(Photo: Roger Phillips/Getty Images (Squid); Thomas Moore Courtesy of Grayz (Calamari))

It’s no big deal, of course, for a French-trained superstar chef to cop to using pedestrian supermarket products in his restaurant kitchen: Remember when a pre-BLT Laurent Tourondel revealed he had a thing for Heinz at Cello? “I find ketchup very interesting,” he told Nation’s Restaurant News. Still, we were, if not exactly shocked and baffled, then slightly taken aback to find out that the secret to Gray Kunz’s crisp calamari, which he will be serving at his new cocktail-lounge-cum-private-party-oasis Grayz, was Cream of Wheat and Honey Grahams, as if he had raided our mom’s pantry circa 1975. “When I began experimenting with the calamari crust, I tried many blends until I realized this combination produced perfect crispness and a nice golden color,” says the exacting Swiss chef. As for the graham crackers: “We use Nabisco, but you can use the brand of your choice.”

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