Thomas Keller
Thomas Keller
Thomas Kelleris an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook writer. 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. The restaurant is a perennial winner in the annual Restaurant Magazine list of the Top 50 Restaurants of the World...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionChef
Date of Birth14 October 1955
CityPendleton, CA
CountryUnited States of America
When I go out to eat, it's usually something moderate in style.
A kaiseki meal is like that, very small courses over a long period of time.
I like to drink young wines, wines which are robust and have a lot of forward fruit to them.
Historically in restaurants, the service staff is awarded significantly higher wages than cooks and other staff who prepare the food on which a restaurant's reputation is based. The gap in pay is so great that it is becoming increasingly difficult for young cooks to pursue their passion at the rate of pay restaurants are able to afford.
Even the most astute chefs seek out the assistance of Celine Labaune, owner of Gourmet Attitude, because they know they can rely on her keen senses and deep understanding of the truffle trade.
I guess the main source of stress for me is the stress I put on myself.
I came to understand that the words executive and corporate never belong next to the word chef.
My favorite wines are Zinfandels.
Well, it took me twenty-seven years, as long as I've been cooking.
We realized the imbalance of earnings and that a change needed to occur in order to provide everyone in the restaurant an opportunity to pursue their dreams,
We make sure we know the kitchen inside and out, where everything is. We get sort of crazy making sure everything goes off without a hitch.
I hope the cooks who are working for me now are getting that kind of experience so they can use what they're learning now as a foundation for a great career.
No, it's funny, when I eat out it's not typically in the kind of restaurants people might imagine.
Your idea of that dish has evolved, and if you're a cook, you can start thinking in different ways about it, maybe even a different way than I think about it.