But in retrospect it was beautiful. My saving grace when I moved to Paris was my friend Serge Raoul, who allowed me to stay at his apartment. 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. And so it just didnt go with our proteins, it went with everything, because every ingredient that we receive in our restaurants or you receive at home as a consumer, somebody has spent part of their life producing that for us, and we have to be respectful of that and make sure that we are able to nourish ourselves with the food that they supply us. He also holds an honorary doctorate in culinary arts from The . I graduated high school. You have dinner. It certainly is very gratifying to see the interest now. Every day after school hed come home and watch Graham Kerr or Julia Child. 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. I said, Im never going to do that again. So at that time, cooking wasnt as recognized or as popular as it is today. Patience, and perseverance, are a virtue. We are only as good as those who come after us. I learned six disciplines at the dishwasher which have, I think, become a foundation for my career, and I think for many people who aspire to have success in their careers. 2. What culinary values and service values did you learn? I mean caviar and blini. Many times the advice was, Well just go. 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. Cook it by the numbers, following every instruction. There he worked under the French chef Roland Henin, who inspired him to master the exacting art of French haute cuisine. Herb Caen came to dinner at The French Laundry. So if you can give me $5,000, then Ill take on the project, and if its successful, well take our money on the back end. I said, Great. So for the next two weeks I went to the ATM machine, and on my credit card I took out $500 until I got $5,000, and I took $5,000 in cash and gave it to him and he started to modify the business plan and produce a bona fide business plan that I could then present to partners, which we did. We have to have an American president. I said okay. And the last, not any more important than the others, was the idea of teamwork and embracing that. Our job as chefs and as restaurant owners today is not just about our restaurants. 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. Was it a restaurant that was breaking new ground? Thomas Keller: We became friends. 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. In his teenage summers, he worked at the Palm Beach Yacht Club starting as a dishwasher and quickly moving up to cook. Thomas Keller: Well, we all learn that. The Schmitts wanted $1.2 million for their business, and Keller had nothing resembling that kind of money, but they agreed to take $5,000 from Keller to hold in escrow while he returned to Los Angeles to raise the money he needed. So I passed by out of curiosity. You know, where did the dish come from? Its like, Wow, I can choose any one of these pillows. But which one really is the best? We finally achieved what we promised, to reach the podium. 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. Thomas Keller: The books that I read as a kid were mostly adventure books. To get by, he started a small business, EVO, importing Italian olive oil. Thank you, Chef. So, for example, meats or fish or vegetables or garde manger which is cold preparation, or pastry. Theres 12 rabbits in the cage and hes explaining to me in broken English how to kill the rabbit. I chose to go into the kitchen. I had now failed in two restaurants and a chef de cuisineposition or executive chef position at Checkers Hotel. She and her husband Don purchased the building in 1978 and converted it into a restaurant. And I realized three or four months later that it was a perfect meal. It began in 1985 when I returned from France. Im looking at this rabbit hanging on the side of the barn, and 11 rabbits in the cage. Starting at $15/month (billed annually) for all classes and sessions. 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. The morel mushrooms, everything was just right, and I didnt appreciate it. All of them loved the idea but turned me down. Keller served as a consultant on the feature film Spanglish, and in collaboration with restaurant designer Adam D. Tihany, created K + T, a collection of silver hardware and cocktail ware for Christofle Silversmiths. We all promised him that we would do our jobs collectively in organizing a foundation that would support a U.S. culinary team to compete in Lyon and actually reach the podium. Favorite Restaurant Restaurant Experts' Poll, Outstanding Wine Service Award, James Beard Foundation, 2001, Outstanding Service Award, James Beard Foundation, 2003. Thomas Keller: My mother passed away, unfortunately, by the time I went to France. Following the failure of the Cobbley Nob, Keller became sous-chef at Caf du Parc in West Palm Beach. My grandmother when I lived with my grandmother we had the milkman that came. 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. On its list of 50 Best Restaurants in the World, Restaurant magazine named The French Laundry Best Restaurant in the World for two years running. Serge was my only investor (in Rakel) so his life was impacted by the failure of Rakel. In our kitchen, for example, we have a sous-chef that would be what we call the A.M. The following year Michelin was going to launch in San Francisco. 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 have received the highest rating in Michelin, three stars. And I was just It was emotional. The chef de partie is a chef who is responsible for a specific station. Kon Tiki, things like that. Two years later, Keller opened Bouchon Bakery in Yountville and started his own wine label, Modicum. We had The Greenbrier, which had a qualified externship program. [4] Four years after his parents divorced, the family moved east and settled in Palm Beach, Florida. 