Bold Flavors and Menu Innovations: Chef Becky McGrath of Burgerville

Spotlight on Chef Becky McGrath

Learn more about the talented Chef Becky McGrath and her journey to becoming the Executive Chef of Burgerville.

Growing up in a house with seven siblings Chef Becky knew from an early age that she wanted to be involved with food. She has fond memories of food being the center of good times for her family

From attending culinary school to partnering with local farmers and producers, discover how her passion for food and dedication to sourcing quality ingredients make Burgerville an exceptional dining experience.

Behind-the-Scenes Insights

Take an inside look at Burgerville’s training processes, secret menu items, and even a sneak peek of what’s to come. Discover how they maintain consistency while giving their crew the opportunity to contribute their creative ideas. It’s all about the passion for good food at Burgerville!

Seasonal Sensations at Burgerville

Indulge your taste buds as Scott and Chef Becky discuss the creation of seasonal menu items at Burgerville. Discover how they infuse holiday flavors into customer favorites and explore their step-by-step process for introducing new dishes. Get ready to feast on the flavors of the season!

Learn about the new Burgerville Breakfast Menu

The new Burgerville breakfast menu sounds amazing! (still trying to get them to open in Wenatchee) From Breakfast sandwiches, to biscuits and gravy, and of course good coffee! Chef Becky shares the details with us.

Burgerville is a PNW legend and Chef Becky was a lot of fun to chat with. If you like good food that is locally sourced, and you are hungry then you NEED to check out Burgerville!

Connect With Burgerville

Visit Burgerville online

Follow Burgerville on Instagram

Check Burgerville out on Facebook

Becky McGrath Burgerville Epsiode Transcript

Scott Cowan [00:00:04]:

Hello friends, and welcome to the Exploring Washington State podcast. My name is Scott Cowan, and I’m the host of the show. Each episode, I have a conversation with an interesting guest who is living in or from Washington state. These are casual conversations with real and interesting people. I think you’re gonna like the show. So let’s jump right in with today’s guest. Alright. Well, welcome to this episode of the Exploring Washington State podcast. I’m sitting here today with chef Becky of Burgerville.

Scott Cowan [00:00:32]:

Chef Becky, I gotta tell you. I I think Bergaville’s cool. I always have. But I always thought it was an Oregon company, so never would have reached out to you guys because the joke is we we make fun of Oregon on the show. We’re not gonna do that today. We’re gonna be kind. But when when your team reached out, when Burgerville actually reached out and said, hey. And then they go, but we’re a Vancouver company.

Scott Cowan [00:00:51]:

I did not know this. So they they put us in touch with each other, and and you are the executive chef. I’m gonna probably just call you the grand poo ba of the kitchen for the rest of this episode. But what I’d like to know, let’s just get started, is your path to Burgerville started when and how?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:01:13]:

It’s kind of a long story. So I was actually raised I have a large family. My parents, attempted to raise us vegetarian. And when we were kids, we would walk to the mall, And we would walk past the mall and get cheeseburgers and then go to the mall. So Burger Bell was always a spot for us when we could go and sneak a cheeseburger when our parents weren’t around. So This year.

Scott Cowan [00:01:46]:

Awesome.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:01:49]:

I mean, because of that sneaking more snakes. Right?

Scott Cowan [00:01:51]:

I I was gonna say, I mean, that’s So, Tay, I mean, that’s just awesome. Alright. I’m sorry. Please continue.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:01:57]:

So, I, Before I came to Burgerville, I worked at another local company, and a coworker a previous coworker who had moved on to another job Reached out and said, I I had a friend ask me if I wanted to interview for this job, and I think it’s better suited for you. Can I pass them the info? And I said, who is it? And she’s like, it’s Burgerville. I was like, oh my gosh. I love them, and it lines up with a lot of my My value’s around food, and that would be fantastic. And so, you know, I was raised in the Pacific Northwest. I was raised in Northeast Portland, And Bergerville is the iconic, you know, fast food place for us. It gives you a little bit of that, like, Retro kind of a feel to it when you go in. And so it was very exciting for me because I was like, oh my gosh.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:02:49]:

I love them. They’re the only fast food I eat, so That would make sense for me to interview with them. So that’s kind of it’s a long story and a short story all at the same time.

Scott Cowan [00:03:02]:

So Where did you go to culinary school, and how did you you know, educational wise, how did you get positioned to for this opportunity?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:03:13]:

So like I said, I have a lot of siblings. So my mom made us all cook with her

Scott Cowan [00:03:17]:

because that’s a a lot

Chef Becky McGrath [00:03:19]:

of mouths to feed in a day because I have 7 siblings. So, she always said that she wanted us cooking with her, and so we were always cooking. Some of my favorite memories is making, Blintzes for the just tremendous amount of people we would have over for Hanukkah every year, and those are my favorite memories. And When I really started thinking about what I wanted to do, cooking was fun, and I like to invent. And so I wanted to go to culinary school. And Western culinary was around back then Over in downtown Portland, and I applied for there. I got into that that school. While I was in that school, I applied to a culinary school called Balimelu, and this is Can

Scott Cowan [00:04:10]:

you repeat that, please? Called Balimelu. Balli Malue.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:04:15]:

Balli Malue.

Scott Cowan [00:04:17]:

I was that was on the sheet that they provided me, and I was Avoiding it at all costs, because I wasn’t gonna be able to pronounce it. Valley Malue. Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:04:26]:

Valley Malue Cookery School. It’s in a very small town in, the eastern end, in Cork. And so when I went to Western culinary, I learned a lot. And I know I was right out of high school, so I was, You know, white eyed young kiddo ready to take on the world, and I did my externship. Actually, I did it at Kell’s. I was like, if I’m going to Ireland, I might as well go to an Irish pub. And I learned a lot from the folks that I worked with there. There were just old school line cook guys that were very protective of me after a short period of time.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:05:05]:

And I went to to Bali Malue, and I it very much changed how I looked at food. It’s a it’s a farm, and it’s a fully functioning farm. And at that point, all of our eggs that we used came from the hens that we fed scraps from the food that we made throughout the course of the day. That was a chore. You had to feed the hens every day. K. And everything that we got at The school was within, you know, about 10 mile radius of the school if it didn’t come from the school. So the food, the beef, the cows were treated very well.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:05:43]:

They were treated very well. They were grass fed. And, I mean, you can’t go to Ireland without seeing cows literally everywhere. Right. Right. So they’re they’re they’re fed well. They’re taken care of. And so I got this, love for locality.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:05:59]:

And I was like, I feel like I’m back home Because the Pacific Northwest is very much like that. Right? So way we love our locality. We love our small local businesses. We’ve got lot a lot of great unique flavors that come out of this area. So it just kind of ignited something in me that really, I’ve Taken with me throughout my career. And so kind of, like, bled into Burgerville very easily because That is what Burger Bell does.

Scott Cowan [00:06:28]:

Right. One of the things your team shared with me, and I’m gonna try to read it, verbatim, Was was I switched screens. I apologize for that. But, Burgerville is proud of its community involvement, giving back to numerous organizations and partnering with nearly 1,000 local regional farmers, ranchers, and food producers to develop the best of the Pacific Northwest, with fresh local ingredients at 39 locations in Oregon and Washington. Can you name all 1,000 vendors, please, for us? That’s a huge number of of of vendors. It’s just that’s staggering. What so from that pool of vendors, what what Products do you guys bring in?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:07:15]:

That’s a long list as well. I mean, I do have, quite a few vendors that I can name off the top of my head that we work with on a regular basis.

Scott Cowan [00:07:25]:

Right.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:07:25]:

But, a lot of A lot of that number is gonna come from our seasonal items. And, whether we use it one time or many times, We love to find either local farm, ranch, or business that makes something that is uniquely Theirs and uniquely the Pacific Northwest.

