Chefs have a reputation for being the big shots of the the
food biz. After all, many of the field’s VIPs have their own eateries, product
lines, and TV shows. But scratch the surface of a chef, and you’ll often find a
kid at heart. Michael Scelfo, the executive chef of Temple Bar, is just such an
example. The Western Culinary Institute alum who has previously cooked at spots
like Good Life and Tea-Tray in the Sky now spends his days working on his new
locavore menu at the Cambridge restaurant and bar, which is named after a
colorful district in Dublin, Ireland that draws many a tourist. But when he’s
not in his chef’s whites or spending time with his wife and three kids, Scelfo
can often be found tending to his vast
collection of comics. Having
amassed approximately 5000 comic books over the years, he’s even making a
special space for them in an addition being built on his home.
Does your collection contain pieces you’ve had since you
were a kid? No, actually. We had a fire in our house when I was
about 12.... we barely got out with the shirts on our backs. We lost
everything, and so all of my comics were burnt in that fire. After that I let
it go for awhile. I didn’t collect anything; I stepped away. By then comics had
changed — movies were being made about some of the characters, the storylines
became more interesting. It reignited the interest I had as a kid, no pun
intended.
So you really have 5000 comic books? That’s an
estimate, really. It’s a lot, but I’ve trimmed down my collection and got rid
of some things. I collect what I like.... I’m still finding new things, like
the DC Wednesday Comics. That’s an incredible project that DC’s just launched.
It’s a lot of stories packed into each edition.
Did you know that Joe Quinones, one of the guys behind the
Green Lantern story in that new DC series, lives in the Boston area? Really?
I have to get him to come to the restaurant [laughs].... Green Lantern’s going
to be a movie, and I just read that Ryan Reynolds will star as Hal Jordon/Green
Lantern.... I hope he does a good job with Green Lantern because the fans won’t
forgive him. Hal Jordan’s a special character for comic-book geeks.
Since you brought up geeks, let’s posit this comic-universe
question: if the superheroes (and villains) from the DC comics played a game of
dodgeball with the gang from the Marvel world, who would win? Ah,
you’ve just asked the unanswerable question. I would say Marvel, because I’m a
Marvel fan. People, the geeks, are usually either in one camp or the other. It
took the comic-book publishers and artists and creators years to have any
crossover. I think the whole movie and TV world has meant that people are
interested in individual characters and storylines and don’t see why they can’t
cross over. But I’m a Marvel guy; I like Stan Lee’s view of the world. Marvel
characters tend to have more real-life histories. They are regular people, like
Peter Parker, who is Spider-Man. Not [like] Superman, who came from another
planet. But you could start a real fight with a question like that.
