'Cooking with Levi' puts WNY's littlest sous chef in the spotlight

Levi Zhang has a refined palate. He describes a dish’s texture and aroma. He isolates subtle differences in flavors. He knows when something needs more acid.

He also happens to be 5 years old, but with some very grown-up ambitions.

“He is always talking about having his own cooking show or starting a restaurant and doing every single job there,” says his father, Jack Zhang, with a laugh.

For now, Levi and Jack channel that energy into cooking videos for Facebook, Instagram and TikTok at @CookingForLevi.

The account began when Levi was just 2 and Jack needed a willing taste-tester for his culinary creations. These weren’t peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with apple slices, either. He was plating elevated dishes like scallops, which Levi devoured, much to the internet’s surprise. It was only the beginning.

“As Levi got older, he started to show interest in the cooking itself,” says Jack. “I’d let him do simple cutting and prep work, and it became a way for us to bond. I could teach him lessons along the way.”

Now Levi serves as the pint-sized sous chef, stationed at the stove in safety goggles while cutting, mixing and adding ingredients with adorable commentary throughout.

Each video begins with the same simple question: “Hey Levi, what do you want to make today?” From there, the father-son duo tackle recipes ranging from Chinese biang biang noodles and spaghetti carbonara to chicken cordon bleu and salt-and-pepper squid.

Levi’s sense of wonder in the kitchen makes the videos educational for viewers of all ages. He asks the questions many home cooks are thinking:

Why do things cool faster on a sheet pan than in a bowl?

How do you separate an egg?

What goes into a roux?

As Jack teaches Levi, we learn alongside him. We’re in capable hands, too.

Jack brings more than a decade of professional culinary experience to the kitchen. He began his career at Ocean, the former Buffalo seafood restaurant, later cooked at the Buffalo Bills Training Center and eventually became head chef at Hydraulic Hearth in Larkinville.

Today, managing @CookingForLevi is his full-time job. The pair post videos twice a week, every Tuesday and Friday, and none of them are scripted or rehearsed.

“Sometimes he catches me off guard with what he says,” Jack says. “It’s a treat to watch it back while I’m editing. I’ll miss things in the moment because I’m trying to make sure nothing’s burning.”

Jack and his wife, Emmy, describe themselves as introverts who somehow ended up raising an enthusiastic extrovert. Cooking together, they say, has become about more than just food.

“Kids like to feel like they’re in control because most of the time, they aren’t,” notes Jack. “Showing them you trust them to do something, even if it’s difficult or unfamiliar, can really build confidence.”

Of course, even confident chefs make mistakes. That, too, has become part of the lesson.

“Failure can be scary for kids, but it’s also necessary,” he says. “Cooking is a great way to show that. Maybe you add too much of one ingredient or not enough of another, and it doesn’t turn out how you wanted. Then you tweak it and make it better next time. You can really see the progress as you fail, adjust and refine.”

You can catch these pointers and many more in Jack and Emmy’s new cookbook, “Weeknight Winners, Family Dinners: Kid-Approved, Adult-Loved Recipes,” coming out Aug. 25.

“Our mission is to inspire other families to cook together more and show just how much kids can learn in the kitchen,” says Jack.

The cookbook features 80 recipes designed to come together in about 30 minutes. These are dishes the Zhangs love because, as they say, they’re approachable, accessible and fun for families to make together.

“If you want your kids to become more adventurous eaters, you have to get them excited about food first,” says Jack. “Take them to the grocery store. I do that with Levi and ask if anything looks interesting. If it’s produce, I’ll let him hold it, feel it, smell it. When kids are part of the process, they form a connection to the ingredient. So when it shows up later in a recipe, they’re more willing to try it.”

Levi may have already mastered the most important ingredient, though.

“Our flavor goes into the dish, our love,” he declares in one video. “You know what our flavor is? Golden yumminess!”

Pre-order a signed copy of “Weeknight Winners, Family Dinners” at Buffalo's Read It & Eat Bookshop.