Thomas Keller: It was a very difficult time in New York City. Not just in the culinary profession, not just in the hospitality profession, but in anything. No problem. So we were always trying to fill the books in with his reservations. Thomas Keller: Yeah. The owner, Serge Raoul, became a lifelong friend. Where were their parameters for that? The California-based chef has won nearly every culinary award imaginable; his cookbooks line the shelf of other chefs and passionate home. Thomas Keller: No. The recipe called for a double boiler. And one thing they said, Its not open enough. They were only open four days. Saatchi & Saatchi, another huge advertising firm, opened their corporate headquarters down there. And hell tell the story that he is part American because he has American blood running through his veins. So everybody relied on your ability to be organized, to be efficient, to have your job done thoroughly, to understand repetition, rituals, and give them what they needed to do the job. Now I think it would be casual fine dining. And make sure that I had paid attention to how I cooked it. So the schools that we did have were relatively new. Today we have executive chefs as well. And I really have to thank those who nominated me: Daniel Boulud, Paul Bocuse, Jerome. Thomas Keller: I think thats just it. I think its discipline. Thomas Keller: I began my humble career as a dishwasher. And you know, it really goes back to when I was a young child and that was one of the meals my mother would cook would be Thanksgiving. It was kind of this magical place, and I just felt an instant connection to it. That was a Sunday supper, and we had a beautiful time. So at the time I was born he was stationed in Camp Pendleton, which is right near Oceanside in California. 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 Raphael was run just like the restaurants ran in France. I had now failed in two restaurants and a chef de cuisineposition or executive chef position at Checkers Hotel. No. I break its leg. So the lobster Bohemian came out the way you interpreted it at that time. Expectations do get in the way. And we thought this location was just like the perfect location. [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. And it was just one of those magical moments. It was something that made him really comfortable. Armed with his investors contributions, Keller secured a bank loan and a federal small business loan. Thomas Keller: In 1992 I visited the Napa Valley from Los Angeles. Not everybody has that much awareness of it, but for our point of view, the sense of national pride that we have in what we do, the commitment that we have during that two-year process of training, choosing and training those young chefs because it takes a year to train them. You should be thinking about those who youre with. We built our new kitchen. And I came back a bit arrogant, a bit uppity, a bit disrespectful of not my kitchen, but the owner, and so we didnt see eye to eye. We respond to that by notching up our game. People become very anxious in those moments. After three years at La Rive, unable to buy it from the owners, he left and moved to New York and then Paris, apprenticing at various Michelin-starred restaurants. I was already cooking now for four years. How did you come to take over The French Laundry? On the other hand, we look at it as a sports franchise as well. Following the failure of the Cobbley Nob, Keller became sous-chef at Caf du Parc in West Palm Beach. In 2011, Keller opened branches of Bouchon Bakery in Beverly Hills and in New Yorks Rockefeller Center. Thomas Keller: At 4:00 in the afternoon, we were on the West (Left) Bank, in front of one of the department stores over there I think Samaritaine or some one of the great department stores of Paris and the phone rings. It didnt matter if you were doing fine dining, family dining. Lets face it, if youre with friends and family, or your partner, and youre having a wonderful time, your experience is going to be elevated because of the time that youre having with the people that youre with. If I wasnt, I learned it from her. The fourth discipline I learned was the repetition, right? In France, Keller formed a friendship with the legendary chef Paul Bocuse, sponsor of the Bocuse dOr competition, the Olympics of international cooking. Thomas Keller: The first had an odd name, so dont laugh. He was a woodworking hobbyist. Mr. Keller thinks, at least for him, a change may be in order. You just never know. [23] Keller served as a consultant for the 2007 Pixar animated film Ratatouille, allowing the producer to intern in the French Laundry kitchen and designing a fancy layered version of ratatouille, "confit byaldi", for the characters to cook. And thats where youre there supporting. During summers, he worked as a cook in Rhode Island. And the kitchen downstairs at 5:30, my first job was to shovel coal into the ovens. Now remember, a chef in France doesnt necessarily relate to the kitchen. The success has motivated me and propelled me forward. So yes, I primarily lived with my mother, and my grandmother for a little while as well, and my great aunts. Thomas Keller: I was working at a restaurant. Then the hard work of attracting investors began. Our job as chefs and as restaurant owners today is not just about our restaurants. With Paul Bocuses son Jerome and their fellow chef Daniel Boulud, Keller founded the Bocuse dOr USA Foundation (Mentor) in 2008 to inspire culinary excellence in young professionals and preserve the traditions and quality of classic cuisine in America. Keller and the Bocuse family hoped to see young American chefs compete successfully in this competition, but a number of years would pass before American chefs would reach the winners circle. Before we get there, Ruth Reichls article, as important as that was, there was an article prior to that which very few people realize. So now we increased our production from 40 items to 60 items. It was in the era of Chez Panisse, you know. [5], After returning to America in 1984, he was hired as chef de cuisine at La