(Music plays) I have to do another egg opening?

Can't you just replay the first one?

Eggs, part deux.

(laughs).

(Theme Music plays- The Avett Brothers "Will You Return") I'm Vivian and I'm a chef.

My husband, Ben and I were working for some of the best chefs in New York City when my parents offered to help us open our own restaurant.

Of course, there was a catch.

We had to open this restaurant in Eastern North Carolina, where I grew up and said I would never return.

(Theme Music plays- The Avett Brothers "Will You Return") (Theme Music plays- The Avett Brothers "Will You Return") So this is my life.

Raising twins, living in the house I grew up in, and exploring the south, one ingredient at a time.

(Music plays) Previously on A Chef's Life...

It's the day before we leave for the James Beard House.

Even though I planned this meal five months in advance I knew I that wanted to represent Eastern North Carolina in New York so I plan to serve cream rice grits with a chukar egg and red-eye gravy, some of my favorite fried catfish, and a beautiful berry cobbler.

Kristen is going with us and Allen, Kim, and Justise.

I'm gonna make them line up behind me like my baby ducks.

(Laughter) (Music plays) There's rice, lard, aioli... And the catfish.

So, let's do a layer of ice and we can sit the liquid stuff on top.

Okay.

You guys ready for our road trip?

Yeah.

How are we looking on time?

7:32.

You'll be fine.

Call me if you need me.

(laugh) Alright, you ready?

(Music plays) I have to say I'm not sorry that I'm missing the experience of packing up the van once more.

I am at this point on the diva plane on the way to New York as my husband and my staff drive up for what will be probably like a 12 hour experience.

Sorry guys.

There it is.

Get it, get it, get it, get it!

Did you get it?

Yeah.

(Laughter) I got it but... (Laughter) (Music plays) Kim, what do you think?

What do you think?

It looks really busy.

(Laughter) (Music plays) It would take me a week just to get used to one block around here.

I could not live here.

No, no, no.

(Sirens blaring) Follow me guys.

Alright.

You know, there's this perception that if you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere and I went to New York to make it and then I chose to leave so that's always been something that I have I guess, kind of grappled with in my own little brain.

So, coming back up here and cooking at the James Beard House I feel like I have something to prove.

I don't know why because I feel like if you can make it in Kinston, North Carolina you can make it anywhere.

The James Beard House.

Hi there.

How are you?

(Music plays) James Beard was a chef, cookbook author, and food personality who was largely responsible for saying, "Hey, American food is a thing and you should pay attention to it."

So, they have made his house in Manhattan a shrine that allows chef to come up and have a stage in New York City for one night.

(Laughter) Good evening, my name is Samuel.

I'm the kitchen manager here.

Nice to meet you.

I'm Vivian.

Samuel Justise.

Nice to meet you.

Kim.

Nice to meet you.

Here.

What's this little thing?

That's a fryer, Chef.

Okay.

Do we need a fryer?

Oh, we do.

We brought all that lard.

We have this freshly rendered lard that we'd like to put in here.

Yes.

Would that be okay?

Oh yes, no problem.

(Music plays) Sorry.

I think I need another cup of coffee is what I think I need.

Oh yeah.

I can get one right now for you, Chef.

That would be great.

So Justise, when we get everything unpacked I want you to test a rice dish.

The ham chips, the smoked pork jus, the chukar egg, and really what I'm looking for is like do we need to add an element of acid?

Thank you very, very much.

(Music plays) So, do you volunteer here a lot?

We just need to know where everything is.

Oh yeah I'm here like three or four times a year.

Well, you're going to see something today that you've never seen before.

Have you ever heard of Tom Thumb?

No, what is it?

So, I'll show you.

We're from Eastern North Carolina.

Okay.

And so we used to... this is a relic, kind of from the hog killing tradition.

This would be like a celebration sausage.

So, then they'd boil it and then they'd use the liquid leftover from boiling it to cook greens or peas.

So, would you use that in place of the hock in the greens?

Yes.

That's the meat inside.

Yeah, that's sausage inside and that's a pig's appendix.

Okay.

