This week’s guest is cooking up more than just food in his culinary career.
He’s currently running his own award-winning, fast casual restaurant, Field Trip and changing the industry as he does it.
On Episode 023 of The MICK Show, we talk about his most memorable parts of his career, and running a successful restaurant all while building an authentic brand as a creative.
We get also into his most memorable partnerships and what it actually takes to get your kids to eat their vegetables.
You can follow Mick (@mick) and Chef JJ (@chefjj) on Instagram.
New episodes of “The MICK Show” (presented in partnership with @maximmag) are released every Wednesday!
MICK: All right, we’re back. The MICK Show. And we have a special guest this week. This man is just a legendary dude in the culinary world, in the world of personal branding, and just an all-around great human, family man, and entrepreneur. Chef JJ, what’s up, man?
Chef JJ: What’s up, MICK? How are you, man? Good to see you. Been a long time.
MICK: There’s been some good hangs. I like to keep my friends people that I don’t see in my city. And then the pandemic came along and then just said, “Oh, you don’t want to see your friends in your city? Well, how about we just don’t see your friends anywhere except for on a little 3” x 3” square?”
Chef JJ: Exactly.
MICK: And then, here we are. Let’s actually go right into the amazing success of what you’re doing with FIELDTRIP. I feel like so many chefs who have just become household names, and become popular in their world, when they start restaurants, they go super, super high level. You can’t ever get in. You can’t afford it. Maybe if you know somebody you can go to this place. The Vogue level of restaurants. And you created a concept that is highly accessible to everybody. It’s super dope. The food’s great. The music is good. Everything about it is really fun. Can we talk about that whole concept and how that came about?
Chef JJ: Yeah, man. FIELDTRIP, I launched it in Harlem between 115th and 116th, Malcolm X Boulevard. A place where I’m rooted in with my family. I got to a point in my career where I wanted to feed the mass. I get excited to feed more and more people, but I also wanted to disrupt an industry, like wanted to put a conscious eating place in a neighborhood where we’re told it’s supposed to be fried food, finger licking good, smothered on something. I wanted to do the total opposite and I got tired of cooking in fine dining, fine casual places. Not saying that I won’t do that ever again, but I love this style of chef-driven atmosphere at a very affordable rate.
MICK: Has there ever been a precedent for anybody doing what you’re doing right now?
Chef JJ: I would say Chipotle. Chipotle is a North Star, right? Steve Ells, 1992, came through and changed the whole fast-food world. That’s how the fast casual, quick service word got created. I think I’m the new version of Steve Ells with FIELDTRIP.
MICK: I actually absolutely think that’s in your path, and I hope that manifests for you. Has anybody in the culinary world ever tried to launch something so relatable and so mass market while still maintaining a level of sophistication like you’re doing?
Chef JJ: No, I’ll probably say no. Listen, I know what you’re saying, MICK. I’ve been able to win a James Beard Award. I’ve been Forbes 30 under 30. FIELDTRIP won best new restaurant, Esquire Magazine this past year. Fast casual’s never done that.
MICK: Yeah.
Chef JJ: The quality of food that we’re putting out is ingredients that you would see at that restaurant that you gotta bang down the door to get in or call somebody and slide them a hundred-dollar bill to try and get a seat at the bar. Here, you’re getting that same ingredient for under 13 bucks.
MICK: Let’s zoom out on that for a second. You’re really good at understanding who you are and projecting yourself as a brand, and I think you just live in that brand space so well, and as we’re in this era now where influencers want to work with brands, and creatives want to work with brands, and the brand space is the space that everybody wants to be in if you’re any sort of talent or creative. You really excel in that space. How did you move into that from where you started?
Chef JJ: I think-
MICK: It’s really authentic for you.
Chef JJ: But it starts with the soul, like you, right? At the end of the day, we’re just who we are. I’m just JJ, right? And these are the things I like to do. This is who I want to become. This is what I strive for. I don’t walk out the door with a persona of like, “Yo, I’m gonna be James Bond today. Let me show my suit cuff links or this crazy watch I wear and be somebody for the public to see, but then when the door closes, I’m somebody totally different.” And I think when you’re talking to big brands, if they’re going to attach themselves to somebody or something, they want it as authentic as it can get, because that attracts more people to their brand.
MICK: What’s been your favorite collaboration with any brand? You can name a few if you want, of things that you’ve done that you just thought, “This was really cool. This was pretty innovative for what I’m doing.”
