Restaurant du Jour
Chef Alison Barshak
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Alison Barshak is the owner of recently opened Alison at Bluebell, having closed Alison Cafe located just outside of Skippack Village in Cedars, PA. Alison is an experienced chef who has worked in several local restaurants including The Commissary, Apropos, Central Bar & Grill, the Striped Bass, and with Paul Roller in Chestnut Hill. She is a restaurant owner and caterer with a national reputation for her innovative approach to seafood. She has been featured in PBS Rising Star Chef's series, in Esquire Magazine as chef for "Best New Restaurant of the Year" (1994), and included in many national publications.

 du Jour: While you worked for several notable restaurants, it would seem that most people remember you from your time spent as executive chef at the Striped Bass. This is obviously a very visible restaurant with a well-known owner in Neil Stein, and one can make the case that you became a celebrity chef of sorts even before the real celebrity chef movement.

 AB: I never aspired to be anything more than just a very good chef, and I think I accomplished this at the Striped Bass. I received more than my share of publicity, but I never encouraged it or looked for all that notoriety. It was totally unexpected, and even freaky in some respects. You see your face on the cover of Philadelphia Magazine, and people begin to recognize you. It's very strange and somewhat scary. I never thought about a public relations campaign or had any desire to promote myself in the media. I attended events with people in the industry who I really respected and I could never get over the fact that they were actually interested in me. I just wanted to be a chef, but it became much more than that.

 du Jour: The Striped Bass was an instant hit, and the celebrity treatment of Alison Barshak had to be good for business. Neil, and his former partner, Joe Wolf, had to appreciate all the media coverage.

 AB: I got the feeling that the awards were appreciated, but not my new celebrity status. None of us was ready for this, and I suppose we really didn't understand what was happening.

 du Jour: In 1994, John Mariani picked the Striped Bass as the "Best New Restaurant of the Year." You were the chef, and when you and Neil Stein attended the award ceremony at Nobu in New York, that had to be a major thrill as well as a big boost to your career.

 AB: It was a thrill, but it was also very strange. I never appreciated what the award really meant, and I really wasn't thinking of it as a boost to my career. Looking back on it, it was a significant award, but I just didn't see it that way when it happened.

 du Jour: With all the success, and all the good things that were happening for you and the Striped Bass, it was more than surprising that you made the decision to leave after a relatively short stay. I know you wanted to open your own restaurant, but you did shock a few people, and I have to believe that Neil Stein was one of them.

 AB I left because I just felt it was time to move on. There was a lot of pressure on me. I had a great deal of responsibility, and one of the problems with the visibility factor of the restaurant, and me as the chef was I had pressure to be in the restaurant all the time. I needed a break from all of this, and I needed to do something different.

 du Jour: In a recent "Table Talk" column by Michael Klein that presented restaurant highlights from the past ten years, your resignation from the Striped Bass was included. It was suggested that you placed a letter of resignation on the owner's desk, and immediately departed for Las Vegas.

 AB: That story made the rounds, and it's still being repeated to this day. It never happened that way, and it would never happen because I have too much respect for the people who hire me. I did all the right things, including a verbal and a written resignation that was hand delivered and mailed. It was not a big deal, it was just time for me to leave, and I did it the right way.

 du Jour: It took a long time to find what you were looking for and certainly the opening proved to be yet another very visible concept. However, the subsequent closing of Venus and the Cowboy after only a year, had to be a bitter disappointment and undoubtedly, a terrible experience. How did all of this affect you?

 AB: I have come to respect the adage that we learn so much more from our failures than we do from our successes, and I have to embrace this philosophy just to move forward. It was a disappointing experience, and it hurt, but in my mind, you only have one choice when something like this happens, and that is to figure out what you plan to do next, and do it.

I moved to New York and eventually opened my restaurant in the Philadelphia area. I'm very happy with my life. I love to cook, and while my failed attempt to make something happen with Venus & the Cowboy will always be a part of me, I know that I have learned from it, and I have to look at it in some kind of positive way, which I have done.

 du Jour: After all the excitement, if we can call it that, including life in New York, and your experience at the Striped Bass, how does one adjust to a life in the country at a small restaurants like Alison Café and Alison in Bluebell?

 AB: I'm doing the same thing I have always done, and it's what I enjoy doing the most. I'm in my kitchen and I'm creating something that my customers seem to appreciate, because they keep coming back. I still live in New York and I commute to my restaurant from Wednesday until Sunday, and soon to be from Tuesday until Sunday. It sounds complicated, but I sincerely enjoy it.

 du Jour: You mentioned the pressure at Strip Bass. Is there pressure at Alison In Bluebell?

 AB: Pressure comes with being in this business. It's always there, but maybe at another level. You talk about publicity and how much it helps your business, but for me, it's just the opposite. I have a small restaurant, so when I get publicity, my regular customers have trouble getting a table. My customers are special to me because they really are wonderful people, and they appreciate my restaurant. It's very important to take care of them.

 du Jour: Your new restaurant in Blue Bell is decidedly larger than Alison Café in Cedars.

 AB: I needed to expand because while my place in Cedars was cute, I simply outgrew it. Things were very congested, including the traffic on Route 73. Even though we are on the same road, it's much easier to get to my new location in Bluebell. We had one oven and one bathroom, and this new space allows us so much more flexibility. We have more than doubled our seating capacity, and we added a beautiful wood-burning grille, and a cappuccino and espresso machine. I hired a talented pastry chef named Amelia Dietrich, who worked with me at Maritime in New York and several notable Philadelphia restaurants. This restaurant just feels better and it's working. Best of all, we are seeing our customers from Cedars who share our excitement for this new space.

 du Jour: May we assume that seafood is still the focus for Alison Barshak?

 AB: Seafood is still my first love, so we have lots of it here. We change our menu every day, and you will also find vegetarian specials, steak, and chicken or duck. Our entrees are priced from $15 to $25, and we are still BYOB restaurant.

 du Jour: There is a world of difference between the Striped Bass days and your new life on Route 73. It does sound like you have found peace and happiness at Alison in Bluebell.

 AB: This has been a wonderful experience. When I first opened Alison Cafe, I had no idea if anyone would actually come for dinner. I hired a waitress and told her that it was possible that no one would show up. She was patient, and so was I. The people started to come, and they even came back for more. It's been word of mouth advertising and now they are coming to Blue Bell. There is a lot of peace and happiness in doing what you truly love to do.

Alison at Bluebell
721 Skippack Pike (Route 73)
Blue Bell, PA
215-641-2660

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