They agreed to take $5,000 in escrow. I mean if youre having dinner you should be thinking about what youre eating. It changed, whatever the seasons brought, whatever the vegetables were. And then of course the following summer I moved to France. Maybe in Chicago, L.A. a little bit. Its going into someone elses kitchen and actually becoming part of that kitchen. We did lunch and dinner. No problem. So we were always trying to fill the books in with his reservations. So I stayed in New York for about a year looking for something to do, never really finding anything. Expectations do get in the way. 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 dont want to say the art of repetition, but the ability to respect repetition and embrace it. I understood that there was a lot of competition, because not only did I want the vegetables, so did the deer and the beavers and any other wildlife that would come into the fray. Not even butter, and then he would buy 20 pounds of it to store in his freezer so that he could have it whenever he needed it. We have to give them training. 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. 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. I said, Im never going to do that again. So I could focus on more of the details, and I was able to do that. Thomas Keller: The first had an odd name, so dont laugh. Its not just about getting something to eat. So yes, I primarily lived with my mother, and my grandmother for a little while as well, and my great aunts. And yet you have risen to the highest of stature of culinary greatness. Keller still believed that to become the chef he wanted to be, he needed to study French cuisine at the source by working in Frances great restaurants. Certainly the profession that I chose, cooking, allowed me to do all that. America had competed since the beginning but never even came close to the podium. The demographics were very important in that process, which we just totally threw out the window, or we just miscalculated. The multiple Michelin-starred chef (The French Laundry, Per Se, Bouchon) spent the past five years . And as time went on we realized that we started selling more and more tasting menus. Thomas Keller: I think the American Dream, what it means to me is we everybody in our country has an opportunity. What was school like for you? In past interviews youve speculated that perhaps some people are born with a gene for hospitality. I mean if youre going to go to France which was arguably the best country, had the best food, the best products, the best chefs, the best restaurants thats what you wanted to do. Keller is the first and only American-born chef to hold multiple three-star ratings from the prestigious Michelin Guide and is the first American male chef to be designated a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, Frances paramount honorary order. It was because of the excitement of working with a team of peers and that physical activity of being on a team. As time went on and we became more and more popular, we realized that we wanted to add a tasting menu. 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. And so in conversations with the dining room, the course of a persons experience there was they would come in and they would ask they finally got into The French Laundry, it was a great it was a wonderful moment for them. Then of course, I think it was 1988, when we had Black Monday and that was kind of the demise of that era of spending. What the Marines say so much about is that discipline, is that commitment to what youre doing, and more important, the commitment to each other. Im looking at this rabbit hanging on the side of the barn, and 11 rabbits in the cage. Another great milestone for you was the Legion dHonneur. That was going to be something that was maybe decades away. Where were you when you decided to make this your career? She served me one of the best sandwiches I ever had, which was beef tongue. Everybody read Herb Caen whether you liked food or not. Shortly after, he opened a second Fleur de Lys at Mandalay Bay. I spent three summers there: 1980, 81 and 82. And I think thats very important, certainly in a kitchen as well as other places in many professions where theres this instant command response. Thomas Keller: The best restaurants that you were aware of if you picked up a Michelin Guide, if you picked up The New York Times, even New York Magazine or any magazine that was either a travel or food magazine, or had a food section in the newspaper at that time, were always talking about the great restaurants in France and the great chefs. So I didnt have rent to pay. 3. So I want you to come to my restaurant with the attitude that youre going to have a great time because of the experience youre going to have with those that youre dining with. For other people named Thomas Keller, see, Restaurant Magazine list of the Top 50 Restaurants of the World, International Association of Culinary Professionals, Restaurant Magazine's Top 50 Restaurants of the World, "Thomas Keller and The French Laundry Awards", "Le chef amricain Thomas Keller reoit la Lgion dhonneur", "MICHELIN Guide Reveals Inaugural Florida Selection", "The Thomas Keller Interview, II: On Benno, Bouchon and Brooklyn", "Prix fixe to the people: Thomas Keller goes populist with his new restaurant, Ad Hoc", "TK SET - Thomas Keller Limited Edition Set", Competing at the Bocuse dOr: Team USAs Unbeatable Recipes, Chef Timothy Hollingsworth Wants to Bring American Pressure to the Bocuse dOr, High Hopes for American Team in Bocuse dOr Cooking Competition, "Chef Thomas Keller:'Preparing myself to let go', "75 notable NYC restaurants and bars that permanently closed since 2020", "French Laundry chef talks about celebrity life", "Who cooked that up? I mean caviar and blini. I needed to have the knowledge and the skill in order to prepare it. He enjoyed the teamwork of a