Chefs: They eat great food all the time, right? Wrong.<\/p>\n
We turned to some of Dallas\u2019 best chefs and asked what they reach for when they\u2019re too tired to cook.<\/p>\n
The answers were validating.<\/p>\n
Self-described \u201csnackaholic\u201d chef Anastacia Qui\u00f1ones-Pittman loves Slim Jims<\/b>. That\u2019s a fun departure from what Chef AQ is known for: her contemporary Mexican food menus previously at Jos\u00e9 and next at forthcoming Dallas restaurant Eledi<\/a>.<\/p>\n Restaurant News<\/p>\n Christophe De Lellis, the French-born chef who will soon open French-Italian restaurant Mamani in Dallas<\/a>, loves Hi-Chew candies. <\/b>Yup, the gelatinous, fruit-flavored snacks.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t stop eating them,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of embarrassing because they\u2019re super sweet and taste nothing like real fruit. \u2026 But I still love them. <\/p>\n \u201cChewy, addictive \u2014 and once I open a pack, it\u2019s game over.\u201d<\/p>\n Chef Dean Fearing also craves a sweet treat. <\/p>\n \u201cJust give me peanut M&Ms<\/b> or a Snickers<\/b> and I\u2019m the happiest guy in the whole wide world,” he said. He called a candy bar \u201cmy true guilty pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n Chefs! They\u2019re just like the rest of us.<\/p>\n They\u2019re tight on time, too. <\/p>\n Tanner Agar, CEO and creative director of Rye in East Dallas and Flamant in Plano<\/a>, will eat \u201ca tortilla filled with whatever food is closest to the fridge door<\/b>. I will not heat any of it up, and I\u2019ll eat it standing while deciding what whiskey to drink.\u201d <\/p>\n Agar also loves cereal. \u201cMy other go-to meal is Cinnamon Toast Crunch<\/b> and Reese\u2019s Puffs<\/b> with whole milk. I can \u2014 and have \u2014 eaten an entire box as a meal.”<\/p>\n When McKinney chef Andrea Shackelford, of Harvest<\/a>, wants a sweet treat, she grabs a handful of chocolate chips<\/b> from the dry goods section of the restaurant.<\/p>\n \u201cI have been known to make a trail mix of white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate and peanuts in my hand, as well. It\u2019s the perfect salty sweet combo,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n She\u2019s done it \u201cin secret\u201d at past restaurant jobs until she learned others were enjoying them, too. <\/p>\n \u201cIt can be somewhat embarrassing when someone catches you doing it,\u201d she said. \u201c… But I\u2019m pretty sure everyone did it.\u201d <\/p>\n Quarter Acre chef-owner Toby Archibald, who was born and raised in New Zealand, has learned to love an American classic: a Sonic caramel milkshake<\/b>, hold the whipped cream.<\/p>\n \u201cI have worked at multiple places in my career where milkshakes not only helped my mood but also were my main source of calories,\u201d he said. Chefs notoriously stand for 12-plus-hour days, and Archibald said a Sonic caramel milkshake can get him through a long shift. <\/p>\n Speaking of ice cream, you ready for this? Matt Balke, chef-owner of Oak Cliff restaurant Encina, loves chili cheese Fritos on top of Blue Bell Cookies \u2019n Cream ice cream<\/b>.<\/p>\n I know.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was always trying to get us to taste it,\u201d Balke\u2019s mom, Ellen, told The Dallas Morning News. (In an amazing plot twist, she didn\u2019t like it. Sorry, chef!)<\/p>\n How about drinks? Starship Bagel owner Oren Salomon loves Promised Land chocolate milk. <\/b><\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s any left, I\u2019m gonna drink it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cMy other weakness is cookies,<\/b>\u201d he said. (Good pairing!) \u201cCookies are not safe around me.\u201d <\/p>\n Via Triozzi chef-owner Leigh Hutchinson prefers a savory snack. When she\u2019s not making housemade pasta or her beloved lasagna, she reaches for mayo<\/b> slathered on a Saltine, topped with bologna and another Saltine<\/b>. <\/p>\n \u201cNot even fancy stuff,\u201d she said of the bologna: Oscar Mayer works great.<\/p>\n The cracker sandwich was inspired by her mom, Hutchinson said. \u201cIt\u2019s salty and crunchy and nostalgic.\u201d<\/p>\n