Kevin Ripley
Senior Director of Culinary
Maggiano’s Little Italy

“It’s always fun to create and innovate,” says Kevin Ripley, Senior Director of Culinary at Maggiano’s Little Italy. But he believes that a chef’s success taps into the very definition of hospitality. “It will always boil down to guest satisfaction with the food and the overall experience delivered by the operation. There must be a balance when it comes to bringing creative ideas into the operation that make sense. That is where the magic is. Bringing it all together is what I enjoy most about this business.”

Ripley hopes that his creative culinary concoctions for Kitchen Collaborative deliver their own brand of magic. Each demonstrates his affinity for breaking with traditions to create unexpected flavor stories: Chili-Garlic Cheesecake with Soy Sauce Whipped Cream, Jumbo Grilled Shrimp with Burrata Filling Corn Fonduta, Ghirardelli^® Midnight Frappé Tres Leches and Seared Jumbo Scallops with Green Apple-Citrus Mirin.

Chili-Garlic Cheesecake with Soy Sauce Whipped Cream

Photo: Carlos Garcia // Food Styling: Peg Blackley

“Savory desserts are on trend,” says Ripley, explaining his decision to lean into the meal-ender after selecting Soy Sauce and Chiu Chow Style Chili Oil from the Lee Kum Kee lineup. Noting these products show up more regularly in savory entrées and side dishes, “I wanted to show how they can stretch into other applications, as well,” he explains. The Chili-Garlic Cheesecake with Soy Sauce Whipped Cream certainly confirms this versatility.

But why a cheesecake? “I think the creaminess of the cheesecake nicely balances the chili oil and soy flavors,” says Ripley. “Since those ingredients may be new to diners in a dessert, I wanted to be sure to start with something familiar.” The Lee Kum Kee^® Chiu Chow Style Chili Oil is the only bona fide interloper in the cheesecake, but the chef swaps the traditional cream cheese with ricotta. Lee Kum Kee^® Soy Sauce is used in a whipped cream topping. A mandarin orange gastrique base is Ripley’s final element for these individual portioned cakes, which also get an intriguing garnish: minced shishito peppers.

“The cheesecake is rich, creamy and sweet, but there’s the heat of the chili on the back end,” reports Ripley. “The mandarin orange gastrique offers a great acidity contrast, while the soy whipped cream brings a light umami flavor. The peppers and chili oil finish add just a touch more heat. I wouldn’t describe the dish as spicy, but it’s definitely less sweet than a traditional dessert—and it has an umami kick.” The chef urges operators to play up the uniqueness of the dish. “Tell customers, ‘Where else are you going to get an opportunity to try this flavor combo?’”

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Jumbo Grilled Shrimp with Burrata Filling Corn Fonduta

Photo: Carlos Garcia // Food Styling: Peg Blackley

“I wanted to feature the Italian-style cheese from BelGioioso in a Southern way, one that you might not normally see,” says Ripley of his Jumbo Grilled Shrimp with Burrata Filling Corn Fonduta. “The stracciatella is the king of creamy cheese, perfect for a Southern favorite like cream corn.” Ripley is doubling down on his concept, featuring the cheese in both the corn fonduta and in another Southern classic: fritters. “Demonstrating the versatility of an ingredient is so important when innovating with products. This cheese worked great in both applications, and I wanted to showcase that.”

The BelGioioso^® Burrata Filling (Stracciatella) is made of fresh mozzarella shreds soaked in sweet cream. Ripley mixes it with BelGioioso^® Ricotta, heavy cream, sugar and corn kernels for the fonduta, while combining it with flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cayenne, finely diced jalapeño and chopped green onion to create free-formed fritters. The dish is plated for service with the warm fonduta at the bottom, topped with sautéed spinach and five Cajun-seasoned grilled jumbo shrimp, tails up. The fritters are placed in the middle of the shrimp, and the dish is finished with a garnish of julienned green onions.

“The dish is hearty and really plays into the comfort food vibe—but in an elevated way,” says Ripley. “Rich, creamy corn fonduta pairs great with the spiced grilled shrimp—and everyone loves a cheesy fritter.” The chef notes that these menu items would traditionally be made with cream cheese or mozzarella. “But these BelGioioso cheeses leave the diner knowing that they’ve had a better option—even if they’re not exactly sure what it is. You’ve got to keep them guessing!”

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Ghirardelli^® Midnight Frappé Tres Leches

Photo: Carlos Garcia // Food Styling: Peg Blackley

To bring a “hot cocoa aspect to a nice dessert,” Ripley turned to Ghirardelli^® Dark Chocolate Chip Frappé Mix and Ghirardelli^® Midnight Cocoa Powder for his Midnight Frappé Tres Leches confection. “The frappé mix has a great profile to achieve that outcome, and the cocoa powder delivers a dark, rich element that intensifies the dessert, bringing a level of elegance,” he says. “Desserts are where a foodservice operator has license to play. You can get away with a lot more creativity when you have a mandate to serve up something unique that will grab the guest’s eye.”

The cake batter features the cocoa powder, while the frappé mix is used in a soaking liquid, which is poured slowly over the baked and cooled cake. After all the liquid has been absorbed, the cake is covered and must be chilled for at least two hours and up to 24 hours. Ripley looks to the cocoa powder again, this time to prepare chocolate whipped cream, which is spread over the cake before being refrigerated once again. He melts both Ghirardelli^® Dark Coating Wafers and Ghirardelli^® White Coating Wafers, drizzling the liquid white over a chocolate base to create a marbled design. Once cooled, the chocolate is broken into shards. At service, the cake is cut into individual portions and piped with stiff peaks of meringue, which are then torched. A light dusting of cocoa powder and careful placement of the tuxedo chocolate shards are eye-catching final touches.

The rich layers of chocolate find balance with the chocolate whipped cream. “This is a very chocolatey dessert, but I don’t think it overpowers,” Ripley says. “It’s indulgent, but doesn’t feel too naughty.”

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Seared Jumbo Scallops with Green Apple-Citrus Mirin

Photo: Carlos Garcia // Food Styling: Peg Blackley

Presented with a range of options from the Kikkoman product portfolio, Ripley says he wanted to create something light that would still enhance the flavors of the different components. “Scallops are great for accentuating the ingredients they are paired with, so that was a natural choice for me,” he notes. The result, Seared Jumbo Scallops with Green Apple-Citrus Mirin, features Kikkoman^® Kotteri Mirin, Kikkoman^® Rice Vinegar and Kikkoman^® Sushi Sauce. A base of Moroccan couscous, however, moves this dish away from expected Asian menu concepts. “Sometimes your goal is to stay within the specific guardrails of a cuisine, but sometimes you can mesh styles. As long as they ‘cork’ together from a flavor standpoint, there are no rules when you are the creator.”

Ripley seasons the scallops simply, with salt and pepper, searing them in avocado oil, then basting them with sushi sauce until they achieve a deep brown caramelization. While the scallops rest, he combines couscous, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, fennel fronds and butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Separately, Ripley mixes the mirin and rice vinegar, plus fresh orange and lime juices to create a citrus base, warming it and adding a bit of butter and diced green apple. The dish is plated with the couscous mixture in the center of a bowl, the mirin sauce spread around the diameter of the grains and the scallops placed on top with a light drizzle of sushi sauce straight from the pan.

“The dish is very well-balanced,” says Ripley. “The sweetness of the scallops is a perfect pairing with the acid from the apples and the mirin. The addition of couscous and the finish with butter pull all the flavors together.”

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