Jim Coleman:
Philadelphia's Shining Star

Move over, Emeril. Here comes Jim Coleman. Built like the football player he once was, with an exuberant, down-home approach to food and cooking, a genuine desire that everyone try and enjoy his recipes, author of two cookbooks, and host of his own NPR radio and PBS television shows, Coleman is poised to be the culinary world's next major celebrity.

As Executive Chef at Philadelphia's exclusive Rittenhouse Hotel, Coleman oversees a staff of 110 who prepare meals for the hotel's four restaurants, banqueting operations, and room service. His first cookbook, "The Rittenhouse Cookbook," is lavishly illustrated volume with heart-healthy recipes served in Treetops, the hotel's premier restaurant. The newest book, "Flavors of America," is the companion to his PBS series. With sidebar stories about the origins of the recipes and ingredients and the chefs who joined him on his show, it's as much fun to read as it is to cook from. A weekly live radio show on NPR, "The Chef's Corner," brings Coleman and his roster of guest chefs and other food experts into kitchen in an intimate way.

It's far from the course his family expected him to take. Coleman comes from a family of southern lawyers, a tradition they thought he'd follow. But while he dutifully attended the family's Alma Mater, the University of Virginia, for one semester, he knew he'd rather be baking tortes than ruling on them.

His interest in cooking started when he was a teenager. "When I was 14, my father came to me one day and said I would get a job. I thought he was making a suggestion, but he wasn't. So I started working in a restaurant as a washer-upper. The cook liked me and said if I'd come in and finish washing the pots and other things early, he'd teach me to cook. I started by baking bread and discovered that I really liked it."

Despite that, his lawyer father was not convinced that his son was serious about a culinary career. He had to complete a semester in the Culinary Arts Program at El Centro Community College before his father let him transfer to the CIA. After graduation, Jim moved back to his Dallas hometown and opened three restaurants. Chicoria was "gourmet BBQ. We had traditional Texas BBQ brisket, ribs, and chicken. But we also served wild boar and venison chili." Catalina Café was a wine bar and bistro., while The 8.0 had a night club atmosphere. All three restaurants were immediate successes. It was the Texas oil boom, and life was very good. "We couldn't keep enough Dom Perignon in the restaurant," he remembers. Then came the oil crisis, and it all came tumbling down.

It was just as well, he remembers. "I'd had enough of me doing it all by myself. It was time for a change." So he did the next "logical" thing - he moved to California and opened a resort.

The Resort at Tory Pines in La Hoya was another hit. It was also the place where his media career began. "We had a soft opening of the resort," he explains. "I talked to everyone I met and got a lot of the people in the local area to come by. They were our first regulars. I'd tell them, 'If you ever have questions about your cooking, give me a call.'"

And call they did. His "Chef's Hotline" was nothing official, but became a well-appreciated service to his customers. It became more than that when a reporter from the Associated Press picked up the story. He got 700 calls in 48 hours after the story ran. The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and The New York Times also covered the "Chef's Hotline."

One of the calls was from Gary Collins' TV program, "The Home Show." The crew came down from Los Angeles to San Diego to tape a segment about the hotline and discovered that Coleman's exuberant personality made him a broadcast natural. He became a regular on the program.

A stint with American Airlines came next. "I did in-flight videos about cooking. I visited 12 countries in 12 months. I'd spend 14 or 15 days at Tory Pines, then be on the road for 10 days." It was exciting, but "it got older faster than I thought it would."

With a wife and growing family, he wanted a position that took him off the road. "My wife was a military brat, and she hated moving all of the time. We decided we didn't want to move or have me gone a lot while the kids were growing up." That led to his accepting the position of Executive Chef at The Rittenhouse, where he's been since 1992.

The Rittenhouse is an exclusive hotel with a clientele of international business and government leaders and celebrities. Far from pretentious, the motto of General Manager David Benton and his staff is, "Welcome to Our Home." Guests are pampered with personal notes of greeting waiting in their home-like suites, 24-hour room service, and an attentive staff. That blends well with Coleman's approach to cooking.

