Featured chef: Kevin Sloan of The Pabst/Riverside

But don't think for a second that Sloan's sitting around doing nothing. He's reunited with his former partner Carrie Torres -- recently returned from living in Spain and Chile -- and they're running "Back Stage Catering," which does in-home dinner parties and cooking classes, and are prepping a new venture due to launch in a few months in Chicago.

We asked Sloan about how he got to where he is today.

OnMilwaukee.com: Are you a Milwaukee native?

Kevin Sloan: I am, I grew up just off of 76th and Good Hope Road. My folks still live in the same house. I moved to New Mexico when I was in my early 20s. I stayed for five years, got my culinary degree, cooked in some great restaurants, met a lot of great people and then came back to Milwaukee.

OMC: Of course, some will be familiar with your previous ventures, but what kind of experience and training brought you to your current position?

KS: Well, besides what I picked up from Mom as a pup, I learned how to cook in New Mexico. My first mentor was at a restaurant called Monte vista Fire Station. The exec was a James Beard Award nominee that year, but the chef de cuisine Jerry Waquie really took me under his wing. He taught me how to work a busy line, hit my temps, handle eight pans at once.

Then, on the big holidays he would invite me up to the Indian reservation he grew up on in the Jemez Mountains. I'd take my motorcycle up into the mountains early in the a.m. and watch the dances in the morning, then make pasole with him and his grandma and he'd let me pull bread out of the beehive looking ovens outside the little shack that was there home. It was really surreal for me and I never took those experiences for granted. The Jemez Mountains are still my favorite place on earth and I've been a lot of places.

After that I moved to a restaurant in the foothills of Sante Fe, Cafe de Las Placitas. There, the chef/owner Matt Brewer really got me to the next level. Every morning started with making the bread, we had a great old sourdough culture he brought back to New Mexico from his cooking days in San Fransisco. We made our own pasta, butchered lots of different meat and fish in house. I learned how to make a proper stock. We had a huge garden in the back with a few tables in the middle of it. What we couldn't grow in our garden we would source from Elizabeth Berry, one of the o.g's of organic produce. The menu was worldly and very experimental at the time.

The owners of Gruet Winery used to come in once a week in the afternoon, bring us some kick-ass sparkling wine and sit for hours while we cooked up French classics for them between lunch and dinner which was always fun as we didn't really roll like that on the menu. Matt was a gifted chef, and really caring to his cooks, he taught me a ton about cooking, the business and life in general, I found out about a year ago that he hung himself in his garage and it was a bitter pill to swallow.

It's crazy how owning a restaurant can make you crazy. Right before I moved back I helped a friend of mine open an Asian noodle joint back in Albuquerque. So that's where my foundation was laid.

OMC: And in Milwaukee?

KS: Upon coming back to Milwaukee I worked at Lake Park for a year which was a great experience. It was a bit of a culture shock for me, a little regimented for my taste but Mark Weber ran a great kitchen and the staff there went on to do a lot of really good things in Milwaukee which says a lot about Mark and Joe (Bartolotta). After that I was lucky enough to get in the kitchen at Sanford. Though I had a good grasp on cooking at that point I certainly learned tons from Sandy (D'Amato) in my first year and a half and then more, in a different style, from David Swanson in the last year and a half. After that I really dug into to traveling for a while before I started the process of opening The Social.

OMC: You have one of the most unknown jobs in the rock and roll world in Milwaukee. How did it come about?

KS: The way I recall it, the director of the theaters, Gary Witt, was looking to re-invent the idea of tour catering, Mike Eitel and I were in the middle of a very amicable break up of a short stint I did with him, when he and Gary found each other over the same foosball table. Mike mentioned my name and Gary took it from there and convinced me to come by and see what was going on at the theaters. I was a little hesitant at first, not knowing if it was going to be cooking for a bunch of high maintenance assh*les, and I was a little worried about the kitchen, as well. It was pretty sparse. So I came in and cooked for a show, and really soaked up the vibe. I asked Gary if he would be willing to invest a little money in the kitchen and he was on board. And though I'd love to have a few more things at my disposal in the kitchen, its fully functional and allows me and my sous chef, Lou Lou Griffin, to put out some really fun stuff.

OMC: What's a typical day like for you? Are you always juggling a lot of riders and menus for upcoming shows, as well as focusing on tonight's show?

KS: I used to juggle the riders a lot more. Paul Smaxwell took on the hospitality manager position for the Riverside and Pabst a few months ago. He's the point man for the tour manager and in charge of making sure the dressing rooms -- which can be really high maintenance -- are all in order. Since Paul's come on, he takes the time to really dissect the rider with the tour managers and he points me in the right direction as to the basics for each show. So the point is, Paul is the one who is usually juggling.

I get the basic info from Paul, look at the rider and try to get a feel of what kind of food they are into. I usually take a day to mull it around then I sit down, have some scotch and start writing a menu. As for the day of the show, it's usually pretty laid back, every now and then breakfast is involved. Mostly it's just lunch and dinner, and sometimes just dinner.

The kitchen is attached to the green room at Riverside, band members are usually rolling in and out, grabbing some coffee, watching a game on TV, putting records on the hi-fi or playing video games. It's a very tranquil atmosphere. Me, Lou Lou and our pastry chef Julie Thorson are usually discussing options about how to execute the menu for the night while cooking. I almost always stop to play some silver strike or foosball in the dining room with Gary and Paul at some point in the day. The artists usually want to eat right after sound check, so around 5:30 or 6. We put out the food, hang out for a little while and watch without staring. Then it's time for scotch -- Lou Lou prefers whiskey -- and if we are into the band, we watch the show from stage right.

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Posted by college_dave on March 3, 2011 at 8:47 p.m. (report)

Cool & interesting story about a cool & interesting chef (and so-so tennis player). Keep up the good work, Kevin.

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Posted by noogie on March 3, 2011 at 5:16 p.m. (report)

Sloan rocks! He's what Milwaukee is all about. The Social was ahead of the game....He started a lot of what we're seeing today. But dude....Zerkel "has got a way with sausage" hahaha classic

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Posted by littlelamb on March 3, 2011 at 4:49 p.m. (report)

WOW! What a genuinely cool guy. I hope to eat his amazing food again some day. So sorry about his dog.

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Posted by shary26 on March 3, 2011 at 4:02 p.m. (report)

I miss Kevin Sloan's cooking at Sol-Fire. Great article.

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