Interview with a Chef

All of Daniel Boulud’s restaurants are excellent, but I have a special fondness for Café Boulud on 76th and Madison.  It has a quiet, sophisticated air about it – a neighborhood feel.  And yet the food is brilliant enough to make even the most boring solo lunch or ordinary dinner date transformative.  That I chose an apartment mere blocks from Café Boulud is no small coincidence.

I’ve admired Gavin Kaysen, the Chef de Cuisine at Café, ever since I dined there this summer.  His resume is a veritable tome of accomplishments: cooking in the Bocuse d’Or, appearing on Iron Chef America as a competitor, judging dishes on Bravo’s Top Chef … oh, yes, and he nightly puts out some of the most positively perfect food on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

He is always a gracious host when I visit Café – he’s even accommodated my pestering presence in his kitchen during the middle of service.  He was also thankfully quick to acquiesce to my plea for an interview for this column.  I enjoyed reading his answers almost as much as I like eating his food.  A good man is hard to find, but an excellent chef is even more rare.  Read on to find out what makes Gavin Kaysen both.

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You’re the Chef de Cuisine at Café Boulud, but back when you were starting your career and working the line, what was your favorite station?

Fish station was my favorite….you have to be so focused all the time because you are dealing with a product that is not only expensive but something that you have to have good technique in order to cook perfectly.  It has been and is always the hardest station in the kitchen.

A hypothetical question: if you had to cook a four-course meal for Daniel Boulud, but had no onions or shallots, what would you do?  (Unless this has actually happened, of course, in which case it’s not hypothetical – but much more interesting.)

I have cooked for DB a lot, obviously, this is his dining room and I am sure he feels very comfortable coming here.  Knowing how he eats….he likes to eat fast and really simple to honest…..country food seems to be what brings him back.  Now, not having onions or shallots……I would start with a dozen fresh oysters, with lemon only, when they are fresh they really do not need a thing.  From there, I would produce a pasta dish, maybe swiss chard and ricotta raviolo, wild mushrooms, parmesan broth, black truffles.  Third course, I would cook a new dish we have on the menu so he could taste it, that is the paella with red snapper, mussels, clams and shrimp.  The entrée, I would do the chicken coq au vin…it is a little bit of a take on what it really is, but I am sure that he would enjoy the play….of course, I would have to take the onions out of the braise!


I can barely imagine what competing in the Bocuse d’Or was like, and I can’t even fathom the number of times you’ve been asked to recall the events of the day.  So here’s one you hopefully haven’t been asked yet: What was the first thing you ate after the competition was over?

That is a good question and not one people have asked me before…..I ate a grilled cheese sandwich…I needed something to remind me of home, I was sick of blood sausage!

You’ve been invited to judge final exams for the French Culinary Institute in the past (with all due respect, I hope you don’t judge mine).  What do you especially look for when critiquing a young chef’s food?

The seasoning….cooking you can teach, but seasoning, that is something that is in the hand, some season too heavy all the time and others not enough.  It needs to be right, and that takes discipline. I also look for the passion in the plate…meaning are they cooking it only because they have to or are they taking that dish and making it their own….show me your creative, show me you want it and show me you will do anything to get it….if I see that, I hand them my card and have them call me for a job right out of school.  It is really the best job interview they can have.

Now, if you would indulge us: please describe in, great detail, your worst kitchen injury.

Worst…..I have had my fair share of them all, cuts, burns, etc…..the worst was when duck fat exploded in my face, I had burn marks all over my face for about two weeks….not too fun.

Please finish the sentence: “When working in a professional kitchen, it is important to stay __________ .”

Clean…..on time….passionate….dedicated…..discpline

If you wanted to impress someone, to what restaurant would you take them?

Daniel

I’m looking forward to the food at the Citymeals benefit at Bar Pleiades this Jan. 20th, but I’m equally excited for Cameron Bogue’s cocktails.  What is your favorite Bar Pleiades drink?

The cocktails are wonderful here, Cameron has as much passion about that as we do about food, it is very refreshing.  I would have to say my favorite cocktail now is the one he makes with mandarin orange and fresh fennel juice….it is fantastic!

And lastly, for fun: do you have a favorite kitchen insult to hurl around when things get hairy? (I am certain you never have to use it … but just in case.)

Not really

*Rochelle’s note: I am unsure as to whether this is an indication that he yells not in the kitchen, or that he just can’t pick a favorite.  I suppose some secrets will never leave the kitchen!

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On a related chord: Citymeals-on-Wheels, one of my favorite New York City organizations, is having a benefit at Bar Pleiades – a part of Café Boulud – on January 20th.  It’ll include Cameron Bogue’s incredible cocktails (they are so good, I sometimes bring my FCI textbook there to “study”), and food from Nate Appleman, George Mendes, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo.  Regardless of the ethereal food and drink, it’s for a genuinely good charity and a noble cause.  I’ll be in attendance, and I hope you will too.  You can reserve a ticket here.

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