A Cool Job for Hot Weather - America's Chefs

Being a newspaper reporter means I work when no one else wants to...like on a sweltering 4th July weekend. Not that I'm complaining. Just occasionally I get to meet some really cool people - like these chefs from Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
Even better my interview was videoed by America's Chefs for publicity on You Tube. Anyone would think I was preparing for my own TV show or something...
Read my report for the Naperville Sun below.

In the 1940s comedian Bob Hope famously entertained the troops with comedy and music. Today’s military are just as like to be entertained by a new brand of traveling show – America’s Chefs. The non profit travels the world bringing a tasty recipe of home cooking served hot from a barrel of laughs. This weekend America’s Chefs are bringing stars from Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives to add to the menu at Ribfest.
America’s Chefs was cooked up three years ago by Christian Vaughan. His own particular tour of duty has included Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as military bases in Europe and the U.S.
“Diners, Drive-ins and Dives has visited between four and 500 locations so far so we have a large pool of chefs to choose from,” he said at Knoch Park Saturday. “These guys are real characters and they are all donating their time to support the troops. They understand the hardship of servicemen who have to go for months at a time without seeing their families. So they are prepared to give up seeing their own families for a little while. They know it is important to give back.”
Vaughan described this weekend’s crew as “ready to go chefs in a box”.
“It’s fantastic to have ribbers here working, but how cool is it to have celebrity chefs too?” he said.
Among the demonstrations at the specially constructed arena in the north side of the park will be a hands on experiences for families. Sarah Simington will be showing children and parents how to make safe healthy snacks without the use of hot stoves or sharp knives.
Darwell Yeager, of Darwell’s Caf in Long Beach, Mississippi, will be giving visitors a taste of the South with his crawfish etouffee.
“We had difficulties finding crawfish in this area,” he admitted, “so we had it brought in from New Orleans.”
Yeager opened his family business just 28 days before Hurricane Katrina struck.
“We were the only restaurant in the area that survived,” he said. “For six to eight months we provided food for free and used a backroom as a refugee camp. I had to drive ten miles north to pick up supplies.”
Yeager said appearing with Guy Fieri on Diner’s, Drive-Ins and Dives had a ‘ripple effect.’
“It’s given us credibility,” he said. “We call ourselves the only family friendly honky tonk on the coast.”
For Mike Hardin, it’s all about the burgers. The owner of Hodad’s in San Diego even has a burger tattooed on his leg.
“We started out as a little hole in the wall,” he said. “Now we have 60 employees and people line up half an hour before we open. For us it’s all about service. Our employees have to work up towards being waiters. Everyone has to start not as a bus boy but by cooking the burgers.”
Hardin will be demonstrating his bacon cheeseburgers.
“I never liked those two little strips of bacon on a burger,” he confessed. “I let 15lbs of bacon boil for an hour and a half. Then I make strips into patties to lie on top of the burger and the cheese. I tell customers they are not here for their health they are here for a greasy run down your arm hamburger. It’s not life or death, its lunch or dinner.”