By: Community Magazine | April 3, 2023 | , Dining | Colts Neck , Fair Haven , Holmdel , Lincroft , Little Silver , Locust , Red Bank , Rumson , Sea Bright
STORY BY: Brian O’Malley | FEATURED PHOTO CREDIT: Joe Brown, Community Magazine
Chef David Burke & Suzanne Sicora-Ludwig team up to help Soup Kitchen 411 combat food insecurity while supporting local restaurants.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit the state of New Jersey particularly hard. With over nine million Garden State residents living in close proximity, it was anticipated early-on that coronavirus would be difficult to contain. Aware of this possibility, in early 2020, the state government ordered the temporary closure of many businesses and services to ensure that New Jerseyans limited their exposure to one another, the idea being that reduced public contact would curb the spread of the virus and hasten the end of the pandemic.
One of the business sectors most impacted by the pandemic and ensuing shutdown was the restaurant and food service industry. Restaurants were required to alter their seating arrangements, establish capacity limits, and, in some cases, adapt to a take-out service model for several months, affecting revenue and the ability to keep staff employed.
The pandemic also created additional strain on New Jerseyans who were already experiencing food insecurity, and placed some in that situation for the first time. Supply chain issues resulted in increased prices and reduced stock at grocery stores throughout the state. Many people were left with very few options to properly feed their families.
It was from these challenges that Soup Kitchen 411 originated. The brainchild of Kenneth DeRoberts, a seasoned municipal manager and government consultant, Soup Kitchen 411 set out with a dual mission: to aid struggling families while also helping local restaurant owners survive the pandemic. Established in 2020, Soup Kitchen 411 raises funds to purchase meals from local restaurants. These meals are then delivered to partnering soup kitchens, who in turn distribute them to individuals and families in need. During the height of the pandemic, this coordinated effort helped restaurants cover their overhead and keep their employees working, gave the staff at soup kitchens a much-needed respite and resource, and provided nutritious meals to those experiencing food insecurity..
Suzanne Sicora-Ludwig has seen the success of Soup Kitchen 411 firsthand. As a City Council Member for the City of New Brunswick, Sicora-Ludwig first became involved with the organization because of her previous work with Elijah’s Promise, a local soup kitchen. Since that initial introduction, her role has expanded and she now serves as Chair of Taste of the State, the organization’s annual gala, which provides much of the funding for its activities.
Hosted at the Park Chateau, a magnificent venue in East Brunswick, the Taste of the State features dishes prepared by restaurants that are invited by Soup Kitchen 411 and who welcome the opportunity to support the work of the organization.
“When we first started on this journey with the Taste of the State, we knew it was going to be a stellar event,” Sicora-Ludwig said, adding, “but it has really cascaded into something much more grand.”
The organization was first connected with Park Chateau by National Football League alumnus and Monmouth County resident Christian Peter. Peter, who has been an active supporter of Soup Kitchen 411, introduced Sicora-Ludwig to Park Chateau’s owners, Joe and Barry Maurillo. After hearing about the good work being done by Soup Kitchen 411, the Maurillos offered to donate their entire venue, their staff, and the food for the Taste of the State event.
Peter was also instrumental in connecting Soup Kitchen 411 with David Burke, a world-renowned chef who grew up in Monmouth County and who signed on as the official food ambassador for the Taste of the State.
PHOTO COURTESY OF: Chef David Burke
Anything’s Possible For A Guy From Jersey
Although born in Brooklyn, David Burke was raised in Hazlet and considers Monmouth County to be his true home. Describing a “normal” childhood that belies his current status as a culinary celebrity, Burke recalls spending his youth hitchhiking to the beach in the summer, going to concerts in New York City, playing little league, and hanging out at Holmdel Park. Coming from a working-class family which valued hard work, Burke remembers always having a job – beginning with his first paper route as a child.
It was one of these early careers that first got Burke interested in cooking. His mother helped him get a job mowing lawns and doing odd jobs at the Sheraton Hotel on Route 35 in Hazlet (now a Holiday Inn). Burke explains that he would go into the hotel’s kitchen to have his lunch and soon developed friendships with the older teenagers who worked on the kitchen staff. That camaraderie led Burke to request a transfer to become a dishwasher. It was this experience, along with the pressure and excitement of a busy and lively kitchen environment, that led him to fall in love with cooking and decide to become a chef.
“I saw real professionalism at a young age,” Burke recalls of his time at the hotel. “The chef was a former Marine, a clean-cut authority figure who had all of these guys under control. It was like being at football practice or being in a locker room and then, at five o’clock when the first dinner order came in, it was like the whistle blew and everybody did their job.”
Being a part of that team, a collection of strong personalities banding together to prepare a meal under the direction of a chef, resulted in what Burke calls his “aha moment”, when he realized that cooking is what he wanted to do with his life.
“That’s the life of the restaurant business,” says Burke. “There are so many unique personalities, artistic people, renegades, misfits, you name it…and they all come together and put out a good product every time.”
As he describes it, in the late 1970s, cooking was not yet considered to be a distinguished career. His goal wasn’t to be rich or famous but rather to become a good chef because he liked cooking. “This decision wasn’t based on being a celebrity chef, because that didn’t exist,” the chef says. “Writing cookbooks and opening restaurants with your name and having television shows and pots and pans in supermarkets, that didn’t exist. My goal was simply to be a really good quarterback in my kitchen.”
Burke’s father, also named David, actually tried to talk him out of going into the field. The senior Burke registered his son for a cooking class at a specialty shop in Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, hoping that exposure to real cooking would push the idea of being a chef out of his son’s mind. To the contrary, the owner of the store offered Burke a part-time job in exchange for more cooking classes.
