Meet the Chef/Owners of Ryan Christopher's BYOB

This week, we spoke to the proprietors of : chef/owner Mike Klaumenzer, pastry chef/owner Phyllis Klaumenzer and pastry chef Kim Seeger, their daughter. (Seeger's son is the Ryan Christopher of the restaurant's name.)

Ages:

MK: 51

PK: 63

KS: 40

Years in the industry:

MK:37

PK: 40

KS: 23

Earliest cooking memory:

MK: When I was 5, cooking eggs for myself in my grandma's kitchen. 

PK: Making chrusciki (Polish angel cookies) with my grandmother

KS: Working at Dunkin' Donuts, filling doughnuts when I was 15.

First restaurant job: 

MK: Dishwasher in St. Petersburg, FL 

PK: Waitress at Spinelli's

KS: Busgirl in Chestnut Hill

Advice for home cooks: 

MK: [Cooking] is not that hard ... Don't be afraid to try new things. 

PK: (agrees with Mike)

KS: Cooking is not a chore, enjoy it. It should be fun.

Favorite thing to cook: 

MK: Seafood 

PK:  Comfort food (chicken & dumplings, stew, heart warming food)

KS: My son loves my French toast.

Favorite local restaurant: 

MK: PF Chang's 

PK: PF Chang's

KS: I work all the time, I don't go out to eat.

Favorite restaurant in the world: 

MK: Berns Steakhouse in Tampa, FL 

PK: PF Chang's

KS: Crescent City Brewery in New Orleans was the most recent place I ate at and enjoyed.

Guilty pleasure (food or drink): 

MK: Buffalo wings and cold beer 

PK: Gummy candies

KS: French fries

Last meal on earth: 

MK: Uncle Dewey's BBQ ribs (Uncle Dewey's is a roadside stand on Route 40 in New Jersey) 

PK: Lobster Genovese

KS: My dad's BBQ

Biggest kitchen disaster: 

MK: I was working at Barnaby's sports bar in Havertown and this guy next to me was tossing about 30-40 wings in a giant bowl with almost a gallon of hot sauce. He dropped the bowl and the contents of the bowl jumped out—some went up my chef pants the other went straight up in the air and then landed on my head. The cook who did it was speechless and didn't know what to do so I yelled out, "WIPE ME OFF!!!" I had to work the rest of the shift smelling like hot sauce and chicken wings. 

PK: I was walking into the back of a restaurant with a peach shortcake in my hands and the screen door wasn't working properly. I opened it and it whipped back and made me shove the whole shortcake into my face. I cleaned myself off as best I could but later in the day I had to go to the store for something and someone spilled a diet coke all over me. I had to work with peach shortcake and diet coke residue all over me for the rest of the night. 

KS: I was working at Outback Steakhouse as a manager and one of my duties was changing kegs of beer. Whenever I did so some of the beer would get onto my clothes and it got worse as the night progressed. I had to deal with customers while smelling like beer all night long.