6 Questions with Bob Little and Chad Urban of Chez Nick on on Ranch Dressing, Kitchen Mentorship and Motherfucking Details

Read Time: 3 min

By Sophie Braker

This article is from an interview with Bob Little and Chad Urban. If you want to learn more about them and their journeys, watch their videocast episode BSP373: Bobby Little and Chad Urban of Chez Nick on Opening Multiple Restaurants Through A Pandemic.

A duo like Bob Little and Chad Urban sound like they should be in a country music folk band. Instead they’re a chef duo who’ve opened three concepts (two restaurants and a catering operation) during the pandemic. Their restaurant Chez Nick in the Upper East side of Manhattan opened three weeks before restaurants shut down in 2020. How have they survived and had enough capital to open a new restaurant while staying true to a new, better restaurant culture? Read below to find out. 

First restaurant job?

Bob: Panera Bread - best job I’ve ever had. It was amazing. I was sixteen, got promoted to associate trainer. I was in charge of people. I would wake up at four forty five. I’d go open up the coffee drive through with me and the ladies. It was so fun. It was in Lexington, Kentucky. At the time, we were one of the eight drive through restaurants in all of Lexington. It was a pretty big deal. 

What’s a food / drink you always have on hand at home?

Chad: I always have tangerine sparkling water from Traders Joes. My wife loves them and she got me hooked on them as well. Always have to have ranch on hand. It’s a staple ingredient in my pantry. Got to be Hidden Valley. It goes on just about everything, especially pizza. If it needs a little spice up, a little jazz, throw a little ranch on the side, a little dunkin sauce. Cold pizza with ranch is heaven.

What’s the most valuable lesson learned from working in award-winning fine dining restaurants?

Bob: My chef at Khe-Yo would say, “Attention to motherfucking detail.” I still hear it in my nightmares. “Clean and organized. Attention to motherfucking detail.” He (Soulayphet Schwader) would say it every single day, at least thirty times a day. Phet Schwader’s the owner of Khe-Yo over here in Tribeca. We met at Marc Forgione’s. He’s a great chef, a great guy. That’s his mantra in the kitchen. You better make sure you’re great because he’s coming after you.

What’s one dish that best represents your ethos as a Chef?

Chad: One day we’ll put cold pizza with ranch on the menu. I’d say our burger. The burger is something that’s at both restaurants. It's our number 1 seller across the board. For a burger, we put a good amount of work into it and I think it shows. It’s a good burger. The only difference is the cheese. At Chez Nicks, its yellow American cheese and at Leroy’s its white American cheese and a sesame bun. We ended up trying like ten different blends of meat. It took us a couple of months to get the sauce where we were really happy with it. When we were opening Chez Nick, we had six five-gallon buckets of different kinds of pickles that we were going through to see which one went with the sauce, trying all the different varieties and spices. We put a lot of work into a simple burger. But like Bob was saying, attention to detail. Right now the blend is a 3.5 oz smashburger chuck and short rib blend.

What was the toughest part of opening during the pandemic?

Bob: It was having to lose everybody right off the bat after we had just gotten open, just hired everyone. Everyone was excited and we were starting to move and groove. Overnight it was losing the whole team. Telling them I’m so sorry. That part was pretty hard. We obviously had each other but like once that hit, it was pretty heavy news to give out right off the bat of opening. We weren’t super big at that point so it was fifteen plus people. We didn’t have to shut down. We ran right into it. We were doing catering before. The week prior we had just set up doing light to go for the business model. We didn’t know what was going on. All we knew was that we could sell delivery food starting that Tuesday. 

What’s the number one element of your restaurant culture that you altered from the restaurants you’ve worked in?

Chad: Definitely not screaming at people. That was one of the reasons we wanted to get out of that culture and go out on our own. We wanted to make sure that people were treated fairly – work with them, train them up, teach people a lot of the things we were taught in a more conducive environment. You can’t learn in kitchens that are as cut throat and stress riddled as the kitchens we grew up in. Making it a more respect driven kitchen. That’s our number one change.

Bob: We try to actively stay focused on respect as an aspect of our mentorship and building of the kitchen team. A large portion of our team coming through the pandemic did not have that much experience. We definitely trained up some people who didn’t have that much experience. Giving them the time and the resources and trying to keep them doing their best every day. Try to breathe in and focus. It is a very active part of our day to keep it like this.

Bobby Little is the chef-partner and owner of Chez Nick, Leroy’s and Little Urban Food & Drink catering company. Raised on his family farm in a small town in Kentucky, Bobby grew up in the seasons and with a love for food. Bobby began his culinary education by working at the award-winning The Village Pub in Woodside CA, before moving to New York City and working in restaurants such as Marc Forgione, Batard, Khe-Yo and Ai Fiori. At Ai Fiori, he met fellow chef Chad Urban and the two remained in touch for several years before working together again at Batard. After reuniting, Bobby and Chad came up with the idea to open their own restaurant, where they could apply Michelin-starred techniques to affordable seasonal-inspired American cuisine. In 2020, Bobby & Chad opened Chez Nick, a neighbor-hood standout on the Upper East Side of Manhattan Leroy’s and Little Urban Catering.

Chad Urban is the chef-partner and owner of Chez Nick, Leroy’s and Little Urban Food & Drink catering company. From Cape Cod, Chad Urban began his professional career in construction and manufacturing before attending Indiana University. Shortly after, Chad enrolled at The Culinary Institute of America in New York City, leading him to jobs at restaurants around the city such as Ai Fiori, Picholine, Schilling, Freud and Batard, where he and Bobby shaped their vision for their first restaurant. In 2020, Bobby & Chad opened Chez Nick, a neighbor-hood standout on the Upper East Side of Manhattan Leroy’s and Little Urban Catering.