A Cool Coincidence

I have never been to Worcester, Massachusetts, but I do know they have a fairly strong hockey community there with the ECHL's Worcester Railers, the College of the Holy Cross who have both a men's and a women's Division-1 hockey programs, and the former CWHL franchise known as the Worcester Blades who called the city home. The image to the left is of Simjang, a Korean-American restaurant located at 72 Shrewsbury Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. What does the hockey community have to do with a Korean-American restaurant? Well, nothing if I'm being honest. But I was channel-surfing tonight when I happened across the Food Network and a woman who works at the restaurant and comes from a lineage of hockey.

I happened to land upon the Food Network program known as Chopped. You likely know this program where they pit four competitors in a cooking competition where mystery ingredients are placed in a basket and must be used in a dish prepared for the three judges. Once the dishes are served and sampled, the judges eliminate one competitor based on the dish they were served. Tonight, on a Chopped episode billed as "new", it was a butcher's challenge and that's where we get the hockey aspect.

Normally, I'd just watch the program and move on, but one of the butchers caught my attention almost immediately. The chef who appeared from Simjang is the lady to the right, Miss Erin Hockey! Hockey grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts where hunting and fishing was part of life. She accepted a "a full ride to the New England Culinary Institute", according to Massfoodies.com, which led her "to intern at The Butcher Shop, working for the famed restaurateur, Barbara Lynch." Lynch is a world-famous chef whose restaurants feature recipes and tastes from in and around Boston. She was named as one of Time Magazine's "Top 100 Most Influential People of the Year" in 2017, so it's pretty clear that Hockey learned from one of the best in the business!

According to the Chopped website, the episode sees "[f]our female butchers battle it out for a shot at $10,000. In the first round, the competitors must break down a large piece of beef while sizing up a sweet salad in the basket. Fresh chickpeas pose a time-consuming challenge in the second basket. Then, a third savory round gives the last two women a final chance to show off their butchery skills."

I'm not going to spoil Erin's efforts by revealing how she did on the show, but I have to say that I thought she did well. Her skills shone throughout the competition, and it comforts me to know that diners at Simjang are getting a meal made by a chef whose skills are second-to-none. The prices on the menu aren't overwhelming by any means, so I would gladly check this place out if it wasn't a three-day journey by car to get there.

If you've been to Simjang, I'd love to hear a review! More importantly, if you're headed to Simjang, say hi to Chef Erin Hockey who, if she played hockey, would play for the name on the back of the jersey as much as she plays for the logo on the front!

Until next time, keep your forks on the plate!