Tweet
CHEF DU JOUR: CHEF HRANT ARAKELIAN OF RUMOURS EAST
The Tennessean, The Tennessee
April 8 2014
Chef Hrant Arakelian brings his Lebanese roots to the table at Rumours
East, which is now offering brunch.
How did you get into cooking?
When I was in college, I started working in restaurants and really
enjoyed it and liked it more than college, so I just started cooking
more. That and then, too, I just really enjoy cooking. My family
has great cooks and I have a big culture of food and big dinners and
stuff like that, so I just kind of feel it was natural.
My dad is Armenian. He was born in Lebanon, and my mom is from East
Tennessee. My dad is a great cook. He's always making dishes he had
growing up.
How did you make your way to Rumours East?
Before here, I was working at Amerigo down on West End. I really
enjoyed it but I really enjoyed the small kitchens more, the more
intimate, actually cooking on the line and plating the food.
Tell me about your new brunch menu.
We're doing a really nice frittata of the day. One of the spring dishes
we're offering, which is really good, is sauteed spring greens, so
whatever fresh vegetables we have. Right now we have Swiss chard, kale
and rapini, and sauteing that up with sumac, which is a Lebanese spice
we use here a lot. Then we do some poached egg on top, a little drizzle
of paprika oil, so it's a real nice, light, healthy brunch item.
Then, you know, we do waffles, we'll do steak and eggs and kind of
some more traditional brunch fare as well, but everything has kind
of a Middle Eastern twist on the flavor.
Do you have a favorite spring dish?
Anything that's using fresh spring vegetables. All the gray stuff
you had all winter is getting kind of boring at this point.
What's your favorite tool and ingredient at the moment?
Ingredient: We've been using this ras el hanout spice blend, which is
kind of a Moroccan spice blend that we actually make in-house. It's
just one of those spices that goes really well with a bunch of
different things. It's about 20 different spices in there.
Tool: Honestly, whatever tool is best for the job is what we've
been using. Anything that would do what we need it to do quickly
and effectively.
What are you looking forward to this season?
I'm really looking forward to getting lamb back in. We get everything,
turn the belly into bacon and make sausages, things like that.
Anything we can make here we make here. We bake all our own breads. We
try to cure a lot of our own meats.
If you could choose your final meal, what would it be?
Probably one of the meals my family cooks. For holidays and birthdays,
things like that they do Lebanese food, so they do a big spread
of hummus and homemade pickles, stuffed eggplant, grape leaves,
just really traditional Lebanese food. That would definitely be my
last meal.
Reach Jen Todd at 615-313-2760 and on Twitter @jentoddwrites.
Hrant Arakelian executive chef at Rumours East 1112 Woodland St.
www.rumourseast.com, 615-262-5346
http://www.tennessean.com/story/life/food/2014/04/08/chef-du-jour-chef-hrant-arakelian-rumours-east/7487967/
The Tennessean, The Tennessee
April 8 2014
Chef Hrant Arakelian brings his Lebanese roots to the table at Rumours
East, which is now offering brunch.
How did you get into cooking?
When I was in college, I started working in restaurants and really
enjoyed it and liked it more than college, so I just started cooking
more. That and then, too, I just really enjoy cooking. My family
has great cooks and I have a big culture of food and big dinners and
stuff like that, so I just kind of feel it was natural.
My dad is Armenian. He was born in Lebanon, and my mom is from East
Tennessee. My dad is a great cook. He's always making dishes he had
growing up.
How did you make your way to Rumours East?
Before here, I was working at Amerigo down on West End. I really
enjoyed it but I really enjoyed the small kitchens more, the more
intimate, actually cooking on the line and plating the food.
Tell me about your new brunch menu.
We're doing a really nice frittata of the day. One of the spring dishes
we're offering, which is really good, is sauteed spring greens, so
whatever fresh vegetables we have. Right now we have Swiss chard, kale
and rapini, and sauteing that up with sumac, which is a Lebanese spice
we use here a lot. Then we do some poached egg on top, a little drizzle
of paprika oil, so it's a real nice, light, healthy brunch item.
Then, you know, we do waffles, we'll do steak and eggs and kind of
some more traditional brunch fare as well, but everything has kind
of a Middle Eastern twist on the flavor.
Do you have a favorite spring dish?
Anything that's using fresh spring vegetables. All the gray stuff
you had all winter is getting kind of boring at this point.
What's your favorite tool and ingredient at the moment?
Ingredient: We've been using this ras el hanout spice blend, which is
kind of a Moroccan spice blend that we actually make in-house. It's
just one of those spices that goes really well with a bunch of
different things. It's about 20 different spices in there.
Tool: Honestly, whatever tool is best for the job is what we've
been using. Anything that would do what we need it to do quickly
and effectively.
What are you looking forward to this season?
I'm really looking forward to getting lamb back in. We get everything,
turn the belly into bacon and make sausages, things like that.
Anything we can make here we make here. We bake all our own breads. We
try to cure a lot of our own meats.
If you could choose your final meal, what would it be?
Probably one of the meals my family cooks. For holidays and birthdays,
things like that they do Lebanese food, so they do a big spread
of hummus and homemade pickles, stuffed eggplant, grape leaves,
just really traditional Lebanese food. That would definitely be my
last meal.
Reach Jen Todd at 615-313-2760 and on Twitter @jentoddwrites.
Hrant Arakelian executive chef at Rumours East 1112 Woodland St.
www.rumourseast.com, 615-262-5346
http://www.tennessean.com/story/life/food/2014/04/08/chef-du-jour-chef-hrant-arakelian-rumours-east/7487967/