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. And cheese, the cheese cart always comes by in France, and you have so many selections. So I could focus on more of the details, and I was able to do that. I understood it. 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. An executive chef would be somebody that would be in a position in a hotel for example, or where there are many different restaurants, and he would be the executive chef over all of the chef de cuisines from each different food and beverage outlet for example. It was a wonderful restaurant. And they would just be, you know, they were 50 years younger than he was, and he would just be telling them stories and theyd just be like listening on the edge of their seats, and that was one of the favorite things that he did. Why was it produced in that part of Italy? The second summer I decided to go to New York City to try my hand in Manhattan, and that was when I met Serge Raoul. So this idea of smoking your own salmon, or this idea of making your own ketchup, which was really popular at this period of time, didnt necessarily result in something that was better than the guy in Scotland whose family has been curing and smoking salmon for generations. 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. I needed to have the knowledge and the skill in order to prepare it. And so as a young person, my brother and I my brother Joseph, who is 18 months older than I would spend a lot of time in the restaurant and in the kitchen. Thats what really we want to be able to instill, to teach our young staff is that the person standing next to you is your colleague. 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. He holds an honorary Doctor's in Culinary Arts from The Culinary Institute of America. Did you commit to purchasing it before you raised the money? I was unsure of my career. Today we have executive chefs as well. Traditionally, in France, is that an unpaid position? Its very much like going into somebodys home. What was school like for you? And then of course you have the chef de cuisine who is responsible for the entire kitchen. And really, they are the true superstars of our profession. 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. I learned at that time that persistence is really one of those keys to success. We made an instant connection, and we agreed on a price, and I was going to buy The French Laundry. Keller started out young in the field of cooking and culinary skills - in fact, his love for cooking surfaced when he once worked as a chef at his mother's restaurant in Florida. The first half of the book was a book of stories, a book about his restaurant, his experience, his guests, his wife, his team, his chef. So that was really the beginning for us of our success in Northern California. He is one of the most awarded chefs in the world, and The James Beard Foundation has acknowledged him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. You had to have the silverware to the servers so they could set the tables. So you have chef electricians. I mean that became the catch phrase. And I realized that thats not why I came to France. Can I send you a copy? Right. He knew San Francisco in and out. A community college in Palm Beach. And that became part of our and it changed, not every day. Certainly the profession that I chose, cooking, allowed me to do all that. [1], In April 2009, Keller became engaged to longtime girlfriend and former general manager at the French Laundry, Laura Cunningham. Thomas Keller: I began my humble career as a dishwasher. We can all cook. 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. We have to give them training. The sandwich resembles a typical BLT, with the addition of a fried egg. In 2013 we raised to ninth. So for me, there wasnt really a lot of awareness about opportunities outside of learning the trade in a kitchen. So between private placement, commercial bank loan, and an SBA loan over the period, and with the help of Don and Sally Schmitt and Bob Sutcliffe, my attorney, as well as the 52 partners, we were able to put together enough money to buy The French Laundry, and on May 1, 1994 we finally closed on the deal. 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. You set up for dinner, then you have dinner. Thomas Keller: We used to think about luxury as choices, right. There were no quantities. Thomas Keller: Well, by the time they were divorced, my two oldest brothers were already out of the house. I had partnered with two male flight attendants who wanted to open a restaurant. And to reach the podium for the first time, Daniel, Jerome and I felt that we had finally been able to give Paul what we promised. So sure enough, Paul calls me ten minutes later and asks me to be the president. Pierre ran the kitchen. No one told you those things. 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. What do you say to any chef? When Thomas Keller says he's built a better chocolate bar, it's worth tasting the results. No reality TV shows. In other words, you carve the turkey, you serve the food, and then you took the leftovers home. After The Dunes Club, Keller worked various cooking positions in Florida and soon became the cook at a small French restaurant called La Rive in the Hudson River valley in Catskill, New York. Thanksgiving is one of those moments thats truly about that experience around the table, that family, friends. Each time you made it it was yours, it was not necessarily his. The other one was off on his career. 