When Sara Bradley was a student at the University of Kentucky, she approached a Lexington restaurant owner and asked if she could work in the kitchen, not to pick up extra cash, but because she had a genuine interest in gastronomy and was considering culinary school. The owner agreed to take her on for an afternoon. Bradley was excited by the prospect of learning knife skills and bread-making techniques from a team that turned out top-notch cuisine.
The reality fell far short of Bradley’s expectations. The restaurant served machine-cut frozen vegetables, and the bread came out of a box. She was deeply disappointed but gave it her best shot.
At the end of the day, the owner broke the bad news: Bradley just didn’t have what it took to make it in the restaurant industry.
That was 20 years ago. Today, Bradley is a celebrity chef who recently competed on Top Chef: World All-Stars, Bravo’s reality cooking show, and she is the chef and proprietor of The Freight House, a restaurant and bourbon bar in Paducah, her hometown, that marries her father’s Appalachian roots with her mother’s Jewish heritage. A graduate of Johnson & Wales, a prestigious culinary school in Charlotte, North Carolina, she’s had knife skills under her belt for years.
“When things got hard in culinary school, I would picture that man telling me I don’t have what it takes,” Bradley said. “It was really a force in the beginning of my career.”
As a finalist on Top Chef: Kentucky in 2019, Bradley was one of 16 chefs chosen to compete on Top Chef: World All-Stars, which premiered March 9. Season 20 is a sort of culinary Olympics that includes winners and finalists from 11 Top Chef spinoff shows from around the world—the crème de la crème of previous “cheftestants.” The winner takes home $250,000.
Filmed mainly in London, this season marks the first time the flagship edition of Top Chef has been set entirely outside the United States. The finale takes place in one of the world’s great food cities—Paris.
In each episode, contestants compete in a quickfire challenge followed by an elimination challenge. Bradley was a champion right out of the gate, winning the quickfire challenge on episode one.
The challenge kicked off with the chefs scrambling to fill their shopping baskets with five ingredients from the Top Chef kitchen in three minutes, with no idea what they would be asked to cook.
They soon learned seafood was on the menu, but host Padma Lakshmi introduced a twist. The contestants had to combine their ingredients with those of another chef, and each team had 30 minutes to prepare something tantalizing enough to wow the refined palates of Lakshmi and her fellow judges—chef Tom Colicchio and food writer Gail Simmons.
Bradley’s partner chef was Dale MacKay, winner of the first season of Top Chef Canada in 2011. Fortunately, the pair had ingredients that worked well with seafood. They triumphed with delicately cooked langoustine topped with zesty gremolata, a simple Italian condiment made with lemon, garlic and parsley.
That meant Bradley and MacKay were safe from elimination on the premiere episode.
“Immunity on the first episode is the best one you can win all season long because nobody wants to be the first chef to go home,” Bradley said.
Technically, eliminated chefs don’t go home. They are required to stick around for the entire eight weeks of filming so as not to give away who has been eliminated before all the episodes are filmed.
It was hard for Bradley to be away from husband Austin Martin and their daughters, Lula, 4, and Hazel, who was only 9 months old when Bradley traveled to Europe last summer. The only consolation was that all the chefs were in the same boat.
“There was a ton of bonding going on. It was sort of like summer camp for chefs,” Bradley said. “Right away, I bonded with Sylwia from Poland and Nicole from Canada. Sylwia and I have daughters around the same age, and we are in about the same place in our careers.”
Having a baby back home in Paducah meant Bradley had an extra responsibility—pumping breast milk and shipping it across the pond.
“As a chef, it’s our job to feed people,” Bradley said. “I shouldn’t have to choose between feeding my daughter or being a chef.”
Glenn Hall Photography
Since becoming a mom, Bradley’s outlook on work/life balance has shifted dramatically.
“My whole mindset about how a chef should be with their staff changed,” Bradley said. “I think that we have to be respectful that life happens outside of the restaurant, so we accommodate people when they can’t be here because they are sick, or their child is sick. That hasn’t always been the mentality in the restaurant industry.”
There was a time when sick restaurant workers were expected to show up and power through, but the COVID-19 pandemic turned that idea on its head because working sick meant endangering the livelihood of coworkers and the well-being of customers.
