BAPTISM BY FIRE

Dave Pynt, Chef-Owner of the Burnt Ends Hospitality Group, reflects on the universally resounding success of the eponymous restaurant as well as the recently released book of the same name.

- SINDRAN PARAMASIVAM

“MAKE SURE IT’S [BLOODY] TASTY and have fun. If you’re not doing those two things, get... out” — that is Dave Pynt’s advice to aspiring chefs and bartenders. While I’m not a betting man, I’d wager a lot on the veracity of those experience-drenched words. It’s not just that he owes the enduring success of his one-Michelin-star restaurant Burnt Ends to them, but that his internationally celebrated and convention-blasting approach to modern barbecue, that the restaurant is a staging ground for, is a direct corollary of the ethos they outline.

Here’s Chef Dave with the blueprint on how to manifest a mantra.

Chef, why write a book at this point of your arc?

We have been going on for about 10 years and lots of people asked about a book, especially one with specific recipes, and a comprehensive story about our journey from where we began to where we are now. Ten years is a long time in the restaurant industry, and if you don’t do it then, why would you do it at 15 or 20 years? As we’ve already covered so much ground, might as well do it now.

What does it mean to you that the Burnt Ends tome is a collectible that will command real estate on the shelves of fans the world over?