Editor’s note: Athlete Eats is now Revel Kitchen.
Simon Lusky, 25, is the first team chef and nutrition specialist for the St. Louis Cardinals. He’s also the founder of Athlete Eats, which began a handful of years ago as a business providing prepared meals for Cardinals, Rams and Blues players during the offseason. Athlete Eats has since expanded to local gyms and, most recently, added a cafe on Cherokee Street. Here, the Johnson & Wales graduate explains what it’s like to cook for the Cardinals.
How did you get your job?
It was really good luck. There’s no website or job posting. I wanted to do something with sports. Dave Ellis is the biggest sports R&D guy in the country. The Cardinals were a team using him as a consultant. He was like, “The problem is the food. It’s just crap food around here.” He met our dean, met with Mo [Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak]. Mo was for it. It started as an internship.
Describe your typical day.
I get here at 9 in the morning for a 7 o’clock game. I know what I’m going to make for first meal, second meal, third meal. (I’m really big into clipboards.) The first meal I have to have out is by 12:30 p.m. BP meal is about two hours before the game starts – batting practice meal. It’s not so much a composed buffet. We do variations of bars – chili bars, slider bars.
What’s the post-game meal?
That’s the big one. When that last out is called, we have guys that come straight from that field to eat. There’s no time clock for baseball. It gets dicey. Three outs can be three minutes or 15 minutes. Rain delays are the worst.
Why?
That’s two or three hours of unexpected eating. Then, it’s mayhem.
What’s the most popular item?
The burger without a bun. Most of the time they want something plain Jane. The big thing I turned them onto a couple of years ago was an egg on top. Then we kicked it up a notch and put some avocado under it. It was like an epiphany to them.
I see a bunch of hot sauces on the shelf.
There are guys who are like, “I only like Cholula” or “I only like Sriracha.” We consolidated the sauces this year. It’s like, “Oh, he’s not here anymore. We can get rid of this one.”
Are you ever asked to make family recipes?
Oh, yeah. José Oquendo taught me how Puerto Ricans make rice.
Any weird requests?
You have guys that are superstitious, especially pitchers. Adam Wainwright has a routine. Exactly one hour before every game, we make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It has to be on white wheat bread. The peanut butter and jelly have to be mixed together. It has to be strawberry jelly. It has to be cut into a square. And it has to be eaten with a perfectly ripe banana and a bag of Garden Salsa SunChips. I put it in a little lunchbox for him.
Do you cook for the team on the road?
No, it’s the only sport where your competition feeds you. Baseball is also the only sport where the athletes pay for the food themselves, home and on the road.
What do you eat?
I’m a big proponent of the 80-20 rule. I give myself stipulations for when I want to indulge: 80 percent “clean,” 20 percent “human.” You gotta give in every once in a while.
Do you play any sports?
Hockey – ice and roller. I played baseball one year, and I was terrible.
-photo by Ashley Gieseking
This article appears in May 2014.