Scott Cowan [00:07:46]:

So whose responsibility is it to go and source I mean, that’s a lot of work to find A 1,000 different I mean, well, thousands of placeholder. No. 10. Going and finding 10 vendors is a lot of work. It would be much simpler to call up the local food wholesaler and, you know, have the semi backup and, you know, shovel off all the frozen food into the into the freezer. So who’s how at Bergerville, who who is responsible for that vendor Procurement, how’s that? We’ll call it that.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:08:20]:

It’s our supply chain director, Sierra Lula. She is kind of my other half here.

Scott Cowan [00:08:27]:

K.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:08:27]:

So, I like to tell people that she gets the food, I play with the food.

Scott Cowan [00:08:32]:

Perfect. But do you give her marching order? I marching order is a bad word, but go along. But do you say I’m looking for turnips? Mhmm. And you say, okay. Go find me local turnips. Yep. And she’ll go out and con contact local southwestern Washington, Northern Oregon vendors, and bring you back some turnips and say, hey. What do you think of these? Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:09:00]:

Wow.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:09:01]:

That’s that’s very, very much what what kinda happens. So our our food team, our foodie group is, 3 people.

Scott Cowan [00:09:10]:

Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:09:10]:

And the part that really excites me is All 3 people have a very strong culinary background. She also is, has gone through culinary school and is trained and has worked online and, you know, in lines and restaurants and, has had that path and then Found that her passion was really playing with the numbers and playing with the products and creating relationships with the vendors.

Scott Cowan [00:09:37]:

Mhmm.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:09:37]:

That’s really The focal point of kind of how I see her working with them is she has a strong relationship with The vendors themselves. And so if there’s something that she’s like, I’m not sure where to go to, she’ll call up Surry Farms and be like, hey. This is what I’m looking for. Do you happen to have a connection to

Scott Cowan [00:09:56]:

Right.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:09:56]:

Okay. She’s got a lot a lot of people in her back pocket. So it very much is that she does have. And, like, in turn, she has primarily the relationship, but in turn, like, the whole team has that relationship. Mhmm. And it’s great because that team consists of our CEO, Ed Casey, who has a long history in the food business, myself, and her. And it’s the 3 of us that literally will, like, come up with some ideas for what would be seasonally accurate for that time of year, start, I’ll start playing with recipes, and she’ll start looking to see where we can get this done.

Scott Cowan [00:10:36]:

Okay. We kinda bounced ahead there. Sorry about that. So you finished up culinary school. You ended up applying for the Burgerville job.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:10:44]:

There’s a few in between that.

Scott Cowan [00:10:46]:

Yeah. But you but but you’re obviously at at Burgerville now. So okay. Now when I I don’t know much about the food industry, so I’ve got this, you know, very low level set of Expectations here. I mean, I just don’t know. So I might be asking you something silly here, but Bergerville, just the name of it, it’s it’s a burger place. So You’re kind of you kinda had to know your path. You gotta you’re you’re sticking kinda to that, I don’t wanna call it fast food, but you’re we’re sticking to that, you know, that Burger fry, you know, beverage motto.

Scott Cowan [00:11:25]:

You’re not I don’t think you’re bringing foie goa into the menu at any times, you know. I mean, I might make it at home for my family. But Yeah. But but Burgerville’s Burgerville’s got this this so but what I like about Burgerville is, you know, I wanna say the last time I was there, which is a long time ago, because I don’t I don’t get down to Well, we need to talk about locations. You know, I’m I’m putting in the request that you guys come into Wenatchee market. I think you need to just expand. There, I said it. But I don’t get down to Centralia is the closest one to me probably.

Scott Cowan [00:12:04]:

And I whenever I go through Centralia, Not the time that I would normally eat at a Burgerville. So it’s been a while and but I wanna remember this is this is bad memory, but I wanna remember the last time I was there, there was, like, asparagus being served. Mhmm. And I thought that was really, really cool. Like, that’s a cool like, I didn’t see that coming. Like, what do you mean I can order a burger and asparagus? That’s kinda cool. So if that was that your idea?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:12:39]:

That’s been around for a while.

Scott Cowan [00:12:41]:

Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:12:41]:

Well We

Scott Cowan [00:12:42]:

have You can take credit. You can take credit too.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:12:44]:

Credit for it because we’ve slightly revamped it so that it is, gluten free. So kind of hit a broader audience of people. When you bite into it, you can’t tell that it’s gluten free.

Scott Cowan [00:12:56]:

Uh-huh.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:12:56]:

But all the folks that, don’t eat gluten can also have it.

Scott Cowan [00:13:00]:

Right. So I think that’s cool that the that the company has this they give you This latitude to to try things that are very you know, you’re not gonna I don’t know how you would do asparagus year round. I don’t think physically it’s Possible. So it’s a very short window of time that Bergerville can deliver that product. So my question around that is, how do you train a crew at 39 different locations To be nimble and to say, okay. It’s May, and we’re doing asparagus. And in June, we’re gonna be doing something completely different How do you how does Burgerville go about training these crews? Because it’s you’re giving them new things to cook seasonally.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:13:47]:

We are always, assessing and evaluating and updating how we how we train folks. Right? So because I can’t I can’t personally train, you know, 1500 people. That’s that’s not it’s not possible. So what What we do is we do create a lot of training materials. You’ll have a booklet that gives you the information you need for managers. They know What items come from where? Mhmm. What what local vendors we’re using, and What the how to. And then we have training videos.

Scott Cowan [00:14:24]:

Right.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:14:25]:

We still we make those in house. And so it’s literally me. Sometimes I can talk somebody else into doing it. We get some variety of folks, and they come in, and we go through the whole process. Right? Right. This is what the case looks like. This is how you’re gonna receive it. This is how you’re gonna prepare it and all of the ingredients that go with it.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:14:44]:

So they have a step by step. And then we also train our managers. We do train all of our managers at once so So they can come in, and they can see what that step by step process looks like. And they have then the ability to train The the next round of managers, and they can train their crew, and it kinda goes down from there. So we have multilayers of how to do it, And it really comes down to trying to find as many ways as possible because we all learn differently. Right? Some people Read a recipe and can start going on it right away. Some folks really grasp the information better from a training video, separate visual, and they wanna see how it’s being done. And some people really gotta be in it and do it.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:15:29]:

So we try to cover as many of those processes as we can, And then we use our managers to make sure that the quality is maintaining throughout the run of that item.

Scott Cowan [00:15:41]:

Right. Well, That’s awesome. So but now I kinda wanna approach the kind of similar thing, but from a more Not that asparagus wasn’t specific enough because it was very specific, but you’re you’re you’ve got a newer a new menu out. At the time we’re releasing this, I think the menu’s Out. I’m gonna cheat. I’ll I’ll tattle on myself. I’m cheating. The blurb I was given I can’t find the blurb.

Scott Cowan [00:16:12]:

Help me out. When is your your holiday menu?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:16:17]:

Oh, our holiday menu is gonna actually start on Tuesday.

Scott Cowan [00:16:21]:

On Tuesday. So it’s not out yet. So and this episode will come out after Tuesday, so you’re not You’re not sharing anything other than with me. You’re gonna trust me with for a few days to not share your secrets. But I’d like to talk about the holiday menu that’s Current. The what’s what’s gonna happen. Walk me through at a high level the process that it took you to design that menu, The trials and tribulations of coming up with this and then finding if it will scale to 39 locations.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:16:55]:

Some of these are, like, long standing classics that we’ve had for a very long time.

Scott Cowan [00:17:00]:

Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:17:00]:

And, We are always, like, looking at and adjusting how we do expand things out to 39 locations.

