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20 • FOODSERVICE EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES • OCTOBER 2016 a pro you should know Insights on Firebirds Wood Fired Grill Concept Q&A; with corporate executive chef Steven Sturm By Amelia Levin, Contributing Editor F or the past six years, Steven Sturm has served as corporate executive chef for the 41-unit, polished-casual Firebirds Wood Fired Grill chain. Most recently, Sturm was awarded the 2016 Produce Excellence in Foodservice Award for Casual and Family Dining Restaurants by United Fresh. Here he discusses Firebirds' approach to using live fuel grills, how the menu has evolved and more. FE&S;: What is the Firebird concept? SS: We center our whole concept around wood-fired grills, focusing on steaks cut in-house and on fresh seafood. We think of it as American food with a Southwest twist — and an open, high-energy kitchen. We've been opening between about five to seven restaurants per year with steady growth; we want to make sure to maintain our standards and quality. FE&S;: How does the wood-fired grilling work at Firebirds? SS: We use two types of 100 percent live fuel grills, and select different wood based on where that restaurant unit is located. We use a lot of hickory and oak in the Southeast, apple and cherry in the North and pecan wood out West. Pretty much every protein we serve we cook on the grills: steaks, burgers, chicken, ribs, and a lot of seafood. But we've been cooking more produce on the grills. We'll roast and grill peppers for a sandwich, and we'll grill off some onions, garlic and peppers that go into our black bean soup. We use the grills to add that great smoky flavor to our dishes. FE&S;: What's the training like for the grills? How much wood do you go through? SS: It's definitely a different skill set to operate the wood fired grills. On a wood grill, not only are you cooking, but you also have to maintain a specific tempera- ture by constantly loading the grill. As far as what we burn, an average restaurant goes through about 1 to 2 cords (4 by 4 by 8 ft. log) every four weeks, per restaurant. All the wood is sourced locally. We don't want to transport it to any great length because that costs a lot of money. Instead, we have great partnerships with different wood vendors around the country who provide us wood based on our specifica- tions according to the local health depart- ments. Some have specific requirements, such as they want them to be kiln-dried for a certain time to prevent bug infestation. FE&S;: You recently won an award for your use of fresh produce. What are some ways you showcase fresh produce, other than cooking it on the wood-fired grills? SS: Over the last couple of years, we have focused more on the seasonality of produce and included produce as a center point for most of our innovation. Each season we'll showcase four or five new dishes. This summer, we added a turkey burger with fire-roasted red peppers, fresh spinach, pickled red onions and a sriracha sauce, and we also served a watermelon and heir- loom tomato salad with fresh mozzarella, honey and peppercorn vinaigrette. We have also offered a filet steak with an orzo salad packed with radishes, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, grilled corn and a lemon vinai- grette. We're able to work with our various Steven Sturm Corporate Executive Chef Firebirds Wood Fired Grill