I wasnt convinced that I was just going to travel to France and knock on somebodys door, but in reality thats actually what happened. He loved chefs. Could you tell us how that came about? The chef de partie is a chef who is responsible for a specific station. 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. There he worked under the French chef Roland Henin, who inspired him to master the exacting art of French haute cuisine. So I had been focused on working in and Ive chosen French cuisine and haute cuisine as my metier. 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. It was a wonderful restaurant. 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. 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. Of course you had your glass racks or specific racks. Thomas Keller: I dont know the literal translation of it, but its an observer. Ren and his wife would come to South Florida in the wintertime because they would close their restaurant, and he was looking for a chef for the following summer and Pierre recommended me, so I moved to Catskill. And Jean-Louis Palladin came to this country in the early 70s, opened his restaurant at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. And Jean-Louis was baffled because there were no farmers, fishermen, foragers or gardeners that really connected with chefs. It was a very special treat to be invited to lunch with Thomas Keller, the world-renowned chef and owner of the French Laundry, Per Se, and many other award-winning restaurants. Sixth place. You come back at 5:30. So our job is to make sure that were choosing those ingredients of the moment. Thomas Keller is the first American chef to receive consecutive three-star Michelin ratings for two restaurants. It was such a moment for us because we represented our country. How did you come to take over The French Laundry? Why Do His Michelin Stars Make Him Unique? Thomas Keller grew up in the restaurant business, in Palm Beach, Florida, working his way up from dishwasher to cook. In my lifetime, in my career, Ive watched it grow from its infancy to where it is today, for good and for bad. Keller took a $5,000 cash advance on his credit card to retain an attorney who helped him structure a private placement offering. So I was focused on that. [14][15][16] On describing his reasons for accepting the Bocuse d'Or Team USA presidency, Keller stated, "When Chef [Paul] Bocuse calls you on the phone and says hed like you to be president of the American team, you say, Oui, chef. 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. So of course the next week he showed up. And this olive oil was a small olive oil company I began to kind of keep me solvent in some ways, but also keep me motivated and keep me busy and have kind of I wouldnt even call it plan B. In the next few years, Keller would pursue his interest in French cooking, developing close relationships with the cooks and proprietors of French restaurants in his own country while applying for jobs in France. What It Takes is an audio podcast produced by the American Academy of Achievement featuring intimate, revealing conversations with influential leaders in the diverse fields of endeavor: public service, science and exploration, sports, technology, business, arts and humanities, and justice. What gives you that idea? Of course his son went to school here in the Culinary Institute of America and now lives in America. But you know, just standing there watching this beautiful, elegant, ferocious animal was something that was very captivating. And I realized that thats not why I came to France. Its an extraordinary event, extraordinary undertaking. 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. Chef Thomas Keller takes a seat just outside the wall of windows enclosing his new kitchen, the centrepiece of The French Laundry's $10 million renovation, while inside about a dozen cooks smoothly begin preparations for evening service, when the performance will begin all over again, as it has for 23 years. We have to be that much more determined, that much more committed to what we do every day. And you know, waste became a really important part of that learning experience, making sure that you know what? He wrote his social column every day. In 2004 they opened a Bouchon Bakery & Caf in Las Vegas and a new fine dining establishment, Per Se, in New York City. In 2006, the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group continued to expand, adding the family-style restaurant Ad Hoc in Yountville, as well as outposts of Bouchon Bakery in Las Vegas, and Bouchon Bakery & Caf in New York. One of the most moving little notes on your website is easy to miss, but its just the fact that The French Laundry has had three stars since 2007, and Per Se has had three stars since 2006. 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. So we lasted about 12 months. This dish is featured on both the menus at Per Se and The French Laundry, a dish that has stayed on the menus since it was created and one we fully expect to remain there. He said, No matter how good of a cook you are, unless theres people in your seats, youre going to fail. Of course I read that after we failed. Trailer. 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. Again, just classic but just perfectly done. You work through service. One of them was off in the Navy. He joined forces with his friend Serge Raoul to open a restaurant whose name combined the first letters of the partners last names: Rakel. On February 16, 2004, Keller's much-anticipated Per Se restaurant opened in the Time Warner Center complex in New York under the helm of Keller's Chef de Cuisine, Jonathan Benno. And certainly receiving the Legion of Honor from President Sarkozy was beyond anything I could ever dream of. Thomas Keller: Mentor is its interesting because, again, these things have happened in my life kind of by coincidence or by some divine plan. You learn from the mistake of doing the bad job that you learn that you needed to either stack your dishes differently, rinse them differently, sort the silverware differently, or whatever it was that critical feedback taught you, thats what you needed to do, so you modified your behavior to be successful. But now I had to actually act on it, that dream, and make it reality. 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. The latest restaurant, "ad hoc", opened in September 2006 in Yountville with a different fixed price comfort food dinner served family style every night. So he reached in the cage, pulls a rabbit out, both legs, has one of those little baseball clubs, knocks it on its head, pins the rabbit to the side of the barn, slits its throat, dresses the rabbit in about five minutes. So efficiency became important, how you lined up the racks, how you put the plates in the racks, or when was the time to wash the glasses, when was the time to wash the silverware so that nothing so that everything became seamless for everybody. I went to work at another restaurant in New York called Raphael, and this was theres a lot of Rs in my restaurant history. We did so many different things. For three years he wrote to restaurants all over France. Visitors to Napa brought word back to San Francisco, where favorable mention in the press drew interest from even farther away. My saving grace when I moved to Paris was my friend Serge Raoul, who allowed me to stay at his apartment. 