Im not sure which one. I was questioning my ability as a chef. Thomas Keller: Thank you. We had some in New York City, mostly in New York I would say. In everything that we do, we have to understand that our expectations have to be of the highest. We were open Monday through Friday. Thomas Keller Chef & Proprietor of Restaurants by Thomas Keller and Founder of Regiis Ova Caviar "Success, for me, is not about fortune or fame. So we made him barbeque chicken and cooked up some mashed potatoes because thats what he wanted. Chefs use science to develop their food preparation techniques and invent new methods of cooking. So that organizational aspect allowed you to be more efficient, which was kind of the second discipline that I learned is efficiency was really, really key in doing things well. Now, before I went to see Bob, you have to realize that I had worked on this business plan, right? Thomas Keller: On a trip to Napa Valley one spring day, Jonathan Waxman, who is a friend of mine who had opened a restaurant in New York and now is opening a restaurant here in Napa Valley. It was a very small kitchen, and it was a beautiful experience because it was what I related to from just returning from France. I caught my breath and I said of course I thanked him very much and I said, One of the things that I want to assure you of is, again, its great to achieve this recognition, but now its our responsibility to make sure that the guests that come to our restaurant have that experience. Not just in the culinary profession, not just in the hospitality profession, but in anything. Yountville, CA: ad hoc, addendum, Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery, New York: Bouchon Bakery, Per Se, TAK Room (closed), Outstanding Chef: America, James Beard Foundation, 1997. It was very interesting because the authors were Vincent and Mary Price, and it was their recipes of the great restaurants that they had experienced around the world, and it was this beautifully leather-bound book. I went to work at another restaurant in New York called Raphael, and this was theres a lot of Rs in my restaurant history. The new restaurant features intimate dining rooms with a fireplace, live music, lush greenery, a glass-enclosed conservatory room, an outdoor terrace and a lounge, with a Bouchon Bakery on the same floor. We want to make sure that we pay respect to them. Oysters and Pearls. Thomas Keller is a man who needs no introduction. Thomas Keller: Yeah. It was in watching his. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation, notably the Best California Chef in 1996, and the Best Chef in America in 1997. So if you dont want to be repetitive in what youre doing, you probably dont want to really be a cook. At that point you begin overeating because you want to try each one of them. I think the single most important thing you can do the single most important decision you make when youre making a reservation to a restaurant is not what restaurant youre going to, but who youre going with. He was very, very fascinated with cooking. Youve mentioned the value of consistency, but nothing says it like that. I was in an area in California I was in Los Angeles I didnt really know that area that well. And he agreed to do it. After the failure of Rakel, you persisted with haute cuisine but you moved to Los Angeles. Thomas Keller: We began of course with caviar. Maybe it was a plan D as an olive oil purveyor. Thomas Keller is the first American chef to receive consecutive three-star Michelin ratings for two restaurants. Why was it produced in that part of Italy? They agreed to take $5,000 in escrow. Before we get there, Ruth Reichls article, as important as that was, there was an article prior to that which very few people realize. It could be as short as two paragraphs. Our money ran out and I left and went to work at Caf du Parc, and the poor guys had to kind of lick their wounds and go back to being flight attendants. We all promised him that we would do our jobs collectively in organizing a foundation that would support a U.S. culinary team to compete in Lyon and actually reach the podium. It was really about price points. Keller started out young in the field of cooking and culinary skills - in fact, his love for cooking surfaced when he once worked as a chef at his mother's restaurant in Florida. One of our primary jobs, one of our primary responsibilities is to hire the right people, make sure that the people that were hiring, those individuals, young men and women, are of the right attitude, of the right mindset, have the right skills to enter into our profession. And the last, not any more important than the others, was the idea of teamwork and embracing that. Can I send you a copy? Right. Michelin was coming to America and we didnt know what was going to happen. At that time Serge and I started to talk about opening our own restaurant and that became Rakel. He was a great storyteller. [6], Following the split with his partner at Rakel, Keller took various consultant and chef positions in New York and Los Angeles. Thomas Keller: In 1992 I visited the Napa Valley from Los Angeles. When I started to cook, the first cookbook that I received was from my mother, and she gave me a cookbook called A Treasury of Great Recipes. It was the first American restaurant to receive this honor. Thomas Keller: No, not really. His restaurant was La Pyramide in Valencin (Vienne), France. That was going to be something that was maybe decades away. So we