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. The California-based chef has won nearly every culinary award imaginable; his cookbooks line the shelf of other chefs and passionate home. The commitment they make to doing the same talk about doing the same thing every day. It was a narrative. Keller loved the location, and thought the little town in the heart of Californias wine country would be the perfect place to practice the fusion of tradition and innovation he had long imagined. I think that is really the essence of hospitality, is that you want to give people something that makes them happy, makes them feel good, nourishes them. They served me pigeon and peas with morel mushrooms. Chef Thomas Keller is renowned for his culinary skills and high standards. I had committed myself since 1977 to make this my career. His flagship restaurant, The French Laundry, has been called the best in the world (twice), he's created an empire but maintained his impermeable brand and he's the only American chef to have been simultaneously awarded three Michelin Stars at two different restaurants. Thomas Keller: Per Se. 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. This was my first three-star restaurant, and I walked in there thinking that I dont know what I was thinking. Its really refreshing to see how much thats changed in a short period of time, in 35, 40 years. But it wasnt because I wanted to have a career in the profession, in the culinary profession. And then of course the famous dish that they did, which I saw so many times, was the saddle of lamb rognonade, which means that its the saddle of lamb stuffed with its kidneys, served with pommes pures on the side and asparagus. His book, which was extraordinarily inspiring, was a book of stories. Thomas Keller: Its interesting because when I was at Taillevent, I had been cooking for quite some time. Is that hierarchy something that you observed in France? Thomas Keller: La Rive was outside of Catskill. [6], Following the split with his partner at Rakel, Keller took various consultant and chef positions in New York and Los Angeles. And kitchens are run in that way because its all command response. I enjoyed it. He told me. And I think if I was born with that, I got that from my mother. But more than any of that, we realized a great burden of responsibility, because Ruth, who is an expert in her field, somebody who we all look to, somebody who we all respect, has now called us, literally, the best place or the most exciting place to eat in America. Following the failure of the Cobbley Nob, Keller became sous-chef at Caf du Parc in West Palm Beach. I dont know if theres a hospitality gene as much as theres a nurturing gene. If you dont, then weve only failed you, we havent failed ourselves, and thats an important thing for us to remember. He liked that. So when they were divorced, that was her path. I was already cooking now for four years. There was a friend here in Napa Valley who was a banker turned vintner who helped me with finance, and who helped me with putting together the financial component of the business plan. 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. He's the role model, the icon". Every moments important. 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. His Surf Club Restaurant in Miami marked a return to the continental style of dining enjoyed in the legendary restaurants of the 1940s and 50s. [21][22] In an interview with Vogue Man Arabia he described the BLT as "the perfect sandwich". And it was a small kitchen. Under Henin's study, Keller learned the fundamentals of classical French cooking. I think thats more of what I meant. I learned how to share with them. We did lunch and dinner. I remember him watching you know, you would have the Graham Kerr series. In 1986 he became co-owner and executive chef of the original Fleur de Lys in San Francisco. At this time newspapers still had a social columnist. Theres sous-chefs responsible in pastry in the same way. Thomas Keller: Restaurants are used in so many different ways. So I was focused on that. Oysters and Pearls. He was a great storyteller. What did you have in mind? I dont want to say the art of repetition, but the ability to respect repetition and embrace it. An American mega-chef, he is as renowned for his culinary skills as he is for his ability to establish a restaurant that is relaxed, yet refined and exciting. Today, Thomas Keller and Laura Cunningham make their home in a house behind The FrenchLaundry, while they operate fine dining establishmentsas well as casual bistros, cafs and bakeriesin New York, Las Vegas, Beverly Hills and the Napa Valley. Could you give a little definition of how each rank works? It was a perfect meal to celebrate a perfect moment with the best people in the world. 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 arrived at the front door and a large matronly woman met me and she was very harsh, and she took me up to my room, which was this small cubicle with a window, but the window was covered with dust, which I thought was dust. He was tall, masculine, broad, a good-looking Frenchman who was the executive chef of this private club. In 1994, Keller closed the deal and set about renovating the facility. 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. It was my generation that kind of missed that. And thats something that comes very much from military. I mean were the mothership, were the foundation of Thomas Keller Restaurant Group and certainly the inspiration for Per Se. I think the single most important thing you can do the single most important decision you make when youre making a reservation to a restaurant is not what restaurant youre going to, but who youre going with. And we were so proud. Its extraordinary what we have available to us and how important our farmers have become. 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. Out of those 400, 52 agreed to write a check, for a lot of different reasons, for any amount of money. She would spend it seems like days preparing Thanksgiving dinner. 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. My first culinary disaster was a recipe from this book, and it just goes to show you the lack of availability of ingredients in our country at the time. 