Renowned for his culinary skills and his impeccable standards, Thomas Keller has established a collection of restaurants that set a new paradigm within the hospitality industry. In 1994, he opened The French Laundry in Yountville, a wine country landmark that has been widely hailed as the finest restaurant in the world. He followed that ten years later with Per Se, which brought the chef’s distinctive style to Manhattan. Today, both restaurants enjoy 3-star Michelin ratings, making Keller the first and only American-born chef to hold multiple three-star ratings from the prestigious dining guide. casual dining restaurants include Bouchon (Beverly Hills, Yountville, Las Vegas), Bar Bouchon (Beverly Hills) Bouchon Bakery (Yountville, Las Vegas, NYC), and Ad Hoc (Yountville). This program has been sponsored by Fairway Market.

Image credit to Deborah Jones

“Passion is not something I look for in a person…what I look for is desire. Desire is something that is always there, even when the passion subsides.” [12:00]

“You don’t let failures define who you are, you let it become a growth period.” [19:30]

“As chefs we’re trained to say yes. The minute you walk in the door, ‘no’ is not a word in your vocabulary.” [28:50]

Thomas Keller on Chef’s Story

On this week’s episode of Chef’s Story, Dorothy interviews Michael Tusk in California. Michael tells us about the things in his childhood that inspired him to get into the food world and become a chef. Later, he describes what it was like to open Quince in San Francisco. Tune in to hear the full story! This program has been sponsored by Cain Vineyard & Winery. Today’s music provided by The Hollows.

Image from Quince

“I think that I always kind of knew that I was going to go work into a professional kitchen.” [8:30]

Michael Tusk on Chef’s Story

This week on Chef’s Story, we hear the second half of Dorothy’s interview with chef Daniel Patterson, owner of Coi and author of Coi: Stories and Recipes. In this episode, Daniel talks about his passion for opening restaurants and working through the obstacles of maintaining a warm, intimate environment within them. This program has been sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.

Image from KQED

“I wanted that sense of warmth [in Coi], as if people were coming to my house.” [6:30]

“I think we have a culinary language here that’s our own, that’s distinctive.” [15:00]

“The fact is that there are never enough hours in the day for me to do what I want to do.” [21:30]

—Daniel Patterson on Chef’s Story

This week on Chef’s Story, host Dorothy Cann Hamilton travels to San Francisco to interview chef Daniel Patterson about his restaurant: Coi, and his new book: Coi: Stories and Recipes. Dorothy and Daniel got into such an interesting conversation that we had to split it up into two segments! So stay tuned for next week’s continuation of this thrilling episode. This program has been sponsored by Fairway Market.

Image from KQED

“My grandmother had this incredibly ability to show emotion through food.” [13:50]

“I was used to people who had to work for a living, and that’s what I liked. Being in a professional kitchen is very working class.” [20:50]

“In order to grow you need to risk, and in order to risk you need to fail.” [36:00]

—Daniel Patterson on Chef’s Story

Joel Viehland is combining Southern flavors with Nordic precision at Community Table in Washington, CT. Born in Chicago and raised in Milwaukee, Joel cut his teeth in a number of kitchens before making is way to Gramercy Tavern. Tune into this edition of Chef’s Story to hear why Joel was fired from Gramercy Tavern, and how the experience motivated his desire to work in small kitchens and forge his career as a chef. Hear how Joel learned to love Southern and Nordic food through his work in New Orleans and the esteemed Noma. Joel dives into the connection between memory and flavor; find out why authenticity in the kitchen can be tied to childhood food revelations. Don’t miss this week’s edition of Chef’s Story with Joel Viehland! Thanks to our sponsor, Cain Vineyard & Winery.

“When you first move to New York when you’re young, you don’t really know where you are. It’s going to take at least two years to really figure out who you are.” [20:00]

“A lot of chefs don’t get the time to develop their palate properly.” [26:20]

“In New England, we have a fairly long winter with three months of growing season… I have to root cellar so much stuff. I need to pickle, preserve, and cure, and this is stuff I learned from Noma.” [44:00]

“If you don’t cook with flavors from your childhood, you have no frame of reference.” [45:00]

“I want people to feel healthy when they leave. I want them to feel better when they leave than when they came in.” [48:10]

— Joel Viehland on Chef’s Story

In this episode of Chef’s Story, host Dorothy Cann Hamilton asks French chef Alain Sailhac, Executive Vice President and Dean Emeritus at The International Culinary Center, about the food scarcity problem throughout his remarkable upbringing in southwest France during World War II. After the break, Alain tells us some tales about a caviar mountain, a coffee overdose, and the times he went to jail for over-salting. Finally, he talks about his time at Le Cirque. This program has been sponsored by Fairway Market.