had a gathering at the Per Se in New York where we invited the ambassador from France who came, and I thought of my colleagues of course, Daniel, Jerome, Alain Ducasse was there, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and it was a great celebration. Keller plans to continue this movement at the art deco-themed TAK Room on the firth floor New Yorks Hudson Yards complex. My first three-star experience in France was just like that. So in 1980, I planted my first garden. World War II kind of shook that all up. I was four or five years old when my parents were divorced. With the porcelain manufacturer Raynaud and the design firm Level, Keller created the Hommage collection of white porcelain dinnerware. How did you come by that vision? Another great milestone for you was the Legion dHonneur. Of course, when you butt heads with the owner, ultimately the owners going to throw you out and thats what he did. So yes, I primarily lived with my mother, and my grandmother for a little while as well, and my great aunts. Thomas Keller: It was a junior college. So you always had a bread and butter plate in one spot, a service plate in one spot. Pierre ran the kitchen. We fell to tenth. An executive chef would be somebody that would be in a position in a hotel for example, or where there are many different restaurants, and he would be the executive chef over all of the chef de cuisines from each different food and beverage outlet for example. And of course, what does the rabbit do? No one told you those things. And for some reason he said, Okay, Thomas. And so that was over 400 people I called during that period of time. The sandwich resembles a typical BLT, with the addition of a fried egg. So I was focused on that. Paul Bocuse was a commis at his restaurant. Every dish, we have to be thinking about in a way that, when someone comes in, its going to relate that experience to what Ruth said, because now your expectations as a guest have become greater. You got one more to go.. His New York friend Serge Raoul allowed Keller to stay in his Paris apartment. I was very impatient, and I wanted to go out and explore. He relocated to France in . Thats what really we want to be able to instill, to teach our young staff is that the person standing next to you is your colleague. Thats really a different mentality, isnt it, than ordering off a big menu? I understood that if I was going to cook a recipe, I was going to produce a recipe, I needed to have the correct ingredients. As a consultant for All-Clad Metalcrafters, Keller advised on the creation of the All-Clad Copper Core Bocuse DOr Cookware. It had become part of the fabric of restaurants in Napa Valley, and certainly of Yountville. Keller and Cunningham opened a more casual establishment, Bistro Bouchon, in Yountville in 1998. You learn a lot from your mistakes. No more than three days later (so you don't forget too much), take . But you know, just standing there watching this beautiful, elegant, ferocious animal was something that was very captivating. Twice named Best Restaurant in the World by Restaurant magazine, it was soon joined by other Keller establishments: Bouchon and Ad Hoc in Yountville, and Per Se in New York City. So we were one of the first restaurants to kind of fail. Thats the system that has been in place since Escoffier codified The French kitchen in the early 1900s. Thomas Keller: Probably 17. Under Henin's study, Keller learned the fundamentals of classical French cooking. For movie audiences, a rat with culinary aspirations might be. Its still hard to believe that we are considered on the same level as those great restaurants in France that have inspired me and so many of my colleagues and so many others to try to achieve greatness. Originally intended to be a temporary project while Keller planned his lifelong dream restaurant for the location, serving hamburgers and wine,[9] he decided to make ad hoc permanent and find a new location for the hamburger restaurant due to its popularity. We are the first chefs, first American chefs in America to receive three stars. So I thought, What better place to celebrate than Taillevent, my first three-star work experience? So I called Taillevent, and of course Jean-Claude Vrinat said, Please, welcome. I mean if youre having dinner you should be thinking about what youre eating. So when they were divorced, that was her path. In 2013, Keller and Kwak introduced gluten-free pancake, waffle, brownie and pizza mixes. You made him a real last supper, didnt you? I mean youre in Paris. How do we respond to that? We had a choice of getting on an airplane and missing the phone call, because it was going to come at 10:00 in the morning New York time, which was 4:00 in the afternoon in Paris. Double boiler, single boiler? It was not very appetizing, but you already made the commitment to do it, right, so you had to follow through and you had to serve it and you had to take kind of the feedback, the critical feedback, and just say, Okay, yeah, I made a mistake. And really mistakes are such important building blocks for success. Thomas Aloysius Keller (born October 14, 1955) is an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. The owner, Serge Raoul, became a lifelong friend. One of them was off in the Navy. I mean all these that are part of that repetition was what I learned as a dishwasher. It was on West 45th Street in West Palm Beach, right next door to the jai-alai fronton. Yes. Back to the first cookbook you received