Chef Bites 2014 with Chef Lora Kirk

By Patricia Noonan Current restaurant: Ruby Watchco Food style: Good food!! Training: Algonquin College, The Connaught Hotel (London England), working with Chef Gordon Ramsay and Chef Angela Harnett. Where I’ve been: Beside London, New York and all the big American cities, I’ve been to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam…where I’ve been is where I travel for inspiration. What I’ve done: I’ve been able to work in two of the greatest food cities; I was able to go and I survived! I didn’t come running home. Biggest culinary influence: When I was growing up, I used to watch this English chef on TV, Gary Rhodes. He made things look simple but fancy too. Fantasy meal: What I'm craving is what I want at that moment. Right now, my meal of the moment is pork belly with hot sauce...Sriracha or smoked espelette pepper sauce. Fave food and wine pairing: Whatever I'm having, I want what I think goes with it. If it was that pork belly, then maybe a little bourbon. Junk food passion: I'm a chip person. Potato chips...I crave that saltiness. Comfort food: For me, it's roasted leg of lamb with big chunks of onions, carrots, root veggies. Fave resto: I don't eat out a lot. Right now, I would go to Fette Sau in Brooklyn. It has a mix of all these cuts of smoked or brined meats and there's a brewery attached! Fave bar: I usually go to Hi-Lo because it's in the neighbourhood and their bartender is fabulous. She used to work with us. Cookbook you can't live without: Culinary Artistry by Andrew Dornenberg. It's what I go to when I want to be inspired; it's like having a conversation in my head with the book. MIT (Most important tool in the kitchen):  I learned to cook with a spoon in London. It's for tasting, basting, scooping, poking, eating...breaking away meat. It can be used for almost anything. Who would you love to cook with if you had the chance: Julia Child; she was such an icon. It would have been a riot!