"I like to cook what I like to eat. Call it gourmet comfort food. It's the food that I grew up with - Southern things, like chicken-fried steak and collard greens. It's mostly Southern, but with other influences. I've been lucky. I've been able to travel all over the world, and can bring the elements of other cuisines into play." But while he know that his guests want to eat well - as in flavorful, satisfying dishes - they also want to eat well - as in healthy, satisfying meals.

Philadelphia's location is an asset in meeting those demands for quality and freshness. Most of his produce and meats come from nearby Lancaster County and its Amish farms, which are known for the quality of their products.

He also thinks it is important to prepare as much food in-house as possible. The Rittenhouse has its own butcher and cuts its own meats. Sausages, salmon and other meats are smoked in-house. Most breads are purchased from two local bakeries who pass Coleman's scrutiny, but all pastries and special baked products come from his ovens.

Simplicity is the rule for most recipes. He tempers the urge to experiment with a respect for common sense in the kitchen. "If you're working with something common, like chicken, you can put together something with aspirations. But if you're cooking ostrich, for example, you have to keep it simple."

Coleman's first cookbook, The Rittenhouse Cookbook, grew out of his friendship with Mark Miller of Santa Fe's Coyote Café. Miller suggested that he write a book proving that elegant dining, simple techniques, and healthy recipes were not an oxymoron. Coleman liked the idea of a fine-dining, well-illustrated cookbook with heart-healthy recipes that could be executed by cooks with average equipment, average talents, and common ingredients. "One-third to one-half of my menu is heart healthy. It reflects the interests and demands of my customers."

But insuring that the recipes were truly heart-healthy made writing the book harder than he'd expected. "We had to submit each recipe for a nutritional analysis. And they'd come back and say something wasn't just right. Then we'd have to redo the recipe to make it fit the guidelines and still taste the way it should."

"Flavors of America," his PBS series, grew out of a show Coleman was already doing, "Flavors of Philadelphia." As the name suggests, "Flavors of Philadelphia" concentrated on local chefs and ran on the local PBS outlet. It was so popular that it ran for two consecutive years.

Convinced that there was an audience for a show that explored regional cooking, Coleman and producer Jim Davey expanded loaded up their SUVs, took to the highways and back roads, and produced "Flavors of America." The first 36 shows focus on the Mid-Atlantic and Southern US. During each program, Coleman and his guests create an entire 3-course meal. In between the cooking segments, there are features about local cooking specialties or some of the personalities that give the region its personality. Currently, the show reaches about 30-million homes in Dallas, Philadelphia, Houston, Chicago, Florida, Boston, Washington D.C., and other markets. It's scheduled to be picked up by more PBS outlets, and should be in 50-million homes by the end of the year.

In Coleman's opinion, some television chefs try to create recipes only other professional chefs can duplicate. That's not his philosophy. "With my show, I'm thinking 'My feelings will be hurt if you don't try to make this.' There's no baby Swiss Chard or other unfamiliar ingredients or cooking methods. It's very user-friendly."

That phrase can also be used to describe his radio show, "The Chef's Table." He goes live every Saturday at noon in Philadelphia, interviewing guests, giving cooking tips, and taking calls from enthusiastic listeners. A cooking show without the visual support of television might sound difficult to do, but he points out that everybody likes to talk about food. It's a wide-ranging show. One week, he might talk about Margaritas, while the next he could have an importer of caviar as a guest or an expert on how to safely store leftovers.

"We have a different theme each week and usually a guest. Usually, it's a chef, but not always. Amy Tan, who wrote The Joy Luck Club, was a guest. She's not a food writer, but she'd done research into her grandmother's recipes and how they were adapted to living in the US. We do segments on food safety, or nutrition for kids or women or athletes. But it is more food and cooking related than informational."

If everything goes according to plan, "The Chef's Table" will soon air nationally. A second series of "Flavors of America" is in the works. The celebrity is exciting. What chef doesn't dream of being a household name and seeing his creations on everyone's forks? But for all of the media attention and success, at heart Coleman sees himself as basically a good cook cooking good food for appreciative diners. He finds the most satisfaction when he's working behind the stove instead of in front of a camera. "I'm happiest on a busy Saturday night when I've been working on the line. It's like a sporting event. Everybody is pulling together to get the job done and to satisfy the guests."
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