Reserve in New York, before leaving to open Rakel in early 1987. Turned me down primarily not because there wasnt value in the property, but because I had a tax lien in New York City, and this tax lien was based on our failure at Rakel. I wasnt doing anything. It was really only on Saturday and Sunday that I kind of had to support myself through eating and/or entertaining myself. Ive had some extraordinary honors in my life. Chef Keller led a team from the U.S. to its first-ever gold medal in the Bocuse d'Or, a prestigious biannual competition that is regarded as the Olympics of the culinary world. Well, I could choose, you know, you go to a hotel and you had six pillows to choose from. So Per Se was in the forefront of that first launch in New York. His New York friend Serge Raoul allowed Keller to stay in his Paris apartment. Thomas Keller: We love to do Thanksgiving. It was considered one of the best restaurants in the world. Roast chicken and a salad of fresh lettuces with a simple vinaigrette. One of them was off in the Navy. Thomas Keller: Mentor is its interesting because, again, these things have happened in my life kind of by coincidence or by some divine plan. I guess you also needed to learn who your customers would be. It may be my last chance. I was in my mid-30s. Thomas Keller: On a trip to Napa Valley one spring day, Jonathan Waxman, who is a friend of mine who had opened a restaurant in New York and now is opening a restaurant here in Napa Valley. I didnt have a job. In 1997, The New York Times restaurant critic Ruth Reichl called The French Laundry the most exciting place to eat in the United States. We changed every day. We are only as good as those who come after us. He migrated towards cooking much earlier than I did. 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 theres no choices on the menu, so its a problem for us. So I thought, Well, when I open The French Laundry, well extend hours of operation and well offer choices in each category. We did everything from the pats to the desserts, and he taught me a great deal. [6], Following the split with his partner at Rakel, Keller took various consultant and chef positions in New York and Los Angeles. I dont know why, I guess because of the age difference, my brother Joseph was allowed to handle a knife, therefore he was allowed to work with the cooks. 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. We invite those from our veterans home here in Yountville down to experience a meal around a table in a familiar place with food that is nourishing in every way. I remember him watching you know, you would have the Graham Kerr series. It changes your life of course. Again, just classic but just perfectly done. On behalf of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Chef Paul Bocuse presented Keller as a Chevalier of The French Legion of Honor in 2011 in recognition of his lifelong commitment to the traditions of French cuisine and his role in elevating cooking in America. We also support the Semper Fi Foundation, which is actually in Camp Pendleton. It took 19 months to raise the money to purchase the place, but in 1994 he opened his restaurant, The French Laundry, and quickly made it a destination for gourmets and connoisseurs from all over the world. Paul Bocuse said it very well. 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. 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. I thought, If Im going to do this, I need to do it now. And I went back to Los Angeles. Pastry Competition. One of our primary jobs, one of our primary responsibilities is to hire the right people, make sure that the people that were hiring, those individuals, young men and women, are of the right attitude, of the right mindset, have the right skills to enter into our profession. Thomas Keller: We became friends. That rabbit, which gave up its life, I had to make sure that I utilized it in the best way I could and every bit of it. In the late 1980s he opened Rakel in New York, but left for California a few years later. Could you tell us that story? And so you have a pastry chef who is responsible for the entire pastry station, right? It was here he discovered his passion for cooking and perfection of the hollandaise sauce. I became a chef there and moved to Los Angeles. We did everything. I needed to have the knowledge and the skill in order to prepare it. We all learned that we had to be aware of the demographics and not just what we wanted to do, but what those around us really wanted to eat. For three years he wrote to restaurants all over France. My first three-star experience in France was just like that. And it really truly is a learning, a place of learning. I dont want to say the art of repetition, but the ability to respect repetition and embrace it. And it was one of those things that you try. After two years in Paris, Keller returned to New York, confident of his abilities in the kitchen and eager to prove he could run a kitchen in a first-rate establishment. Why didnt I choose to go to school? It certainly is very gratifying to see the interest now. And thats how we define success, thats giving people those memories. I stopped to see him, say hello, see how he was doing. It was the first American restaurant to receive this honor. Its really, thats where I learned about the idea of being a team as it relates to a sports franchise. [1], In April 2009, Keller became engaged to longtime girlfriend and former general manager at the French Laundry, Laura Cunningham. I was thinking that, I dont know, fireworks. And that became part of our and it changed, not every day. To be there for a long time, to be impactful for a long time, to have a team that continues to evolve, to have guests that continue to come to your restaurant, to have that relationship with your partners or your suppliers, those are really, really important things for me in a restaurant. You know, working with a group of other young men in a line, in a high-stress environment where its very intense and youre cooking food. Following the failure of the Cobbley Nob, Keller became sous-chef at Caf du Parc in West Palm Beach. And he had told me about this small restaurant in Yountville for sale called The French Laundry and I should look into that. Thats where the name comes from. Starting at $15/month (billed annually) for all classes and sessions. Thomas Keller: I wish I could say there were, but no. Paul Bocuse, who has a great affection for America, hell tell the story. Of course you had your glass racks or specific racks. 