From reggaeton to Swedish death metal, music fuels the glory (and drudgery) of the chef’s day-to-day existence. Kitchen Radio explores this special relationship by asking a culinary pro to talk less about stock and more about rock. Here, we chat with Monkey Bar chef Chris Cheung.

So you’re into metal…
Unlike today, where people listen to everything, when I was in high school people were defined by the type of music they listened to, and I was into the heavy metal. It was the heyday after all—1984 to 1986—and  I was a motorcycle-jacket kid with slightly longer hair living in New York’s Chinatown. I wasn’t really like the other kids growing up in  

What was the downtown music scene like at that time?
The East Village wasn’t really happening when I was a kid. It was the middle of the crack epidemic and it was a very dangerous place. There was lots of gunfire.

What was your first concert?
When I was 16, I saw Iron Maiden and Quiet Riot at the Garden. You walk in and there were all the metalheads lined up, banging their heads. I was on the floor for that concert, and there was definitely some stuff going on that a young kid shouldn’t have been doing.

But that wasn’t your most intense Garden experience?
Two years later I saw Judas Priest at the show where the crowd tore up all the seat cushions. It was amazing! I believe they banned metal bands from playing there.

What’s playing on your kitchen radio?
I let the guys decide. They are the ones who are, for the most part, in the trenches. There is a lot of Biggie and Jay-Z played. I didn’t know it, but real g’s do real things. There are some guys who play Metallica, which I enjoy.

But what about when you have the controls?
The classics. Zeppelin, Clapton. I used to run a restaurant downtown called Tiger Blossom, and we actually got a bit of flak about our kitchen music. But we also had William Grimes give us a nice write-up. He found it interesting that we were blasting Hendrix and Springsteen on the radio.

Has music ever inspired your cooking?
I do a lobster kung pao featuring one of the more fiery sauces in Chinese cuisine. So we always liken it to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, because it’s not just hot, but kinda funky. We use a lot of fermented bean paste with that dish, so it’s definitely funky. We take fresh Maine lobster and toss that in the wok with fresh baby corn, cut scallions, Chinese sausage and a paste made with fermented garlic, fermented hot bean paste and sesame oil. It’s all mixed together with red hot chili peppers to make a great sauce.

If you could hire any band—dead or alive—to play your restaurant’s opening party, who would it be?
Definitely Hendrix. But, because this is a fantasy world, Guns ‘N Roses would open for the ultimate double bill.  

Photo by Melissa Hom