In the Kitchen with Chef Mike Cooney
After almost 20 years in the industry, Executive Chef Mike Cooney knew the type of restaurant he wanted to own and operate. Launching Ember & Iron, the eatery he opened with his wife and co-owner Brittany in St. Johns, gave Cooney the opportunity to implement exactly what he envisioned – a neighborhood dining experience serving food cooked using live-fire techniques on wood-burning grills.
“My grandmother cooked; she had her own barbecue restaurant that she ran in South Georgia. My dad worked in the restaurant industry during his college years and he shared with me his passion for food. He and I used to cook a lot at my house,” says Cooney. “I think that’s where I got the idea for cooking with wood. We would be in the backyard and go out and collect oak sticks to cook with, and that’s when I got a taste for that. I love grilling over a wood-burning fire. Growing up cooking on a grill with wood — I knew I wanted to recreate that in a restaurant."
Cooney started working in the hospitality industry as a dishwasher when he was 14 at a restaurant in Ponte Vedra, near where he grew up. He spent time cooking and learning his way around the kitchen during stints at Restaurant Medure, Palm Valley Fish Camp and Julington Creek Fish Camp, among other local spots. When the opportunity to open his own establishment presented itself, Cooney was ready to make the leap, especially given the location’s proximity to where he and his family live in the growing area of St. Johns County.
Cooney credits his wife Brittany for the interior design of Ember & Iron’s modern, French-bistro aesthetic. The kitchen, however, is based on how the chef wanted to prepare food for his guests. His goal is to bring out the optimal flavor of each ingredient; to achieve that he creates simple, approachable dishes. “I knew I wanted to grill over a wood-burning fire in the restaurant and have a wood-burning oven to bring out those flavors,” Cooney says. “I like that so much more than cooking with gas. It gives the ingredients more character and makes it something unique.”
As you can imagine, the kitchen is hot; having a live fire and embers amplifies the heat level cooks may be accustomed to in commercial kitchens. Additionally, this approach to preparing food is not necessarily taught at cooking schools or used in other kitchens. “Working here definitely requires some specific training on the technique of cooking with wood,” says Cooney. Cooks must understand what to look for when checking for doneness, ways to prep ingredients and the amount of salt or oil to use before dishes are cooked.
Cooney describes his approach to food as straightforward. “I hate to say it but it almost feels like this kind of food has been lost. We don’t do a lot with the food, we don’t cover it with heavy sauces,” he says. The whole roasted chicken, a signature dish at Ember & Iron, is first brined overnight in buttermilk. Then it is seasoned and trussed before hanging over the embers to roast. The chicken is finished off in the wood-burning oven which provides ”that mixture of grilling, roasting over embers and wood-burning oven that brings out the distinct flavors of each ingredient,” says the chef. Fresh seasonal vegetables are lightly salted then roasted over the top of the embers, which applies dry heat right below the food. “We use our live embers like that a lot, where it is still roasting but it’s not technically what people think of, like putting something in the oven to roast,” says Cooney.
Despite having launched Ember & Iron during a pandemic, Cooney is pleased with the reception from the community. He attributes much of the early success to a great team. What’s next for the chef and staff now that they are getting used to playing with fire? “I’m working with my sous chef to develop new dishes for the menu, to explore new ways to use the grill and the fire,” Cooney says. “That’s been a driving force with the team: through the different stages of fire, what different flavors we can get, and then exploring that idea.”
Find Chef Cooney in the kitchen at Ember & Iron Tuesday-Sunday, 60 Shops Blvd, St. Johns, 904-531-5185
