This is the second "Chef Series" feature in which I had the exciting opportunity to interview James Beard Award Winning chef Mindy Segal of Bucktown's popular restaurant HotChocolate. SEE THIS ARTICLE ON THE URBANESS
Many believe that any situation can be made better with just a little bit of chocolate. Chef Mindy Segal would wholeheartedly agree. As owner and pastry chef at Bucktown’s HotChocolate Restaurant and Dessert Bar, you could say that Mindy is an expert on all things chocolatey and delicious. HotChocolate brings fresh, contemporary food and desserts, with a sustainable edge, to the Bucktown neighborhood. On any given night, you can find the popular restaurant filled with people eager to experience the latest of Mindy’s creations, and with good reason. Mindy has led quite the impressive career as a pastry chef, working at such prestigious Chicago mainstays as mk, Ambria, and Charlie Trotter’s. Mindy has received countless awards from Jean Banchet, Time Out Chicago, and the James Beard Foundation all naming her Best Pastry Chef. As part of our new Chicago chef series, we sat down with Mindy over a warm mug of the most heavenly hot chocolate imaginable to talk about her impressive career, baking, and what it takes to succeed in the Chicago restaurant industry.
Q: A lot of people describe HotChocolate as a restaurant through the eyes of a pastry chef. What does that mean?
Mindy Segal: I think that I’m the visionary behind the food and all the food comes from my mind. We kind of think about the desserts first and from there, we back out and think about the food. The food is extremely important because we wouldn’t be a restaurant without it, but the desserts are very important here.
Q: Tell us a little about the inspiration behind HotChocolate.
MS: The name connotes melted chocolate and the feeling that hot chocolate gives you--a warm and cozy feeling. It’s a little esoteric and I’m the only one that gets it. For the food, what’s in season is very important and how we can execute it as well as what the customers are going to like. The temperatures and textures are important, and [dishes] have to be simple and identifiable. We don’t try to trick our guests and we don’t use chemicals. We try to use four ingredients or less on a plate. We are moving towards that. If it’s beets it’s beets, if it’s a caesar salad, it’s a caesar salad.
We try to use four ingredients or less on a plate. We are moving towards that. If it’s beets it’s beets, if it’s a caesar salad, it’s a caesar salad.
Q: What was it like opening HotChocolate?
MS: [At the time,] it was the hardest thing I ever did. I can’t say that now, because now the most difficult thing is sustaining the restaurant and making the restaurant work and be successful. I think you achieve a point in your career in which you think you’ve learned enough to open up your own restaurant and then you actually do it and you realize that you know absolutely nothing. It’s a learning curve. You make a lot of mistakes and you have to grow from those mistakes. My drive is internal now and not external. I think it’s war wounds. I’ve been doing this for a long time.
Q: How have you tried to differentiate your business from all the other amazing restaurants in the Chicago?
MS: What I know is that you have to stay true to what you believe in and the hardest thing to do is to teach the people that work for you how to care. It’s the most important thing. I’m still in the process of learning how to do that, nine years later.
Q: What have been the biggest joys and challenges in owning your own restaurant?
MS: Having a busy restaurant with people smiling and being happy. Also, when my staff is happy and everyone is in sync. That’s a huge joy for me. It’s the exact opposite for me when all those things don’t work. I’m getting more intolerant as I get older about those things not working and I think that a lot of it is the lack of balance that I have in my life. It’s so important to have balance. It creates happiness in every area but it’s hard to achieve.
Q: Was there a moment when everything fell into place for you with your career?
MS: No! I always tell my husband, I just need five more years. I’ve been saying that to him for 5 years. I don’t know if this is true for everyone but I think that people who are successful in their fields are never complacent with where they are. They are always trying either to reinvent themselves, do something different, or achieve excellence. You never really achieve excellence. It takes a lifetime. I think that when you choose a craft for your career it is a lifetime of learning and I don’t think you ever learn it fully. I feel like I’m moving in the right direction but it’s taking me a really long time. It’s not easy. It’s a journey. Life is a journey. The older you get the more comfortable you get with that. I’m 46 and I’m comfortable with the chaos!
Q: So, to date, what has been your proudest career moment?
MS: Winning the Beard award in 2012. I was nominated six times. It was great, I can’t lie!
Q: As the owner of a very successful business, what advice do you have for women who dream of launching their own venture?
MS: I think that the best advice that I could give anyone is that first of all you have to be passionate about what you do and you have to believe wholeheartedly in it and do your homework. It’s really easy to say you want to open a bakery without knowing what that means. You have to have knowledge. I think if you believe and you have passion then everything else falls into place. I did it without knowing, I dove right in without feeling the water, and it was ice cold! Honestly, the key is to not take yourself so seriously, and I don’t.
If you haven’t had the pleasure of enjoying a meal at HotChocolate or savor its namesake beverage then we suggest you do so…and soon! Also, be sure to keep an eye out for the exciting new projects that Mindy is working on. A cookie themed cookbook will be making an appearance at a bookstore near you next spring and if you just can’t get enough, Mindy also has a very exciting new concept in the works: a bakery in Logan Square! Stay tuned!