In June 2011, The Allen Stone Band, Seattle’s wildly successful retro-soul outfit,

In June 2011, The Allen Stone Band, Seattle’s wildly successful retro-soul outfit, got their first offer to tour with Nikka Costa. Touring had been a lifelong dream for keyboardist Greg Ehrlich. But he’d also been pursuing another of his passions: cooking. While doing the daily grind at a stressful sales job, he’d been working two nights a week under chef Hirohiko at Chiso, a sushi restaurant in Fremont. But he ended his time there to pursue the road.

In the two years since the band started touring, they’ve appeared on Ellen and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and have received accolades from national media like The New York Times, USA Today, and NPR. They recently sold out several shows at the Paramount, and were one of the highlights of this year’s Bumbershoot. Now, with a few months off, Ehrlich is back in the kitchen, doing his first ticketed pop-up restaurants, dubbed Whim, at Bloom in Ballard with Dan Phan, a friend and cook at Le Pichet. I went to his first one two weeks ago, and ate remarkably good food paired with local wines and beers—braised short-rib ravioli and sockeye salmon with wild rice, Satsuma orange, fennel, Thai basil, and a wonderfully smoky red-pepper puree.

A couple weeks before the pop-up, as he boarded a plane to New Orleans for the band’s last show until April, Ehrlich talked to me about cooking, music, and why Paseo’s Cuban pork sandwich is the bomb.

SW:

So according to your website, it would seem that 8 was a particularly pivotal age for you. You took your first piano lessons and read your first cookbook—two pursuits you’re still immersed in. What was that cookbook?

Ehrlich: It was an essential pasta book, a value-bin purchase at an outlet mall that I bought for, like, $3. It was about how to make your own pasta, which I loved. It looks like an 8-year-old cooked out of it . . . I think there’s dough still stuck in it. My mom was fine with me mixing and making my own pasta.

So your mom encouraged your cooking?

Yes, definitely. My mom and my grandmother are both great home cooks, and really fostered that love. I saw a picture of myself when I was 4 or 5 with a Kitchen-Aid mixer. I was making dinner for the family by the time I was 8 or 9. I’d make pasta with way too much garlic in it, or “Greg’s Spectacular Chicken Pasta.”

And then the cooking tapered off?

Once you get serious about food, there’s not a lot of opportunities for education unless you’re working in a restaurant or going to culinary school. So I just read a lot of cookbooks, went to restaurants, and tried to chat with the chefs. Four years ago, I was still at a sales job, but started going to Chiso sushi restaurant in Fremont. I was always asking the chef questions. One day he said: “Why don’t you just work here and I’ll teach you?” So that’s what I did two nights a week, and that’s where I met Dan [Phan], who was managing the bar there. I had never worked in a restaurant kitchen, so Hiro taught me knife skills, maki and roll station, and general volume production.

Speaking of the road, I understand you cook for the band and have a pretty tricked-out roadcase?

Yeah, fast food gets old really quick on the road. I started bringing a crockpot with me, but eventually I had a roadcase built that can store a stand mixer, a counter-top oven, and a blender. The lid pops off and it turns into a table. Cutting boards pop out. I call it the “Taste Case.”

Wow. What kind of things do you make on the road?

I’ve done pan-seared trout with blueberry reduction and roast chicken. We’ll make lots of salads, where we go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s for ingredients. Before I got the Taste Case, I’d bring an immersion blender in my suitcase, and we’d make vinaigrettes. I also make my version of Paseo’s Cuban pork sandwich, which is a big hit with the band.

Paseo’s legendary pork sandwich? How does yours stack up? (See Patrick Hutchison’s

“The Secret Life of Sandwiches.”

)

I’ve got to give those guys mad props. There’s no sandwich like that in the world, but mine is pretty damn good. I don’t have a way to roast pork on the road, so I braise it in a crockpot and use a marinade. I also make crockpot cookies. You just put the dough on the bottom and let it go for eight hours.

What are some of the band’s favorites besides the Cuban?

Polled the band, and the go-to meal I’ve made a few times on the road is pretty elementary but . . . taco night. Like I said, elementary, but when we’re missing home and fast food is often the alternative, it hits the spot.

I’m surprised you have the energy to cook during all the touring. Isn’t it exhausting?

Yeah, but it’s a taste of home. Touring also gives me the opportunity to eat out a lot and try new things. We were in Tokyo in the spring, and they had to drag me back on the plane.

Do your band members eat out with you?

Our guitarist is really into food too, so we’ll go out together. Allen is more of a chicken-nuggets guy.

What about when you’re home? Any favorite restaurants in Seattle?

Chiso’s, obviously. I love Portage Bay for their classic brunch, and The Walrus and the Carpenter. I recently went to Stoneburner and was blown away by that.

Given the success of the band and the relentless touring schedule, do you foresee ever turning your food foray into a full-time career? It seems impossible that you could do both.

For the longest time I thought I wanted to run a restaurant when I retire. But I talk to so many people in the industry who are so burned out. I really love this and I’m passionate about it, so maybe it’s in my career sooner than later. But at the same time I love the band, and I’m 100 percent with Allen. These next few months off [from touring and recording] are kind of an opportunity to see if a path will naturally work itself out.

So you’re going to do more pop-ups?

Yes, the plan is to do them every Tuesday night at Bloom until April.

How did you hook up with Bloom?

Dan and I had been thinking about doing a pop-up for a while. So he sent Jason Harris at Bloom an e-mail two or three weeks ago. Jason said he was into it, and three hours later we were at Bloom talking it all out.

So now that you have two pop-ups under your belt, how do you feel about cooking in a restaurant?

It was the first time I’ve ever done line cooking outside my home, much less cooking multiple courses for 26 people. It was my first ticketed event open to the public, and we sold out in under a minute. I learned a tremendous amount, and overall am pretty happy with how it went. But I’m really excited to tweak and tighten things up when I do it again.

nsprinkle@seattleweekly.com

For more on Greg and Whim, see gregehrlich.com.