[WATCH] ‘Top Chef’ Edward Lee Reimagines A White Castle Slider As A Pimento Quail Egg Toad In The Hole
Brooklyn-born Chef Edward Lee is the owner of 610 Magnolia in Louisville, Kentucky, and he recently showed us his love for the White Castle Slider.
From Chef Lee’s perspective, Louisville is an entryway to the south and serves as a border town that incorporates different cultures from the south, midwest and the east.
“What I love about Louisville is that, to me, it’s a border town,” he explained to FOODBEAST. “So what you get in border towns is a lot of cultures that sort of overlap here. But, to me that makes it very exciting because definitions of the food and the people and traditions and cultures are really pliable, so there it’s not as though there’s a strict definition of any here, that has served me well.”
Originally from New York, Chef Lee explained that he is no stranger to White Castle, having his first experiences with the popular burger chain as a teenager. After a trip to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby, Chef Lee said he fell in love with the city and returned several times over the next few years. During his trips to Louisville, Lee started working for chef and owner Eddie Garber at 610 Magnolia.
In 2004, Lee made a decision to move from New York to Louisville permanently and acquired 610 Magnolia as his own where he spent the next few years reimagining the menu and incorporating his own style.
“610 is a very small restaurant, we do a very particular thing, the idea is that you come in and you give up control,” Lee explained to FOODBEAST. “We do it purposely because we want to attract a clientele that comes in here and really wants to have fun.”
Chef Lee definitely looked like he was having fun, bringing his version of the White Castle Slider to life for FOODBEAST. Lee created a Double Stacked, pimento cheese, quail egg toad in the hole White Castle Slider.
Using Chopped okra, minced garlic, mayonnaise, Spanish pomenos, homemade worcestershire sauce, a quail egg, along with a handful of fresh herbs, Chef lee touched on what he enjoyed most incorporating a White Castle Slider into this one-of-a-kind recipe.
“What I like about the sliders is how soft and squishy they are,” he said while using a rolling pin to flatten a White Castle Slider.
The finished product looked like a work of art, in addition to being a double stacked slider, provoking Geoff from FOODBEAST to joke that he might need a knife and fork.
“Oh, man. That’s great,” he said after taking his first bite of Chef Lee’s Double Stacked, pimento cheese, quail egg toad in the hole White Castle Slider.
“Yeah? I should add it to the menu,” Chef Lee said.
We hope he wasn’t joking.
Created in partnership with White Castle