Chef JJ: I think the biggest brand I work with to date is still Mastercard, which I’m able to touch on through food, through a credit card company, these priceless experiences, so them 100%. I’ve done something with Infiniti, which was amazing. I think the way I’m able to articulate myself through food resonates. I did something with Morningstar Foods talking about health-conscious eating and their product. I mean, I go big. Kitchen partners contacted me, like big, big, big third-party delivery companies wanted me to maybe be on their advisory boards. Maybe something else would come to me. I know I’m not giving myself the best hype in this area.
MICK: No, no, but you’re also… You have such a good lack of ego compared to most people who have achieved what you’ve achieved, so it’s-
Chef JJ: Yeah. I think the most epic thing I’ve done was cook for the Grammy Partners, in the hills, this house was like at the top of the hill in L.A., and I cooked every course outside. I paired it with a musical song for inspiration. It was intimate. It was 50 people. And it was typical food that you just wouldn’t see at this place or with the way the people were dressed. I’m known for cooking this food of the African Diaspora with the love of rice, so it was very cultural, and that’s when I was like, “Okay, I’m starting to have an impact. People are starting to believe in me. Nobody’s questioning what I’m doing.”
And I’m sure you’ve been through that in your career, right? People hit you up like, “Yo, can you make sure you play this type of music for me?” And you’re like, “Yo, let me just rock. That’s why you called me, right?”
MICK: Yeah. Yeah. I still try to explain that to people. And now, I kind of tell people like, “I’m happy to stay within remote parameters of what it is that you like, or you want, if you’re hiring me,” but at the same time, imagine you walk into a kitchen and all the ingredients are there and they’re just like, “Yeah, these are the only ingredients you can use. And not only that, but you have to cook them in this order. And not only that, here’s the prep times.” I had a party once where a client said… I was like, “Oh, what is it that you’d like to… What’s the vibe?” They said, “Hey, we just want this vibe.” And I’m like, “Cool, sounds good.” They’re like, “As a matter of fact, we want it to sound exactly like this.” And they sent me a Spotify playlist of like 100 songs.
And I was like, “Okay. Well, this is a wide variety of stuff to choose from, but I’ll get in this zone for you.” They’re like, “No. We want this exact zone.” I’m like, “What do you mean, this exact zone?” And they’re like, “Oh no, literally, like these exact 100 songs.” And I was like-
Chef JJ: Hold on, hold on. Then what the fuck you doing there?
MICK: That’s what I said. I said, “Why am I here?” They said, “Well, we just want you to play these hundred songs.” So, I didn’t even have some of these songs because they were so esoteric. I downloaded the songs, put them in alphabetical order on my computer, and I just played the songs alphabetically. Didn’t even mix them. Like the songs played. Maybe, maybe every three songs I gave them a little scratch.
Chef JJ: Right.
MICK: Let them know I’m there. And then afterwards, they were like, “This was amazing. We’d just love to have you back.” And I was like, “You know, let’s revisit that.” But you’re kind of like… It was really fascinating to me that they did that and I just… I just have so much for people that let creatives be creative. But let’s zoom in a different way for that real quick. You have really focused on incorporating different cultural elements into your cooking and into your food. How did that come about?
Chef JJ: It just came from travels, man. I cooked in West Africa and Ghana, I’ve been to Singapore, Taiwan, India, Israel, and what I do is I take a grain, or a dish, and I’ll look at sticky rice and I’ll say, “Okay, where’s sticky rice from?” Oh, it’s from Laos, you see it in the Philippines, you see it here. Okay, what ingredients go with that? And I try to… As authentic as I can to that dish without offending people, but it’s always my take on it. That’s what I always tell people. This is how I view it. This is how I see it through my lens.
It’s just the influence of travels. I think travels influence us. Especially through food, you’ll see an ingredient in one place that you see in another place, and you see how different people cook with it and then bring it in.
MICK: Is there cultural appropriation by chefs?
Chef JJ: That’s a tricky question. I think the key thing is when you’re cooking an ingredient, if you say it’s authentic, you need to make sure you find the most authentic version of it. If you say it’s yours, this is my version, nobody will ever give you any beef, and I think that’s why I’ve been able to be a little bit successful in this area that even when I make Jollof rice… I’ve been to Ghana. I’ve been taught. Like at night, somebody from Nigeria walk in like, “Yo, what type of Jollof is this?” I’m like, “Well, hold on. This is Ghanaian Jollof, and this is my version.”
