OmahaNebraska.com interviewed Alec Woockman,Executive Chef at Levy Restaurants.
What are the inspirations for this year’s offerings for the College World Series?
I try to stay updated on the trends as much as I can.
Also, these are flavors I personally like, and I think they fit well in the ballpark.
I take inspiration from a lot of things and Chris Myer. Everything from a sandwich with a lot of pickles on it to a vegetarian fried cauliflower curry aioli and sriracha. I think there is a broad spectrum of things that I like that I think also work well in a ballpark.
What are some of the items that you are most excited about?
Right, so some of the things I am most excited about are first the fried chicken sandwich.
I really wanted to overwhelm it with pickle ingredients.
I think you either love pickles or love pickles and I am the latter so . . . I took bread and butter pickles, aioli, a sweet and creamy aioli. Then we have fried pickles. We also have these really nice long crinkle-cut dill pickles that just hang over the bun.
I think one of the most fun items that we have is a shared item called The Slugger, an Italian beef sandwich.
So, it’s pretty classic Italian beef. We braise it in house with beef stock, Italian seasonings, and pepperoncini.
We braise that, shred it, and save that braising liquid to make an au jus which we serve along with the sandwich.
A 14-inch, full loaf of bread that we cut open ourselves, put a pound of Italian beef in, and top with cheese and we toast it in our pizza oven.
Then we top that with giardiniera and grated Parmesan cheese and add a cup of au jus.
We cut the sandwich in three pieces. It comes in a nice box with a handle on it that you can carry.
I say it easily feeds three really hungry people, but I think probably you can feed four.
What is your inspiration for the shrimp po’ boy? I’ve never seen that at a ballpark.
So, a shrimp po’ boy . . . it’s a very traditional shrimp po’ boy. We didn’t do anything too crazy. It’s fried shrimp on a hoagie with shredded lettuce and tomato and a remoulade.
It’s just a flavor that I think should be at a ballpark. I think it will appeal to the masses. I think it is missing from this environment. You don’t see shrimp po boys. Why not shrimp po’ boys?
Another very classic flavor this year is our Chicken Parm Sandwich . . . mozzarella, marina . . .I think it fills a slot that a lot of people will enjoy.
How did you become a chef?
I’ve loved cooking from a very young age. I’ve been cooking since I was 16 years old.
…
A few years went by and I went to culinary school and started cooking in restaurants.
I started with CHI, as well as the ballpark here. I’ve been here with this company for about seven years now.
And so, I have been just climbing the ladder.
This week I’ve been very excited. I’ve been wanting to be here for a long time.
I can’t imagine how hard this was, but amazing it is.
Yes. It’s absolutely amazing. Obviously, I love to cook, so getting to do this every day is dream come true.
I would say you are coming up with ideas and creating recipes.
I would say that it gets easier the more time you are doing it.
Starting at the beginning, it is a little harder to put this together, but I think we did a really good job this year in what we are offering. Yeah, it’s a blast!
Thank you.
Absolutely.
