Departments
10 (or so) questions with... Payton Curry
By Steve Lange
RM: My boss, Audrey Groteboer, recommended you as an interviewee for Ten Questions.
PC: She was in my restaurant in Scottsdale last week with her daughter.
RM: She’s great.
PC: Yes.
RM: I mean it. She’s a great boss.
PC: OK.
RM: I hope she reads this.
PC: I played football with her nephew Jon Groteboer [former JM quarterback]. I was his center and his pulling guard. I protected him.
RM: Sorry this is so last minute. I was supposed to interview ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. Actually I was trying to interview his dummy, Walter. So you’re filling in for Walter.
PC: Wow. One dummy for another.
RM: Favorite Rochester restaurant?
PC: I would have to say John Hardy’s Bar-B-Q. I get the beef plate, spicy hot, with extra crispy jo jo potatoes and baked beans. I get that every time.
RM: How often do you get back to Rochester?
PC: Once every year and a half or so. I’m coming back in a week for my 10-year high school reunion. And my niece is getting baptized.
RM: “Iron Chef” or the Swedish Chef from “The Muppet Show”?
PC: That’s tough, but I’m going with “Iron Chef.” The thing I love is you have no idea what you’re getting. They make some amazing dishes in one hour.
RM: I see what you’re saying. But there’s that one Swedish Chef skit where he’s making chocolate mousse, and he makes liquid chocolate then goes chasing after a moose.
PC: I’m totally with you. That’s classic stuff.
RM: What is the largest meat-eating land mammal?
PC: I don’t know.
RM: My cousin Benny.
PC: Nice.
RM: Actually, it’s a polar bear.
RM: I’m going to try and guess your weight in high school ... 214.
PC: That’s exactly right. How would you possibly have known that?
RM: I have a gift. Like Christopher Walken in “The Dead Zone.”
PC: After high school, when I stopped playing sports, I drank a bunch of beer and ate a bunch of pizza and shot up to 245.
RM: What are you at now?
PC: Like 185. I learned how to cook healthy. And I’m on my feet all the time.
RM: I’m going to try and guess your favorite foods ... bacon, veal, and crusty breads.
PC: How do you know all this stuff?
RM: I already told you.
PC: Right, your gift. Bacon is definitely number one.
RM: Funniest stand-up comedian ever?
PC: Payton Curry.
RM: You do stand-up?
PC: Every once in a while. It’s one of those things where we go out, and I get some liquid confidence. Then we’ll hit one of the open mic nights.
RM: I’ll tell you the secret of my famous cheesy potatoes. I use three kinds of cheese. And a pound of crumbled bacon.
PC: Wow. That’s a lot of bacon, even for me. That would be awesome with a side of Lipitor.
RM: Really, I never cook.
PC: It did seem like a lot of bacon.
RM: When are you and your fiancee [Shantal] getting married?
PC: We’re thinking next October 10th.
RM: Why October 10th?
PC: That’s based on the food scene in Europe. We’d be traveling to Italy during the peak of the truffle and wine season. Our lives are consumed by food.
RM: In your nightmares, are you in your underwear in the middle of your high school lunchroom?
PC: No. I’m standing on the restaurant’s expediting line in a straightjacket trying to cook. I have that one a couple times per month.
RM: OK, my ingredient list includes eggplant, tahini, garlic and lemon. What am I cooking?
PC: Baba ganoush.
RM: Yes.
RM: I just make a white roux with butter and flour. I whisked in hot milk with seasonings. What sauce ...
PC: Bechemel.
RM: I mixed one cup flour, one-half cup salt, and three tablespoons creme of tartar. Then added one cup water and two tablespoons oil and cooked over medium heat. What am I making?
PC: Some sort of crepes?
RM: Actually, that’s a recipe for homemade Play-Doh.
PC: That’s gross.
RM: I don’t think I want to try your crepes.