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. 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. Come over. And we went and it was an amazing moment to be able to walk into Taillevent, which had such a profound impact on my career, on my philosophy, on the culture that we have, on my skills, on everything in my life. In his teenage summers, he worked at the Palm Beach Yacht Club starting as a dishwasher and quickly moving up to cook. Taking his most . Michelin came in 2006. He grew up in the Depression, was a Marine for 23 years of his life. Did your mother or father support your culinary ambitions? The second cookbook that I received, which was from my mentor Roland Henin, was Ma Gastronomie by Fernand Point. In our kitchen, for example, we have a sous-chef that would be what we call the A.M. He is also featured in "My Last Supper" by Melanie Dunea. Two years later, Keller opened Bouchon Bakery in Yountville and started his own wine label, Modicum. So we lasted about 12 months. Everybody read Herb Caen whether you liked food or not. What are your core values? And it wasnt something I had thought about before, but within a half an hour, I defined what they were, just because thats how I felt, and thats how most people are. You are trying to prepare a dish without having the proper ingredients or necessarily even the knowledge of those ingredients, and that really became for me a real building block, because I understood that. And not only that, Ive got to do the other ten. You got one more to go.. And then we have to mentor them not just in their career, but in their lives. And he came in, he snuck in. And his house was right next door to The French Laundry, where he lived and it was a common thing to go over there after work in the afternoon, at four or five oclock when the morning team would be finishing up, and theyd be over there on his front porch drinking beer out of cans, because he really liked canned beer as opposed to bottled beer. So I stayed in New York for about a year looking for something to do, never really finding anything. 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. Our second challenge was in 2011. I could feel I have the ability to learn and to kind of expand. Thomas Keller: I think its helped me understand and analyze what I do, and try to attach other examples of other professions to what I do, in trying to understand and elevate our profession. And they wanted hot dogs and hamburgers. She would spend it seems like days preparing Thanksgiving dinner. You prepare for lunch. In my lifetime, in my career, Ive watched it grow from its infancy to where it is today, for good and for bad. I went to work at another restaurant in New York called Raphael, and this was theres a lot of Rs in my restaurant history. And you know, waste became a really important part of that learning experience, making sure that you know what? So I had been focused on working in and Ive chosen French cuisine and haute cuisine as my metier. Thomas Keller: La Rive was outside of Catskill. He was always the kind of guy who wanted to save money. Take the lobster, do this, this, and this, and add this and this and you have this is what lobster Bohemian is. Thomas Keller: Yes. He told me. I said, Im never going to do that again. It wasnt a difficult decision for me. 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. When Thomas Keller says he's built a better chocolate bar, it's worth tasting the results. Thomas Keller: Well, by the time they were divorced, my two oldest brothers were already out of the house. Were cooks. We went to the local markets all the time. There was no real technique. Thats really a different mentality, isnt it, than ordering off a big menu? Of course we had the Culinary Institute of America, which began in the mid-40s after World War II. We all have our own core values, and I think that we can identify them when pressed to find them. This was the area that was going to become the next advertising center of New York City. So you know, I did different things in different kitchens, because each chef needed a stagiaire in a different way. 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. You want to go there and you want to have an experience. Thomas Keller: Those were two of the greatest moments of my life. 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. 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. We have to have an American president. I said okay. That year it won three International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) awards for Cookbook of the Year, Julia Child "First Cookbook" Award, and Design Award. The following year, Michelin inspectors came to the West Coast and gave The French Laundry three stars as well. Alice Waters had opened Chez Panisse, and since then the influence of that sort of sourcing, that farm-to-table cuisine, has spread far and wide. I mean youre in Paris. Hello, my name is You know, I have this idea of and Id like you to consider it. Thomas Keller: When my parents were married, my father was typically stationed somewhere else. And he had great chefs that worked for him. What was school like for you? As a customer, you come in and you put yourself in the hands of a chef. Paul Bocuse was a commis at his restaurant. That was going to be something that was maybe decades away. And still, it wasnt necessarily something that was recognized as a true profession. I didnt have a double boiler. I was unsure of my career. But nonetheless I built my own little smoker out of an old refrigerator and cured and smoked my own salmon. It was a wonderful restaurant. So they do this extraordinary blini there. So