Scott Cowan [00:17:10]:

Yeah.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:17:10]:

In all honesty, you can’t take every single recipe and expand it out to 39 locations because, you have to look at how it’s actually gonna function and the flow in the restaurant and how they’re gonna actually work with it, like, hands on. So when we’re looking at that, So I like to start with our rosemary fries. We’ve had them for a very long time. They are a classic. People love them. I have Mike Sierra, who we were just talking about. Her son is already excited. He’s been excited for 2 months In anticipation for these things.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:17:43]:

So the rosemary fries the rosemary sea salt fries, they we actually infuse oil in the house in restaurant. So we’re gonna take fresh chopped garlic, fresh chopped rosemary, and then a hint of chili flakes, And they’re gonna mix it in with oil, and they’re gonna let that infuse for for a full day.

Scott Cowan [00:18:04]:

Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:18:04]:

That garlic and rosemary really permeates through the oil, and then we are going to take some shoestring fries, which are really thinly cut fries, and we’re going to fry those, And then we’re gonna toss them with a little bit of that oil and Jacobsen rosemary salt, and then toss that all together and serve it to the guest. And so that does have the oil and how they’re gonna do that because heavy pieces fall to the bottom. So You gotta constantly work with the, newer employees to train them that they gotta start up and

Scott Cowan [00:18:38]:

Right.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:18:39]:

Make sure that they’re not over oiling it. Right. Because it’s an oil based sauce, so the last thing you want is some somebody get a container that’s got oil on the bottom of it. Right. So that is one of the items that we’re gonna have. And that’s great because people people love this during the holidays. It makes them feel like they’re, you know, being a little Exploring themselves a little bit and, you know, being a little luxurious with what they’re eating. Cocoa peppermint shakes.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:19:07]:

We have a cocoa peppermint shake and a sundae, and that is the epitome of the holidays. Right. Everybody, that really is. We’ve tried to we’ve tried different things during the holidays, different flavor profiles, and It really comes down to our guests really want their cocoa peppermint. And so that one is a huge hit with Everybody, my sister, one of my sisters, it’s her favorite shake. That and the Marionberry are her favorites through all of our shakes. And that gets, That gets blended with holy cacao, chocolate syrup, and their merry mint syrup, which I like to to say because it’s kind of fun to say. And we put, we blend it together with the crushed peppermint candies, so you really kinda get not just that, peppermint flavor, bought those little kind of crystals of candies throughout the whole shape.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:20:02]:

Then it gets garnished with the the whipped cream and the candies on top. And then I like to call it its little brother the little brother, the the sundae. Let’s because it’s chocolate sundae, and You get a little bit of those peppermint candies on top. And so that is for our desserts. And this year, we are We’re gonna have a new holiday burger.

Scott Cowan [00:20:25]:

K.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:20:25]:

And that is called the, the Holiday Pick Quonk Cheeseburger. And

Scott Cowan [00:20:31]:

Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:20:32]:

That one is gonna be fun because peep our crew are already having fun playing around with how do you say it.

Scott Cowan [00:20:40]:

And Right? What is this?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:20:41]:

What is it?

Scott Cowan [00:20:42]:

And I

Chef Becky McGrath [00:20:42]:

was like, well, it’s actually

Scott Cowan [00:20:43]:

a sauce.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:20:44]:

And Mhmm. It’s French. It’s a sauce, and it, It’s typically made, like, a sour cream based or a mayonnaise based horseradish sauce.

Scott Cowan [00:20:54]:

Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:20:55]:

Though it’s got a really bright, Sharp flavor to it. So our pequois cheeseburger is going to be our country natural beef, And we’re gonna put a face rock aged white cheddar that has pepper that has black pepper mixed all the way through the cheddar. That’s gonna get melted right on top of the the burger, and it’s gonna be served on our Franz bun with the, Horseradish aioli, and then it’s gonna get a little bit of red onion and a nice amount of arugula. So you get a little bit of that bright Kind of peppery flavor from the arugula, and that kind of blends well with the cheese and then the horseradish.

Scott Cowan [00:21:38]:

That sounds amazing. But, like, if my mother was listening to this, I could see her go, oh, that’d be spicy. I wouldn’t try it. It it it might it it might scare her off. My mother thinks, Sorry, mom, if you’re listening. She’s not, but well, she might. She says she doesn’t, And I believe her because I have to help her with her phone, so she’s probably not listening. But, my mother thinks Conventional black pepper is spicy.

Scott Cowan [00:22:07]:

So she, you know, she she avoids all things spice. So that I’m I’m channeling my mom here. How so does Burgerville’s audience like these? You’re pushing the envelope a little bit for what you would get at your traditional drive through, drive in fast food place. Right? It’s okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:22:34]:

So we are pushing it, and, I I like to push my button people’s buttons. You can ask my mom. Right. My father also thinks that conventional black pepper is too spicy. So That is always because of that, I always kinda have it in the back of my head. Horseradish does have a spice to it, But it kind of goes away right away. Yeah. And Exactly.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:23:01]:

Like, we have been pushing a little bit on What we can serve in a drive through, what works really well. And, this will be a fun experiment to see how Horseradish lands because I think horseradish can be something you really love. My family loves it, absolutely loves it, and some folks are indifferent to it, and then you have folks that are, like, mm-mm. Nope. Not me. I’m not gonna do it. But I did Challenge a couple of my coworkers, and by challenge, I mean, kind of made them try the burger. Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:23:38]:

We cut

Scott Cowan [00:23:38]:

of we cut it up when we

Chef Becky McGrath [00:23:39]:

did the training for all of our managers. I requested that everybody take 1 bite only unless they were either allergic to an ingredient or plant based eater.

Scott Cowan [00:23:51]:

Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:23:52]:

And 3 people who are, like, I don’t like horseradish. I don’t like wow. That’s really good.

Scott Cowan [00:23:57]:

K.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:23:57]:

Because it does have a little bit of that flavor, but the horseradish isn’t meant to be so strong that it really kind of you know, that kind of really harsh, Like

Scott Cowan [00:24:07]:

Right.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:24:08]:

Spice that hits your nose right away and kinda makes you sneeze. It’s not gonna be that spicy.

Scott Cowan [00:24:13]:

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. But I I I think this is awesome that you’re you’re taking you’re pushing the envelope. So I’m gonna ask you a question you may not wanna answer. Just full disclosure here. Put you on the spot. Have you ever had an idea? You’re like and let’s just say, hey.

Scott Cowan [00:24:31]:

We’ll put horseradish sauce. That sounded good, and it bombed.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:24:41]:

Oh, there’s always the the idea of something. Right? I was actually just having this conversation with one of my crew members this morning. Not every idea works.

Scott Cowan [00:24:54]:

Mhmm. Right.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:24:54]:

And this is why we vet every recipe before it comes out. So, we have we have had burgers that are more successful and some that are less. Last summer, not this past one, but 2022, our Walla Walla Burger, We kinda changed it up a little bit, and we’d never actually done an onion ring burger before.

Scott Cowan [00:25:21]:

Right.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:25:21]:

We’re like, we have them. We might as well do it. Let’s do it. And it was I I thought it was delicious. Mhmm. Our a lot of our folks that we work with thought it was delicious. We’re We’re always trying to get people to put an onion ring on a burger. It all made sense to us.

Scott Cowan [00:25:36]:

And it

Chef Becky McGrath [00:25:36]:

sold fine, but it did not sell well. Okay. Really kind of said, like, with their with how they purchased, they said, this is fine, but They want the option to put the ring on the burger. Right? They want their onion rings and they want their burger. They don’t want them together. So it it was fine. It just didn’t sell great. And so this year, we did the onion ring burger differently, And we’ve roasted the onions, and we tossed them with a local barbecue sauce, and it’s sold like Game Busters.

