in the kitchen

Heather Haviland

Tastemaker: Heather Haviland, Chef/Owner, Luckey’s Café and Sweet Mosaic,
777 Starkweather Avenue, Cleveland, 216-622-7773.

Ivan J. Sheehan: Sitting now in the garden outside Lucky’s, is cooking, baking and running your own place something you always thought you’d be doing?

HH: No. Actually, I left Cleveland when I was 20. I went to Chicago – it was the first place I went to. I went to college for Anatomy of Peaceful Change [at Kent State]. I had it in my head that I wanted to work in the government and change how communities work. But, to put myself through school, because I didn’t come from a family with a lot of money… I started working when I was 12. My mom owned her own catering company, and all of us worked for her. So, when I went to school, [cooking] was how I put myself through school, because it was like no big deal. And every time I would move to a new city, it was the one thing I always kind of fell into, but I really didn’t see myself moving back to Cleveland. I experienced so many other cities – and the food; it wasn’t that I disliked Cleveland, I just honestly didn’t see myself here.

IJS: Why not?

HH: I think that as a young person, I had what I knew of Cleveland, and I knew I wanted something more, and I started finding those things in other cities… when I came back to Cleveland, I realized Cleveland has all those things that I looked for elsewhere, they just weren’t part of my world. So, then, coming back as a different person, I was able to see those things because I was hip to them from my other experiences, which was so great.

IJS: Was there anything in particular you really came to appreciate about the city when you came back?

HH: The thing that I noticed, that sticks out to me, every time I would move to a new city, I recognized that Clevelanders as creatures are these loyal beings – more than any other city that I experienced. Where, if you’re starting a young business that’s a new concept, it’s a little bit tougher because you need to prove yourself to Clevelanders. But once you do, they support you like no other city I experienced.

IJS: How long were you gone?

HH: I was gone for 10 years. I would read about a chef, and I would become really excited about what they were doing, and I would just relocate to that city, and show up and say, “I’m willing to work for free, just teach me.” I lived in Seattle, and Chicago, and Maryland, and New York, and had amazing experiences.

IJS: You really moved around a lot, didn’t you?

HH: I actually had a rule at one point that I couldn’t own more than would fit in my Chevy Malibu, because I could pick up and go at any time. But at one point, I got a cat, and I had to get rid of a lot of things to carry my cat.

IJS: Who were some of the people who drew you to different cities around the country?

HH: I worked for Leslie Mackie in Seattle, and she now owns Macrina [Bakery & Café], and she is an amazing baker. Eric Mann in upstate New York, he’s an amazing chef at the Bear Café… The woman who wrote The Italian Baker, her name is Carol Field; the man in Italy who helped her do her research when she first wrote that book – I had this unbelievable experience and opportunity to be able to work for him in Seattle … I was his dough girl. I think I made like $4 an hour, cash, at the time, and I lived in this house where you got half a bed.

IJS: That sounds more like a sad tale – the saga of the poor dough girl. Was there a happy ending?

HH: What I learned from [the Italian baker] is something that I am still able to translate to the people who come to work for me: how to touch the dough, how to feel the dough, how to sense the humidity level in the ingredients. It was one of those experiences where I wasn’t allowed to touch dough once it came out of the bowl for months. Tomas Soltis was his name, and he was the most passionate baker I ever came across.

IJS: Did that experience help you decide this was something you were truly passionate about – a defining moment?

HH: I think that at that point, when I was in Seattle, and I was working with him, I really realized where my passion was. I don’t just cook. I don’t do it because it’s the easiest thing for me to fall into. I have a passion for it. I love making people happy with food. I think great food brings people together. In a certain way, what excited me about Anatomy of Peaceful Change and developing a community, I think when you make great food, you do the same thing, because you bring people together, and your intentions come out in the presentation, in the food, whether it be to comfort somebody, or excite somebody, or give somebody a really great Saturday morning, enough food to go home and take a nap and relax. A lot of times people say after they eat brunch [at Lucky’s], “I just need to go home and take a nap,” and I think: Success!

IJS: Which came first, Lucky’s or Sweet Mosaic?

HH: Sweet Mosaic did, actually. I was the opening pastry chef at fire [food & drink, in Shaker Square], and then I went and worked for my sweetie [Andy Strizak], who was the chef over at Parker’s [New American Bistro]. My sister and I had been talking about starting a business for a long time… simultaneously, we had read an article about Keith Sutton, who owns Sutton Builders, and he was running this competition where he wanted to attract a new business to Tremont that would benefit the community, and whoever won the competition would get a storefront down on Professor [Avenue] for $1 for the first year of your business. I first met him, and I started talking to him about what I wanted to do, and he decided very quickly that I wasn’t the person for that place. But he said, “I own a coffee shop. We have a little space in the back… do you want to look at it?” We came and looked at it, and we had a couple other people look at it, and they were like: “You’re crazy! This place is so small! How are you going to do what you want to do here?”

IJS: Yet, you weren’t dismayed, and that was the beginning?

HH: What I wanted to do was a little bit risky, and I wasn’t completely sure that it was going to make it. I thought this was the least amount of risk; we’re connected to a place where [the patrons] would be one of our immediate customers. My Andy, for my birthday, had bought me a half-sheet pan convection oven – that’s how we started the business. You could only bake two half-sheet pans at a time. If we got a wedding cake order, I had to go to a friend’s restaurant, because the cake pans wouldn’t fit in the oven.

IJS: Did your sister and you see eye-to-eye on being in that small space?

