Bernie Kantak, Cowboy Ciao
By Kimberly Hundley

Executive Chef Bernie Kantak was still in vacation mode, freshly returned from Telluride, when he sat down with the Scottsdale Downtowner for a friendly grilling. Featured in Food & Wine last April, you might think the Ciao’s kitchen cowboy would toot his own harmonica a little. Nope. John Wayne was an ego-mongering chatterbox next to this guy.

How long have you been at Cowboy Ciao, now?
It will be 11 years in five days, actually.

How does a chef celebrate his annual anniversary with a restaurant?
By working.

Describe yourself as a chef.
All my food tends to be kind of comforting, with a little bit of a twist. I like to use familiar ingredients in a different way.

Does your menu change seasonally?
The menu changes as I feel it. In the fall, we usually do five or six changes—but starting Oct. 2, we’ll have more than 15 new items. I don’t know why—I just felt like changing them.

That’s a huge revision. What are some of the items getting the kibosh?
On the dinner menu, the grilled cheese, testosterone salad, pork belly sliders, abalone, the salmon and several others.

The pork belly is going? I thought all you chefs were addicted to your beloved pork bellies!
It’s still on the menu, but I’m doing a curried version with a Thai chile and cucumber salad.

Aha. What else is new to the menu?
Let’s see. The ciabatta will have garlic custard instead of tapenade (olive paste). We’ll have a grilled baby octopus salad, arctic char, and butter-poached beef tenderloin sliders with truffled gouda and carmelized onions.

Which new dish do you predict will be a ciao-howling hit?
The Nutella braised short ribs. Nutella is a chocolate hazelnut spread, very popular in Europe. I made it for a recent event, and people went bananas for it. That’s why I’m serving it with plantains [wry smile].

Do you have a secret favorite junk food?
Burnt brownies with iced milk.

You love beer, so which suds should we be soaking in?
Dogfish Head is amazing. Probably some of the best beer I’ve ever had. They have the Festina Peach out right now, which is kind of a seasonal—a really tart peach beer, and it’s just awesome.

Is it true you are the creator of Ciao’s legendary, much-emulated Stetson Chopped Salad?
Yes. Even when I was in Telluride last week, I was walking down the street and saw my salad advertised by a restaurant there—and it’s the fifth or sixth place I’ve seen with the exact same salad or really, really close. Most of them admit it. I sent a joke e-mail to a place in California asking for the recipe, saying the chef must be a genius, and they said they couldn’t take credit for it; that it came from a Scottsdale restaurant.

Does this professional thievery tick you off?
It’s weird to see. I think I’m more freaked out that people are doing it than anything else. It adds to my ego, definitely.

Just how popular is the Stetson Salad at Ciao?
We sold 3,330 of them in August. The next top seller was 570 or something.

It’s your last meal—what are you ordering?
It’s kind of a tossup: my grandmother’s chicken paprika or stuffed cabbage. And a big piece of medium-rare bacon.

Chef Bernie doesn’t cook at home—and who can blame him. But he thought Scottsdale Downtowner readers might want to try this version of the classic Ciao “Grazer” at home:

Chicken & Waffles
Southern-style fried chicken wings with sweet corn waffles, sage butter and honey.

WINGS
½ qt buttermilk
3 tbls kosher salt
1 tbls Lawry’s season salt
1 tbls garlic powder
1 tbls onion powder
1 tbls paprika
12 large chicken wing drummettes
2 cups self-rising flour
Oil for frying as needed (I like rice bran oil)
Combine first 6 ingredients thoroughly. Add wings, cover and store in cooler over night. The following day while making the waffles and butter, heat a cast-iron skillet with desired oil filled half-way up the pan to 350 degrees (you can also use a small home fryer). Drain buttermilk marinade off chicken. Dredge wings in self-rising flour, and carefully fry in hot oil for about 6 minutes on each side. Remove wings from oil, drain off excess oil. Serve with one waffle, sage butter and your favorite honey.

SAGE BUTTER
¼ lb butter (1 stick) softened, cut into small chunks
1 tbls sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 tbls sage rough chop
Combine in food processor thoroughly. Store in cooler.

WAFFLES
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup yellow corn meal
2 tbls sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg
2 tbls melted unsalted butter
1 cup water
2/3 cup fresh corn
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a large bowl, sift together flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together egg, melted butter, water, corn, and vanilla. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and mix until just combined. Cook in waffle maker according to manufacturer’s suggestion.

For more information about Chef Bernie and Cowboy Ciao, visit www.cowboyciao.com.