Scott Cowan [00:26:11]:

What I always find fascinating is when people will talk about things that Didn’t work. Because, yeah, in most cases, I find there was something learned that Was more beneficial down the road. Mhmm. And having and I think it’s great that you guys are willing to take Some risks, you know, you’re not gonna you’re probably not gonna put ghost pepper, go you’re you’re probably not gonna put out a ghost pepper burger for those people that, you know, Love pain. Probably a little too pushing the envelope too much. Right? But but you’re you’re you’re willing to try and and change things and experiment. Give them give them out to the public and see how the public responds. So I think that’s I think that’s really very a very cool thing versus just selling the same, you know, Three varieties of a burger or, you know, whatever all the time.

Scott Cowan [00:27:08]:

So thank you for playing along on the things that don’t go well. I wasn’t trying to put you on the spot In a bad way, it was more like, what have we learned?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:27:14]:

So I I appreciate that because I tell people that all the time. I’m I’m like, something is not a failure if you learn something from it and you’re able to, like, grow and move forward from it. So, you know, it’s only a failure if you allow it to be.

Scott Cowan [00:27:30]:

Exactly. Exactly. And you never know when you’re gonna hit that that home run. Mhmm. You know, you you you would have thought, you know, You’re not old enough to remember, but, Reese’s peanut butter cups who put chocolate in my peanut butter, who put, you know, peanut butter in my chocolate, you know, and wow. Who would have thought? And voila. I was kind of a. As a kid, I always remember that, and I always thought that was kinda okay.

Scott Cowan [00:27:52]:

I’m old, and TV in the seventies was pretty boring. But, You know, that was pretty radical, chocolate and peanut butter together. Oh my god. And, you know, it’s a great it’s a great flavor profile if you would try it. If you would’ve just said no, I keep that here and I keep this here, you know, you would never have found out the the magic of the 2 things together. So I think that’s awesome. So the holiday menu sounds great. I mean, it really it really does.

Scott Cowan [00:28:19]:

How long does it take you and your team so how How often do you guys change your menus?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:28:25]:

For our seasonal menus?

Scott Cowan [00:28:26]:

Yeah. For seasonal.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:28:28]:

There’s no real, consistent rhyme or reason to it.

Scott Cowan [00:28:32]:

Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:28:33]:

We’re we’re kind of looking at that now. Like, how long how long do we run an item before we change it up. And, of course, there’s always the, what is the sacred cow? Like, what do you not touch. Rosemary fries is one of them. Walla Walla onion rings are one of them. There’s certain things that are shakes during the summer months. Like, there are certain things that will always remain because they are iconic to not just Burger Bell, but the Pacific Northwest. Right.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:29:07]:

You can only get a Walla Walla onion if it’s from Walla Walla, Washington.

Scott Cowan [00:29:12]:

Right.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:29:12]:

And so, like, those things are items that You can’t change. Now that Walla Walla Burger, we can

Scott Cowan [00:29:20]:

butts with that a little bit, and we can Sure.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:29:23]:

You know, Change profiles, which we’ve done quite a few times over the years, and but don’t change the onion rings. Like, we I literally believe people will be outside of pitchforks if we try to. So there’s certain things that you can’t. And there are other things that, You know, we had a blue cheese bacon burger, the Big Blue. We ran that for quite a few years, and it was like, it’s good. People love it. But, I mean, how long do you run something before you pull it to the back of the line a little bit and try something new and experiment? And I think the holidays are a great time to do that because there are so many different flavor profiles that you could bring forward for the holidays Because, I mean, they’re as unique as everybody’s dinner table.

Scott Cowan [00:30:11]:

Right. No. So you have

Chef Becky McGrath [00:30:12]:

a lot of different flavors to pull from.

Scott Cowan [00:30:15]:

So how long do you spend how many weeks does it take you to put together a holiday? Like, you’re What are you working on now? You’re working on the next holiday menu. Would that be a correct assumption? Because this one’s ready to go.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:30:28]:

We’re refining a few things for spring, but we’re pretty much already working on So you the next year this time next Right. We wanna be Right. A minimum of 8 months ahead.

Scott Cowan [00:30:40]:

Okay. And how much time in broad strokes does it take you to create a new a new menu item?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:30:49]:

I mean, it can take once I have the ingredients I want to use, I usually try and get A handful of, you know, 5 to 6 different items that you can start to kinda mix and match and play with. And, so it usually Getting to the point where I can bring it to the team and then bring it to the great the bigger team, which, you know, all the marketing department and everybody else, it’s probably that would probably take at least 2 to 3 months.

Scott Cowan [00:31:19]:

Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:31:20]:

And that’s that’s doing it pretty quickly. But, I mean, in in when I’m doing that, I’m the great thing is my test kitchens are in the restaurants. So I actually go into one of our real restaurants, and I do my r and d, so they get to they give me a lot of input. They love Oh. Because, you know, they get to be a part of the process, and they They, the crew there really, in all of our restaurants, really does love to give their opinion on something And here’s what their taste profiles are.

Scott Cowan [00:31:52]:

Do they ever give you ideas? Do they ever come come up and say, hey.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:31:55]:

All this work.

Scott Cowan [00:31:56]:

Can we try this? Mhmm. They do often.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:32:00]:

They often do. Sometimes it’s something that is really intricate and Time consuming and not something that we can do in our restaurants.

Scott Cowan [00:32:11]:

Mhmm.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:32:11]:

So we always there’s always a step of Trying to find a way to refine that. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.

Scott Cowan [00:32:23]:

So that leads me to a question. Now it’s just you and I talking. No one’s listening. Does Burgerville have a secret menu?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:32:33]:

If you ask our crew, yes.

Scott Cowan [00:32:36]:

Okay. So if I if I’m gonna ask you to play crew member for me. What would the crew tell me is this an item on the secret menu? What are they come on. No one’s listening.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:32:50]:

I’m gonna I’m gonna tell you my secret menu items because I do I do have a few of them. So, our cold brew is made by Portland Roasting. And when we get to towards the end of the week, and I’m Feeling a little rundown. I make what I call black and tan. And so that is half cold brew, half ice cream. And so I put our vanilla ice cream on top of it and then just slowly kinda stir it in. And so that’s my, like, boost of energy. I love I like coffee, so I love

Scott Cowan [00:33:24]:

Why do you wait till the end of the week for that? Why why not just do that every day?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:33:29]:

Well, I do it whenever I’m in the restaurant.

Scott Cowan [00:33:32]:

Okay. Right. I mean, I I would Honestly, it’s

Chef Becky McGrath [00:33:35]:

a it’s a it’s a cold brew, so it’s a kick in the butt.

Scott Cowan [00:33:38]:

I know.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:33:38]:

So that’s my afternoon pick me up, and it’s also a treat. So I don’t do it every day because I I consider that a treat to myself.

Scott Cowan [00:33:47]:

Yeah. But it’s coffee.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:33:48]:

It is.

Scott Cowan [00:33:49]:

Alright. So we’re gonna I normally ask this question later in the conversation, but we’re gonna since I said the magic word that makes me salivate, coffee. I ask everybody, like so in Vancouver, where’s a great place for me to go get a cup of coffee?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:34:07]:

So my favorite coffee place in Vancouver is called Relevant.

Scott Cowan [00:34:11]:

Mhmm. It

Chef Becky McGrath [00:34:12]:

is on the corner of 17th in Maine. And those folks make some delicious coffee. I So

Scott Cowan [00:34:23]:

if you and I were walking into Relevent, what would you be ordering?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:34:26]:

I don’t order. I go in and say hi, and then they make my drink.