When Bradley’s not in the kitchen, she likes puttering around her home garden, where she grows everything from arugula to pumpkins. She’s a big believer in companion planting, a natural way to reduce pests without chemical pesticides. For instance, basil planted near tomatoes helps prevent tomato hornworms that can munch their way through a garden faster than you can say, “suffering succotash.” Daughter Lula helps pick the plump red tomatoes. She’s learned the green ones need a little more time in the sun.
A Toad in the Hole and Bangers and Mash
On episode three of Top Chef, contestants went on a pub crawl, drinking pints and tasting traditional pub dishes like toad in the hole (sausages baked in Yorkshire pudding batter) and bangers and mash (sausages with mashed potatoes). Afterward, they were tasked with cooking some of the foods they had sampled for a double-elimination challenge.
Bradley’s favorite was shepherd’s pie, a savory pie of ground lamb topped with mashed potatoes. She and German chef Tom Goetter sailed through the challenge with a reimagined version of this classic British meal that sometimes appears on the menu at The Freight House.
While some of these dishes may be unfamiliar to Kentuckians, Bradley said there are numerous similarities between traditional Kentucky fare and British food because many of Kentucky’s early settlers emigrated from England, Ireland and Scotland. They brought their culinary traditions with them.
“That’s why mutton is such a big thing in western Kentucky. There were lots of shepherds here,” Bradley said.
Fish and chips, an English pub staple, has its Kentucky counterpart—the fish fry. Kentuckians love the big social gatherings starring crunchy fish with a side of coleslaw. The Freight House serves fried fish every Friday to accommodate Catholic customers—and because it’s delicious.
Scotch eggs are another popular British pub bite that occasionally make an appearance at The Freight House. People come from miles around to tuck into the sausage-wrapped eggs that are breaded and deep fried to crispy perfection.
Unfortunately, this dish was the downfall of MacKay and his partner, May Thongthong of Thailand. The judges deemed their Scotch egg to be lacking in crunch, and they were given the dreaded order, “Pack your knives and go.”
Glenn Hall Photography
Looking to the Future
What’s next for Bradley? Many chefs dream of chic Michelin-starred restaurants and James Beard awards, the ultimate recognition in American culinary arts circles. Bradley would welcome the accolades, but they don’t define her success.
“Early in my career, I wanted a James Beard Award—and I still want one—but now, I don’t need everyone’s praise as much as I thought I did before,” Bradley said. “And what we do at the restaurant is beautiful, with or without a Michelin star.”
Another restaurant could be on the horizon, and she hopes to write a cookbook someday. For now, her priority is making time to pick tomatoes with Lula—but only the ripe ones.
Everything Salad
Serves 10-12
1 head iceberg lettuce, thinly sliced
2 cups finely shredded cabbage
1 cup green grapes, quartered
6 radishes, thinly sliced
¼ cup capers, roughly chopped
1/3 cup pickled red onion
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup cream cheese dill dressing (you may need more dressing, depending on the size of the lettuce head)
1 cup everything puffed rice
Cream Cheese Dressing
8 ounces cream cheese, cubed and softened
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon fresh dill fronds, chopped
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon granulated onion
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon fresh cracked black pepper
1. In a food processor, whip the cream cheese until smooth. Add all other ingredients and process until smooth.
2. Chill until ready to use.
Everything Puffed Rice
½ tablespoon dried,
chopped garlic
½ tablespoon dried,
chopped onion
½ tablespoon black
sesame seeds
½ tablespoon white
sesame seeds
½ tablespoon celery seed
½ tablespoon poppy seed
½ cup puffed rice (recipe follows)
½ cup bagel chips, crushed
Mix together all ingredients and store in an airtight container.
Puffed Rice
1 cup vegetable oil
¼ cup long grain rice
1. Prepare a pan lined with paper towels. Have a separate container to pour hot oil into and have a small strainer ready.
2. Heat oil in a pan on top of the stove to 425 degrees.
3. Add dry, uncooked rice and stir. Let cook for 10-20 seconds or until you see it puff. Do not burn!
3. Pour the rice and oil through the strainer, allowing oil to collect in the extra vessel.
4. Drain rice on paper towels. Mix with everything spice when cool.
Final Assembly
Mix together all salad ingredients except puffed rice, which gets sprinkled on top as the final step.
The Freight House
330 South Third Street
Paducah
270.908.0006
freighthousefood.com