Photos by Scott Cunningham
Cooking wasn’t always Kent Rigsby’s passion.
It wasn’t until Rigsby’s third year at Ohio Wesleyan University that he began to try his hand at making food for himself and his roommates. He liked it, but not enough to divert him from his major: theater.
A few years passed, and Rigsby was working in off-Broadway theater. In what was meant to be a move to make money, he got a job as a busboy at the original T.G.I. Fridays restaurant.
“I guess I was a little bit of a late starter,” says Rigsby. “But I liked the action of the restaurant because it related analogously to the theater. The preparation involved was similar to rehearsing for a play or going up onstage.”
After New York, his next adventure was San Francisco, where he studied at the Culinary Institute of America – “Not to be confused with the CIA,” Rigsby says – and waited tables at a hotel in Sausalito.
Rigsby liked the environment he found on the West Coast. Sure, the cooks yelled a lot, but they were important mentors, too, he says.
Rigsby spent seven or eight years in San Francisco before making his move to Columbus. Seeking an opening in the local fine dining scene, he joined Lindey’s in German Village, with the assumption that he would soon depart to found his own establishment.
Three years later, he did just that. Rigsby’s Kitchen was born in the Short North in 1986, and the flagship of Rigsby’s legacy was born with it.
Twenty-nine years of dynamic and skillfully managed dining followed. Rigsby discovered himself as an entrepreneur just as he defined his brand and fine-tuned his craft in the kitchen. The result was a Short North landmark.
After closing the doors on his baby this past November, Rigsby’s Kitchen’s creator has found a home at the New Albany Country Club as its new executive chef.
In his new position, Rigsby has discovered the optimal vehicle for his skills. With the resources of the club kitchen, he’s excited to teach the staff how he does business.
“My personal approach is to build a culture of camaraderie, teamwork and mutual respect in the kitchen,” Rigsby says, “I want to build a place that is positive, where people look forward to coming to work every day.”
His mission is to separate himself from the “egocentric chef” archetype by introducing courtesy and humility into the work environment.
In addition, Rigsby has sent all of his management staff to culinary school to acquire the kind of professionalism he seeks.
But it isn’t just any job that he’s developing his staff for. The craft of their cooking is hugely important.
“Hotels and country clubs have a perception that the food is a little static,” Rigsby says. “There’s a perception that the flavor profiles are flat or that the kitchen isn’t taking chances. Our kitchen knows its craft, but I like to keep things more spontaneous or adventurous.”
With members who have traveled the world and tasted the specialty Italian and Greek foods that are staples of Rigsby’s purview, the club challenges him to infuse spontaneity.
But Rigsby has a direct philosophy to face this challenge: “All the members like to eat good food, and if it tastes good, it is good.”
Luckily, many of the members remember and admire his food from Rigsby’s. That helps create some trust as he pushes to impose more healthful cuisine.
Rigsby’s wife Anastasia – those who know she goes by “Tasi” might also know of her own Short North restaurant, Tasi Café – is half Greek, and in her family’s culture, Rigsby finds cues to keep his food both delicious and health-conscious. Although Rigsby himself is “pretty Anglo-Saxon” by his own estimation, he has always felt close to Italian and Mediterranean cuisine.
He cooks what he likes to eat, and Mediterranean ingredients such as simple oils, fish and lemon juice to dress the fish inspire the menus Rigsby has made to fit his own considerably active lifestyle. He bicycles 4,000-5,000 miles per year.
With the goal of keeping his style lighter, fresher and more spontaneous, Rigsby is interested in “taking away the tried-and-true menu items and replacing them with more healthful options.”
His first week on the job at the club, Rigsby introduced octopus on the menu, and it sold well. In an effort to spice things up further, he replaced the normal fatty, hollandaise-filled recipe for filet sauce with a watercress concoction that incorporates Greek yogurt and garlic.
He even gets excited by the premium vegetables that he receives from New Albany’s White Barn Organics.
“When the chard comes in through the back door, it’s just happiness,” Rigsby says. “It sounds silly to get excited about chard, but it’s really glorious.”
Variety is another goal for his menu: “I really want this to be a place where the members can eat here two or three times per week and not get bored, because we are changing up the menu two or three times per week.”
With decades at Rigsby’s Kitchen at his back, this chef is intent on keeping people talking about his work.
“I’m trying to ruffle the feathers here,” Rigsby says.
Zach Maiorana is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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