restaurant kitchen and resolved to become a professional cook. Weve reached an interesting crossroads in the stagiaire program because the labor departments need to get involved, and if you have somebody in your kitchen, its not a learning experience, theyre actually working. It wasnt a difficult decision for me. If Im going to raise money from a lot of different people so it doesnt impact if Im not successful, its not going to impact their lives. So that was the process with the private placement business plan. Youre American. The kitchen was my comfort zone, and I was very successful in the kitchen, but outside of that I wasnt so much so. To get by, he started a small business, EVO, importing Italian olive oil. So hes tasked with many different things and having to juggle many different things. How did you come by that vision? The same year, Keller published a book of family-style recipes, Ad Hoc at Home, which spent six weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. Can I send you a copy? Right. And it was just one of those magical moments. Lets go back to the beginning. It was unprecedented in this country for a restaurant to get three stars from Michelin. Thomas Keller: I dont know the literal translation of it, but its an observer. Of course we had the Culinary Institute of America, which began in the mid-40s after World War II. Its just breathtaking to look at, very classic, the aromas, the butter, and of course you have a tin of caviar and beautiful glasses of champagne. I mean its actually performing, and its a function, and its physical. Its extraordinary what we have available to us and how important our farmers have become. The trio had hoped that their proximity to a sports arena would provide them with a steady flow of business, but the arenas patrons were not interested in the sophisticated fare he was offering, and the restaurant closed its doors. I got in contact with the owners, Don and Sally Schmitt. Thomas Keller: Rakel. Philip Tessier, who was a young chef, our sous-chef at French Laundry, formed a team and made the challenge. It was about the engagement with others. I wonder where that ambition came from to be the best, and why didnt you decide to go to school for that? You should be thinking about those who youre with. The story of The French Laundry for me is an incredible story, because everybody who was part of the process, who was part of the evolution, was part of that project, has impacted it in so many different ways. Yeah. Today we have executive chefs as well. That truly defines our success. 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. That sounds wonderful. As a consultant for All-Clad Metalcrafters, Keller advised on the creation of the All-Clad Copper Core Bocuse DOr Cookware. He provided an introduction or foreword to The Vineyard Kitchen: Menus Inspired by the Seasons by Maria Helm Sinskey, "Happy in the Kitchen" by Michel Richard, "Indulge: 100 Perfect Desserts" by Claire Clark (head pastry chef at The French Laundry), the new publication of "Ma Gastronomie" by Fernand Point, "Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing" by Micheal Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. Thats a beautiful analogy for how one grows as a chef or as an artist, that youre always going to have a slightly different interpretation later in life when youve learned more. Keller and Cunningham opened a more casual establishment, Bistro Bouchon, in Yountville in 1998. Chef Keller began his career in the kitchen of the Palm Beach club managed by his mother, before traveling to France and working at Guy Savoy and Taillevent, among other similarly lauded places. Thomas Keller: My parents were divorced when I was young. So between the two of them, they ignited what I believe we have, the resurgence of the farmer, the fisherman, the gardener and the forager. With more than. What are we going to do? So I went to talk to Bob and I gave him this whole spiel about The French Laundry and here was my business plan. And then you have other sous-chefs, which would be responsible for specific groups of chef de parties. We were of course very flattered. What did you eat? The following year, Michelin inspectors came to the West Coast and gave The French Laundry three stars as well. And he looks at me with a smirk in his eye and says, Gold. So hes still pushing. He became a cook. We had never when I say we, Im talking about the community of chefs who have always aspired to be of that quality, not necessarily ever achieving those stars, but to be of that quality. You dont know. And one week I thought, Im going to ask him to bring them live, because as a chef I should really know what it feels like and of course how to slaughter an animal, and what better animal to slaughter than something that is relatively small? You know, go out and slaughter a cow or a pig would maybe have been a little more emotionally disturbing, but slaughtering a rabbit may be something that I could handle. We fell to tenth. Yet at that time, Bill Clinton was just inaugurated, became our president, and one of his goals was to fund the SBA and try to get small businesses to be thriving again. I mean it was such an emotional experience I didnt know what to do, because the rabbit screamed so loud that Paulette, the wife of the owner, came out of the house their house was just maybe 50 yards away thinking something had happened. 