Baltimore's Top Chefs: Ted Stelzenmuller

Tucked away, a little bit off the beaten path in Canton, is perhaps one of Baltimore's most innovative chefs. Ted Stelzenmuller, owner of Jack's Bistro  and a Rochester, N.Y. native, thought a career in the kitchen would be his ticket to a life spent traveling around the world.

With that in mind, Stelzenmuller moved to Baltimore in 1994 to attend the Baltimore International College. He didn't let the little fact that he hadn't started cooking until he was 20 stop him and credits the school, and in particular it's program in Ireland, for giving him a solid foundation.

"It was a great time. I spent a month there and learned under two really great chefs with a great team. It absolutely [has an influence on what I do now.] Not with the food but as far as just being professional and advance basics of how to prepare foode and how to understand food," he says.

"It was all based on French technique. But you can give two people the same recipe and its going to taste different. You have the Irish French training and the American version," he adds.

Following his graduation in 1997, however, Stelzenmuller realized that he wasn't going to be hopping on a plane to exotic locales just yet.

"I just didn't have any idea of what cooking was or the culinary field was. I'd seen a couple of shows on TV and thought 'That's great. I've been to Venice. If I go to cooking school I can go to Venice all the time.' I used to travel a fair bit and do now, but for 10 years it was work, work, work. Trying to press and make yourself better and pretty much have no life outside of restaurants. I loved it."

The making of a great chef

Instead of traveling, Stelzenmuller got busy turning out food in various restaurants around the city. His mother was born and raised in Towson and he had spent time in the area visiting relatives a few times a year during his childhood. So, it seemed like a natural fit to stay in Baltimore.

"I started around town. I was executive chef at a place called Gibby's in Timonium, one of the biggest seafood restaurants in town. I was 25 and it was my first shot. I felt great. It was a 400 seat restaurant. I gave them 5 years," he recalls.

Stints at East Baltimore favorites Red Fish and Salt followed. But when Stelzenmuller was offered an opportunity to own his own restaurant he knew that the time had come to go out on his own. He decided to ask his mother if she'd partner with him. He thought she'd never say yes, but didn't "want to hurt her feelings" by not asking her first.

Much to his surprise, her answer was yes. Though that opportunity didn't pan out, Stelzenmuller and his mother, undeterred, eventually found the location at 3123 Elliott Street in Canton.

"It couldn't have been any more perfect. Out of all the places we looked at, I don't see how it could have been better than this place. I'd worked in Canton for five years and liked the area. It's the people, it's the buildings, the whole area. It's more of a community," he explains.

Right place, right time

Opening a restaurant in Canton as opposed to somewhere else like Mt. Vernon, according to Stelzenmuller allowed him to pursue his true calling -- dinner. "I didn't want to have to be open for lunch. I'm just not passion about it. It was my first shot and I didn't want to blow it."

Since its opening in 2007, Jack's Bistro -- named for Jack Tripper's restaurant in "Three's Company" � has earned a reputation as one of Baltimore's most avant garde restaurants. Stelzenmuller was the first Baltimore chef to offer sous vide prepared entrees on his menu. Sous vide [soo veed] is a French method of cooking during which fresh ingredients are placed in an airtight, vacuum-sealed plastic bag and cooked in hot, but not boiling water, for up to 72 hours.

"The idea to do things just a little differently was always there. I think it's gotten better. It's changed and for the better," he says.

While Stelzenmuller acknowledges that his brand of cuisine -- Mac and cheese and chocolate, a regular menu item; a dish with Pop Rocks; a BLT with Ranch flavored ice cream; or a suckling pig gilded in gold leaf served at a special chef's dinner in November -- can be a bit challenging for some palates in Baltimore and a risky move, he says it just seemed like the next logical step.

"I'd developed somewhat of a loyal following and they trusted me. Not everyone likes sous vide cooking, but they definitely see that it's amazing. Some people like their steak cooked well done and that's the only way they'll eat it."

The more things change�

However, since the mid-1990s Stelzenmuller says the culinary scene has grown exponentially but at the same time, it's managed to stay the same.

"You still have all the places that opened up years ago and have kept the same menu. It's not a bad thing. It's evolved tenfold and some hasn't evolved at all."

In the spectrum of highly regarded culinary towns including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia, Baltimore "is catching up," according to Stelzenmuller.

"Some say we'll always be catching up, but I don't think so. Part of why Baltimore has gotten better is because a lot of chefs own their restaurants. They can be more adventurous and can do the things they've seen or always wanted to try. Not a lot of people out there can do that because a lot of times we're not allowed to do that as chefs," he opines.

The influx of chefs from other cities like the B&O Brasserie's Michael Reidt is "part of how Baltimore is getting better. He's good. He's very good. Guys like him are coming in, so that can't hurt. It opens people's eyes."

The city's location on the water's edge and in the center of a strong agricultural region are also boons for chefs and food lovers alike.

"You can find pretty much anything growing locally now, or at least within a couple hundred miles and you can't beat that. If you're a good chef you know that the less your food travels the better. Whatever tastes better is what I'm going with."

Jack's Bistro diners can look forward to some new additions to the menu. "There will always be wow. There'll always be things like sous vide. We just came back from Singapore and Malaysia. We've got a noodle bowl on the menu that tastes like what he had at a noodle bowl shop in this back alley."

"After restaurant week we'll have things on the menu that represent what we had when we were there," he adds.

For those who are regulars and those who haven't yet been to Jack's Bistro, Stelzenmuller says he's in it for the long haul here in Baltimore.

"I love this town," he says.

Walaika Haskins is managing editor of Bmore Media.

Comments? ideas of your own? Email Bmore.

Captions:
1. Chef/Owner Ted Stelzenmuller at Jack's Bistro in Canton
2. An entree at Jack's Bistro in Canton 
3. Patrons enjoy happy hour drinks at Jack's Bistro in Canton
4. An entree at Jack's Bistro in Canton
5. Jack's Bistro in Canton
6. Some decor at Jack's Bistro in Canton
7. A dessert at Jack's Bistro in Canton

Photos by Arianne Teeple