Microwaved hot dogs and mayonnaise sandwiches: That's what Mike Eckles would come home from work and eat regularly before crawling into bed well after midnight. Not what you would expect for a chef who graduated top of his class at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and for whom “work” is preparing five-course gourmet meals.
"When I cook for myself, it's not what you would expect a fine-dining chef to eat," says Eckles, who worked locally at Coach Insignia and Forest before he partnered with a former colleague and launched Abode Fine Dining (abodefinedining.com), offering the luxury of fine-dining for clients in their homes. "That's the chef life people don't know about."
Curiosity about chef life has spawned dozens of reality cooking shows, and Eckles, a 27-year-old Bloomfield High School graduate, almost won one.
In January, Netflix dropped "The Pressure Cooker," an eight-episode "Survivor"-style cooking show featuring 11 chefs living together while competing in cooking contests to determine the winner of $100,000. Those eliminated from the competition ultimately decided the victor. Eckles says the alliances among the other contestants led to his 5-4 defeat in the final round.
Despite the loss, he thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the other chefs and sharing tips and techniques with them. He also walked away from the experience with a few good stories about being on a reality show.
Aside from the lengthy interview process and psychological evaluation, he had to send the producers photos of himself in 30 outfits. He said it was a challenge, but he got it done with a lot of mixing and matching.
He was surprised that the house where they lived for three weeks was space created in a warehouse, and he observed how the editing process portrayed him as always serious. He describes himself as happy-go-lucky but focused when cooking or competing in the kitchen.
Although the show's producers contacted him through social media, Eckles is reaching out to other reality cooking shows in hopes of competing on national television again. But his main focus is on Abode Fine Dining, a business he started with Marcus D'Onofrio, a chef he met while working at Coach Insignia.
Abode specializes in catering private dinners, serving high-end cuisine to parties as small as two and as large as 200. They bring the bartenders, servers, pots, dishes, utensils, and, of course, all the food, which is prepped in their Livonia-based commercial kitchen but cooked at the client's home. A meal ranges from $100 to $300 per person.
Menus are completely customizable, but Eckles, D'Onofrio and their team of chefs create a themed menu each month. August's theme was "Inspired by AI" — Eckles asked an artificial intelligence site a series of random questions and made a menu based on AI recommendations. In September, they featured a Michelin Star copycat menu, with each course replicating an item from their favorite Michelin-star restaurants. This month: Fan Favorites.
Some client requests present a unique but fun challenge, says Eckles. For example, one individual asked them to replicate his favorite New York City restaurant dish. Another requested "something green that doesn't taste green." He made a roasted tomatillo bisque soup with blended basil, chive oil, croutons and tomato water.
His favorite thing to prepare is homemade pasta, something he learned from his days at Forest in Birmingham.
Eckles began cooking in middle school out of necessity while his mom was being treated for breast cancer.
"She's fine now, but she stopped cooking while going through all the chemotherapy. It was too much on her,” he says. “And just because I wanted to eat food that 12-year-olds want — chocolate-chip cookies, mac and cheese, etc. I started cooking, and I never stopped."
He knew he wanted to be a chef by the time he started high school. Now, one of his goals is to expand the business, including the number of chefs Abode employs.
"Every time you hire a new chef, they bring new skills, techniques, flavors, or ideas. Every good restaurant has a team of chefs. That's how you get the best food."