Kelly Writers House hosted the inaugural installment of its “Chef to Chef” speaker series on Oct. 29.
At the event, chefs Gabrielle Hamilton and Brooks Headley discussed their career paths in the culinary world and experiences with food journalism. The event drew around 40 attendees, including undergraduate students and Penn community members.
Hamilton is an author and the owner of Prune restaurant located in New York. At Penn, she teaches a class in the Creative Writing Program called "Cooking With Words," a writing workshop devoted to the topic of food. Headley is the owner of Superiority Burger in New York and was previously a pastry chef at several different fine dining restaurants.
During the event, KWH Faculty Director Al Filreis noted that Hamilton’s writing “blew [him] away” and convinced him to encourage her to join the Creative Writing Program as a faculty member.
Much of Hamilton and Headley’s conversation focused on Headley’s rise to opening Superiority Burger, starting from the beginning of his career, and Hamilton's thoughts on his journey. Headley painted a detailed picture of his path, from graduating from the University of Maryland and working at an office job to seeing a newspaper advertisement for a pastry assistant job in Washington, D.C. and applying.
“I wore a suit to my interview at the restaurant," Headley said of his early career. "No one’s done that, like, ever. I think they hired me as a joke.”
He continued to work in fine dining restaurants for 17 years, shifting over that time from working in the "punk rock" scene in Washington to catering to some of the richest people in the city. Still, he said he wasn't entirely satisfied.
“It felt weird to me, because all of a sudden, I had this job that I loved, but the entire job was catering to the richest people, and in [Washington], those were lawyers and lobbyists and politicians," Headley said. "It really rubbed me the wrong way."
In 2015, Headley opened Superiority Burger, with the idea to use the same ingredients that expensive restaurants used while selling food for a cheaper price. The concept lasted for five years, up until the pandemic, which Headley said “destroyed” the restaurant.
Hamilton spoke about the difficulties that accompany Headley's business model of under-pricing.
“When we falsely price our material, we educate the public to undervalue what we’re doing,” Hamilton said.
The initial location of Superiority Burger closed in 2021, and — after nearly 18 months of construction — a new one opened in early 2023 in a much bigger space. Despite the many changes that accompanies opening a new restaurant, one aspect of the business remained constant: Headley ran the social media himself.
“No one has the Instagram password except for me,” Headley said. “I’ll go in and just listen to people throughout the day, and people will say things, and I’ll turn their random things they’ve said into a post.”
He explained that he’s never paid for public relations work — a fact that Hamilton praised. She emphasized to the audience how important it is to tell one's own story in any situation.
“No one’s going to tell your story with your voice the way you do … no matter how long the publicist embeds with you,” Hamilton said.
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