“No, [our lack of food] didn’t make me angry, because it was the situation, you cannot do anything.” [10:30]

—Alain Sailhac on Chef’s Story

Seven months after opening Trummer’s on Main, Clayton Miller received a call from Food & Wine notifying him that he was nominated for Best New Chef. It wasn’t a short and easy road for Clay. This week on Chef’s Story, Dorothy Cann Hamilton sits down with Clay to discuss his path to chef fame and his adventures along the way. Tune in to hear Clay talk about his time in culinary school, and why he never had a doubt that he was meant to work in restaurants. Learn more about the arduous trials of a culinary school graduate, and how Clay learned to deal with long hours and low wages. Later, Clay recounts his time working under Guetner Seeger, Floyd Cardoz, and Daniel Boulud, and how those experiences help him develop his own cooking and management styles. How did Clay learn Southern cooking after so much training in French cuisine? Hear the story behind Clay’s first restaurant, Trummer’s on Main, and why he left to open Yardbird Southern Table & Bar in South Beach, Miami. This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch.

“The larger the kitchen, the more difficult the discipline is. I saw some of the best cooking I’ve ever seen in the smaller kitchens.” [13:10]

“Fried chicken is not a hard thing to make, but when you’re cooking 2,000 pounds of it a week, it becomes difficult in a small kitchen.” [43:15]

— Clayton Miller on Chef’s Story

Joshua Skenes is the Executive Chef, and Co-Owner of two-Michelin-star Saison in San Francisco’s Mission District. At Saison, Skenes takes a holistic approach to cooking by crafting food that allows diners to experience the natural sensibility of each ingredient’s origin, and layering flavors to bring out the fullest expression of their taste through the use of fire. Widely praised for his innovative cooking techniques, Skenes has quickly made a name for himself on the national culinary scene as one of Food + Wine‘s “Best New Chefs of 2011.” Learn where along Joshua’s career path that he discovered his sensitive and pure palette, and how he learned to become the “Joshua Skenes Executive Chef” today. This program has been sponsored by Whole Foods Market.

image: hauteliving.com

“My first restaurant job was in a Japanese restaurant in my hometown, as a dishwasher. There was something that I liked about getting yourself organized.” [7:30]

“You can learn all the fancy things in the world, but if you don’t have a solid foundation, your food won’t taste good.” [15:30]

— Joshua Skenes on Chef’s Story

On today’s episode of Chef’s Story, the guest is none other than Bobby Flay – food personality, celebrity chef, and restauranteur. Host Dorothy Cann Hamilton takes us through the beginnings of Flay’s career, from working as a busser, to getting his first start in the kitchen, going to the French Culinary Institute, and eventually becoming the chef and TV personality he is now. Learn what propelled Bobby into the food industry, and how he feels the TV and media industry has influenced his career. Although the media has brought Bobby much success, he explains that he always looks towards his being a chef first, and that his passion for food has only grown tremendously as a result. Tune-in to hear from one of the most popular chef’s in the media today! This program has been sponsored by Fairway Market.

“I was surrounded by great cooks – and that’s how you learn. That’s how you learn how to cook.” [14:40]

“The people in the industry that do know me know exactly what I do everyday. I am a cook first. Always.” [21:10]

“Just as I build the layers in my dishes, I build the layers of my career the same way – very slow.” [42:33]

— Bobby Flay on Chef’s Story

This week on Chef’s Story, Charles Phan, owner and executive chef of The Slanted Door in San Francisco, joins host Dorothy Cann Hamilton for part two of a conversation about Charles’ special memories, beliefs, inspirations, and passions of his craft. Part two explores deeper into Charles’ life, and further explains his high standards for both service and ingredients. Charles Phan was born in South Vietnam, but when his homeland fell to the Vietcong, he and his family moved briefly to Guam and then settled in San Francisco. In 1995, Phan opened The Slanted Door, a restaurant that broke the mold of the run-of-the-mill “ethnic” joint. The Slanted Door was an immediate success and has continued to garner praise from restaurant critics across the country. In 2004, Phan won the coveted James Beard Award for Best Chef: California, and has since then garnered success and popularity from critics and food professionals all over the world. Find out more about the interesting story behind chef Charles Phan on today’s episode of Chef’s Story!

“I believe you have to learn to eat first before you learn how to cook.” [13:25]

“The role of a chef and an owner is that you need to take care of everything. You need to have the experience.” [29:30]

— Charles Phan on Chef’s Story