For Birch & Barley chefs, teamwork is delicious

In what may be described as a setting for marital bliss, the kitchens of D.C.’s new eatery Birch & Barley (with its upstairs taproom, ChurchKey) are run by newlyweds, executive chef Kyle Bailey and his wife, pastry chef Tiffany MacIsaac. Positively glowing with the challenges and triumphs of setting up and running the menu and food preparation at beer-centric Birch & Barley, the couple took some time out of their frantic schedule to explain how they have arrived at this juncture in their career path.

As it turns out, the couple have worked together in various kitchens throughout the past several years, which has helped them forge a smooth working relationship. Both have attended culinary schools to hone their skills: He is a graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and she graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City.

After graduation both have had extensive work experience in some rather tony restaurants: Bailey at Restaurant St. Michel and the La Palme d’Or (where he got yelled at by one of the best French chefs), both in Florida; and Cru and Allen & Delancey, both in Manhattan, to name a few. MacIsaac baked madly at several Manhattan destinations, but also at Cru and Allen & Delancey … where, obviously, the couple’s paths crossed and recrossed.

Both refreshingly energetic and filled with visions for farm-fresh fare (Bailey) and elegant yet homey breads and desserts (MacIsaac), they acknowledge that they did not grow up in households where moms loved to cook and grannies kept the Sunday suppers flowing.

“My family never cooked,” Bailey said. “Both folks worked a lot. My mom worked in customer service and my dad was a wrestling coach. … We had a lot of cold cereal and fish sticks.”

MacIsaac underscores how unimportant good cooking was in her family’s home, and reports she was really startled to enjoy her first really good meal when she was working as a hostess in a Manhattan restaurant.

“It was beef cheeks at $30,” she said. “It completely changed the way I looked at food.”

Coming from such non-foodie backgrounds, how did these two end up in a high-end and trendy restaurant infused with culinary passion?

For Bailey, it all started when he took a job as a dishwasher in a local restaurant, and a cook asked him to peel some onions. He did such a good job that when cooks didn’t show up for work, management pressed him into kitchen duty.

Subsequently, he would skip school to go to work at the restaurant. “Sitting in school for eight hours made me realize I wanted to do kitchen work forever,” he said. “What I like about the kitchen, there’s real energy and a brotherhood.”

Stressing his love for the profession, Bailey said getting into and graduating from the CIA were proud days in his life.

As for MacIsaac, once she had the chance to hang out in the kitchen of Union Square Cafe and get her hands into bread dough, she was hooked.

“As I think about my first job, I worked in the morning doing the breads and cookies,” she said. “I used to think, ‘How could anyone do all this in eight hours?’ Now I do it all in four. … If I had it all to do over again, I would get trained for free as an intern and skip school.”

As fortune played out, both ended up working together most recently at Manhattan’s Allen & Delancey, and there they blended their passion for contemporary American cooking with a gracious nod to time-honored breads and desserts. He models his entrees on farm-fresh ingredients, and she follows suit with creatively wholesome sweets.

Q&A with the Chefs

What is your comfort food?

MacIsaac: Chinese food, Oriental chicken salad and quesadillas.

Bailey: Good pepperoni and a good bacon burger or a Texan burger deluxe.

What is your cooking philosophy?

MacIsaac: The food must taste good first, not just look good. … My trademark dessert is the chocolate-peanut butter tart with a vanilla milkshake.

Bailey: We have the same ideas. It’s the focus on the flavor; food must have flavor, and it is not about manipulating or masking it. … Also I love when there is no waste. The duck dish — it starts with a whole duck, then the breast is for service, the legs are for confit, the fat is for the confit, the carcass is for duck stock. I hate the idea of throwing out food.

Which is your favorite restaurant?

Both: The Four Sisters in Falls Church, then Zaytinya and Rustico.

What’s in your fridge?

Both: We don’t even have ketchup, but lots of mustard. We are here every day from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. … But I have cottage cheese (MacIsaac).

Which is your favorite cuisine?

MacIsaac: American cooking, between refined and rustic. I love all food. We love going out to eat. When we go to a new neighborhood, I ask, “Where’s the best Chinese?”

Bailey: The same goes for me. We will go far out of our way for good food. We love everything. And I love me a hoagie, man.

From the Chefs’ Kitchen

Chicken & Waffles (serves 4)

Fried chicken

4 boneless chicken thighs

2 cups buttermilk

Suggested seasonings to taste: cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, garlic powder and Frank’s red hot sauce

2 cups all-purpose flour, seasoned with garlic powder, salt and cayenne

5 to 6 cups of canola or peanut oil

Season chicken thighs with salt. Place buttermilk and seasonings of choice in a bowl with the chicken. Refrigerate at least 6 hours to overnight.

Remove the chicken from liquid, reseason with a pinch of salt and toss in the seasoned flour. Return to the buttermilk, coating evenly with a thin layer of buttermilk.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the chicken in the flour again, coating evenly. Fry the thighs at 350 degrees until golden brown all over. Place in a heatproof dish, and finish cooking in a 400-degree oven to cook through.

Buttermilk-Pecan Waffles

1 cup plus 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour

3/4 cup plus 3 Tbsp whole wheat flour

3 Tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp maple syrup

2 oz. butter

3 eggs

2 cups buttermilk

1 cup toasted pecans, finely chopped

Maple syrup and melted butter for serving, as desired

Combine the two flours with the sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Melt the maple syrup and butter together until just combined and set aside. Whisk the eggs until completely smooth; add the buttermilk, maple syrup and butter. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry. Cover and let rest 30 minutes at room temperature.

Preheat the waffle iron. Stir the pecans into the batter and spoon a portion into the hot waffle iron. Cook about three to four minutes, or to manufacturer’s specifications.

Serve the fried chicken over waffles with maple syrup and butter.