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
Restaurants like the French Laundry can be very intimidating for a lot of people.
I hope I'm retired by 2012. If force-feeding a duck is cruel, then packing chickens in a cage is cruel, and then the veal and the beef. We are all going to be vegetarians soon if they have their way. We should probably start converting now.
The final menu is printed at four o'clock. Up until that point, we can make changes.
For me, thats one of the important things about cooking. What was good enough yesterday may not be good enough today.
A cookbook must have recipes, but it shouldn't be a blueprint. It should be more inspirational; it should be a guide.
We rely on our purveyors to tell us what's available and what's good.
I have no formal culinary training, right.
Anyone can make a good roast chicken.
In any restaurant of this caliber, the chefs are in the same position, building relationships.
I wanted to learn everything I could about what it takes to be a great chef. It was a turning point for me.
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.
ultimately, the system proved instrumental in fostering an undeniably unified restaurant staff.
Then, as the day progresses, depending on how the product is coming in - for instance, the fish man will fax us and say black bass is great - throughout the day, we'll also make judgment calls and adapt to what's available.