They’re like, “Okay. This is pretty tasty, but I still make it better than you.”
MICK: Yeah. Of course, they’re gonna say that, and they should. All right, so you guys were… This is exciting. You guys were top 10 most exciting fast casual brands for FIELDTRIP.
Chef JJ: Yes, yes, yes. This year.
MICK: That’s incredible. Of all, how many? I can’t even imagine how many new restaurants must launch in the course of a year. But to be listed in the top 10 is incredible.
Chef JJ: Super incredible, especially during the pandemic, to make it on that list. Especially for a place that was just in Harlem at that time. Like when you think about fast casuals that are birthing, you’re not thinking about them in Brown and Black communities or in Harlem. So, that’s impactful and I think that’s gonna help change the dining scene across America.
MICK: I was wondering, how did you come up with the name FIELDTRIP for that? Is it just because the food is taking you on like a different experience versus what people are used to?
Chef JJ: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, the food is taking you on a field trip, and also fields are for the rice fields, trips are for the trips I’ve taken, so you’re really on a journey. You come in there, you take a field trip, you can pretty much go anywhere in the world or a lot of places in the world.
MICK: Nice. What would be your dream… I always ask people on, it’s a very standard question, but it’s like for you, it’d be a little more interesting. I always ask people what would be your dream dinner party. But for me, it would be like what would be your dream five people to cook for? It could be dead or alive. They could be in food; they could be outside of food. It’s a really… It’s an open-ended question.
Chef JJ: I’ll stick with alive. You know, for me, I gotta have President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. That’s just… They take the one and the two just because they love food so much, like why wouldn’t you want them to eat your food? And the impact they have afterwards. And then after that it gets real difficult, because I can go music, I can go… There’s so many different people I want to cook for. And this is the difference in me now, MICK, is like I want to cook for so many people that I just can ramble off a list. I’m not thinking about let’s set this room, lock the doors, and nobody can get in.
But I would love to cook for Stacey Abrams. She rocked it out this year just believing in something. I have a lot of love for people that believe in stuff. AOC out of New York City, I would put her at that table. And then, you know, for me, also just the guy right here that hangs out on the corner, that says hello every day. He deserves to be at that table, and sit there, and embrace some of the greatness, and they can also see why he’s great, because he says… Literally every day I walk to FIELDTRIP, this dude says hello to me. He’s just chilling on the corner, hanging out.
MICK: I mean, that’s just such a great example of how I think a lot of people hopefully will be doing business after the pandemic, too, like people will be so happy to be back into their regular flows that they’re gonna just be more acceptive and appreciative of really anybody. I hear that from a lot of people. The idea of taking shit for granted is very 2019. You know? 2020 was a year of figuring it out and 2021 is a year of just embracing all the opportunities and all the stuff that we formerly overlooked.
Chef JJ: 100.
MICK: I think I’d love to know a little bit; how do you balance out… I mean, it was a real struggle for me, but I think I pulled it off, but being such a family person, such a present parent, while having such an entrepreneurial DNA, it’s a mother fucker.
Chef JJ: 100%. Hey, listen. It’s hard. When you’re an entrepreneur, you go, right? You can’t just not let the phone ring and not pick it up, or answer that email in that time, so for me, my moments with my children are in the morning. I do breakfast with them every morning. I bring them to school. That’s my initial bonding time with them on a Monday through Friday. And then I make sure there’s at least one activity, and it’s still not enough, like one activity. I bring them to swing class, we rock out for swim, we talk about it, I buy all of their swim gear for them. They know that’s dad’s thing.
You know, mom has a thousand things, right? Because kids always are looking for mom. I try to tell new dads, or any dad, I think we just have to start with one area and then just be conscious about what’s there, like I was very fortunate my parents are the basketball parents that come to every game. My dad would be at every game. He commuted two hours back and forth. You’re the same way, MICK, right? Like you make sure your flights are timed to get back to see your son, right?
So, I look at that from afar and be like, “Yo, I admire you, what you do, and how could I try to do the same things?” As my kids are starting to get older, I’m thinking about that in my mind, like when my kids are playing sports, am I going to be able to be at all these games? Or if they’re playing chess, or whatever it might be. Choir. Whatever it is. But I make sure that I spend real quality time and I use for me food as the ingredient for connection.