And we're going to serve that tonight.

But I brought these in my carry on... And all my clothes smell like chitlins.

Yes.

(Laughter) (Music plays) Okay, so let's portion the catfish.

So, you can cut this little end off.

We've got plenty.

So, that's a great size right there.

(Music plays) Oh, dear God.

(Laughter) Alright, so do you need a task?

Yes.

That would be great.

You guys are extremely helpful.

Thank you very much.

My pleasure, Chef.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you for having us.

Okay, peel these.

Do you have a peeler?

Yes.

We get to the James Beard House, get things unloaded.

Things seem to be going pretty smooth.

Our ingredients look good.

I have three extra people helping me that I didn't anticipate so that's awesome.

I almost have too much help.

So, is everybody clear on what they are working on?

Yes Chef.

Everybody but me.

(Music plays) Alright, I gotta do something other than fold towels and move stuff around.

(Laughter) (Music plays) Chef, is there a dish that you would say is like near and dear to your heart that would kind of remind you of your childhood or something that is very nostalgic for you in particular?

Umm that's what we do pretty much is just like exalt the food of our region so this catfish would be like fried fish, which is something we eat a lot of.

In Eastern North Carolina everybody loves like crab cakes.

We're doing like a crab salad with compressed squash to kind of make you think a little of tartar sauce.

Okay.

The Tom Thumb.

I did not grow up eating it but my sisters did and I'm trying to bring it back to life.

Nice.

(Music plays) Leon?

Yes Chef?

Guests don't ever come down here do they?

Yes Chef actually it's an open kitchen.

So, they'll come through chef during hors d'oeuvres, a lot of times snap a picture as they walk by.

Umm so it's completely open.

Great.

And there's also an in house photographer that will come in here too, Chef.

Okay.

(Music plays) I wanna start breading the catfish and let's try frying it and we can go ahead and season all of them and they'll be ready to drop when we drop them.

Yeah, you just look really tired.

So, like in fifteen minutes we'll have a meeting so you can rest until then.

Things seem to be going very smooth but we've been here for eight hours already and Justise is not feeling that great.

It would be terrible to lose my strongest team member today.

How do you want me to help you?

Stay out of your way?

Sorry to say, yes.

That's fine (laughs).

(Music plays) I'm not used to working in such a small space.

It is challenging but you know most restaurants in New York have tiny kitchens.

But it is an adjustment.

The only thing I'm worried about Chef, is the container's not... You'll call me Chef now that everybody else is?

(Laughter) As the day ticks along and prep turns into setup I start going through my mind of how we're gonna make each course happen and I keep getting to this creamed rice dish and thinking about those freaking eggs and cracking 85 to 100 eggs and pouring them out perfectly and I'm just dreading it.

I know for a fact that it's going to be the hardest part of the evening and I'm not looking forward to it.

Okay, it's like roughly 5:30 now.

Guests will arrive at 7.

Basically, as soon as that first course starts going out Allen I want you to start dropping the fish.

Third course, Justise is gonna be working.

We need to drop the eggs at, let's say 6:45 and then plating that is gonna be difficult.

Okay?

I think that's it.

How much fat is in it?

Half percent milk fat.

Do you know how to read how many fat grams is in something?

Right here, Kim.

Right here.

Total fat.

Oh okay.

So, somebody's gonna have to go get some full fat buttermilk.

I asked them to get three half gallons and you got three quarts.

Ben, no that buttermilk was already there.

I asked you to get three half gallons of buttermilk and they got three quarts of buttermilk.

We've already used it.

This James Beard dinner definitely didn't come at the most opportune time.

Ben was not so keen on the idea, but he tries desperately to support my ambitious ideas.

At the end of the day we're often both left wondering why I keep pushing the envelope so far.

Now, that's buttermilk.

It looks great.

Thank you for doing that, Ben.

You're welcome.

I'm gonna have to go shower, otherwise all the guests will get up after the first course.

So, Kim is about to make these biscuits that I was telling you about.

If you could help her pinch it out that would be awesome.

How often do you make this?

Honestly, the first time I did it her way was on Thursday.