Scott Cowan [00:34:31]:

Okay. So they know They? They know your name. It’s like cheers. I love it.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:34:35]:

I love it. I So

Scott Cowan [00:34:36]:

what would they be what would they be handing?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:34:38]:

Coffee, and I was like, just tell them it’s for chef. It’s fine.

Scott Cowan [00:34:40]:

Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:34:41]:

I I do I also love the flavor of coffee. And when you have a good coffee, which we have in the Pacific Northwest, West. I just want I want a latte. I want a whole milk latte with 4 shots of espresso.

Scott Cowan [00:34:59]:

Solid. Solid. I’m a black coffee. I like, you know, I like I don’t like mister coffee black coffee, but I like, you know, I like I’ll drink an Americano. That’s fine. I’ll drink a a pour over French press. I like good. I’m not a fan of the light roasted third wave of coffee that’s out there.

Scott Cowan [00:35:22]:

I kinda like my coffee. I can put a spoon in it, and the spoon will stand up. I mean, it’s you know, I like I like good thick coffee, and that’s a solid place. Alright. That that’s Good on you. I’ve that’s been named before. I’ve been there. You have a little too many.

Scott Cowan [00:35:43]:

Since I’ve been there, I I gotta ask you. I’m gonna put you on the spot. Name another place in in Vancouver area that I might not have been to. Give me a second one.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:35:50]:

That you might not have been to. Mhmm. Vancouver proper?

Scott Cowan [00:35:54]:

It can be anywhere. You you you tell me. You can I’m gonna break my rules. You can even tell me when in Oregon. No. I by my house,

Chef Becky McGrath [00:36:05]:

I do love Lionheart Coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:36:07]:

Lionheart? K.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:36:08]:

They do a really good coffee. They’re the crew there are just they’re wonderful. It’s like walking into Relevent. I like I like going into a place that is local and Mhmm. Like, they don’t have to have a connection with me, but I see them and they have a connection with, people around me. Mhmm. And, I will I will go out of my way to find a small mom and pop Coffee shop wherever I go, and I try to that’s how I choose to spend my money on coffee. So There’s a couple of coffee shops.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:36:45]:

I like, Tiger Paper. I think they’re still open. And that was, I don’t

Scott Cowan [00:36:53]:

That’s not what I’ve heard. No. That’s in Oregon?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:36:56]:

No. That’s in Vancouver. Is it Vancouver? It’s over by the blind onion Off the milk plate.

Scott Cowan [00:37:01]:

Okay. Oh, okay. I’ll go. Alright. Well, since you we said the magic word coffee, And then you’ve given me some great coffee places. Let’s talk about let’s let’s segue into Burgerville’s doing breakfast now. How’s that? Yes. Hey.

Scott Cowan [00:37:14]:

The segue kinda works.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:37:16]:

It does.

Scott Cowan [00:37:16]:

So 1st question about Burgerville and breakfast, who what coffee does Burgerville serve?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:37:22]:

So for our hot coffee, we serve Portland Roasting.

Scott Cowan [00:37:26]:

Portland Roasting. Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:37:27]:

Yep. They do, we do their they do our regular and our decaf, Moose Hollow and Tillicum is the, Silicon Crossing is the decal, and we also have canned cold brew that we’re gonna be that we just started. And this is With our breakfast restaurants, it is a relevant cold brew. It’s their main street. It’s got a really nice bright flavor to it.

Scott Cowan [00:37:51]:

Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:37:52]:

So that that would be our coffee beverages that we’re selling.

Scott Cowan [00:37:56]:

Okay. And So What what was the what was the moment for Bergerville to get into the breakfast game?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:38:04]:

So we had breakfast before.

Scott Cowan [00:38:06]:

Mhmm.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:38:07]:

And, so don’t hold me to the dates on these, but in the mid nineties

Scott Cowan [00:38:13]:

Just down to the nearest hour is fine.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:38:16]:

In the mid nineties at 11:50 PM. No. They, Bergerville came up with a really awesome breakfast menu. And it really was a very good menu, and then it didn’t change for 20

Scott Cowan [00:38:32]:

years.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:38:33]:

There was no there was some specials that they ran, but the fundamentally, how what the what the offerings were really didn’t change very much. And when COVID happened and everybody kind of our way of life changed, The amount of time people could be in a building together changed. Breakfast was, at that point, was, The least profitable part of the day. And so it was easier to drop breakfast off And focus on lunch and dinner, which is where the rest of the world was kind of focusing their time anyway.

Scott Cowan [00:39:10]:

Right.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:39:10]:

And so breakfast did go away. And when this last year, everything kind of feels a little bit more normal, And we’ve got guests that are kind of knocking on the door going, when do we get breakfast back? We would like breakfast back. And our guests are not shy. So they were very blunt about how much they wanted it back, And it gave us the opportunity to really look at what the offerings could be and how to create something that would be, like, Really easy for our crew to confidently execute, and our our guests would love it.

Scott Cowan [00:39:54]:

K. So So what’s the what’s the new menu?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:39:58]:

Our new menu so we have your Standard favorite, an egg and cheese sandwich, a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich, a sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich. Our Sunrise Burger is, a very popular one. I’m very proud of this one. It’s meant to be a very hearty breakfast. So it’s a full quarter pound burger, and it’s got a fried egg, face rock white cheddar cheese, and bacon on it.

Scott Cowan [00:40:26]:

Solid. Yeah. Solid.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:40:29]:

We have what we’re calling our crunch breakfast biscuit, And that has been a very popular item, and so it’s a biscuit. It’s a light, fluffy, delicious biscuit, and that’s got a fried egg, Face rock. It has a hash brown, has a little bit of red onion on top, And then you can add bacon to it or you can add sausage to it.

Scott Cowan [00:40:54]:

That sounds great too.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:40:55]:

And it’s really good. I’ve had several people look at me and be like, why are you putting onions on a breakfast item. It’s like because onions are the foundation of all things cooking. And then I I tell them, I’m

Scott Cowan [00:41:06]:

like, it’s it can be a little bit of

Chef Becky McGrath [00:41:08]:

a heavy sandwich. Right? You’ve got fried egg. You’ve got a hash brown. You’ve got a really rich, unctuous cheese on there. The onion the onion adds a little bit of sweetness, And it kind of breaks up some of that, like, really kinda heavy items that are on there, and it just gives it a really nice flavor.

Scott Cowan [00:41:25]:

Yeah. No. That’s that sounds I mean, that yeah. That sounds really good. You’re doing a breakfast burrito, I think.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:41:30]:

Yes. We are doing a breakfast burrito. And that burrito is we use Wilcox Eggs, which is a local a local company and, Penny’s Salsa. And Penny’s is actually out of Sumner, Washington. And they we’re gonna take that, and we’re gonna put fried potatoes. We’re gonna cook it all together with the eggs, And then we put that on a Don Poncho Tortilla with Tillamook Cheese and roll that up for our guests to enjoy, and they can also add, bacon or sausage. And for those who don’t like the tortilla or can’t have the tortilla, they can get it as a bowl.

Scott Cowan [00:42:09]:

Oh, wow. Okay. So you you you guys really are trying to accommodate the the gluten Gluten free or gluten sensitive crowd? Mhmm. We’re trying to work

Chef Becky McGrath [00:42:19]:

for we have a few people here that are gluten free. My father is a celiac, so There’s always a little bit of

Scott Cowan [00:42:26]:

Right.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:42:26]:

That in the back of my head. And I really look at, like, how can How can we hit something for everybody?

