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Crepe craftsman: Plano chef's success a culmination of culinary creativity
Ian Floyd/staff photo - Flippin' Out Crepes and Coffee opened its doors on July 2.
By Ian Floyd, Staff Writer
ADDISON -- Take a bite of the tender, tantalizing turkey burger. Cram down a creamy, conically constructed crepe. Had one before? Not like this.
For Plano Senior High School graduate Scott Hoffner, each dish is precisely crafted using his vast knowledge of different cuisines of the world. Using this library of culinary creativity, Hoffner not only created the menu for the newly opened Flippin' Out Crepes and Coffee in Addison, he made a weekly menu for Dallas Mavericks center Tyson Chandler and his family. For the past NBA season, Hoffner was the personal chef for the Chandler household.
Reinventing chicken
In Hoffner's kitchen there are no frozen pizzas or boxes of Hamburger Helper. Everything is restaurant-quality, freshly prepared gourmet dishes. Furthermore, they do not want Hoffner to repeat any dish, unless it is requested.
"It is continental cuisine, every style of food from Asian to Italian to turkey burgers," Hoffner said. "[I am constantly] going through magazines, going through books, just trying to reinvent the wheel. Chicken is a mainstay. So how many times can you make chicken? I have made it every way you can think of."
Hoffner spent approximately three hours each week, outside of his normal work schedule of cooking at Chandler's residence, planning and researching new items to make for the family.
"You redo it," Hoffner said. "You recreate it. You think of something else. You back it up and look at different restaurants all over the world and pull up menus. When I read a menu, I can see an ingredient or a theme to a dish, and then I can take it and tweak it to make it my own."
Holy crepe
After the Mavericks won the 2011 NBA Championship, Chandler moved back to California for the off-season. It was then that Carl Peterson, a Dallas-area restaurant entrepreneur, sought out Hoffner for creating a gourmet fast-food restaurant that serves crepes.
"He showed me the little spot and gave me an idea of what he was thinking of doing," Hoffner said. "I said, 'You know, that is very different.' When I found out about his background and the longevity of the restaurants that he has been attached to, I thought I would give it a go."
Food at Flippin' Out can either be purchased via a drive-thru window or by going inside to order, but the restaurant has no inside seating. Despite the speed of the experience, the preparation of the food is where the restaurant takes its sweet time.
"The Cuban has pulled pork; that is a five-hour braise," Hoffner said. "That's what any fancy five-star, four-star restaurant would do. When we braise our chicken, it's reduction, reduce, slow and low -- 235 degrees. Everything is made from scratch, our batters are made daily, and we use the most local and freshest ingredients that we can."
When designing the menu, Hoffner wanted to appeal to as many cultures, food styles and types as he could. That way, there would be something for everyone.
"I wanted to give people different flavor profiles with the freshest ingredients possible and give them a bang for their buck," Hoffner said. "I thought to myself, 'Everybody loves a Philly cheesesteak, but have they ever had it in a crepe?' It's great. It is just a fun way of eating it."
The ingredients in each crepe not only reflect different cuisines from around the country and world but also Hoffner's affection for Chandler, at least for one of the items on the menu. The No. 6 crepe on the menu -- Tyson's number for the Mavericks -- is aptly named the Tyson Chandler. It is priced at $7.10 and Tyson is 7 feet 1 inch. Hoffner designed the crepe around what he learned about Chandler's flavor profile.
"I think he is one of the most special people I have ever met," Hoffner said. "He is just an awesome guy."
When the restaurant opened its doors on July 2, it was an instant sensation with those who tried it.
"We have a customer -- he was our third customer -- that is a hair dresser," Hoffner said. "We had been open four days, and he had been in nine times. When the guy walks in the door, we cheer for him."
Hoffner has not only created a diverse menu but a warm, welcoming atmosphere. He insists on meeting every guest and hearing what they have to say.
"Every good bartender knows what your drink is," Hoffner said. "We want to know what your coffees are, what your name is and what we can do to help you. We want people to feel like they are rock stars."
Soul food
His style of making people feel good by virtue of good food and good company came early in his childhood. In the late '80s, Hoffner was just a boy sitting at his mother's dining room table when he was struck with an epiphany.
"One minute the entire family is talking and is loud," Hoffner said. "Everybody is back and forth, back and forth. The next thing you know the food comes out, and everybody gets silent. Then you hear everybody talking about how great the food is and how happy everyone is. I realized as a kid when food was brought to the table how people respond to it. You can really touch someone's soul."
Hoffner attributes his love for creating happiness through food to his mother.
"It happens from my mother," Hoffner said. "From seeing how that transpires into an awesome event. The reason I cook is because of my mother."
Journey to the top
At age 10, Hoffner began working at Plano Steakhouse as a dishwasher.
"From the moment I walked into the kitchen, I knew that I would never look back -- that I wanted to be a chef, and that's what I was going to do," Hoffner said. "It was just a way that you could touch people directly. From that day, I haven't left a restaurant. There still hasn't been a year since I was 10 that I haven't worked in one."
From Lenny's to Burger King, Hoffner cooked all throughout high school. At age 16, he helped open the first Macaroni Grill in Plano.
"That's where I really started to sauté and be on a front line with men slamming out some food," Hoffner said.
In 1993, he graduated from Plano Senior and went directly to Johnson and Wales University, where he was awarded the Le Cordon Bleu Medal of Honor and graduated with honors with degrees in culinary service and hospitality marketing. From culinary school, Hoffner moved to Europe.
"I cooked a little in Europe and played some music while I was over there," Hoffner said. "It was just some guys doing the rock star thing -- or trying to do it."
He eventually returned to the United States and moved to Austin. There he cooked for his first large-scale corporate account.
"I started working for a company called Sodexho Marriott," Hoffner said. "As a sous chef, I was doing breakfast and lunch for 1,200 people. It just progressed from there."
At age 23, he was given his first opportunity as an executive chef. From there, he moved across the country, from California to Colorado to Montana, working at high-class golf courses, catering on the side and working for other noted establishments such as the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa -- a five-star, five-diamond resort in California.
Along the way he got married and had children. Eventually the winters in Montana became too brutal for raising a family. He came full circle and moved back to Texas, where he ended up on Lake Ray Hubbard at Agave on the Harbor.
"It needed a fix-up," Hoffner said. "It was another 'Kitchen Nightmares' episode. This has kind of been the story of my life: going in and fixing the problems other people have created. I did that for two years and really got sick of the lifestyle on the lake, how insane it is out there and the commute."
Hoffner was approached by an agency out of Los Angeles, and he became Chandler's personal chef.
"It was a great match," Hoffner said. "He is a great guy. I worked for him for a season, and we won the championship. Through the process of that I knew that when the season ends, he goes back to California, and there was going to be a lapse of time before they come back. Then I found Carl [Peterson]."
Flippin' Out Crepes and Coffee will continue to pump out fresh, fast crepes with Hoffner at its helm. The restaurant is at 4021 Beltline Road in Addison.
"This is where I am now," Hoffner said. "Our goal, and it goes back to when I was a kid, is to make people happy and have fun doing it."
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