Rob started making Rude Red for his wife Marcy, because he didn’t like anything he could buy off of the shelf. Everything was too sweet, too hot, had too many chemical ingredients, or a combination of all three.
When Rob served Rude Red to Chef Chris — his best friend since they were two-years-old — Chris said ‘Dude, there is nothing like this out there — we’ve got to bottle it!”
The three of them went all-in, and created Rude Red Slammin’ Sauce. Hope you enjoy!
B I O S
C H R I S D I L L
Everyone should have known Chris would be a chef when, in third grade, he entered a “My Favorite Recipe” contest. He chose crème fraîche & lemon sugar crêpes — a recipe he learned from Rob’s mom. That didn’t sit all too well with Chris’s mom, but he won the contest, and was hooked …with a few stops along the way.
Cooking wasn’t totally on the mind of a kid just out of high school, anxious to see the world. So after a brief college stint, he traveled the country with his best friend, Rob, ski bummin’, beach bummin’, and golf bummin’. Not that he really wanted to give any of that up, mind you, but food just wouldn’t let go of Chris, so he applied to the Culinary Institute of America to see if he had the chops.
Turns out he did. After graduation, Chris spent several years as Chef de Cuisine at Four Seasons Resort in Kona, Hawaii. He was then handpicked to be the Personal Chef to celebrity clientele at Honuala’l, an oceanfront estate on the Big Island’s Kohala Coast.
Though cooking for the stars was fun, after more than a decade of tropical bliss, Chris missed the change of seasons and longed for an opportunity to work out a more sustainable food program. So when a Colorado resort with “helicopter and snowmobile only” access called for an Executive Chef, Chris answered.
After a few years in the mountains, Chris was given the opportunity to run a progressive kitchen at Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. As the Director of Dining Services at Brewster, he has instituted as close to a “farm to table” program as possible when you mastermind 8,400 meals a week.
From the first moment Chris saw Rude Red — the richness of color, the depth of shine, the touch of nappe — he knew it was different … then he tasted it! Over the past couple of years, Chris has served Rude Red to over 10,000 students, faculty and board members. Rude Red has become so popular, that it is now a demanded condiment at every meal.
Oh yeah, Chris is also in a band, and is trying to qualify for the PGA Amateur Tour.
Chris loves Rude Red on falafel.
M A R C Y H A R R I E L L
When Marcy was three days old, the doctors wanted to operate on her with the risk that she would never speak. Her parents said “Hell No!”, took her home and the rest is history.
All throughout middle and high school, she danced hard, acted hard and sang harder, turning her “mouse squeak” of a voice into a coloratura powerhouse. She landed a scholarship to the prestigious Boston Conservatory and, before her junior year, was offered the European tour of West Side Story.
Unfortunately, the college wouldn’t give her a leave of absence, but Marcy bet on herself, took the job and starred as Maria all over the world. Years later, her “college degree” is a catalogue of Broadway, Film and TV credits.
On one of her many jobs along the way, she met Rob at the intermission of a play. He asked her out on the spot, and their first date started two hours later in a seedy blues club on the Mississippi River. To say they hit it off is an understatement. They moved to New York together, and have been living in Hell’s Kitchen ever since.
In the arts, when you’re between jobs, you need a hobby. One year, Marcy’s parents gave her a sewing machine. Of course she dove into sewing like she did everything else, and ultimately became a master sewist. She has been featured in magazines, podcasts and news programs, and is known as an influencer.
In beautiful kismet, Marcy has been able to combine her performing and sewing passions, starring alongside Rob in NBCUniversal’s entertainment reality series, Re:Fashion.
One of the great joys Marcy discovered along her travels was a love for food. Now she only has to travel to the kitchen, where Rob keeps her tastebuds tappin’ with good eats and lovely libations. So when he first started making Rude Red, she was happy to be his guinea pig, giving him tasting notes until they were convinced that the sauce was Slammin’ and unlike anything else on the market.
Marcy loves Rude Red on pepperoni pizza.
R O B H A R R I E L L
Rob was born and raised in the Ozark Mountains of Northwest Arkansas, where his parents exposed him to as much good food, art and football as possible (Go Hogs!). He met Chris at the ripe old age of two, and they have been best friends ever since.
As a star running back and budding actor, sports and the arts dominated Rob’s high school life. So naturally, after a semester at the University of Arkansas (and one week in a fraternity) he decided that a “year abroad” with Chris was way more important than school. His father dutifully cut him off, but he scrimped and saved to travel and work the ski slopes of Colorado and the beaches of Hawaii.
Though traveling was fun, he could never shake his childhood love of the arts, so after attending Webster Conservatory, he packed up everything he owned in a two-door Honda and followed his soon-to-be wife, Marcy, to New York. The Honda was promptly stolen and stripped, but New York worked its magic, and he and Marcy have called Hell’s Kitchen home ever since.
He is now a writer, actor, and producer, whose work has taken him all over the world. One of those jobs landed him in Paris, where his love of food found new depths of flavor and heights of enjoyment. He became an aspiring amateur chef who — when he’s not starring alongside Marcy in NBCUniversal’s entertainment reality series, Re:Fashion — keeps a smile on her face by shaking things up in the kitchen.
Looking for something different than the hot sauces, steak sauces, and BBQ sauces on the market, Rude Red started as a way to bring the flavors Rob loves to the kind of cooking he most enjoys – grillin’ and braisin’ … like all good Southern boys.
When Rob first gave Rude Red to Chris, he wasn’t sure what the pro would say. Chris took his first taste and he didn’t say a thing, he just nodded and smiled … he knew they had something special, something that was meant for more than just grillin’ or braisin’. So they went to work refining and tweaking, until they landed on the Slammin’ Sauce you have today.
Rob loves Rude Red on pulled pork.