as a gift from your mom. What are we going to do? He enjoyed the teamwork of a restaurant kitchen and resolved to become a professional cook. It took me quite a while to get there. And some friends of mine, who were very influential in my move, were moving to California and they said, Come to California and try it out. At the same time a gentleman named Bill Wilkinson, who I had a brief conversation with about four years earlier, he was opening a hotel in L.A. called Checkers. So that they could plate the food. We did everything from the pats to the desserts, and he taught me a great deal. Thomas Keller: It was a very difficult time in New York City. And then going to France and in a five-and-a-half hour period producing those two proteins and serving it to 24 international judges. My ignorance, as I said earlier, just continued to motivate me, to propel me forward. I left because I was committed to fine dining and ultimately moved to L.A. And unfortunately Rakel failed or Caf Rakel failed two years later. With Lena Kwak, the research and development chef of The French Laundry, Keller had developed Cup4Cup, a gluten-free flour. When he was hired as chef de cuisine at La Reserve, he was the first American to lead one of New Yorks distinguished French restaurants. And then you work until 11:00 at night. And he looks at me with a smirk in his eye and says, Gold. So hes still pushing. We all have our own core values, and I think that we can identify them when pressed to find them. It was an emotional moment. And I realized that my window wasnt covered with dust. So five days a week, my meals were paid for. Come over. And we went and it was an amazing moment to be able to walk into Taillevent, which had such a profound impact on my career, on my philosophy, on the culture that we have, on my skills, on everything in my life. profession evolve as American masters like Thomas Keller rise, and watch the genesis of a "chef nation" as these culinary pioneers crisscross the country to open restaurants and collaborate on special events, and legendary hangouts like Blue Ribbon become social focal points, all as the industry-altering Food Network shimmers on the horizon. I mean that became the catch phrase. And he sat us down right at the first table. Teaches Cooking Techniques I: Vegetables, Pasta, and Eggs. It was him and I in the kitchen with one commis and a dishwasher and of course Anne Marie in the dining room with two or three servers. So we had to have a commercial bank loan. They believed in me. And one thing they said, Its not open enough. They were only open four days. And it was really about Marines and their ability to stalk, their ability to be calm, their ability to pounce quickly and seize their prey. Were all in it together, and we all have to support one another. You had to have the silverware to the servers so they could set the tables. Philip Tessier, who was a young chef, our sous-chef at French Laundry, formed a team and made the challenge. Serge Raoul was ready to scale down his expectations and convert to a more casual format, but Keller longed to practice the haute cuisine he had mastered in France and left the business, which closed two years later. [1], In April 2009, Keller became engaged to longtime girlfriend and former general manager at the French Laundry, Laura Cunningham. And they wanted hot dogs and hamburgers. Jan Birnbaum was the first. He said, I just want to tell you, youre going to get a phone call tomorrow and youre going to be really happy. So I went home. I learned six disciplines at the dishwasher which have, I think, become a foundation for my career, and I think for many people who aspire to have success in their careers. There he worked under the French chef Roland Henin, who inspired him to master the exacting art of French haute cuisine. So it was one menu every day. And Herb always wrote maybe two or three sentences about an experience he had that he wanted to share. [1], In 2005, he was awarded the three-star rating in the inaugural Michelin Guide for New York City for his restaurant Per Se, and in 2006, he was awarded three stars in the inaugural Michelin Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area for The French Laundry. Thats what he wanted. And I came back a bit arrogant, a bit uppity, a bit disrespectful of not my kitchen, but the owner, and so we didnt see eye to eye. You had to change the water in the dish machine every two hours. Keller took a $5,000 cash advance on his credit card to retain an attorney who helped him structure a private placement offering. After two years, he moved to Rhode Island, working first as chef de partie at the Clarke Cooke House, and the following summer at the Dunes Club in Narragansett. Thomas Keller: I dont know if its a hospitality gene as much as its a nurturing gene. As important as Ruths was, Herbs was the same, the Schmitts. He opened the restaurant for more days of the week and gradually evolved a policy of offering two nine-course tasting menus, one vegetable-based, and a second based on animal protein. All this was a mystery until the day that you get a phone call. The chef de partie is a chef who is responsible for a specific station. What happens? But the next summer, when spring came around, Ren called me and asked me if I wanted to come back to La Rive, and because that was such a bucolic experience for me, it was so familiar, they were like my second parents, I moved back to Catskill for that third summer. It was