NTF: Why did you become a chef? Describe your background, schooling, etc. Jimmy: My first true culinary inspiration came when I was 12 years old. It was my parents' anniversary and they had gone away for the day. I wanted to bake them a cake. I got a Good Housekeeping magazine and found a recipe for the most bazaar sounding cake I could find (a carrot cake) and I made it for them. My parents were most reluctant to taste it, but they thoroughly enjoyed it. I got a real kick out of the pleasure they got from something I created and I think that stuck with me. Years later I went to school in Tampa, FL. I had a French teacher who gave us a test and everyone in the class failed. He basically told us we were idiots and said if we want to speak French, go to France. So I took his advice and went to France for a year. One day I stumbled into Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School, because I was hungry and I told them I'd clean the school and do repairs if they'd let me eat. I ended up spending a couple of months translating classes for American students. When I came back to the states, I spent my junior and senior years at George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Then there was one moment when I realized I didn't want to wear a suit and tie every day and decided I wanted to be a chef and do what I want to do. NTF: Please describe your restaurant. Jimmy: Awesome. It's awesome. I am a very simple person. From the truck I drive to the boots I wear…I like things of substance. I don't like things fancy. I wanted the restaurant to be something friendly, something classic, something that will last. I'm not really into innovation. I don't dream up flavor combinations that have never been done before. One quote says, "If no one's ever mixed papaya seeds with chocolate, with ginger or with garlic, you have to sit back and ask yourself why." I'm a purist. I like foods very clean and very simple. I want them to taste the way they should taste, and not doctor them up, so to speak. My restaurant reflects that. The waitstaff wears denim shirts, black pants and there's a loud bistro feel to the restaurant. I don't want to see people sitting very straight, whispering, being afraid to be loud or afraid to enjoy themselves. We play great music, loud enough so people have to speak above it. People come here to party down, have fun and enjoy the food. NTF: Where did you learn to cook? Jimmy: I learned how to cook by training under, I think, the two greatest chefs in America. Chef Jean-Louis Palladin, who was at the Watergate in Washington DC, who I worked with for five miserable years, and Chef Gunther Seeger, who was also in DC, and is now in Atlanta. These, at the time, were the only two Michelin-rated chefs in America. They were cooking with live baby eel, beluga caviar, foie gras and with white truffles like it was Parmesan cheese. I knew that wasn't the kind of food I ever wanted to do, but what I wanted to get from these guys was the respect for the product, the passion for the product and standards of quality. Once you have the passion and understand the standards and the quality of product, then you can take any product and work with it. It doesn't have to be pheasant. It can be turkey and it can be great food if you know how to treat it, how to handle it and how to respect the product. NTF: What are some of the characteristics that differentiate turkey from other proteins, such as food cost, versatility and preparation tips? Jimmy: Turkey is extremely versatile. It can be substituted in any dish calling for poultry. Most pork recipes can also be replaced with turkey and it will save cooking time and give the benefit of a healthier dish. In our case, at The Frog and The Redneck, we have a dish we call Redneck Veal. We use turkey breast and pound it a little, for effect, and grill it or sauté it, like you would with veal. You'll find it sweeter and more tender than veal and it costs much less. In fact, turkey is cheaper than most meats. So, yes, it's versatile and it's delicious, but one needs to take care not to overcook the white meat. You'll be amazed at how succulent the white meat is. We get a lot of compliments on the Redneck Veal because a lot of people remember veal as being tough or gristly and you don't find that with turkey breast. It's a very popular and profitable dish with us. NTF: How else do you currently menu turkey at your restaurant? Jimmy: Well, the Stuffed Turkey Leg came about when I got a call from the producers of Julia Child's series, "In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs," asking if I'd be interested in being a featured chef. They asked me to make two dishes and I thought that since I'm on the Chesapeake Bay, that I'd prepare a seafood dish, but they said no. They said you can't do seafood because seafood doesn't sell cookbooks. I said, "Well if you let me do my soft shell crabs, for which I am extremely famous (or would like to be), I'll do any other dish, you'd like me to do." I thought I could do something great with turkey and still keep it Virginia-themed. I did that by incorporating locally grown Shiitake mushrooms and turkey, (there are a lot of turkeys produced in Virginia). I wanted to make something extraordinary to "wow" Julia so I boned the leg and the breast, stuffed it with turkey bacon and Virginia Shiitake mushrooms, reformed it to its original shape, roasted it, sliced it and this is the result. This is the same dish that we now serve at the restaurant. NTF: What is your favorite way to eat turkey? Jimmy: I gotta say, I have great memories of being in Disney World a couple of years ago and buying a smoked drumstick the size of a football and walking around Disney World eating it. There were dozens and dozens of people walking around with this big turkey leg in their hands and I said, "I gotta find out where they sell those. It was great!"