Meet Tim Lipman | Executive Chef/Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tim Lipman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tim, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Seven years into Coolinary and after opening The Parched Pig in 2017, Jenny – my wife and business partner – and I had rarely taken a day off other than Sunday, the one day we are closed. Coolinary was open for lunch and dinner 6 days a week. I was approaching 40, and there comes a time in our lives when you have to say what is all this worth if you don’t have any memories to look back on? So we made the difficult decision to close for lunch, news that was hard to share with so many faithful and beloved lunch patrons. We only have so much time and I never wanted to be burned out by the restaurant. Cutting out lunch offered us time for “mind, body, soul.” In the time since, Jenny and I have been taking better care of our bodies, exercising, eating better. We are able to offer that to our staff as well. All of that benefits us when it comes to the restaurant itself. What it is in a nutshell: Quality of life, and a little bit of time, to travel, enjoy family and friends, start a family. The amount of money we may have left on the table doesn’t equate to the quality of life we’ve gained. It’s been a big relief ever since making that decision, a physical weight lifted off our shoulders, and we are all better for it.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Since we first opened our doors in 2012, community dining has been at the core of our spirit. Our philosophy is based on the notion that a restaurant is as much about good, clean and thoughtful food as it is about being a place for friends and family to gather and share the day’s stories. Now nearly 10 years later, I’m most proud of how our community has embraced us and motivates us to do our best every day.

Hard work and laser focus has gotten us to where we are today. Nothing about the restaurant business is easy. But we’ve learned along the way to stay true to who we are, to continue to learn and innovate, while keeping sight on our four word mantra: honest, fresh, simple and refined. When people think of the
Coolinary brand, I hope they think of a place where beverage, food and comfort come together to create a retreat from the demands of life.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

As a chef/owner, free time is very limited and therefore extremely precious. If my best friend were visiting, we’d likely spend most of our time relaxing at home over great meals, local beer, a small batch whiskey.

Where we live, we have immediate access to trails for riding our horses so I’m sure we’d venture out for a ride. We love live music so if there was a great country artist in town, we’d make a night of it for sure.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Jenny and I would not be where we are today without the amazing team behind us. We are so fortunate to have attracted great people who genuinely care about their contribution to our mutual success. Yes we are a smaller operation and some may say it is easier to become like family, but anyone in our industry would tell you what we have is pretty special.

Website: https://www.thecoolpig.com/

Image Credits
Coolinary; South of Southern