something that made him really comfortable. Thomas Keller: We used to think about luxury as choices, right. On behalf of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Chef Paul Bocuse presented Keller as a Chevalier of The French Legion of Honor in 2011 in recognition of his lifelong commitment to the traditions of French cuisine and his role in elevating cooking in America. I had moved to a new community, didnt really know anything about the community, felt very uncomfortable again trying to find a home, trying to find a place I could really embrace and be the chef. We have to give them training. You have dinner. Rakel was in an area called Hudson Square in Manhattan, not too far from SoHo, not too far from the Village, but an area which was unheard of, and so we found a space there. Thomas Keller: I think people take it for granted that were just cooks in a kitchen, or youre just servers serving food, or youre just a sommelier serving wine. We had The Greenbrier, which had a qualified externship program. Ive achieved things that I could never even have dreamed of. I mean thats it. It was familiar to him. It was a young chef from The French Laundry, Timothy Hollingsworth. We made an instant connection, and we agreed on a price, and I was going to buy The French Laundry. We all learned a great deal from it. Working on the film Spanglish, Keller designed and taught star Adam Sandler to cook what is often called "the world's greatest sandwich", as a plausible example of what a talented bachelor gourmet might cook for himself. Thomas Keller: The Schmitts, lovely people, had agreed to sell me their restaurant for $1.2 million. You take a break at 3:00. Then the hard work of attracting investors began. So for me, there wasnt really a lot of awareness about opportunities outside of learning the trade in a kitchen. Its this whole process, which has really kind of made it really difficult for us to have a proper stage in the kitchen. But I truly dont think that any moment that you get something to eat should just be about getting something to eat. Hello, my name is You know, I have this idea of and Id like you to consider it. He later opened a gourmet Burger Bar in Las Vegas, Nevada, which features a $60 "Rossini Burger" made of American Kobe beef, sauted foie gras, and shaved truffles. Roasted chicken, thats a simple thing to do, but its very hard. So for us we just started to focus on the tasting menu, and it became the two tasting menus, the vegetable and the menus with the proteins. He enjoyed nothing more I think what he enjoyed the most when he would come out here with us and spend summers here, and ultimately moved here, was actually getting in line for dinner with the team every night at staff meal. Everybody became more frugal during that time, as they do always in times of uneasiness and disruption in our economic climate. What does the American Dream mean to you? Im very proud to have been part of this. Friends urged him to try his hand on the West Coast, and he accepted an offer to become executive chef of the dining facilities at the Los Angeles hotel Checkers. [13] The former French Laundry Chef de Cuisine Timothy Hollingsworth won the Bocuse d'Or USA semi-finals in 2008, and represented the U.S. in the world finals in January 2009 under Keller's supervision where he placed 6th, equaling the best performance of the U.S. in the contest to date. So hes tasked with many different things and having to juggle many different things. Thomas Keller: Interpretation is a very, very important word. And all you have to do is believe in yourself, be patient, be persistent. Hes that person thats going to support you, thats not going to let you fall and dont let him fall, and really its a team. He said, No matter how good of a cook you are, unless theres people in your seats, youre going to fail. Of course I read that after we failed. A bowl, or whatever the serviceware was, you had a piece set up on the counter, on the drain board, where they were supposed to put it. Thomas Keller: One of our commitments is to make sure that we are consistent. So sure enough, Paul calls me ten minutes later and asks me to be the president. His book, which was extraordinarily inspiring, was a book of stories. We have to be that much more determined, that much more committed to what we do every day. Famous Restaurants Chef Thomas Keller is renowned for his famous California and New York restaurants, including The French Laundry, Per Se, Bouchon, and Ad Hoc. Lets go back to the beginning. He was a woodworking hobbyist. We respond to that by notching up our game. And make sure that I had paid attention to how I cooked it. So your mom raised all six children by herself? Now I think it would be casual fine dining. I graduated high school. Well offer a four-course menu and a five-course menu. So we started out with a menu that had up to seven or eight choices in each category. We did everything. So during the Korean War he was there for two and a half years. It was a normal thing and it still is today. Paul Bocuse, who has a great affection for America, hell tell the story. In our country we had very few. Thomas Keller: It was my second failure in a restaurant. I learned the importance of ritual, doing things at specific times of the day and having them leading up to those times, and being prepared for those times. And again, a coincidence that Paul Bocuse was going to be in America that March or that April. 