By Kitty Crider
American-Statesman Food Editor
Wednesday, January 5, 2000

Sure, we all know that Oprah's had a personal chef. But you don't have to be a celeb to hire someone to cook for you. An increasing number of Austinites -- real people like you and me -- are seeking out personal chefs as mealtime solutions.

Marcy Garriott did it because of time. The local filmmaker was finishing up a documentary and knew she was not going to have time to even think about food. "It seemed like a great solution, and it has worked out perfectly."

James and Erika Talbott did it to eat more healthfully. The techies, who are also weight lifters, found a personal chef after consulting with a dietitian. Not only are they eating better, they have found their food costs are less than their previous habit of eating out all the time.

Most of the personal chefs these busy people are using come to their homes on the average of once every couple of weeks, bringing all the groceries, pots and pans, spices. They spend a day cooking and stocking the freezer with about five to 10 meals for two, then clean up their mess and leave reheating directions behind.

The clients say that the food -- 20 entrees and sides -- usually lasts a couple of weeks and fills up a freezer. But there is still room for half a gallon of Blue Bell. And ice.

The chefs cook to their clients' specs after extensive discussion or after the clients fill out a questionnaire. The customized menus may be anything from low-fat to vegetarian, high-protein to comfort foods, for those with allergies or for those with exotic tastes. They can even include family recipes. The selections can range from meatloaf to mahi mahi with mango salsa to Moroccan chicken.

"I'm from Louisiana. I asked her (Linda Stanton of Dinner by Design) to cook hot-water cornbread. She researched that and did," says Keith Caskey, a student and part owner of a gas company. "She also cooks things I haven't had before. I'm pretty adventurous. Sometimes she just surprises me.

"She prepares all this food. Most is not cooked quite through so it does not taste like it's been in the freezer. She's very organized. She has plastic sleeves for a binder on how to reheat the foods."

Filmmaker Garriott, who hired personal chef Betty Pritchard of The Kitchen Pass to save time, has been pleased at the wider variety of food she is eating now. Healthier, too, she adds.

There are other side benefits. The clients tell of how the chefs have brought thermometers to check the temperature of their freezers, how they might pick up a bottle of wine or box of cereal at the grocery store for them, how they leave little surprises for the kids. Such culinary pampering in an impersonal world makes for a warm homecoming.

In the Austin metro area, there are about a dozen personal chefs, according to listings of the American Personal Chef Association and the United States Personal Chef Association. Nationwide, there are approximately 3,000 registered personal chefs and countless independent ones.

The local chefs' backgrounds are as varied as the city's population. Betty Pritchard, who has lived in Singapore for the past five years, says, "I just love to cook. I have taken cooking classes everywhere." Michael Costilla of Epicurean Delights, a 1998 graduate of the Texas Culinary Academy in Austin, works nights as the executive chef at Wildfire in Georgetown. Bob McLucas of Dinner Is Served was an Austin machinist for 20 years before he saw his job opportunities diminishing and turned his cooking hobby into a career. After Habeeb Rhymaun of Chef du Jour experienced stress-related health problems in the technology industry, he and his wife expanded a small catering business into his current profession.

Cooking skills obviously are required to be a personal chef, but they can be self-taught or professionally acquired. No specific training or certificate is necessary, although chefs who join one of the national associations get educational materials geared toward the job.

Personal chefs don't have to have any specific food handler's permits or certificates. "We do not regulate them in any way although we recommend that they get food manager's certification as the training is important to their work, " says Bob Flocke, spokesman for the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department.

Rhymaun of Chef du Jour considered the training important and opted to go to the food handler's school. "I'm certified by the state through 2002," he says.

What the personal chefs cannot do is cook in their own homes and deliver the food to clients. That practice violates health codes. The chefs must cook either in the client's kitchen or a commercial kitchen, like Stanton, who uses a church kitchen for meal prep.

In addition to regular bimonthly meal plans, the chefs offer gift certificate dinners for new parents, recovering patients, or others who need an occasional helping hand in the kitchen. "My wife and I are expecting a baby in June. It would be nice if we had a personal chef for a while," Costilla quips.

The chefs stress that their services are not cheaper than cooking at home. Rates and plans vary, but average $10-15 a meal. Groceries may or may not be extra. Clients say portions are often large enough for leftovers for lunch. But still it is not budget dining. Financially, it is an alternative to eating out.

For instance, Chef Costilla's fee is $275 (grocery cost included) for 20 meals, or two weeks' worth of food for two people.

"I like to sell the time it saves," says Costilla. "It saves you the grocery shopping, the prepping, making the meals and cleanup. I figure that is five to 10 hours a week."

Andrea Wagnon is a mother and Web designer; her husband is a software consultant. In their pre-chef days, when they attempted to cook their own dinners, they would eat too late and stay up too late. "Now from walking through the door to having silverware and food on the table takes only half an hour. Now we sit down to dinner more times together."

In fact, they've even bought a dining table for their fast sit-down weeknight dinners of home-cooked food prepared personally for them.

Now, there's a concept for a new millennium.

Send in the chefs

Among the local pros offering in-home cooking are:

* Chef du Jour, Habeeb Rhymaun, 341-8368, a specialty: chicken marsala

* Dinner By Design, Linda Stanton, 627-1654, a specialty: chile-citrus marinated shrimp

* Dinner Is Served, Bob McLucas, 451-5982, a specialty: green lasagna

* Epicurean Delights, Michael Costilla, (512) 797-7206, a specialty: chipotle and pecan-crusted mahi mahi with mango salsa

* The Kitchen Pass, Betty Pritchard, 420-9446, a specialty: okra gumbo with chicken and sausage

* Dining In, Ruslyn Smith-Hurley, 917-7597, a specialty: spinach and sausage risotto

* Capitol City Cuisine, Lynn Hooge, 453-1467, a specialty: Italian pork chop

* Lakeway Personal Chef Services, Mike McCoy, 261-6832, a specialty: potato-crusted salmon fillet.

Web sites

* United States Personal Chef Association: www.uspca.com

* American Personal Chef Association: personalchef.com

* Personal Chef Services, Kent Kotara

* Custom Cuisine, Ida Wilson,

* Dinner Thyme, Leslie Castaneda and Janie Rice, 671-8366, a specialty: chicken and cheese tamales

* Mise en Place, Chef Kini, 671-8703