From there, Burke worked at Fromagerie in Rumson and the Navesink Country Club, where he polished his basic cooking skills before enrolling at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY and later studying at the Ecole Lenotre Pastry School in France. At 26, Burke was hired as the Executive Chef at the Michelin-starred River Café in Brooklyn. It was this job that gave him the freedom to experiment with new ideas and develop into a world-class chef who is now known for his eclectic style and fascinating food presentations. Referring to himself as a “mad scientist in the kitchen”, Burke developed ideas like the cake pop and swordfish chops, as well as innovative techniques for preparing food, like his patented Himalayan salt method for aging beef and, of course, the famous clothesline bacon – a David Burke brand staple that was invented by accident after one of his related experiments failed.
Over the years, Burke has occasionally engaged in flashy, attention-grabbing stunts that strengthened his brand and increased revenue for his restaurants. During the height of the mad cow disease scare in the early 2000s, the chef purchased a bull for $250,000. His reasoning was that if mad cow disease (technically bovine spongiform encephalopathy) ever made its way to the United States, it would cripple the country’s food industry. Purchasing a first-rate, grass-fed bull from a farm in Kentucky meant that Burke would have a secure line of beef for generations to come and could guarantee his customers of its provenance.
“It was great from a marketing perspective,” he admits, beaming, “instead of saying ‘I’ve got a tomato garden out behind the restaurant’, I could say ‘I’ve got a bull!’” It was this kind of outside-the-box thinking and public relations acumen that led to the chef’s astounding success. Burke now owns or is connected to over twenty restaurants around the country.
“Guys like me, we caught a good wave,” he says, acknowledging that he was fortunate to come of age during a time when America developed an interest in fine dining and the culinary world. “We helped pave some of the way by traveling to and working in Europe and bringing ideas back to America.”
COURTESY OF: Taste of the State
Serving the Community – “We help where we can”
As mentioned, David Burke was first introduced to the Taste of the State event by Christian Peter, a former player for the New York Giants. Peter’s father was the owner of Fromagerie in Rumson when Burke worked there as a teenager and Burke credits the senior Peter with teaching him how to cook.
He has served as Food Ambassador for the Taste of the State since its inaugural edition last year at Park Chateau Estates, where Burke has his Orchard Park restaurant.
The organization’s mission hits close to home for Burke, who summarized its work over the past few years by saying that, “the pandemic sidelined a lot of chefs and restaurants. If a restaurant can keep busy by supplying food (to soup kitchens) at a minimal cost, you’re not getting rich but you’re creating some cash flow, you can hire people, and, more importantly you can feed people who need it.”
Sicora-Ludwig, the event’s organizer, agreed, noting that, “a lot of restaurants in the community still aren’t out of the woods yet, so this organization really has been a tremendous help for many local businesses.”
Last year’s Taste of the State event had over 400 people in attendance and featured over a dozen restaurants working in partnership with the organization. That event raised $300,000 to directly support the work of Soup Kitchen 411. Sicora-Ludwig plans to build on the success of last year’s event by setting a goal of raising $1,000,000 at this year’s Taste of the State event, which will take place on Tuesday, May 23. These funds are crucial to the organization’s efforts, as much of the grant money they previously relied on has dried up as the impacts of the pandemic have receded.
Sicora-Ludwig also stresses that the community-building work of Soup Kitchen 411 has helped to reduce the stigma and stereotypes associated with food insecurity. “It’s disheartening to see that there are families who are working – oftentimes with two parents working – and they still can’t make ends meet. Getting these few extra meals makes a big difference.” She continues, “it’s not only homeless people who need help – these are working people who are still not able to afford to feed their families.”
The organization has made a substantial impact on food insecurity in New Jersey. Over the past 18 months, Soup Kitchen 411 has served 650,000 meals to people in need and is currently operating in 16 counties across the state. Sicora-Ludwig says that the non-profit is always looking to expand and is willing to forge relationships with any restaurants or soup kitchens that have a need. “Our goal is to be everywhere,” she says, adding, “we want to be able to provide our services across the entire state.” Sicora-Ludwig notes that these new partnerships are built through the hard work of the organization’s leadership, especially that of co-founder Kenneth DeRoberts.
Soup Kitchen 411 recognizes the contributions and support of community members through its Heart for Hunger Awards, presented at the Taste of the State event. This year, the organization will honor the following individuals and entities with Heart for Hunger Awards:
Sicora-Ludwig anticipates that the 2023 Taste of the State will be a remarkable event and beams with pride as she anticipates the excitement that will be generated by having food and entertainment in every corner of the building – and even outdoors in the gardens. She considers each person who walks through the door at Taste of the State part of the team that helps Soup Kitchen 411 do their job better.
For his part, the event’s Food Ambassador, Chef David Burke, concluded by sharing his belief that food is something that brings people together from all walks of life.
“Everybody likes food. You don’t have to be on the left or on the right, it doesn’t matter if you’re tall or short. Everybody likes food. And we do what we can to help fight hunger in our community.”
The Chef and the Chair: Chef David Burke and Event Chair Suzanne Sicora-Ludwig discuss plans for the 2023 edition of Taste of the State | CREDIT: Joe Brown, Community Magazine
Taste of the State 2023
Partner Restaurants & Vendors:
Musical Entertainment Provided By:
To learn more about the Taste of the State and to purchase tickets to the event, please visit www.tasteofthestatenj.com.
To learn more about Soup Kitchen 411, visit www.soupkitchen411.com.
SEE THIS ISSUE IN PRINT!
Colts Neck • Holmdel • Lincroft Edition – view here.
Rumson • Fair Haven • Little Silver • Red Bank • Sea Bright • Locust Edition –
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