“It took us a while to get everyone in the restaurant to understand the concept of layering flavor, but now that they do, the results are amazing.” - Chef Tyler Rogers

Adding the Unusual

I met Chef Tyler Rogers many years after his humble start, in his new restaurant, “Hail Fellow Well Met!”. I wanted to meet him, learn from him personally, because I’d heard, from a mutual acquaintance, that he was using edible flowers as an ingredient and garnish for almost all of his dishes. It seemed to me as if, perhaps, he had discovered something important about the value of adding the “unusual” to food and to life. After all, his rise in the culinary world could also be described as uncommon since he came from a very humble beginning.

Chef Tyler was raised, in small town America, off Burnt Bridge Road on the outskirts of Magnolia, Arkansas.  He got his first cooking job as a simple fry cook at a local place called Hudgies. Once he’d confirmed his love for the culinary arts, he left his small, home town. That was in 2008. Then he began to work his way through many well-known restaurants in Little Rock, eventually working under Joel Antunes at the Capital Hotel. 

From there, Chef Tyler worked under Thomas Keller at The French Laundry (Three Michelin Stars), voted the best restaurant in the world twice, in Yountville, California. Following his stint in California, he worked under Grant Achatz at Alinea (Three Michelin Stars), as well as Sous Chef under Iliana Regan at Elizabeth (One Michelin Star) in Chicago, Ill. Then, he decided it was time to come home to Arkansas.

Today, Chef Tyler is Culinary Director for Onyx Coffee in Rogers and Executive Chef for Hail Fellow Well Met! in Johnson, Arkansas. And, both have turned out to be an opportunity for him to demonstrate and express his commitment and mastery of adding the unusual as a way to layer flavor.

“It took us a while to get everyone in the restaurant to understand the concept of layering flavor in an unusual way, but now that they do, the results are amazing,” Tyler explained before he took the time to teach me his way of doing so.

“I learned early on that I needed to give diners a point of reference,” he said. “So, I learned how to take a favorite classic and give it a spin. For example, my favorite dish, ever, is biscuits and gravy. Now I make my own version.  Its filled with ingredients others don’t think of adding, but people are willing to try it because they recognize biscuits and gravy as one of their comfort-favorites.”

The process of using classic comfort foods as a foundation caused Chef Tyler to search for combinations of high-quality ingredients that would be fit well together and create explosive flavor.

“It turns out that a guy I know from here is now in New York,” he said. “He met a farmer in South America who was growing a rare type of pork that has marbling similar wagyu beef. Now he grows that type of pork in the State of New York and in an interesting twist he ships it back home, here, for me to use. It has amazing flavor and I love it.”

Then, he brought out a plate, filled with one giant biscuit. It was biscuits and gravy, Chef Tyler’s way, like I’d never seen before. Most importantly, aside from its presentation, it was filled with layered flavors I’d never experienced. Some flavors were from ingredients I would have never chosen on my own. And, when I took my first bite I immediately lost my eyes into the back to my head. It was heavenly!

It took me a while to understand Chef Tyler’s concept of using the unusual to layer flavor. But it all came together for me with a couple of bites. So, I understand now! The results are amazing and I’m looking to expand on what he taught me.

I’m looking at my own classic lifestyle. The life I’m comfortable with. And, I’m thinking of what special ingredients I can add, to change my life from simply comfortable, into something that will flower. Something magical. Unusual.

Biscuits and gravy, anyone?

If you’d like to know more about Mount Olive Farms and Hail Fellow Well Met restaurant, watch as I host this episode on American Dream TV which will be streaming on Apple TV and Roku in August 2023