeking the spot left open by Blue Light’s departing head chef, Reed Anderson, this culinary maverick figured he’d use whatever the Blue Light kitchen already had on hand and make up his dishes on the spot—a move that he suspects garnered him quick respect from Blue Light’s management and the head honchos at Coran Capshaw’s Central Restaurant Group. He doesn’t even remember what he cooked up, but, apparently, it was yummy because Achterhoff got the job. He started his Blue Light tenure at the end of September.
 Get smart: Jeff Achterhoff, Blue Light Grill’s new executive chef, beefed up his cooking knowledge down South, even indulging in some culinary espionage: working in the kitchen of one restaurant while waiting tables in others to spy on their operations. |
Just where does such calm and confidence come from? We suspect it may come from Actherhoff being self-taught. The 2000 Engineering graduate from Clemson says he doesn’t have any of the baggage and pretension that culinary school types sometimes have. No, Actherhoff has the cooking chops that come from, shall we say, trial by cooking fire, and he has the kitchen passion that comes from deciding six months after graduation that he’d rather start at the bottom in a new career than stick with a cushy but unsatisfying corporate engineering job.
Achterhoff says he caught the cooking bug growing up around his uncle’s casual American-style restaurant in Michigan, and then he started really honing his skills and his eclectic culinary style over the last seven years, preparing everything from low-country and soul food to formal French and sushi in various restaurants in Charleston, Asheville, Savannah and most recently in Greenville, where he worked as executive sous-chef at the massive, 11-different-dining-spots-adorned Cliff’s Communities and then as executive chef at global fusion-fashioned Azia restaurant.
He even dabbled in culinary espionage doing a stint as a "rogue sous-chef" in Charleston, he says. That means he worked in the kitchen of one Charleston restaurant while waiting tables in others to spy on their operations and steal their recipes. Sheesh! And we thought the Charlottesville dining scene was hardcore.
And all of that scrappy, hard work has developed Achterhoff into a well-rounded chef who likes experimenting with the fusion of high and low cuisine—"taking shrimp and grits and spinning it into something new," he says. Something like the Deconstructed Salmon BLT he’s rolled out at Blue Light—Mango BBQ salmon, housemade Virginia ham, bok choy and purple potatoes tossed with truffle oil, balsamic vinegar and shaved asiago. We call that comfort food with an attitude.
Video of Jeff Achterhoff in the kitchen at Blue Light. |
New frontier
Unless you’ve been living under a rock or busying yourself with Lewis and Clark statue sit-ins, you know that Pantops Mountain is the new, new frontier—in the dining world anyway. In just the last few months, both Christian’s Pizza and Brix have opened Pantops outposts, joining Pantops pioneer Sticks. Tip Top Restaurant, the favored Pantops lunch spot, is just days away from unveiling an addition that more than doubles its seating. And now Mexican mainstay Guadalajara is getting ready to open up its fourth location in Pantops, right there on Richmond Road/Route 250 East. Gilbert Lopez, owner of the Guad empire, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year, says he hopes the Pantops outpost will be open by mid-January.
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