that was immediate critical feedback. Thomas Keller: Rakel. sous-chef. So, our morning sous-chef is responsible for really the beginning of the day and setting the tempo for the rest of the day, which means that he has to work with a lot of the commis, which are typically the youngest, of course the least skilled, the least experienced. I learned that the ingredients were important. The opening of her debut restaurant, Core by Clare Smyth, marks an important milestone for Smyth, who trained under world-renowned chefs Thomas Keller and Alain Ducasse and made headlines as. Iconic Dishes The French government named him a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in recognition of his lifelong commitment to the traditions of French cuisine and his role in elevating culinary art in America. At the same time he has to be able to maintain the standards of their preparation and also the ingredients that are coming in. He wanted to have chicken, barbeque chicken. I believe in you, but I need something. What happens? A typical person who wants to be a chef might think, Im going to go study with a really good person in Chicago or New York, or even a really good person in Paris. "[18] He permanently closed his restaurant TAK Room, located in Hudson Yards, during the coronavirus pandemic. And I realized three or four months later that it was a perfect meal. Every moments important. I chose to go into the kitchen. [7] Keller spent nineteen months raising $1.2million from acquaintances and investors to purchase the restaurant, then re-opened it in 1994. And as time went on we realized that we started selling more and more tasting menus. Theres bronze, silver and gold. He actually sat with us, and his wife Sabine told me as we were leaving, she said, You know, Ive never seen my husband ever, ever sit down with anybody in this restaurant. He sat with us for about five minutes and chatted. And I realized that my window wasnt covered with dust. I had committed myself since 1977 to make this my career. And he said to me one day, he said, You know, Thomas, the reason cooks cook is really to nurture people. And at that moment that really resonated with me and I said, Wow, I want to become a chef.. He took advantage of the traditionalstagiare system in which unpaid apprentices, called stages in English, learn the skills of the classic French kitchen one by one. 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. The sous-chef is literally under the chef. And a sous-chef would be responsible for a couple of different things depending on the role of that sous-chef. With just a small four-burner stove with one oven it takes you a long time to prepare dinner. And of course as a white, middle-class, educated American, I wasnt on the top of the list of somebody the SBA was going to give money to. And that was the moment, July 1977, that I decided to make this my career and pursued that with determination, with commitment. We live by them day to day, not necessarily having written them down. Thomas Keller: There was a recipe in there, and I cant remember the name of the recipe, but it was a recipe from a very famous restaurant in Italy and it was, I believe, spinach pasta with prosciutto di Parma, parmesan cheese and butter. Working with a list of everyone he could think of who might have an interest in a restaurant or fine food venture, he called 400 prospects and finally attracted seed money from 52 individuals, one paying as much as $80,000 and some as little as $500 for a share of the business. So I had to go back to Serge because I didnt have any money, and I had to ask Serge to satisfy the tax lien, which my portion of it was considerable. And you know what, it was okay, either one. Certainly, working in French kitchens was the same for me. That sounds wonderful. I wasnt convinced that I was just going to travel to France and knock on somebodys door, but in reality thats actually what happened. I could only hope for the next 20 years that Im able to continue to dedicate and commit myself on a different level to our profession and to my teams and continue to offer them the ability, the platform to elevate themselves. So your mom raised all six children by herself? Each time you made it it was yours, it was not necessarily his. It was a narrative. To get by, he started a small business, EVO, importing Italian olive oil. 1996 - 2023 American AcademyofAchievement. Had they not, I wouldnt be here today. No reality TV shows. My sights to go to France and work in specific restaurants were already defined. It was a restaurant that was extraordinarily consistent. You had to get the glassware to the bartenders so they could do their job. Of course we called the restaurant. In 1999, Thomas Keller published The French Laundry Cookbook, which he considers his definitive book on cuisine. A sports franchise kind of mentality as well as a militaristic kind of mentality, because we do have and the same in the military you have hierarchy. Thomas Kellerdrew closer to the realization ofa longtime dream when hisTeam USA won the silver medal atthe 2015 Bocuse dOr competition in Lyon, France. The idea of service is so pertinent to both worlds, military and culinary. Yeah. June 13, 2007 FOR someone who works in a restaurant, watching a rat try to become a chef might seem like just another day at work. 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. So its not just we relate to chef as somebody thats only in the kitchen, but remember, its chef de cuisine, chef of the kitchen, chef of the electricians, chef of the plumbers. That was at the beginning of that relationship with Serge Raoul. Could I interact better with those around me who influence our restaurants? Thomas Keller: Its funny. Then I think thats what makes our culture so strong. It was fascinating, and again certainly we were very proud and honored. He was a man who would travel ten miles to save ten cents on a bar of margarine. It was familiar to him. Pierre was in the kitchen Ann-Marie was in the dining room and I became his sous-chef.

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