One of the few restaurants who can boast of having two female chefs running their kitchen is SB Prime in Burlington. Chefs Sidney Brandt (SB) and Christina Christiansen (CC) are the two young chefs who run the kitchen and catering arm of this restaurant.
Chefs Sidney Brandt (L) and Christina Christiansen (R)
Sydney started her career in kitchens whose menus consisted of pre-made food that just had to be reheated prior to serving but she always seemed to gravitate towards the grill. Food from the grill was made to order and “customizable” so this excited her.
Christina, who confessed to hating Kraft Dinner, is a self taught chef who relies on her ingenuity to use the resources available to her to create her food. Her career started when she was around 16, helping her cousin with her walk-up sandwich and ice-cream shack.
What’s your official title at the restaurant?
SB: My official title here is just Chef because I have a partner, Christina, who is my co-chef, closest friend and equal. I would also like to add that she has been one of my biggest inspirations and most respective teacher in this field. I would not be near where I am today without her.
CC: To be honest, I am not sure if I have an official title. I am a self-taught (earned with blood, sweat and a lot of tears) chef doing the best I can with the resources I have available to me. I make most of the food, do the ordering for and make the menus for Ampersand Catering and I am also a line cook for SB Prime. We all work as a well oiled machine and help out our team mates the best we can. Some people call me the Catering Chef.
Why did you decide to go into the culinary field?
SB: I actually feel odd answering this question because I can’t say the typical, “I’ve always had a passion for it, type-thing.” The main cook in my family was my Granny, who was fantastic, and who I did help during the all-family get togethers, but even then in my earlier years I never felt the passion I feel for it now. I fell into this field. I have been working in restaurants since I can remember, including front of house. I transitioned to the kitchen in order to learn more and therefore make myself more versatile in the hospitality industry. In turn, I ended up working in kitchens for most of my high school and college life ( which I also attended in a completely non culinary field.) I later dropped out because I realized that throughout the years that I had been trying to figure out what it was I really wanted to do, I had already been doing it.
CC: Food chose me.
What’s your earliest food related memory?
SB: My earliest memory is actually Chef Boyardee’s Beefaroni. I know.. ridiculous.. but as a child I LOVED it. I would have eaten it everyday for every meal if I had have been allowed.
CC: Mine would have to be my mom’s home made everything. Biscuits for breakfast, gingerbread houses at Christmas and stews and soups that I still daydream about. She used to bake pies for extra cash for a cafe down the street. I love it when she calls me now for cooking advice!
What does food mean to you?
SB: Food to me, is something that I know in my life time I will never get bored with. I will never be able to learn every technique, every ingredient, or every style. There will always be something new. To me, food is an adventure.
CC: Food is personal. It’s also in a state of constant change and innovation. I would say that keeping it simple is always best. Tree to table is important as well, knowing where your food comes from, and understanding that the term “free-range” does not apply to fish, would be a smart habit to pick up!
What’s your favorite ingredient to cook with?
SB: Garlic!
CC: Favorite ingredient out of an infinite amount…would have to be something versatile, potatoes are underrated.
Being a woman, in what I think is a male dominated field, what are some of the obstacles you’ve encountered and how did you overcome them?
SB: I’ve never felt that I had any problems in my performance due solely to my gender. However, one reoccurring problem that I have noticed is the blind doubt that I’m shown from others, who either don’t know me yet, or are just general misogynists. Things such as how they believe me being a woman will effect my performance due to lack of a “man-like” strength that they seem to think is impossible for a woman to even compare to. Also the fact that my ability to “control my emotions” in the work place comes into question before even having worked with said people. That one is frustrating to me because it is just plain ignorant.
CC: The obstacles would be the pigeon-holed expectations of a woman in the kitchen – obedience, silence, make the desserts, start from the bottom of the totem pole, work twice as long and hard to prove that you can, avoid being hit on by the pervy serving staff and find a way to stay calm while being told or shown the most sick “jokes” by the men in kitchens. I can now go to bat with the best but it was a long road to get comfortable with it.
If you had to cook for one person, dead or alive, who would it be and what would you serve?
SB: It would be my Granny. She was a huge influence on me as a kid and her and I were very close. She passed away in 2008. I would cook for her because, it would allow me to sit and converse with her about the trials and tribulations of life which we so often did. I would serve her my attempt at her family famous home made spaghetti and meatballs. She used to make it for us every Sunday night and I have to say that I don’t know whether it was the fact that she was a spaghetti god, or just that fact that it was her making it, but I’ve never had better.
CC: This is an impossible question to answer! Dr. Steven Greer, the founder of the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence. I would cook him something of his choice – I have a lot of questions!
What does the future hold for you?
SB: I don’t know what the future will hold for me. I am just riding the waves that come my way, and going where ever they take me. That’s been my mentality for as long as I can remember and so far it hasn’t failed me. Hopefully I will just continue in my journey of learning and loving food.
CC: I haven’t written my future from this perspective. I never have dreams of becoming some famous chef, I am open to that reality however, but I have other aspirations. I’m currently putting together a trip into the Peruvian jungle with my boyfriend for the next few months. I hope to explore aquaponics, The QEG ( a small portable home generator), and am also interested in exploring new flavours coming out of the Amazon jungle. There are so many other things to list but I’ve already gone on too long!
SB Prime
390 Brant Street,
Burlington, ON, L7R 4J4
(905) 634-6275
Disclaimer: I was invited to a media event at SB Prime by parent company, The Ampersand Group.
2 comments
Sydney. Did u work there years ago with Emlie? Em lee!
Author
Hi There, This is a blog post about Sydney, it’s not her website so she can’t see this message. Last I head she was at at Paradiso in Burlington. Hope this helps.