Joe Spady

Connect What is your signature dish?

I make a mean meatball! My first business was a food truck called 'Joe's Meatball Shoppe" in Soldotna, Alaska. I am so grateful for the community support and later demand for my meatballs. I made beef, pork, as well as meatballs made with local wild salmon. I loved finding new creative ways to serve my meatballs outside of the traditional red sauce and mozzarella. Meatball grilled cheese, burritos, chili, gyros, and more. I loved being commenly known as "Meatball Joe" throughout t

Who is your culinary inspiration?

Developing delicious recipes aside, I've had some wonderful mentors demonstrate the importance of connecting with the people we get to feed. Melodie Allen gave me my first kitchen job, but more importantly gave me a love of restaurants & years of close friendship! While working for Nancy Silverton I saw the way she connected with not only all the guests who sidled up to the mozzarella bar, but also every staff member she had working on the corner. These incredible women continue to inspire

What would you do with the $25,000?

Wow- this gets my brain spinning with ideas! I would invest the winnings into the development of my cookbook that currently sits in drafts and ideas across piles of nnotebooks. I would take advantage of this opportunity to finally make it the priority and give it focus and it deserves. My friends have also been encouraging me to produce cooking videos while developing & finalizing my recipes, so that prize money could help me do it right and host some delicious supper clubs through this jour