Chewing the Fat: Top Chef Finalist and Volt Chef Bryan Voltaggio

A few episodes ago you mentioned how you could barely afford to pay the phone bill at Volt. Now the tables are packed. What can you tell us about the fame, acclaim, and success the show has brought you?

It was a bit nerve-wracking going up to the point when I left. It was not a joke though that I had a phone bill that might not be paid (laughs). While I was there we started to make the turn a little bit financially. When I got back, I started to be frugal and be careful. But right at that same time, even prior to the announcement of the show, we started to get a little bit more momentum here regionally. Then with the announcement of the show, that was just the icing on the cake.

Did you think there was a sufficient market for you in Frederick?

It was a risk opening up the restaurant outside of D.C. in the worst economy ever, at least in my lifetime. And then do this in an area where this is a very different restaurant. Locally, I think starting out I didn't have the support that I do now, because we were very different, and I think a few people were a little uneasy about trying this out. But with the show, now there's such community support behind what we’ve done here. It's just amazing.

So it sounds like Top Chef was sort of part of the business plan.

Yeah. I think we would have done OK. We would have survived without it. However, it's been an incredible success story because of it, that we're in a position now that we are well beyond our projections. When we set out to do this I knew we couldn't say our business is going to be 100 percent full everyday that we're open. That's unheard of. But with the bonus of Top Chef, that's the truth now here. We are booked every day. That's something that's very extraordinary for a restaurant. We are small. We're only 72 seats. But every seat is full every day.

How did both you and your brother Michael being on the show at the same time come about?

Michael started the application process first. I had thought about it a lot. As he started getting closer and closer and had the first initial meeting, he mentioned he was doing it and I thought it would be a good idea to apply. We were both encouraged to go throughout the process further. That's how it came about. At first we didn't expect it. I really didn't think that last year we would be in this situation right now (laughs).

And it afforded you the opportunity to live together again and spend a lot of time in the kitchen together.

The opportunity that the show gave us to get back together and work -- had we not done this, we probably would have never done anything together in our careers. I think we both really felt strongly that we had different styles and different opinions about food. When we got back together and we realized what each one of us can do and what we've done -- I mean, we will always be close, we talk every day, but even when we got into a competitive atmosphere we felt like “wow, we could actually pursue something after this. We could work together.” That's really what became of it from us, which is pretty unique.

Currently we have plans that you'll probably see rolling out here in the near future.

I'm guessing that's under wraps for now. Anything more you can say?

Yeah. I can't go into specifics right now, but there will probably be something that will start to surface in the next week or so.

You weren't shy about telling Michael or the cameras when he pissed you off.

What was shown obviously was more about the competition, and I thought that was great because we were there to compete. We both set out to win and that’s what we’re there for. We grew up playing sports. We grew up... I wouldn’t necessarily go as far as to say “kicking the crap out of each other” but we’re brothers. That part is probably what’s shown a lot, but we also supported each other a little bit too because we both wanted each other to do very well.

Would it have made it harder to make the finals without him pushing you and you him?

I don’t know, ‘cause I think we’re both pretty talented. Even though there’s a very talented field of chefs, I still think we would be in the spots where we are right now.

There are pronounced differences, but many similar cooking techniques in terms of sophistication. Very opposite personalities. How did that come to be?

Michael being middle child (laughs), you know? I think there’s a natural difference of personality there. He’s a little more outgoing. I’m a little more reserved. I take things in and process them. I make decisions that require a little bit more thought. That probably comes through with not only what I’m doing with food but also my personal life. My business. I think that’s probably what’s shown the most between us.

Touching back on the cuisine itself, we do have some similar styles. We grew up in fine dining kitchens. Now we both apply modern technique to our food. I wouldn’t call it trendy. It’s just something where we can manipulate our product or take our ingredients to a different level and that’s what we do.

You had your share of challenge wins. What dish of yours were you most proud of, and can you recall a fellow contestant’s dish that you liked the best?

A challenge I was really proud of obviously was [Joel] Robuchon. I keep telling people I could have gone home after that one. To win with the chef of the millennium telling you that you had the best dish is just a really cool feeling.

Amongst my peers, I really liked Michael’s fish course in the Restaurant Week, er... not Restaurant Week. Restaurant Week is here. I’ve got to fill out my application today for Restaurant Week and keep forgetting! The Restaurant Wars challenge. I thought that was a really great dish. There was a nice surprise with the billi-bi croquette that he did.

Last season our local favorite Carla, like you, won the final elimination challenge. She tanked in the finale by not sticking to her guns. How did you prepare yourself going into this finale?

I’m standing next to two other fantastic chefs and anybody could take this and that’s the exciting part about this. Me, I’m just gonna go in and cook and have fun.

What surprised you the most about the competition?

I think the judges. Just seeing every week, every challenge more and more there’s the leaders of our industry were there. I don’t think anyone would have expected Joel Robuchon to be in that dining room when we walked in and to have the opportunity to cook in his kitchen, a three-star Michelin restaurant in Vegas was incredible. The caliber of the chefs made us push harder because it made us live up to their standards.

Bringing it back to D.C. and to your cooking, one of your big things is local cooking and sustainability. Can you talk about your philosophy?

I just find it difficult trying to stick to one criteria. So when I set out to [open Volt] I said, “look, I think I’ll be fair to myself, fair to my client, and fair to everybody and I’m gonna go local, sustainable, organic” meaning that I’m going to try to buy as much of my product as I could locally. There’s chef’s that are out there saying they buy all of their products locally. I find that really, really hard to believe because if you’re in an area that has four seasons, how are you going to sustain for the winter, unless you’re really preserving products.

There’s one product I use, Arctic char, I get from Canada. It’s fished by single line. Somebody standing on the back of a boat. It’s only 13 weeks out of the year. This 13 weeks sustains a village of 700 people throughout their entire year. That to me means a lot. As a chef if you can go out and find these things or utilize these resources then you’re doing the right thing.

I’ve asked Carla and Mike Isabella how they would highlight D.C. if they were helping to create a Top Chef season here. You bring a unique perspective now that you’ve cooked in downtown D.C. and now you’re in Frederick. What would you put into a Top Chef D.C. season?

That’s a difficult question to answer! I started here five years ago when I came down with Charlie Palmer, and you could see how it’s evolved in those years. We have an incredible food city now.

But I think also politics would be a great way to get some of the messages out to the chefs. So I think some of the sustainable farming practices we’ve been talking about, and looking at Michelle Obama and what she’s doing with farm to table. We’ve got to start figuring this whole food thing out and make sure that future generations are going to still have the same products and still have the same opportunities that we have.