Brunch. For guests, it means bottomless mimosas, cozy childhood classics and all the hot goss. For employees, it usually means entitled customers, unreasonable requests and hungover managers.
But for Alex Szambelan, brunch pretty much saved his career.
Szambelan is the executive chef at House of Brunch, the glitziest and glammy-est of breakfast spots in downtown Spokane. It's an ironic twist of fate for the Colfax native who grew up eating his meals at normal hours and not giving the time of day to avocado toast.
But right when Szambelan was about to burn out on a chef's steady diet of hectic services and late nights, he found brunch. Or rather, brunch found him.
He had been the chef at South Perry Lantern for about a year, helping Jeremy Tangen open the popular neighborhood spot in 2021. Before that, he had almost abandoned the stress of the kitchen completely.
"South Perry Lantern definitely got me back into it," Szambelan says. "But I was starting to falter up there when my now-wife and I were getting more serious and we wanted more time together. I'd come home when she was already in bed, and then she'd leave for work while I was sleeping off the night before. We barely ever connected. So, the Lantern got me back into my passion for cooking and creating and working with my crew and running a restaurant. But then this place gave me the work/life balance I need to keep it alive."
Szambelan wasn't exactly destined for fine dining. Growing up, his go-to afternoon snack was a Tony's pizza straight from the Pizzazz Pizza oven.
"I wasn't a good cook," Szambelan says. "But my grandmother was a wonderful cook, and she taught me a little bit. She wasn't around for a lot of my formative years, since she passed away when I was relatively young. But I inherited all of her recipes, so I've got like 10 boxes full of stuff. She came up learning to cook during the Depression era, where you had to do what you could with what you had. That's a lot of what informs my cooking style — I like taking the scraps or reusing other stuff."
Szambelan originally went to Washington State University to get a criminal justice degree, which his dad promised was easy. Szambelan got kicked out during the first quarter because his grades were so bad. He reapplied, got back in and did enough of his coursework to stay in. But he also took a part-time job with the university's food service team.
"I got hired as cook's help, which I wasn't really expecting," Szambelan says. "I had worked in kitchens a little bit in high school — I was just a dishwasher for a local retirement home, and I cooked like one night once and was stupid enough to put it on the resume. But when I went to find a job, I applied to be a server. The chef and the front of house manager shared an office, and the chef got to the office before the front of house manager. I was sitting there for my interview, and he was just glancing at my resume, and he said, 'Hey, you've got some cooking experience. You want to be a cook instead of a server?' I was like, 'God yes. I hate people. I want to be in the back.' And he's like, 'Alright, cool. Let's get the hell out of here before the front of house manager shows up.' He pulled me into the kitchen, and I've been cooking ever since."
Szambelan found himself skipping class to put on catering events. After graduating from WSU, he eventually went to culinary school at Spokane Community College, which is accredited by the American Culinary Federation and meets the same standards as top programs around the country.
"The ACF calls us the blue-collar culinary school, because you might not get all the fancy stuff, — you don't get to meet Bobby Flay or watch somebody break down a whole tuna — but you will know how to work in the industry by the time you're done."
Culinary school meant Szambelan could learn with his hands, which he says fit him much better than book learning. But he was also the kind of student who could digest Harold McGee's entire classic On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, almost 900 pages of intense, intricate food expertise.
Szambelan fell in love with all 300 chemical reactions that happen during caramelization, and the ratios that speed up emulsifications, and the way that a smear of ketchup will make the sear and braise on a chuck flap immeasurably better. Of the 21 students who started in his class, Szambelan was one of three who graduated. He had perfect attendance and a perfect GPA.
While still in culinary school, Szambelan had begun working at the Davenport Grand. He started as their overnight baker, and eventually moved up to banquet lead. He then took a summer off to work at Stock Farm Club in Montana, a premier golf course and the kind of place where billionaires will pay a whole lot of money to be treated like a regular person, Szambelan says.
It was his first foray into extreme fine dining, an experience he prefers to make but not to eat.
"I'm the kind of guy who will make this and then go get a McDonald's cheeseburger for myself, because that's what I want to eat," he says.
It's exciting to get to work with really exotic or exclusive food. But, like grandma, like grandson. Szambelan's favorite style of cooking prioritizes time over ingredients.
"I like all the steps and all the techniques to make something that's relatively cheap into something that looks, tastes and smells amazing, and that people will pay money for," he says. "I like to focus on the labor more than the product."
House of Brunch is owned and operated by Jackson Connery and Brad Duffy, who both have experience at Gozzer Ranch, a celebrity spot in Coeur d'Alene similar to Stock Farm. When they tapped Szambelan to come cook for them, the trio realized his familiarity with the fine dining world but grounded level-headedness would be the perfect combination for a high-end but welcoming brunch spot in Spokane.
Now, Szambelan gets to make cool food all day and be home in time for dinner.
"That is probably the best part about this job," Szambelan says. "I mean, the food is amazing, and it's a lot of fun. It's a great team and a great kitchen to work for. But the owners, having been in the industry for as long as they have, are the kind of owners that you want because they're the guys who understand the day to day to day struggles that service industry workers go through."
TRY IT YOURSELF
Savory Crepes
If you'd like to make savory salmon mousse crepes like the ones at House of Brunch, here is Chef Alex's favorite crepe recipe. He tops his crepes with tzatziki made with creme fraiche, deep fried capers, fresh tomatoes and a poached egg.
Crepes
Ingredients:
2 large eggs
¾ cup whole milk
¼ cup water
¼ cup Grand Marnier
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 Tablespoons melted butter
¼ teaspoon salt (for savory crepes)
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in a blender and pulse together.
Refrigerate for at least one hour. The batter will be useable for up to 48 hours.
Coat a small nonstick pan with spray and place over medium heat.
Add one ounce of batter to the pan and swirl to coat the pan evenly.
Cook for 30 seconds and then flip. Continue cooking for 10 more seconds.
De-pan the crepe and stack under a clean tea towel to keep warm until serving.
Salmon Mousse
A note from Chef Alex: "This is a very versatile recipe. We at House of Brunch use it as a filling for crepes, but it works just as well spread on toast or crostini, piped into phyllo cups or onto cucumber slices, or on its own as a dip for vegetables and chips. It's just a great all around recipe for someone's next party or get-together."
Ingredients:
2 cups of cream cheese
2 ounces smoked salmon
1 shallot
0.2 ounces fresh dill
1 lemon, zest and juice
5 sliced pickled Fresno peppers
1 Tablespoon pickled Fresno juice
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon Spiceology Smoke Junkie seasoning
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until well combined.
Place mousse in a piping bag. Use as desired.
— Recipes courtesy of House of Brunch chef Alex SzambelanHouse of Brunch chef Alex Szambelan says, "This place gave me the work/life balance I need."
I like all the steps and all the techniques to make something that's relatively cheap into something that looks, tastes and smells amazing.