Oh really?

Here's a trick.

You put your finger...

I feel good about things.

I'm just feeling really worn down.

Tired.

For a long time I would go to these things and cook and I would put energy for weeks into it making sure every dish was developed, thought out, and beautiful but I don't have time to do that now and so I did an event a few months ago here in New York and I did not perform at my best and I was not happy with my food.

Now I'm just so freaking paranoid that I'm going to do that again.

I don't want to do that tonight.

I definitely don't want to do that tonight.

And so, it's just added stress.

When people sit down, the first course is gonna be a crab and summer squash kind of salad.

Then the second course we're gonna have the summer trifecta on one plate, tomatoes, cucumbers, and corn and fried fish.

The third course, sweet onion creamed rice grits finished with a poached chukar egg and then the Tom Thumb sausage, it's a sausage stuffed into a pig's appendix.

And our dessert is blackberry and blueberry cobbler and it's topped with blueberry buttermilk sherbet.

You want me to go over the timing once again?

That would be great.

I can write it down.

Eight o'clock we're going to start first course.

So, it's going to be approximately twenty minutes per course.

So twenty minutes between each course?

Actually no, twenty minutes gonna be entire course.

The last plate we send out the next ready pickup is going to be ten to twelve minutes.

Okay.

I strongly recommend once you finish your course you transition to another.

Okay.

Have fun everybody.

Thank you.

(Music plays) This is gonna be the Johnny Cake with the flat cornbread and tomato area.

This is going be the pork skewer area.

And then I'll do lamb bacon over here.

How's everybody feeling?

Great.

Hot.

We're getting our work done.

Prep was good.

We're ready to start.

I'm ready to start and finish essentially.

You know, the kitchen is small so just even setting up the hors d'oeuvres portion of the evening is a challenge.

There's like no where to put anything.

I don't know where to put anything.

So, once again I'm in a situation where I'm saying, I can't wait 'til this is over.

Hey.

I hardly recognize you Warren.

Everything running smooth?

Ugghhhh.

Let's don't talk about it.

Let's talk about something else.

We also have a pretty big North Carolina contingent.

Friends, family, and fans who have chosen to come up here and cheer us on at the James Beard House and I love it.

I'm so glad to be here.

I'm glad y'all are here.

Traffic in New York City?

Oh my god.

People beating on car hoods, blowing the horn, and yeeee, you know in and out.

My knuckles have just gotten the color back in them.

They were a little white.

(Music plays) We're ready for someone to pass whenever y'all are.

The potatoes.

Thank you.

Mmmm.

I want you to meet Warren.

Hey Warren, how are you?

So nice to meet you in the flesh.

Good to meet you.

Oh my gosh.

Hi I'm Izabela.

I'm the program director.

Hi, nice to see you too.

Warren really has the better end of the deal here.

I agree.

I bet he is loving life right now.

(Music plays) Okay, so where there is crab salad someone can come behind with chervil and then after that someone can come behind with cracklin bread and fleur de sel on top of the crab salad, okay?

Heard.

Cracklin bread only on the side of the salad not on the side of the sauce.

Hey, hey.

It'll be fine.

Every plate doesn't have to be absolutely perfect.

I know.

Alright, so let's start thinking about the fish.

So, as soon as these start going out we're gonna start dropping.

I just want to take a moment and welcome all of you into James Beard's home.

This is where he lived, mentored, and where he wrote a lot of cookbooks.

Is it cooking, Allen?

Because it's not frying?

Is that what you're saying?

There's a chef who comes here every night from somewhere and tonight it's Kinston, North Carolina to create a menu that really represents where they're from and their journey.

Okay, they need to slow service down.

The fryer's not working.

They need to slow service down.

Okay.

We just threw out everything.

I mean, we just threw it all out.

She's a really remarkable chef and a fabulous teacher.

Okay, I'm gonna get you guys to take care of the cold components.

We have an emergency.

We need to set up saute pans with some oil.

Oh my god!

Worst case scenario, going down in flames.

Terrible, terrible, terrible.

I can not even believe this is happening.

