Inner Chef educates creative new cooks

A mobile of pots and pans hangs from the ceiling as the sun comes streaming in through a skylight. Multi-colored magnets arranged to say “Skills sessions 15 bux” stick to the door of a mini refrigerator.

David Wade opened Inner Chef, a kitchen retail store, in August 2005. Wade co-owns the store with Stephen Chambers, his partner of 28 years. Chambers handles the financial aspect of Inner Chef but does not actually work in the store.

“He’s the brainy one, and I’m the pretty one,” Wade said.

Wade said he and Chambers feel it is important to tell the public that their store is owned by a gay couple because Bloomington is considered an accepting town. They also want to help bring more gay tourism to Bloomington, Wade said.

Wade said he and Chambers chose to open Inner Chef in Bloomington because they have lived here for several years and observed that it is a “foodie city.”

This past February, Inner Chef began offering “skills sessions,” which are often taught by Chase Potter, the store’s head chef.

Wade and Potter first became acquainted 13 years ago while Wade was working in another kitchen retail store. Potter then moved away from Bloomington for a couple of years, and when he returned, he ran into Wade while job hunting.

Neither Wade nor Potter has been formally trained in the culinary arts. Instead, they developed into chefs through hands-on cooking experience. Wade worked in catering, while Potter got his start waiting tables and doing some cooking in restaurant kitchens.

Their independent route into the realm of cooking served as the inspiration behind the name “Inner Chef.”

“Because I’m not a trained chef, I evolved, so I found my inner chef,” Wade said.
Classes at Inner Chef are referred to as “skills sessions” to reflect their focus on a particular aspect of cooking, rather than an entire cuisine.

“We’re trying to take a specific skill and build on it ... not so much to teach people, ‘Oh, this is what Mediterranean cooking is like,’ but to say, ‘These are the basics of dipping chocolates,’” Potter said.

The purpose of taking a more narrow approach to cooking is to teach individuals to apply that skill to a variety of recipes, Potter said.

The newest addition to Inner Chef’s skill sessions is a class on vegan cooking, which works with different types of milk and tofu.

In addition to observing that veganism is a growing trend, Potter is a vegan himself. He said he hopes to educate others on what it means to be a vegan, not just on how to make vegan dishes.

Thus far, Inner Chef has held only meat-free skills sessions, but Wade said he hopes to teach a class on quick and easy meals using meat.

“In July, I’m going to do a class on some of (Chambers’s) favorites that I cook at home, which are truly 30- or 40-minute meals because I have to cook quickly when I get home,” Wade said.

“Otherwise it cuts into cocktail time,” Potter said jokingly.

In the fall, Wade plans to add a class called “Save Your Beer Money; Learn to Cook” directed toward college students who want to eat a healthy meal before getting out to the bars.

Potter hopes to teach a session on “Dorm Gourmet,” which would focus on appetizers that can be made using a microwave.

Wade said he enjoys watching Alton Brown and Guy Fieri on the Food Network and tries to model the classes after cooking programs. He also said that he and Potter had the concept of a studio in mind from the moment they began designing the kitchen area of Inner Chef.

During a vegan dessert-making session, Potter, decked out in a bright green chef’s jacket and toe sneakers, cracked jokes with the class while giving tips on buying and substituting ingredients.

“Quite frankly, Chase (Potter) and I are kind of animated and energetic enough that I think our personalities help the class a lot,” Wade said.