Scott Cowan [00:42:34]:

Right.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:42:35]:

And then, we finish the whole thing off with you can get biscuit, Just a biscuit if you want, and you can get that with butter and honey or butter and jam. And then we have biscuits and gravy. So you can get a nice hearty breakfast with biscuits and gravy. And, I love that because the We put a lot into making sure that gravy was really robust and flavorful. Right. It’s not something it’s it’s tricky. Gravy is a very passionate thing for everybody. Right? It’s eggs are emotional, I tell people.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:43:14]:

Gravy is emotional. Like, people are very They hold to what their idea of the best egg and the best gravy, and that’s every gravy that’s in the world. Like, So we put a lot into making sure that that gravy would be something that would people would be like, oh, I get the herbs. I get the spices. Like, this is really good.

Scott Cowan [00:43:35]:

No. I’m I’m kind of regretting not having breakfast this morning. I you know, it’s bad on me. I should’ve been better prepared. So 2nd question I always ask my guests we just did breakfast, so now we can shift we can shift to lunch. I’m gonna get to Vancouver around lunchtime. And I normally ask my guest, where’s a great place to get lunch? I think I know what you’re gonna tell me. So instead of asking you that Super easy, you know, softball question.

Scott Cowan [00:44:04]:

I’m gonna mix it up just a little bit. I’m gonna show up in Vancouver around lunchtime, And I’m gonna let you order for me at Burgerville. What are you ordering for me?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:44:18]:

I am gonna order you our number 6 burger.

Scott Cowan [00:44:21]:

Number 6 burger.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:44:22]:

Number 6 burger. That is a really delicious burger. Right now, we have waffle fries, our waffly fries, and those are a huge classic hit with a lot of folks. So I would get our number 6 burger, Waffly fries with our delicious chipotle mayo to dip those in, and then I would probably wash that down with a Colder shake.

Scott Cowan [00:44:47]:

Solid. Now I’m not gonna argue with you, but I need to know a little bit more about the number 6 burger. What what am I getting there?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:44:54]:

So the number 6 burger is our grass fed grass finished burger offering, and that is, Carmen Ranch beef. And so that is going to be a burger that is a little thicker. We actually made it so it’s a little bit thicker, little bit taller. And so that gets, FaceRock 24 month aged white cheddar. It goes on to a brioche bun that’s made by Grand Central, And then it is sandwiched with a little bit, we got 2 slices of tomato on the bottom. We’ve got some pickles, some red onions on the top, and some mayonnaise. And so if you really bite into that, you get the Pacific Northwest. Right? So you have a little bit of that grass fed flavor.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:45:39]:

You got the crunch and the whiteness of the pickles. The tomato mixes with the mayonnaise and kinda creates a little bit of a sauce to it. And then the cheese is Just this really sharp aged white cheddar that is just kind of the icing on the cake, in my opinion.

Scott Cowan [00:45:56]:

That’s that not having a Burgerville menu in front of menu in front of me, I don’t know that That’s for sure the burger I would order, but it’s certainly one I would I would would be strong consideration. You know? I I you know, That yeah. That’s yeah. That’d be good. And the, cold brew shake, yeah, that’s that’s a home run. Waffle fries, fries from here, like, I I I like fries. I mean but The the for me, it’s the burger and the drink earlier. The the twos those are the 2 stars of that of that trifecta for me.

Scott Cowan [00:46:28]:

The fries are a solid supporting cast. But, so but the the cold brew shake is yeah. That’d be that’d be amazing. On how do I say this? What’s on the horizon for you in Burgerville? What are you guys gonna be doing in the near future that you can talk about?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:46:52]:

In the near future, so as we’re looking into early 2024, We are gonna have our Big Sassy, and that burger is, our Country natural beef with face rock white cheddar. We’ve got some Mama Littles peppers in there and some red onion. I think the red onion and the Mama Littles go really, really well together. And, it’s called the Big Sassy because it’s got attitude.

Scott Cowan [00:47:22]:

Yeah. Yeah. Now that’s now see that see, if that was on the menu with the number 6, like, if I’m choosing it, you know

Chef Becky McGrath [00:47:32]:

Thanks, Sassy.

Scott Cowan [00:47:35]:

I love mama Littles Peppers.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:47:36]:

They’re

Scott Cowan [00:47:37]:

That’s oh. Yeah. It’s awesome. Yeah. They therapy.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:47:41]:

My friend last night was like, I’ve never heard of those. I’m like, they’re kind of like pepperoncinis, but bougier with more attitude.

Scott Cowan [00:47:49]:

Yeah. A dear friend of mine who I used to work with, He knew the guy that started that company, and so we got them really early on. And he would my friend’s name his his name was Jim, and Jim would go, here. Have some of these. Like, what There’s no trust me. Try the you know? And every time I’d go visit him, he’s, like, here’s more. It’s like he was just handing me, you know, cases of it, basic. I’m kinda kidding, but, you know, jars, multiple jars at a time.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:48:15]:

We are not fine with giving samples out the Mama Littles people. Every time they visit us and we talk to them about using their their, peppers on something, they usually show up within, like, a dozen or so jars of something.

Scott Cowan [00:48:30]:

So how often do you tell how often do you tell them that so that you get another jar to take home?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:48:36]:

I try not to be too greedy. But they do love they do love to they love to, share their food, Which is, you know, kinda how I grew up. My mom Yeah. My mom was on the whatever life event happened, just feed them. Just feed them.

Scott Cowan [00:48:51]:

Right. Right. No. That’s yeah. This isn’t your wheelhouse at Burgerville, but I can ask. Is Wenatchee gonna get a Burgerville next month?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:49:02]:

No. Not next month.

Scott Cowan [00:49:04]:

Okay. So what do we have to do? What do we have to do to get Burgerville to Consider more northern exposure into Washington state.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:49:16]:

I mean What

Scott Cowan [00:49:17]:

do you guys do? I’ve I Help me.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:49:18]:

Never say never. We are looking to expand more more into Washington, Into Northern Washington and into Southern Oregon. I don’t have details, but it is just Just

Scott Cowan [00:49:31]:

just come up north. Just come north. Don’t go down south. Uncle Sal’s

Chef Becky McGrath [00:49:35]:

Well, my brother has a house in Bend, and he would like us to come down south. Well, I’d love I I would love to be Closer into, like, the Wenatchee and Spokane and Tri Cities and

Scott Cowan [00:49:50]:

Mhmm.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:49:50]:

Those are some those are my places. Like, the whole Sure. Whole way to that. But

Scott Cowan [00:49:54]:

Well, I know. I know. They just

Chef Becky McGrath [00:49:56]:

conversations of like, there’s so much of Washington that we could move into. And so there I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw that in the next, Probably 2 years.

Scott Cowan [00:50:09]:

Well, just when we get done with this, I’d like you to just pick up your phone and call The the head of the company and say, I just talked to Scott. He demands a burger villain Wenatchee. I’ll tell you what. I’ll give him 2 options.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:50:22]:

I’ll just go tell him when we’re done.

Scott Cowan [00:50:24]:

Yeah. I I’ll tell you what. Even try cities. Yeah. You know, but Wenatchee. Okay. Oh, I

Chef Becky McGrath [00:50:30]:

had a good friend From Wenatchee. So Wenatchee holds a special place in my heart. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:50:35]:

It’s a it’s a great place

Chef Becky McGrath [00:50:36]:

to dropping those bombs in his ear. Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:50:40]:

You know? Just just yeah. So when you’re not working as the The head chef and coming up with these ideas and bugging mama Lils to give you samples and, Mixing cold brew and ice cream. I mean, what what do you like to do for fun? What what what else do you do with your life?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:51:03]:

I have I I don’t have children of my own, but I have a lot of nieces and nephews. And so I love to spend time with my family. I love to, read read about food. I listen. I drive a lot, so I listen to a lot of books on tape and a lot of podcasts. And

Scott Cowan [00:51:24]:

Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:51:24]:

I I love to listen to Michael Rubin books because I love that his I love how he talks about food, and he’s a nerd. He’s, like, my my kind of nerd. So I like to listen to those books. I like to listen to Anthony Bourdain Reading his books to me. I saw that. Then I have a couple of books on tape that, he narrated. So my bible is Kitchen Confidential and the medium raw. And so I love to listen to those things.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:51:55]:

I’m a huge true crime buff, so I’m either listening to stories about food or true crime

Scott Cowan [00:52:01]:

k.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:52:02]:

Or was watching stories about true crime.

