FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Shop around for deals on chef's clothes
By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor
After years of searching in vain for the perfect apron, I asked for — and got — a chef's jacket for Christmas last year, and discovered new freedom to make a mess.
We mail-ordered the jacket from a popular culinary catalog but I wish I'd shopped around beforehand because I would probably have picked a different style. Now I'm in the market for a pair of chef's clogs because, after a day of standing barefoot on the tile floors of my kitchen, I tend to greet my dinner guests with a wan smile and a plea to "Please sit down" — so I can!
Several local uniform suppliers carry chef's wear and some kitchen supply shops even sell chef's jackets. But wherever you buy your outfit, you'll be happier with your choice if you understand all the options.
The closest analogy I can think of to picking out a chef's outfit is getting outfitted for a wedding. It's the one time in most people's lives when they have to make a choice on every aspect of the garment and actually have clothes custom-fitted.
In devising their work costume, professional chefs choose the style of jacket (four basic styles plus variations), its decoration (piping, reverse-print cuffs, monograms, etc.), its fabric (cotton, Pima cotton, Egyptian cotton or cotton-poly) and its color (from white to denim to garment-dyed soft blues and greens); the style of pants (classic fitted pants or comfy "baggies"), the color (white or the many wilder fabric patterns so popular now), various elastic and drawstring configurations and even shorts; the type of hat (toques, berets, baseball caps, bandanna caps, baker's caps and those pleated disposable hats); and shoes (clogs or rubber-soled work shoes) and, if clogs, leather or polyurethane, open-heeled or slingback, Birki or Dansko or Modellista brands.
On the Web: In checking out more than a dozen Web sites, I was most impressed with Culinary Classics, a Chicago-based operation that also has a a toll-free order line and print mail-order catalog, and deals in both custom and stock orders. At culinaryclassics.com, you can see all the options in chef's clothing in both drawing and photograph form, with color fabric swatches.
Once you've figured out the ideal combination of styles, fabrics and so on, it pays to shop around. You can spend from $20 to $80 for a chef's jacket; $20-$60 for pants; $70-$100 for clogs.
Worth checking: Chicago-based Chefwear at chefwear.com, which has an exceptional line of chef's jackets proportioned for women and some real cool cargo pants; crookedbrook.com, which specializes in custom-made Pima cotton jackets, including a collarless wrap jacket for women that looked very comfortable; chefwork.com, uniforms4u.com, chefsemporium.net.