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 was a stagiaire and I was doing a stage, which is, you know, you go into somebodys its almost like its an apprenticeship, if you will. He was tall, masculine, broad, a good-looking Frenchman who was the executive chef of this private club. I learned that organization was really important. A California native, and a renowned perfectionist, Chef Thomas Keller is apprentice-trained, and one of America's most well-known and successful chefs the only American-born one with two restaurants that have received three stars from the Michelin Guide. We try to limit the choices, relieve the anxiety, and give somebody an experience that then, when they leave the restaurant, its memorable. This was the year before I went to Caf du Parc. So now we increased our production from 40 items to 60 items. Each time you made it it was yours, it was not necessarily his. Who was going to be their inspectors? Not everything changed every day, but the menu changed every day. The other one was off on his career. Thomas Keller: We did. You prepared it in the way you could at that time with the ingredients that you had, and the knowledge and skills that you had at the moment, and it evolved with you. So we had to have a commercial bank loan. And of course the chefs. It changes your life of course. We had The Greenbrier, which had a qualified externship program. Was it a restaurant that was progressive and contemporary? Ill dye it green. So, food color came out, we dyed the pasta green. You take a break at 3:00. Thomas Keller: That they do. So I was focused on that. You know, learn how to cut brunoise, learn how to peel an onion, learn how to slice. Michelin came in 2006. I mean an extraordinary chef. Start with your all-time favorite recipe from your favorite cookbook. Born in America in 1955, Thomas Keller is a restaurateur and cookbook author, but first and foremost, a chef. As much as I would have appreciated and certainly had deep respect to go to France and to receive it at the lyse, I knew right away that I would prefer to have somebody else pin that medal on my chest. And of course the lunch and dinner in the same day, it really worked for me. He began his career at a young age working in a Palm Beach restaurant managed by his mother. I mean that became the catch phrase. I stopped to see him, say hello, see how he was doing. That same year, the bible of international food connoisseurs, the Guide Michelin, paid its first visit to New York and awarded Kellers Per Se its highest rating: three stars. 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. He has also attached his name to a set of signature knives manufactured by MAC. And to keep herself busy, and of course to supply some income for the family, she worked in restaurants. And of course he was the one who took the medal out of the box and pinned it on my chest, and it was one of the most it was the most I think extraordinary moment of my life to receive that kind of recognition from a country that has defined for me what great cuisine is. They become better than you. Did you commit to purchasing it before you raised the money? Take the lobster, do this, this, and this, and add this and this and you have this is what lobster Bohemian is. And really, they are the true superstars of our profession. Keller has joked in the past that the motivation for Bouchon's opening was to give him somewhere to eat after work at The French Laundry. In the late 1980s he opened Rakel in New York, but left for California a few years later. 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. Apart from his innovative restaurants, ThomasKellers books and above all his dedication and imagination have brought his informed and inventive cookery intohomes from coast to coast and around the world. In my lifetime, in my career, Ive watched it grow from its infancy to where it is today, for good and for bad. It was a new restaurant with a chef named Pierre Latuberne and Pierres wife, Anne-Marie. 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. 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. Now Ive got this rabbit thats got a broken leg, and Ive got to kill it and dress it. Sample. Yountville, CA: ad hoc, addendum, Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery, New York: Bouchon Bakery, Per Se, TAK Room (closed), Outstanding Chef: America, James Beard Foundation, 1997. His employers there, Pierre and Anne-Marie Latuberne, recommended him to Ren and Paulette Macary, who operated a restaurant of their own, La Rive, in Catskill, New York during the summer season. I wanted to travel. And that was my room. Housed in a building once occupied by an actual laundry, the couple had named their restaurant The French Laundry. And then of course you have the chef de cuisine who is responsible for the entire kitchen. I wasnt doing anything. And I realized that my window wasnt covered with dust. Oh wow, what just happened? 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. 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. Which one do I want? I had partnered with two male flight attendants who wanted to open a restaurant. The chef was highly regarded, three Michelin stars. [8], After the success of The French Laundry, Thomas and his brother, Joseph Keller (currently owner/chef of Josef's in Las Vegas), opened Bouchon in 1998. It was a wonderful restaurant. In the American version he plays a cameo appearance as a restaurant patron (the part is played by one of Keller's mentors Guy Savoy in the French version, and Ferran Adri in the Spanish one). And I could have him pin the medal on my chest. So Per Se was in the forefront of that first launch in New York. But of course there was no recipe for the spinach pasta. I was questioning my ability as a chef. Thomas Keller: In the beginning, when Don and Sally Schmitt had the restaurant, there was one menu. I had left Checkers. After a third summer at La Rive, he was working at Polo Restaurant in New York City when he finally received a job offer from a restaurant in Arbois in Northeastern France and packed his bags. My sights to go to France and work in specific restaurants were already defined. 