Alas, the “shrink and the chef” are no longer dancing partners. But at least one of their ventures has stepped off to success.

Midnight Chef Nick Tolbert and Dr. Renae Norton (Enquirer file photo) | ZOOM |

        In August, we told you how clinical psychologist Dr. Renae Norton and chef Nick Tolbert met in January at a Sharonville dance club. Their first Latin steps together would lead to a whirlwind business — not romantic — relationship. The partners formed a multimedia company to publish a cookbook and to produce a nationally syndicated cable television show. In June, they began hosting the weekly Recipes 4 Romance call-in program on WDBZ-AM (1230). Mr. Tolbert offered recipes and cooking tips, while Dr. Norton provided relationship advice.

        Their television show, The Midnight Gourmet, began airing on the BET network in November (11 a.m., 7 p.m. and midnight on Mondays) — ironically about a month after the unlikely partnership dissolved. The split was amicable, the entrepreneurs and dancing enthusiasts say. Dr. Norton — who specializes in diversity training and organizational consulting for companies — explains she left the business to concentrate on treating patients.

        “I wish Nick nothing but the best,” she says. “I want him to be enormously successful.”

Food credentials
       

        For Mr. Tolbert, it was a dream to make it big in the culinary world. A former Cincinnati high school basketball standout, he earned a degree from the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and worked in restaurants in Cincinnati and Chicago. Mr. Tolbert always wanted to open a restaurant, but planned to first make a name for himself in the media, like Emeril Lagasse and other “chef stars.”

        Beginning in 1993, he wrote a weekly cooking column for The Cincinnati Herald. Next, he tried hosting a public-access TV show in Northern Kentucky. With that experience, Mr. Tolbert put together a demo tape for The Midnight Gourmet, a 30-minute program in which the suave, tuxedoed host sautes and flambes with cool jazz playing in the background.

        With the help of a friend, Mr. Tolbert took his tape to BET to pitch his show. The Washington, D.C., network bought eight episodes, which were produced in Cincinnati.

        Midnight Gourmet debuted Nov. 26 and has been well-received by viewers, Mr. Tolbert says.

        “BET has been flooded with calls,” he says. “I'm busy right now answering recipe requests.”

        Mr. Tolbert plans to start producing 26 more episodes of The Midnight Gourmet in March. He also is rounding up sponsors for a Valentine's Day special to air on a Cincinnati television station.

        The publication of his cookbook, which Dr. Norton helped write, has been put on hold by BET. And the WDBZ show is on hiatus.

        “We hope to bring the radio show back in January,” Mr. Tolbert says. “We just took a month off.”

Back to practice
       

        The tragic events of Sept. 11 helped convince Dr. Norton to start treating patients in therapy again.

        “After the attacks, it became more important for me to help people when they desperately need it,” she says. “It put me back in touch with why I liked therapy.”

        While her business relationship with the chef has ended, Dr. Norton has other aspirations. She is researching and writing a book about the plight of American workers tentatively titled Warriors at Work. She hopes to eventually pitch that topic for a syndicated radio call-in show.

        The former partners, who appear together in the taped opening of The Midnight Gourmet, are so busy they have little time even for dancing at clubs.

        “I never danced with anyone that was as much fun as Nick,” Dr. Norton says. “And I never will.”

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