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. Theyre going to drive right by our restaurant and stop. I could go anywhere in the world and be a cook. And as time went on we realized that we started selling more and more tasting menus. Oh wow, what just happened? So the schools that we did have were relatively new. And were watching Philips name being inserted into the walkway that leads up to the front door: Philip Tessier, U.S.A.. Theres now 13 rows of gold, silver, bronze plaques with peoples names on them. If I was going to make a career, if I was going to be successful in my chosen vocation, I needed to raise this money. I had much more control over it. And of course, what does the rabbit do? And of course the next morning he called me and he told me that The French Laundry again had received the highest recognition from Michelin Guide, three stars. Armed with his investors contributions, Keller secured a bank loan and a federal small business loan. So I gave them some and I took some. So when I went to see Bob Sutcliffe, I had a 300-page business plan and a bottle of olive oil. He studied briefly at Palm Beach Junior College but knew his real education would come by working at the best restaurants he could find. You started quite young, didnt you? Were they going to be Americans? The next day in the Lyon newspaper, the headlines: Pauls Dream Realized: America Reaches the Podium., Thomas Keller: We got silver. This was kind of at the end of the era of the La Le restaurants. And it was really about Marines and their ability to stalk, their ability to be calm, their ability to pounce quickly and seize their prey. And make sure that I had paid attention to how I cooked it. It was a young chef from The French Laundry, Timothy Hollingsworth. To expand his knowledge, he joined Compagnons du Devoir, an artisans' organization that offers technical education through tours and apprenticeships with masters. His New York friend Serge Raoul allowed Keller to stay in his Paris apartment. And what do you say to Paul Bocuse? The latest restaurant, "ad hoc", opened in September 2006 in Yountville with a different fixed price comfort food dinner served family style every night. And I learned at that moment a profound respect for the ingredients that we have, a profound respect for those individuals who bring them to us, and how committed they are to what they do, and how committed I have to be to what Im doing to respect what they do. Of course, I thought that because of the things that I learned, and because of the ability to execute what I wanted to do, because of my ability to organize a kitchen, I thought that I was invincible. Certainly, working in French kitchens was the same for me. You had to empty the garbage can three times a day. It didnt matter if you were doing fine dining, family dining. So you know, I did different things in different kitchens, because each chef needed a stagiaire in a different way. In 1999, Thomas Keller published The French Laundry Cookbook, which he considers his definitive book on cuisine. I became the chef of Raouls, which was, at the time an outpost in what became SoHo on Prince Street, and it was a classic, classic, French bistro in every way, and it was wonderful. And I thought that was just brilliant in the way he wrote that book. 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. He was that kind of came from that kind of generation. It was something that made him really comfortable. And it was my expectations that got in the way of my experience. [13] The former French Laundry Chef de Cuisine Timothy Hollingsworth won the Bocuse d'Or USA semi-finals in 2008, and represented the U.S. in the world finals in January 2009 under Keller's supervision where he placed 6th, equaling the best performance of the U.S. in the contest to date. We all have our own core values, and I think that we can identify them when pressed to find them. Our job is to mentor and train the next generation of superstars, of franchise players, if you will. 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. He recognized a certain talent in me and he wanted to open a restaurant with me so we opened Rakel. I thought, If Im going to do this, I need to do it now. And I went back to Los Angeles. And so that was over 400 people I called during that period of time. In 1997, The New York Times restaurant critic Ruth Reichl called The French Laundry the most exciting place to eat in the United States. TIME magazine named him Americas Best Chef in 2001. 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 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. In everything that we do, we have to understand that our expectations have to be of the highest. The success has motivated me and propelled me forward. I had been fired from another. Before we get there, Ruth Reichls article, as important as that was, there was an article prior to that which very few people realize. But gardening became part of my life. Yeah. In 1986, he opened his first restaurant in New York City, but the Wall Street crash of that year hit his business hard and he headed west. The businessmen who had constituted the base of their clientele went looking for lower-price, more casual dining options until the economy recovered. And he came in, he snuck in. Talk about Rakel. And then of course we had foie gras, poached foie gras, warm with turnips spring turnips peas, and a beautiful consomm of duck, rich but at the same time light, right. I knew I could cook. A beautiful time in my life. Michelin came in 2006. He has won multiple awards throughout his career and is well-known for his rare ability to establish restaurants that are somehow both relaxed and exciting. What is the chef cooking today? Its still hard to believe that we are considered on the same level as those great restaurants in France that have inspired me and so many of my colleagues and so many others to try to achieve greatness.