MICK: Yeah. Have your kids ever not liked something you made for them?
Chef JJ: 100%. They’re like the freakin… They drive me crazy.
MICK: It’s funny, because you could have a night where you can probably literally have half the people you mentioned at your dream dinner party in your face for a client, and then come home and make your kids like peanut butter and jelly the next morning, and they’re just like, “This fucking sucks.”
Chef JJ: No, no. I made them oatmeal yesterday. Well, they made the oatmeal yesterday and they were like… They just wanted water in their oatmeal. I’m like, “You guys… We do so much more than just water, but okay.” They eat the oatmeal. They’re like, “Ahh! You made this. Fix this.” Right? I’m like, “You guys made this. You made the oatmeal.” So, I fixed the oatmeal. So, today I made them banana-apple oatmeal, like vanilla extract in it, some cinnamon, and I’m like, “Okay, taste it.” And they’re like, “Oh, this is good!” So, we do have those moments around food. They eat pretty good. I think… I wish I focused more on vegetables and less on fruit when I first started, because you know, it’s always hard to get a kid to eat a vegetable for some odd reason. I don’t know why the color green makes people freak out.
MICK: Dude, I didn’t eat a salad till I was 30.
Chef JJ: That’s what my wife said. She’s like, “I didn’t even have kale till I was 30 years old.”
MICK: Yeah. It’s a real thing. Like, where I grew up, salads were not salad. Salads were like shit that was at one point from the ground, covered in preservatives, and then people would put that nasty dressing that like I only see at grocery stores, like the white shit that comes in those Kraft bottles.
Chef JJ: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
MICK: So, I try to be really mindful of that for myself and for my kid, and yeah, he doesn’t like everything, but he’s getting… He eats vegetables now. They’re not the vegetables I want him to eat. They’re like steamed Green Giant organic things, but like-
Chef JJ: But it’s a start, but listen-
MICK: It’s impressed upon… He’s proud of himself for it.
Chef JJ: Yeah, yeah.
MICK: And I let him cook it, or I mean, in our house cooking is putting the steamed vegetables in the microwave, but like they’re vegetables, right? So, it’s good. Man, before we get out of here, what are you listening to right now?
Chef JJ: It’s interesting, because my kids are into TikTok, my daughter’s into TikTok. She’s a big TikTok. So, like everything is TikTok, but I’m really listening to a lot of pop lately, and pop is really kind of all over the place. I did Selena + Chef and I’ve been rocking out to a lot of Selena lately since we’ve become homies, Selena Gomez, become homies. The new Drake is fire as always.
MICK: Yeah.
Chef JJ: I don’t know this guy. This guy’s like amazing who just did… What is it? What is it, like Thug… How many thug… The baby, the baby, there’s a hundred babies I feel like right now, so I’m listening to all-
MICK: Yeah. Baby, little baby, so many babies.
Chef JJ: I’m listening to all of them. Ariana Grande, she’s rockin. So, I’m in this kind of like… and I feel like everybody’s calling their music pop. I’m in this pop kind of groove. And then I always go back to ‘90s hip-hop and R&B when I want to get focused in the groove, and I always, when I’m ready to start writing recipes and block people out, for some reason Frank Ocean does it for me.
MICK: Wow. That’s really interesting.
Chef JJ: He’s able like to paint this picture of like… He can take you to a place with his music, like I can feel where I am, like he’s talking about the people he’s around and for some reason the rhythm, and the beat, and the harmony can make me lock in on these recipes, and then it makes me think of where do I want to go and move through.
MICK: Oh, I love that. JJ, thank you, man, so much for finding time. I know you have kids, and restaurants, and things, and there’s a lot going on, and you’re a good dude, and you just get life, and you get business more than… and you combine them in such a great, holistic, ethical way compared to so many people. So, it’s an honor to have you on The MICK Show and we appreciate you finding the time.
Chef JJ: MICK, thanks, man. Appreciate it.
MICK: That was it for another episode of The MICK Show. Thank you so much for tuning in. Please rate and subscribe to The MICK Show wherever you like to listen and make sure to follow on IG @MICK and Twitter @iamMICK. Let me know who you want to hear on a future episode, and we’ll see you back here next week.
The MICK Show is presented in partnership with Maxim. The show is produced by Lantigua Williams & Co. Jen Chien is our editor. Cedric Wilson is our producer and mixed this episode. Manuela Bedoya is our social media editor.