Hail to the Chef
San Francisco is a city of foodies. We’re known for constant culinary invention and reinvention. We insist on knowing how and from where our food originates – who’s growing it, who’s supplying it, who’s controlling it.
What we don’t ask as often: Who’s cooking it?
Studio Gourmet is a monthly food event that answers this question. It brings in San Francisco chefs and lets us get to know the masters behind the menus through live interviews and cooking demonstrations of their specialties.
After attending several shows, I’ve tasted and learned to cook dishes I didn’t even know were possible: squid ink and sea urchin arancini; chocolate pasta with seaweed, rabbit, and goat cheese (favorite); skewered deep-fried quail, mushroom pancake, and kumquat; and perfectly – perfectly – cooked octopus.
“Chefs are not chefs anymore,” Studio Gourmet founder Brad Lev says. “They’re artists.”
Four of the chefs featured by Studio Gourmet – Matthew Dolan from SOMA’s Twenty Five Lusk, Jason Berthold from SOMA’s RN74, Mark Dommen from the Embarcadero’s One Market Restaurant, and Matthew Accarrino from Lower Pac Heights’ SPQR – were particularly inspiring. So, I reached out to them on my own to get some deeper insight into their cooking philosophies, paths to chefdom, favorite recipes, and even practical at-home cooking tips.
Here’s a look at these four San Francisco chefs who, I think, embody our beloved, food-crazed city. They’re fierce, creative, and unimaginably driven. In short, they’re making it happen – and they’re making me hungry.
What do you love
about cooking?
I love the experience that we create for one another through
our own inherent passion and creativity. Also, to cook for a living, one must
be slightly insane, so I am happy to at least fit in somewhere.
When did you know you
wanted to become a chef?
I was 18. I realized that my professional skiing career
augmented by freelance helicopter piloting was not within my reach, as I did not
have access to helicopters. Cooking intrigued me from the age of 14, and I
still can’t get enough.
Describe your path to
chefdom.
After my first few professional (metaphorical) beatings
circa 1995, I found my stride in the kitchen. A hunger to be very
good, if not great, at this career developed and opened my mind to all of the
moving parts that universally define the kitchen. I tested my hunger in
different cities and countries and learned that as long as I was disciplined,
open to learning, and committed, I would get there. An empty bank account,
the better part of two decades, and some impressive bags under the eyes later,
I was hired as the chef de cuisine of a fine dining restaurant. Seems like
yesterday…
Tip for aspiring home
cooks?
Season your food. Taste, taste, and then taste again. This
will take your recipes and experiments to wonderful places. Products vary
and recipes were written at a different time, and often, geographical place, so
follow your senses to lead you to amazingness.
How do your roots
inspire your work?
The Irish are known to drink, and thanks to the gift of
beautiful beer, I am able to reward myself and my team thusly. This keeps
most of us inspired.
What is your
cooking philosophy at One Market Restaurant?
My cooking philosophy at One Market Restaurant
is farm-to-table. I try to find the best quality ingredients I can
and put them together in a way that enhances the flavors and doesn’t screw up
this great ingredient that you started with.
When did you know
you wanted to become a chef?
Just after I graduated from high school. I had
been working in a kitchen as my summer job during my junior and senior years of
high school and enjoyed what I was doing. My parents had always encouraged
me to learn a trade or craft, so it made sense to pursue a career in
cooking.
Describe your
path to chefdom.
I attended the California Culinary Academy and
from there got my first job, at Fleur de Lys. Hubert Keller became my
mentor and has always given me great advice. After college, I moved to NYC
to see if I could work with the best. I worked for Gray Kunz, Christian
Delouvrier, David Burke, and Jean-Louis Palladin. I also had the
opportunity to stage at some Michelin two- and three-star restaurants in Europe.
In 2001, I opened Julia’s Kitchen at Copia in Napa and that was my first chef’s
position.
Tip for aspiring
home cooks?
Start with simple recipes and great ingredients. As
you gain confidence with cooking, then it’s time to get more technical and
adapt recipes to your liking. Also, have fun with cooking – everyone makes
mistakes, and try to learn from your mistakes.
What’s your
favorite meal to make at home?
My favorite meal to cook at home is anything
off the grill. I really like roasting chicken on a beer can in my Weber. It
produces the crispiest skin and moist chicken, and with wood chips you can give
it a nice smoky flavor. I even cooked a beer-can turkey last year around
Thanksgiving because I like that technique so well.
What do you love
about cooking?
The ability to bring a group of things together and
transform them into something cohesive. There is a very gratifying feeling from
the opportunity to evolve this process each time you cook and get better at it
over time.
When did you know you wanted to become a chef?
When I shattered my femur in high school, I spent a lot of
time reading cookbooks and watching cooking shows, and got very interested in
the realm of professional cooking. It was around this time that the idea began
to take shape.
Tip for aspiring home
cooks?
A sharp knife makes much shorter work of cutting projects
than a dull one. You would be surprised how much easier, faster, and ultimately
enjoyable cooking a meal is when you have the right tool for the job.
What’s your favorite
meal to make at home?
I actually enjoy cooking breakfast on my days off. Something
simple; say, scrambled eggs. I have cooked a lot of eggs in my life, but I
still enjoy whipping them with a fork to aerate them before gently cooking them
with a bit of butter. Just set, soft scrambled, a nice side of multigrain
toast.
How do your roots
inspire your work?
My family heritage goes back to Italy, specifically Apulia.
I have also traveled and spent time working in Italy. These experiences seem to
awaken something in the fabric of your being that connects you to your origins.
I would say my heritage inspires and informs my perspective on cooking, but
never limits my interest in other cuisines.
When did you know you wanted to become a chef?
I knew that I wanted
to be a chef when I was 15. I disliked school, loved my job in a restaurant,
and enjoyed being around people whom I could learn new things from each day.
Describe your path to chefdom.
It started in high school
through a vocational program at our local country club, and eventually culinary
school in the Detroit area, and later working in restaurants in New York City,
Napa Valley, and now San Francisco. It was a path of constantly wanting to
elevate and be challenged a little bit more with each opportunity.
Tip for
aspiring home cooks?
Use salt to season
things throughout the cooking process, not just at the end. By adding layers of
seasoning throughout, the end result will be more seamless, and this should
eliminate the gap between bland and salty.
What’s your favorite meal to make at home?
I love the process
of pan roasting at home. It takes me back to the simpler days of line cooking,
where the temperature of the pan and the movement of the products is all you
are concerned with. It is not too often that I cook at home, and when I do, I
typically like to make a restaurant-worthy meal.
Right now I would make pan-roasted halibut with porcini, steamed asparagus, sunchokes, and a sabayon flavored with vin jaune.
How do your roots inspire your work?
Growing up in an
area that did not have a lot of exotic or gourmet ingredients, I think that it
is important to retain some sense of recognition in my cooking. In the
restaurant, we try to write menus in a way with ingredients that are not so
foreign or intimidating that they would limit or prevent people from trying
something new.
Go to Twenty Five Lusk, One Market Restaurant, SPQR, and RN74 to taste the genius these chefs create on the daily. Or try your hand and make one of their recipes.