Scott Cowan [00:52:05]:

Okay. I’ll I’m gonna share a story with you that I’ve shared on the show before. So You’ve got hey, listeners. I’m gonna be talking about Bourdain for 2 minutes. You can tune out and fast forward. So many years ago, 15 years ago or so, I was, I had to be more than 15 years now. Anyway, 15 to 17 years ago. My, daughter had, just moved in with me.

Scott Cowan [00:52:31]:

And I was a single dad, 2 teenage kids, and I was a real estate agent. And, real estate can be really hard when you’re getting started. So to make ends meet, because I had 2 kids and they like to eat, I took a job as a chauffeur, And I worked for a small limo company in Tacoma. I was living in Tacoma at that time. And so, the owner of the company and I, became good friends. And he wouldn’t make me drive like the stretch limo and take all the the bachelor parties or the bridal showers out. I didn’t have to do any of that work. I I typically drove people to and from the airport.

Scott Cowan [00:53:04]:

Did a lot of, you know, luxury ground transportation. One day he calls me and says, hey, I got a job for you. You need to drive to Portland. Go, okay. Woody. Okay. Who am I picking up? Because you’re picking up Anthony Bourdain. I go, no.

Scott Cowan [00:53:15]:

No. I’m not. He goes, yeah. You’re picking up Anthony Bourdain at a hotel in Portland, and you’re gonna drive him to Seattle. And you’re gonna pick him up in Seattle the next day, and you’re gonna drive him to the airport. Well, my daughter at that time, I think she was 13. I could’ve given her to Anthony Bourdain, and she would’ve been completely she loves Anthony Bourdain, head over heels in love with Anthony Bourdain still is to this day. I think her prize possessions are Anthony Bourdain books.

Scott Cowan [00:53:40]:

I’m not joking. So I tell my daughter, she screams and yells, and she’s thrilled. So the day comes, I drive down to Portland in a Lincoln town car. I picked, Anthony Bourdain up at the hotel. We drive from Portland, and we’re into Washington state. And you know where Onalaska is?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:53:58]:

Sounds familiar. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:53:59]:

Yeah. It’s it’s, north of Vancouver, south of Kelso. I mean Yeah. Middle of nowhere. Right? About on Alaska goes, hey, The next exit, can you pull over so I can get a cigarette? I’m like, yeah. Okay. So I pull over in Onalaska, Washington. And you You live in the area, and you don’t even know where it is.

Scott Cowan [00:54:17]:

Right? So think about this for a second. Yeah. And I got Anthony Bourdain in the back of a Lincoln Town car. And I pull into a gas station, and I pull Pull away from the pumps because you know you can’t smoke at the gas pumps. And he goes, no. No. No. Can you pull around back? He goes, my wife doesn’t think I smoke, and I don’t want anybody to see me.

Scott Cowan [00:54:33]:

And what went through my head was, you’re in Onalaska, Washington. No one’s gonna know who you are. Well, so I pulled her on the side. He goes, this is fine. Gets out the car. I’m not joking. 6 people showed up out of nowhere. Like, they sprouted out of the ground.

Scott Cowan [00:54:47]:

He’s having a cigarette, and these people come over to him like, oh my You know, they’re just you know, like like you would be if you met him. Right? I mean, oh my god. Like, oh my god. And, You know, he finishes his cigarette. He’s gracious. He’s kind. I get him back in the car, you know, kinda shoo him away, gracious and kindly. And he goes, that’s my life.

Scott Cowan [00:55:05]:

I go, I’m had no idea. He goes, yeah. He goes, That’s why quote unquote ran back. I’m like, I’m sorry. He goes, yeah. It’s okay. It’s alright. And, so we hadn’t talked much From Portland to Onalaska, but my daughter was begging me to can I just get his autograph? That’s what my daughter wanted.

Scott Cowan [00:55:22]:

Right? And I’m trying to figure out how to ask this question. And so I said, hey. Yeah. I hate to be that guy, but I’m gonna be because it’s my daughter. My daughter would love, An autograph. He goes, okay. Sure. He goes, does your driver have a phone? I go, yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:55:35]:

He goes, let’s call her. So I called my daughter on my cell phone. I hand it back to him. He’s sitting behind me in the car. And I can hear my daughter playing his dick because she’s screaming her head off. I mean, she’s just it’s like it’s like those pictures you see of women when they saw Elvis or The Beatles. I mean, it was that. And he’s like, well, why don’t you and your dad come to my thing tonight? I’ll get you guys tickets.

Scott Cowan [00:55:59]:

And, you know, and I’m the limo company has a rule. We’re not allowed to take Gifts from writers. I’m like, I can’t he was out exact I’m not gonna say his exact word, but it started with an f.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:56:12]:

Hi, Adam. I know. I I didn’t get an opportunity

Scott Cowan [00:56:15]:

to meet him. I Yeah. Okay. So you you know, I mean, he is he he is Yeah. He’s he is as advertised. Right? So I okay. Okay. So I drive him all the way up to Seattle.

Scott Cowan [00:56:25]:

We’re we’re talking the whole rest of the way, and he’s just he was just a really, Like, I’d like to hang out with guy. Like, he would be cool. So drop him off at the hotel in Seattle, Drive back home, change out the the the limo gear into dad gear, grab my daughter, drive up to Seattle, Get to the Paramount Theater where he and Mario Batali are speaking. Go up to Will Call, and there’s no tickets. My daughter, Devastated. I’m begging the will call guy to just go find him. I’m explaining my story, and the guy’s not the guy’s looking at me like, If you’re full of it, you’re really creative. Well, he happened to just walk past the ticket booth, and I saw him.

Scott Cowan [00:57:08]:

He’s I go, he’s right there, please. The guy goes, excuse me, mister Bordain. He turned around and he saw me. He goes, oh, shit. And he comes he comes outside the Paramount Theater, grabs me and my daughter, Says, hi, Kenzie. Ed pulls us inside to the lobby of the Paramount Theater. The you know, the crowd out there is going, oh my god. It’s like they’re seeing Elvis.

Scott Cowan [00:57:24]:

Mhmm. We ended up in the 5th row of the Paramount Theater. He and he and Vitaly gave their talk. We got to go to the after hours party on the stage at the Paramount Theater afterward. I am father of the the The the millennium because my daughter has my my daughter has she got to meet him and talk to him about Morocco because that’s where she wanted to go. There’s photo there’s photo proof of this happening, blah blah blah blah blah. So that’s my Bourdain story and how it relates to washing. And that’s why he’s on the wall, because everything back Washington state related in some way.

Scott Cowan [00:57:53]:

And that’s that’s a map of Seattle with Bourdain silk screened over it. Okay. There’s my. Now as soon as you can tune back in. There’s my story.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:58:02]:

I met him, I think it’s the same time you’re talking about. So it was about 17, 18 years ago. He was doing a show in Oregon, or in Portland and and in Seattle, And he came into the Virginian, the old Virginian. And

Scott Cowan [00:58:22]:

In Seattle?

Chef Becky McGrath [00:58:22]:

In no. In Oregon. We had one.

Scott Cowan [00:58:25]:

Well okay. Excel okay. Excel has a Virginian too.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:58:27]:

That’s right. We do. But we we had one. It was It was downtown by by Pioneer Square.

