This is Chef Staples, where professional chefs dish on the gear they couldn’t cook without. This week: Chef Khoran Horn of Stripp’d Juice and Guardhouse Cafe.
People tend to end up where they belong. For Khoran Horn, it meant spending eight years at Apple, working in sales and training, before finding his way back into the hospitality industry as a chef. Horn always wanted to open a restaurant. He has a bachelor's degree in culinary arts alongside a two-year degree in hotel and restaurant management, so it was basically always in the cards. In 2015, Horn opened Stripp’d Juice, a Philadelphia-based juice spot, a go-to place for its fruit-based food and drinks, which spawned a second location in Wilmington, Delaware.
Then in 2017, along with chef Gerald Allen, Horn founded Blvck, which is described as "a culinary collective for the culture combining food, design, visual art and education to encourage dialogue and inclusion in our everyday worlds." Currently, Horn is working on opening the Guardhouse Cafe, slated for some time this year, which will essentially be an all-day hangout spot. Amid the work of getting ready to open the Guardhouse Cafe, Horn let us in on the four things he can't live without — the tools that basically helped him achieve his dreams.
ChefSteps Joule
"I don’t leave home without it, a very small, but powerful circulator that allows me to cook a protein or vegetable (or anything!) to perfection. It also has an app, and is super easy to use."
Price: $249
Le Labo Tonka 25
"Before a shift or after — if I make it back to the car — I give this a spritz or two. Now, if you know this brand, everybody goes for the Santal 33. It’s damn good, but I can’t walk around smelling like the next hip chef. Tonka 25 gives me that extra 'what’s that?!'"
Price: $83+
Birkenstocks Boston
"The only footwear I’ll cook in. They're comfortable, and at the same time firm and non-slip. Cork bed wears like fine wine over time. My current pair is a navy suede."
Price: $130+
Jeep Gladiator Alpine Wireless Speaker
"I can’t cook without music. Period. Take away the days of a classic French kitchen that’s so quiet you can hear a harmonious “yes, chef” and nothing else. With me, you’re going to hear Jodeci or Benny the Butcher."