2. They had saved their money and they opened a restaurant called the Cobbley Nob. What gives you that idea? Our job as chefs and as restaurant owners today is not just about our restaurants. So of course, it wasnt going to come until 4:00 in the afternoon, so we had all day to walk around and just kind of try to patiently wait. It was a perfect meal to celebrate a perfect moment with the best people in the world. Thomas Keller: We did. Two years later, Keller opened Bouchon Bakery in Yountville and started his own wine label, Modicum. And those are his two chefs. On my makeshift desk was I clipped out of The New York Times during this time during this period in my life there was an article which was titled Having a Dream Is Hard. So he worked with a couple chefs in helping them raise money, organize their businesses. [14][15][16] On describing his reasons for accepting the Bocuse d'Or Team USA presidency, Keller stated, "When Chef [Paul] Bocuse calls you on the phone and says hed like you to be president of the American team, you say, Oui, chef. My mother passed away in 1982 so I had gone to France in 1983 but my father was, I have to say. And so as a young person, my brother and I my brother Joseph, who is 18 months older than I would spend a lot of time in the restaurant and in the kitchen. I have to say that period of my life and that period of my career in France was so, so important to who I am today and really helped me understand a lot of things about running a restaurant that have supported my career and my success. The restaurant is a perennial winner in the annual Restaurant Magazine list of the Top 50 Restaurants of the World. Or we could stay in Paris, maybe get a phone call, but miss the celebration in New York. Theyre working on the same preparation, the same compositions, the same dishes, the same recipes day in and day out for that entire year period. I was a year-and-a-half younger, therefore I had to be set in front of the dishwasher. She and her husband Don purchased the building in 1978 and converted it into a restaurant. And of course at that time I was very young in my profession and I said, Well, how can I make pasta green? And he flew in from Paris with four other executives from Michelin and they had dinner at The French Laundry. Thomas Keller: My mother passed away, unfortunately, by the time I went to France. Thomas Keller: I began my humble career as a dishwasher. I spent three summers there: 1980, 81 and 82. It wasnt a difficult decision for me. He has also attached his name to a set of signature knives manufactured by MAC. It was such a moment for us because we represented our country. Thomas Keller: This was a time in my life when I started to embrace the idea of doing things myself outside of the kitchen, having a garden. Certainly, working in French kitchens was the same for me. It was a restaurant in West Palm Beach, Florida. And of course as a white, middle-class, educated American, I wasnt on the top of the list of somebody the SBA was going to give money to. 3. It was like it was it just shocked us all. It was a wonderful restaurant. Success is about giving to our team, our guests, our friends and family and community through time and commitment, advice and mentoring. Kon Tiki, things like that. Roast chicken and a salad of fresh lettuces with a simple vinaigrette. He was the first hotelier to really bring in a great restaurant with a great chef and that was Bradley Ogden. [25][26][27], This article is about the chef. [17], In 2012 he announced he was at the point of his career when it was time to step away from the kitchen. The failure of this restaurant did not dissuade you from haute cuisine. Which one do I want? They didnt want to make the wrong choice, so they would ask the captain, So, what should I eat tonight? Well, we have this and we have this. And so 80 percent of the guests were choosing the tasting menu. I remember him watching you know, you would have the Graham Kerr series. He also holds an honorary doctorate in culinary arts from The . Youre American. And three days later I packed my bag early in the morning and I snuck out the door and caught the train and went to Paris and ended up staying at a friends apartment for almost two years and literally knocking on peoples doors for a job. Keller has written five bestselling cookbooks, starting with The French Laundry Cookbook, and has received Best Chef honors from TIME magazine, the James Beard Foundation and the Culinary Institute of America. And luxury to me is not having to make a choice, having somebody guide me through an experience thats going to result in something that is memorable. As a customer, you come in and you put yourself in the hands of a chef. So thats what we do. Its fascinating that theres this underpinning of philosophy beneath the core value of great cuisine, of making it as good as it can possibly be. And so it just didnt go with our proteins, it went with everything, because every ingredient that we receive in our restaurants or you receive at home as a consumer, somebody has spent part of their life producing that for us, and we have to be respectful of that and make sure that we are able to nourish ourselves with the food that they supply us. And you know, it really goes back to when I was a young child and that was one of the meals my mother would cook would be Thanksgiving. We invite those from our veterans home here in Yountville down to experience a meal around a table in a familiar place with food that is nourishing in every way.