HH: We probably stayed in business together for about one year. She’s one of my best friends, so it became really clear to us … she’s an artist, and I’m a pastry chef and a cook … it was more important to both of us to stay friends than to go through a struggling start-up business. She’s still very much a part of my business – she does all of our graphic work, she’s my sous chef on the weekends for brunch. There are very few people in the industry who can do what she does, [even] with years of experience. So, she stays a really positive part of my business.

IJS: And when did Lucky’s Café begin to take shape?

HH: At some point we had enough money to buy a real oven. And, then we progressed to get a walk-in [cooler], which was a dream. Then, the owners of Lucky’s at one point, probably going on three years ago, approached me and [asked], “Do you want to partner on Lucky’s?”… I started looking at the financials, and we had to make more money. Brunch started off by me thinking, on Saturdays, what if I convinced 20 people to buy breakfast here?… I never anticipated having it grow to 220 people on Sunday. I mean, we were cooking on camping burners, which is completely illegal, but now that we aren’t, it’s okay to talk about it!

IJS: Obviously, you’re a big proponent of using local ingredients. Do you think that stems more from your Ohio roots, or from your experiences on the road?

HH: When I came back to town, again, that was one of those things that I thought wouldn’t be a big deal. I thought, Clevelanders – ranch dressing, iceberg lettuce, buffet, salad comes with your entrée… I started working at fire, and I met Andy. And at such a young age, he was such a huge advocate for local farmers that I fell in love with him, and what’s important to him. And it’s been a ride ever since then. What I would see him do as a chef was work until [midnight] on a Friday, and then get up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday, drive to the farmers’ market, pick up all of his goods … and then go back and cook with the freshest, finest ingredients anybody could get their hands on, and proudly serve Saturday night all the things he worked on and leave at 1 a.m.… it was like a joy to him. And I just thought, how lame [am I]? It made me really look at myself and say, “Ohio is so blessed with such bounty,” and the fact I didn’t consciously make it a priority in what I create was something I really had to look at.

IJS: And certainly the life of a farmer isn’t easy either.

HH: It was actually two years ago, in February, when a local city farmer was talking to me about what it is he can grow for me for the following season. He took me over to his urban farm, which is just over on West 25th [Street in Cleveland], and it was one of those oddly warm February days where there isn’t any snow, and I was able to see the ground for what it was, and I just thought, how cool is it that in this urban setting you grow our pie pumpkins? So, I came back from that little tour, and this lot [outside of Lucky’s], which we maintain and mow, and pick up garbage from, was just staring at me. We started a scholarship fund where we helped City Fresh [a project of the OSU Extension Service and Ecological Design Centerin Oberlin]. We raise money to put into the scholarship program, and the young people that go into the scholarship for the summer work in the garden. We also maintain the garden, and the produce we cook with… And as a chef, to be able to honestly look out my door and see kale, and think, “How am I going to use kale this weekend?” is great. This weekend, we did a cheesy soft polenta, and a ratatouille, where I used local green peppers and red peppers, eggplants out of the garden, all the crazy amounts of herbs in it, and then we had fried green tomatoes on it, which were right out of our garden.

IJS: People swear by your baked goods. Do you have any baking tips?

HH: Never use margarine or shortening. There are a couple of Food Network bitches who advocate taking shortcuts, and it’s never good. The most important ingredient in anything you do is your intentions. Back that up with good ingredients, because if you take time doing something, starting off with good ingredients, you’re a lot better off in the end – so, good butter, farm fresh eggs. And then, be patient: I think a lot of people, they get nervous, and they overwork things. [With things like] cookie doughs and muffins, they want it to be a little bit more controlled than food is, so they work it more [and it becomes] this real congealed thing, and it’s really tough and rubbery. So, like scones [see Recipe File], when you’re done with them and ready to bake them, it almost looks like the dough is not done. But, that’s where you get how flaky it is; it just crumbles apart, because it wasn’t completely formed. Bake when you have a minute, and you’re doing either something for you to enjoy, or somebody you love to enjoy. Take time to do it right.

IJS: Do you have a favorite dish to cook or bake?

HH: I love to make soup. I think that culinarily, it challenges you like nothing else. Growing up with seven people in the home, sometimes you go in the fridge and there’s nothing in there, and you [wonder], “What are we going to eat?” Then, four hours later, we had this most amazing soup.

IJS: Anything you hate cooking?

HH: I get most nervous about cooking protein. With Andy’s help, it’s getting better, it’s gotten better. I think that when you’re cooking just meat, it’s such an art form to get it perfect, where it’s not tough, it’s perfectly seasoned.

IJS: What are some things that you always have around the house?

HH: Butter. Butter makes everything better. Eggs. Always have eggs because that’s one of those things, you don’t need anything else, but you always have something else. Good quality cheese. I could give up chocolate before I could give up cheese.

IJS: Everywhere you’ve wound up, you’ve either been cooking or involved in some creative venture, so at this point, could you see yourself doing anything other than what you’re doing now?

HH: No. I mean, someone recently asked me about “five years from now…”, this sort of thing. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that far out. I think it will be a good day when Lucky’s is doing really well, and the staff is happy, and we’re doing great food, and we have a couple more garden spaces. We’re going to be opening another place down at the Gospel Press in Tremont, and I’d like one other location, one other very magical location, whether it be the east side, downtown. We’re going to [expand] the brunch to seven days a week. With the remodeled kitchen, I expected to do it ASAP, so I have to hire a couple really passionate, hardworking, visionary cook-type people, and then it will all come together. It’s got me a little distracted these days because there’s only 24 hours in a day, and rumor has it, you’re supposed to sleep for a couple. But, I’m very happy, very blessed. It’s good.