We're having to cook all the fish in saute pans so we're going to need maybe ten minutes?

Okay.

Bon appetit to all of you.

Thank you again.

(cheers) Okay Justise, I need you to finish the corn with cilantro lime butter.

Where's your fish, Allen?

Apparently after an hour of non activity the fryer at the James Beard House shuts off.

That's for all you chefs out there who are about to go cook at the James Beard House.

Keep that in mind.

So, on the fly we had to do what you do in a restaurant situation and figure out a solution so I have Allen drop saute pans all along the back rings and start frying off 85 portions of catfish.

What are you running out of?

Cucumber.

She's got some tweezers and you can pull from some of these and you can mix it together at this point.

(Music plays) Terrible.

How's it going?

It's okay.

You need help with anything?

No.

I'm gonna start breaking down and crying.

You grab... Allen, give her the pan of fish you think is done.

Okay, I'm gonna come behind and when it's got fish it's ready to go.

Excuse me.

Excuse me.

I don't know how but we managed to get that catfish on the plate and up to the diners in a reasonable amount of time.

It's wonderful.

It's amazing.

Are y'all okay?

Are you emotionally traumatized?

Yes.

And now I have to face what was supposed to be the worst part of the evening, cracking all 85 eggs and scooping them perfectly onto their little bed of rice.

Oh my God.

This is just terrible.

I never want to do this again.

So, I want Allen, Justise, me, Kim, all cracking eggs.

(Music plays) It's like, sorry y'all.

Is five minutes okay?

Is that enough time?

We're going to start plating right now.

Okay, that's gonna work.

So just start spooning them into your little bowls.

(Music plays) Ohh sorry.

But you know when you experience something extremely stressful kind of the worst case scenario other things end up seeming easy.

So surprisingly enough the egg wasn't that bad.

We broke a lot of eggs but luckily we were able to salvage roughly 85 perfectly slow cooked chukar eggs.

You know what makes that dish exquisite don't you?

What's that?

Onions from Brothers Farm of course.

How does the flavor of these onions compare to say like a regular yellow onion or vidalia onion or spring onion?

To me, cooked down with squash they just taste like sugar.

Really sweet onion.

Well, the dish is fabulous.

I want my mommy.

(Laughter) So, Allen let's start thinking about getting the peas hot.

You can open them up and stir them.

Assembly line here?

Yeah assembly line...

So let's put the plates here.

(Music plays) Finally this dinner comes to a close and we get all the courses up there and people seem happy.

That's great!

(Laughter) Because it was one of the slowest experiences of my life.

(Laughter) Great job guys!

Thank you.

That was one of the top five worst work experiences of my life.

Wasn't it yours?

Yeah, because you can't just stop and say I don't want to do this anymore.

(Laughter) Vivian, the dinner is spectacular.

Good.

So freaking good.

Thank y'all for having us.

It was a big honor.

Great experience.

Most of these folks have never been to New York before.

Justise, Allen, and Kim are psyched.

They feel good about it.

So, that's really for me what this was all about.

Cheers Kim.

Good job.

I'm proud of you girls.

I'm proud of all of us.

So you know I went very bold.

Food Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was great though.

The sausage and the flavor, you could taste some of the guttiness of it, which I love.

The guttiness.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

I love that.

Yeah.

Chef Vivian Howard and her team.

So, when we decided to do this we wanted to bring some of the folks that have been with us the longest.

Two of these folks up here have been with us since the day we opened.

Allen Tracey who made that really awesome Tom Thumb sausage that you had.

Kim Adams our pastry chef.

Justise Robbins, my sous chef.

She's not been with us 8 years but thank God she's with us now.

I am tired as hell and I just want to sit down, have some wine, and pat everybody on the back but oh no, I've got to go around and talk to every diner in the place and smile and seem happy and charismatic and all of that stuff.

It's a chef's life, y'all.

(laughs) Sorry.

It ain't as great as it looks.

(Music plays) For more information on A Chef's Life visit PBS.org/food A Chef's Life is available on DVD.

To order visit PBS.org or call us at 1-800-PLAY-PBS