Scott Cowan [00:58:36]:

Mhmm. We hope Seattle has Pioneer Square too.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:58:39]:

We moved it moved a little bit, but he came in and got to chat with him. He actually did a a whole wine dinner, and my friend worked at the Heath Mill at the time When and Vital Paley did the whole dinner with him. And so, she brought him into the into Virginia, and then Kinda he just kinda chatted with us and hung out. And and, literally, everybody was just acting like he was chef, and we were the line cooks suddenly just hung out. He’s such such a good guy. Like, I was surprised because you always I hear stories. Right? People who are like, oh, I met him, and he got, like, literally bombarded. It doesn’t matter where he goes in the world.

Chef Becky McGrath [00:59:18]:

Everybody knows who he is. Everybody just, like, gloms onto him, but everybody gave him The respect he deserved. I was really surprised because the other time I met him, that’s not what happened. But everybody was just really cool and calm and collected, and He chatted with folks and kinda moved around the audience

Scott Cowan [00:59:37]:

and or

Chef Becky McGrath [00:59:37]:

Yeah. It was it he was he was who he was, but deep down, he was a Really, really good human being.

Scott Cowan [00:59:45]:

Yeah. He he certainly you know, in my 3 hours in the car with him, I mean, And how and then picking him up in the car the next morning to and then I had to pick up Mario Batali And take them to Boeing Field for a private jet flight to wherever they were off to go. He was he was great. Yeah. He was he was he was a a A real memorable, real memorable person in in my world. So I think we’re getting probably close to the end of wrapping this up. So have we covered all things Burgerville?

Chef Becky McGrath [01:00:23]:

I believe so. Awesome. I’ve done everything.

Scott Cowan [01:00:26]:

But while putting you back on the spot, you you you you hang out with your nieces and nephews. What do they like to do? What are them what are they You know, you started this whole conversation by sneaking to Bergerville at the to go to the mall. What what are the what are the nieces and nephews up to? What do they like to do?

Chef Becky McGrath [01:00:42]:

My nieces and nephews, their their interests are vast, especially when you start to get to teenagehood. Right. So I have nieces who, like, what all they do is they’re on their phone. They muck around on their phone, and that’s what they do. So a lot of them, they’re very most of them are very creative art artistically wise. Alright. They genuinely make a lot of beautiful art, and I know I’m the proud auntie. So I’m a little biased, but, they are very we grew up feral because we’re, you know, late seventies, early eighties.

Chef Becky McGrath [01:01:25]:

So they’re all outside. Like, they get kicked out of the house just like we did. And

Scott Cowan [01:01:29]:

Right.

Chef Becky McGrath [01:01:30]:

You know, maybe not like we did, but they have to go out in the backyard and play. And Their interests are are so all over the place that it’s really kind of, I mean, individual too when I’m talking to each one of them. Alright.

Scott Cowan [01:01:45]:

Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [01:01:46]:

So, yeah, they’re they’re starting to bake. A couple of them are starting to cook and starting to bake, and, It’s fun to see. Like, they get all very excited about getting into the kitchen and actually helping and seeing how to make a meal, And it’s great. I love to see their faces at the end because at the end, they’re like, oh my gosh. Like, they’re proud of themselves. They’re like, I’m I did that. But you did do that. You did great.

Scott Cowan [01:02:17]:

You have set me up so well. This whole episode transitions wise, this has been a dream come true. So here’s that last question I told you I was gonna ask you. The one that you can’t not answer and you must answer completely. But you kinda set it up. You ready?

Chef Becky McGrath [01:02:31]:

I’m ready.

Scott Cowan [01:02:33]:

Cake or pie? And what?

Chef Becky McGrath [01:02:37]:

My god. That’s so here’s the thing. We can’t just say cake or pie.

Scott Cowan [01:02:42]:

But I did. I didn’t have to answer.

Chef Becky McGrath [01:02:43]:

Root pie? Are we talking cream pie? Are we talking about the chess pie, lemon pie, lemon meringue pie? Are we talking about, like, cake with, buttercream frosting?

Scott Cowan [01:02:54]:

Like The simple question, cake or pie, and why?

Chef Becky McGrath [01:03:01]:

Cake or pie, and why? Pie. Specifically, chocolate cream pie.

Scott Cowan [01:03:14]:

Why?

Chef Becky McGrath [01:03:16]:

Nostalgia.

Scott Cowan [01:03:18]:

Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [01:03:19]:

We did not

Scott Cowan [01:03:19]:

There’s no wrong answer.

Chef Becky McGrath [01:03:20]:

We did not grow grow up with pumpkin pie as the prominent pie during Thanksgiving. My mom always made coconut cream pie and chocolate cream pie, And we still do that.

Scott Cowan [01:03:32]:

Okay.

Chef Becky McGrath [01:03:33]:

We still there’s always pumpkin pie for the folks that like it, but we are we always look forward to, my my sister makes She’s the she’s the dessert person now, my younger sister, and she makes a decadent chocolate cream pie that I don’t think needs whipped cream on it. It’s so good. Like, it just is way delicious. So when I look at, like, our our holiday events, My

Scott Cowan [01:04:00]:

Pies always come first.

Chef Becky McGrath [01:04:01]:

Cake is delicious. But

Scott Cowan [01:04:04]:

I’m gonna I’m gonna ask you a follow-up question. If you had to make cake or a pie, which one would you prefer to be involved with?

Chef Becky McGrath [01:04:17]:

Cake.

Scott Cowan [01:04:19]:

You’d prefer to be and so You get to choose what cake would you wanna bake.

Chef Becky McGrath [01:04:29]:

I would do

Scott Cowan [01:04:30]:

The chef in you. What you know, what what’s you know, Wait. This if I gotta do this, I wanna do this.

Chef Becky McGrath [01:04:36]:

Red velvet. Oh. Red velvet with a cream cheese frosting.

Scott Cowan [01:04:42]:

Solid. Solid. Okay. That’s. See, it was a simple question. It’s a simple question. Simple question. And

Chef Becky McGrath [01:04:55]:

I’m Irish and Jewish is my background, so We are very good to take you to simple question and make it very comprehensive.

Scott Cowan [01:05:03]:

And and here’s the thing. As I told you before we hit record, It’s a simple question. And some people act like I’ve asked them to give up one of their children, and they have to decide which one on on the spot. It’s their. And other people are, like, adamant that it’s it’s cake, it’s Costco sheet cake, there is nothing else, everybody else is wrong. You know, it it’s just it the answers are kind of fun. And some people are, like, I don’t care about either, and I’ll, you know, I’ll pick, you know. But The people that and I like your type of reaction.

Scott Cowan [01:05:38]:

You you’re like, oh, I don’t I don’t wanna do this. But you did. You know? The the point is it wasn’t you know, It’s not life or death, but it’s for some people that

Chef Becky McGrath [01:05:47]:

Oh, it is. Some people, it is. It can be. Yeah. I you start that debate in my family. It’s gonna go on for at least 6

Scott Cowan [01:05:56]:

No. Maybe for the holidays this year. That’s what you do. Bring a new topic to the table. There you go. Well, chef Becky, thank you so much for sitting down with me today. I am, looking forward to getting down into Kerriya. And, I will try a number 6.

Scott Cowan [01:06:14]:

Yeah. That’s good. I will tell the person at the counter that you told me that this is what I should have.

Chef Becky McGrath [01:06:19]:

Perfect. You let us know when you come down. We’d love to host you. It’s been wonderful chatting with you. This really just feels more like chatting with an old friend.

Scott Cowan [01:06:29]:

Well, that’s that’s the goal of the show, and I do appreciate that. And, I’ll let you go so you can go and, about the rest of your day.

Chef Becky McGrath [01:06:36]:

Awesome. Thank you so much.