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. Testosterone is raging and youre with all these its a group. How could we be worthy of a Michelin star or two? It was such a moment for us because we represented our country. And typically in the day she would work at the Officers Club as a hostess or a waitress, working her way up to understanding how to manage a restaurant. And it just didnt happen. And Herb always wrote maybe two or three sentences about an experience he had that he wanted to share. So he called his son, who then called his best friend, Daniel Boulud, who called me, and said the three of us are going to form a foundation to support the competition, to support a U.S. team in competing in France. Roasted chicken, thats a simple thing to do, but its very hard. Trailer. I was committed. In his teenage summers, he worked at the Palm Beach Yacht Club starting as a dishwasher and quickly moving up to cook. So we chose to stay in Paris because the phone call would have I mean to miss a phone call as being one of the first Michelin starred restaurants in America, being one of the first American chefs to receive potentially a Michelin star would have been too much of a I think of a moment in my life that Id want to give up. At that time Serge and I started to talk about opening our own restaurant and that became Rakel. Or we could stay in Paris, maybe get a phone call, but miss the celebration in New York. So I set my sights high. On a 1992 visit to the Napa Valley, he was introduced to Don and Sally Schmitt, owners of a small restaurant in Yountville, a small town in the heart of the wine-growing region. 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. If you kept after it year after year after year, that dish evolved into something else. With more than 1.5 million copies of his cookbooks in print, he is the author of six cookbooks, including the recently released,The French Laundry, Per Se. Out of those 400, 52 agreed to write a check, for a lot of different reasons, for any amount of money. And we were so proud. The first time U.S.A. is there, Im standing at the pass in Pauls kitchen, Im standing next to him and Im just telling him how proud I am, how much I love what hes done, how much I love him. And yes, there are some restaurants around the world that would use a stage in an inappropriate way by making him stand in the corner and peel potatoes for three months, but a true stage in a restaurant that has integrity and understands their responsibility and the purpose of a stage gives you a great opportunity to learn. Thomas Keller: Mentor is its interesting because, again, these things have happened in my life kind of by coincidence or by some divine plan. 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. Thomas Keller: Those were two of the greatest moments of my life. It was about that physical activity that was so compelling for me. Thomas Keller: Its pretty extraordinary when someone with the capacity, with the authority, with the attention that Ruth is able to get says that you are the most exciting place to eat in America. Of course we want to make our restaurants better, but our overarching goal is to elevate the standards of our profession, and we do that by training, by mentoring, by giving the skills and knowledge to those next generations, so that they can not only help us in our restaurants but then go out and be impactful in other restaurants, and of course hopefully one day open their own restaurants. One of the first employees to sign on was a young woman named Laura Cunningham, a Berkeley graduate with some experience in the Napa restaurant scene. Its been a great pleasure. No. He grew up in the Depression, was a Marine for 23 years of his life. Its so repetitive. [25][26][27], This article is about the chef. The commitment they make to doing the same talk about doing the same thing every day. It was a perfect meal to celebrate a perfect moment with the best people in the world. Thomas Keller: We love to do Thanksgiving. His New York friend Serge Raoul allowed Keller to stay in his Paris apartment. I think thats more of what I meant. They feel the responsibility to them. We had an extraordinary dinner. Did your mother or father support your culinary ambitions? In 2004 they opened a Bouchon Bakery & Caf in Las Vegas and a new fine dining establishment, Per Se, in New York City. All this was a mystery until the day that you get a phone call. So thats what we do. Keller began his career as a professional cook at the Palm Beach Yacht Club in 1974. The rabbit story was a profound moment in my life where I learned that really deep sense of respect for everything that we have coming through our back doors. Following the failure of the Cobbley Nob, Keller became sous-chef at Caf du Parc in West Palm Beach. I said, Jonathan, youre the first chef de cuisine. Chef Bios: Thomas Keller. So you can see there was a wide range of investment. And if you appreciate it, great. He has established a collection of restaurants that sets a new paradigm within the hospitality profession, including The French Laundry, in Napa Valley, and Per Se, in New York, among others. At the same time he has to be able to maintain the standards of their preparation and also the ingredients that are coming in. Thomas Keller: The Schmitts, lovely people, had agreed to sell me their restaurant for $1.2 million. I was four or five years old when my parents were divorced. After the failure of Rakel, you persisted with haute cuisine but you moved to Los Angeles. Born to a marine drill sergeant and a restaurant manager . What does the American Dream mean to you? The failure of this restaurant did not dissuade you from haute cuisine. In the years that followed, Keller and Cunningham expanded their operations in a number of directions simultaneously with new restaurants and manufacturing ventures. It was considered one of the best restaurants in the world. He is the first and only American-born chef to hold multiple three-star ratings from the prestigious Michelin Guide, as well as the first American male chef to be designated a Chevalier of The French Legion of Honor.