Meet the Chef: Jacob Knauth

A drummer in two bands @majorleagues and @tempuranights, but serves some of the best drinking food out his little container outside of the @thebrightsidebris. He's has a passion for great tastes, and is really switched on. Meet Jacob Knauth from @luckyeggfc 😊

Foodie Adam: Why Fried Chicken? And what made you open shop in a night club?

Jacob Knauth: The shop came first, there was a shipping container that got put here. And we needed to look for something for the demographic for the late night and a "booze sponge" for people, and something to get the business people in for lunch.

FA: When did you begin your culinary career, and where did you study? .

JK: Well...... I did three quarters of my chef apprenticeship with Ben O'Donoghue at South Bank Surf Club. I don't consider myself a chef,
I think there's probably a bunch of chefs out there who did the same thing as me at that age, and they went on to get a better good wage or salary at some pub.. And know how to make a mean mashed potato or steak. But are they a chef, if you put a gun to their head and say make a tiramisu or a souffle, could they do it? I don't regret my choice.. But I feel chefs as soon as they get out of their apprenticeship stop learning.. It's like police officers who finish the academy, and they just get fat 😜

FA: What/who was your biggest influence towards where you are today?

JK: I play in the music industry, so getting to work side by side with it is a good thing. I like supplying the band's that play here with good food cause that's always something you appreciate when you play somewhere else.

FA: Where have you previously worked?

JK: I have to think about this *laughs*. I've done everything 😜.. Before this, I pushed trolleys of wine around to some of Brisbane's best restaurants.. Fresh out of school I was a wine waiter at Augustines on George St which is super old school. Worked at Campos for three years making coffee, but I got over the snobbery and wankery of coffee like the doppio ristretto with half full cream half skim lol.

FA: What is your favorite ingredient and/or cooking utensil that you couldn't live without?

JK: At the moment my favorite ingredient is Lemongrass, because I have a massive.. Bush? Of Lemongrass out the back.. I don't know if you'd call it a bush 😜.. It's like grass, so I guess a clump. Haha so I have a clump of Lemongrass out the back 😜. You just have to treat it rough and go in and yank a piece out.

And my blender.. Because I only have one small blender.. And if I want to cook at home, like I dont have the money to buy one yet for home.. Actually it's my home one that's here so when I want to cook some food for some people at gone I end up taking it 😜

FA: What challenges have you had while becoming where you are?

JK: The toughest thing.. Is keeping a crowd. Like the weather, cause we're completely outdoors. But the size of the kitchen is the biggest lol, like we want to get bigger.. But we literally have a glass ceiling we can't break through at the moment cause we don't have anymore space.. But we're working on it 😊

FA: What is your comfort food?

JK: Oh, Tacos.. I love making Tacos at home. The most recent one was a tamarind, lemongrass, and beef rib.. It was delicious. I like making Asian-Mexican Tacos. Haha, no Chicken at home 😜, although I do have a few chickens I get eggs off.

FA: What are some of your favorite places to eat out at, and your favorite dishes from them?

JK: Oh, right.. Uhh.. Well, there's the maccas at Stafford, there's the maccas in Queen Street, and the maccas in Fortitude Valley.. Lol, I dunno I think I love Longtime, Happy Boy is really good.. The Szechuan Chilli 👌, there's so many Chillis but these make you go numb, and anytime we get the band together we'll be at Guzman every day getting a burrito 😜.. Guzman is like the Gold Standard. And my favorite place recently I went to in Sydney Dan Hongs place Ms G's.

FA: When you're free from working in the cube, what do you get upto?

JK: Get home and watch the x files or west wing. Or I take a night off because I have to play a show, or doing demo stuff with the band, otherwise I go out for dinner if I can, or I'll be out in the garden 😜

FA: If you could work in any other industry (besides hospitality) which would it be?

JK: I'd want to work in the farming and agriculture industry. Not so much go and own a farm, I think I'd like to do that when I'm 70 and I can maintain a small organic farm or something.. But, I think there is a lot that could be done with the logistics of food, like getting food grown closer to places that are consuming it the most. And kinda changing people's food patterns, lime people don't need to eat Avocado on toast for 12 months a year 😜. They just need to know how to be better seasonally, like you don't buy a watermelon in the middle of Winter.

And another thing I would want to do as a business, is studying and finding solutions for food waste in businesses.

FA: What is your take on Brisbanes current Food Scene?

JK: I think it's getting a hell of a lot better. People are starting to take a risk, people are starting to do things that are exciting . And challenge the very simple nature of Brisbane's Palette like people in Brisbane for ages you'd have pubs, rsl's, and nicer pubs, and nicer rsl's, and maybe a couple good fish and Chip shops and like a few Chinese shops and a few Italian shops just doing very sino-australian or like Italian-Australian foods. Now there is places that are like "This is how we are going to do it and you are either gonna like it or you can go". And I love places like that, I love places that don't give customers any options.. Like this is how it's gonna be and this is how it's meant to be.. And this is how you're going to eat it 😜. "we're not gonna let you and your palette destroy what we do" 👌

FA: What food trends do you see emerging in the future in Brisbane?

JK: I think the next big food trend is going to be like a big Asian food trend. Where people are going to be doing really good Thai, Indonesian, or Filipino cuisine that has been modernized.. Like a Filipino Taco.

But I think the most interesting thing, that not alot of people are paying attention to yet is, but I've always been interested in and wanted to see more of is.. really awesome high end food places, taking a stab at doing what they do but in a fast food way. Like making it available on the go.

FA: Any fun moments in your cooking life, you'd like to share?

JK: I cooked for Matt Moran once.. He's a jerk lol. I was on the dessert station and and I made some boring dessert at Southbank surf club

FA: Any future plans you're willing to share?

JK: There are a few things up in the air for Lucky Egg... It could be a shop.. It could be no shop, and I'm starting my farming career early lol 😜

If you haven't already stopped by Lucky Egg you're missing out on some amazing Fried Chicken. Tuesday day is $6 burger day and Wednesday is 50 cent wing day, so there's no reason not to give them a shot 😊