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. 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. The rabbit screams. Soon, he started taking up chef positions at various restaurants in Rhode Island, where he met his mentor and French Master Chef Roland Henin. So hes tasked with many different things and having to juggle many different things. 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. 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. You set up for dinner, then you have dinner. Thomas Keller: I know from a personal experience how your expectations can actually diminish an experience. In the late 1980s he opened Rakel in New York, but left for California a few years later. Were you a good student? As I grew older, I realized the benefit of a good education, and I continue to try to educate myself today. They become better than you. When I wrote The French Laundry Cookbook, it was an important story for me to tell. And three days later I packed my bag early in the morning and I snuck out the door and caught the train and went to Paris and ended up staying at a friends apartment for almost two years and literally knocking on peoples doors for a job. Therefore you have to pay them. 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. So the schools that we did have were relatively new. My first three-star experience in France was just like that. I mean an extraordinary chef. What did you learn working at Taillevent? And we thought this location was just like the perfect location. Most of the kitchens that I worked in always have the chef, the sous-chefs, the chef de parties, the commis, and thats a very hierarchical system where everybody looks at the chef for the direction, the sous-chefs to implement it, you know, the chef de cuisines to perform it, and the commis to support it. Chefs understand how cutting, heating and cooling food change its composition. I said, Im never going to do that again. So at that time, cooking wasnt as recognized or as popular as it is today. I had left Checkers. And the level of the success or the result of the recipe was based on your current ability. Another great milestone for you was the Legion dHonneur. Why was it produced in that part of Italy? So I went to talk to Bob and I gave him this whole spiel about The French Laundry and here was my business plan. Its that social engagement, that interaction around a dinner table that to me is the most important. Never let anybody tell you that you cant do something. It does. That truly defines our success. Our job as chefs and as restaurant owners today is not just about our restaurants. 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. One thing that is so fascinating about your biography is your lack of formal culinary education, the lack of a Cordon Bleu certificate. I was also developing my relationship with farmers, with foragers, with gardeners, with fishermen from around the area. But there is a lot of work being done certainly in the past 20, 25 years that has helped us as a profession to really have an impact. And the kitchen downstairs at 5:30, my first job was to shovel coal into the ovens. And kitchens are run in that way because its all command response. You, as a dishwasher, even though you may have been perceived as the lowliest position in a kitchen, you touched everybody, and your job was critical in their ability to be successful. They were of age. We did everything from the pats to the desserts, and he taught me a great deal. And he sat us down right at the first table. And if we do that, if we do that every day, then thats the best we can do, and we can feel comfortable that we have given you the best. His restaurant was La Pyramide in Valencin (Vienne), France. And make sure that I had paid attention to how I cooked it. And of course the lunch and dinner in the same day, it really worked for me. I was questioning my ability as a chef. So during the Korean War he was there for two and a half years. Thomas Keller: No. Simple is hard. Michelin was coming to America and we didnt know what was going to happen. Of course we never knew who their inspectors were, but who were their inspectors? He thought that would be the perfect kind of place for me, small, manageable, in a beautiful community here in Napa Valley. And one thing they said, Its not open enough. They were only open four days. Thomas Keller: In 1977 I met my mentor, Roland Henin, who really enlightened me about what cooks do: we nurture people. Im looking at this rabbit hanging on the side of the barn, and 11 rabbits in the cage. All of them loved the idea but turned me down. So they do this extraordinary blini there. And really, they are the true superstars of our profession. Of course we called the restaurant. 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. So you have chef electricians. Everybody did. I mean all these that are part of that repetition was what I learned as a dishwasher. 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. Out of those 400, 52 agreed to write a check, for a lot of different reasons, for any amount of money. So I became the chef, the second chef there. Its not just about getting something to eat. The throwback restaurant had been opened in March 2019, and had been his first New York restaurant in 15 years.[19]. Theres sous-chefs responsible in pastry in the same way. So when you go into a restaurant like The French Laundry and you have to make a choice, its like, What do I choose? Right? It didnt matter if you were doing fine dining, family dining. 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. One summer, he was discovered by French-born Master Chef Roland Henin and was tasked to cook staff meals at The Dunes Club. And although I was very young, one of the things I do remember about Camp Pendleton is one of the regiments had for a mascot a tiger. A community college in Palm Beach. I chose to go into the kitchen. I took a shower like I normally did and I came back to the restaurant. Did your mother or father support your culinary ambitions? He was a Marine. It was unprecedented in this country for a restaurant to get three stars from Michelin. In 1994, he set his heart on a converted laundry building in Yountville, in the heart of Californias Napa Valley wine country. 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. So Per Se was in the forefront of that first launch in New York. When I was in South Florida, I was working in a restaurant called the Caf du Parc. Serge Raoul was ready to scale down his expectations and convert to a more casual format, but Keller longed to practice the haute cuisine he had mastered in France and left the business, which closed two years later. The pigeon was beautiful. I think that a restaurant like The French Laundry or Taillevent, any of the great restaurants around the world and certainly there are many, many, many of them are restaurants that are experiences certainly. Chef and restaurateur Thomas Keller says his mother was his first mentor. The sandwich resembles a typical BLT, with the addition of a fried egg. Right. But no, you went to work in the best restaurants. 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 had a little bit of savings. You got one more to go.. I think one of my investors invested 500, and the one who invested the most I think was 80,000. So it was really I was in a comfortable position in my living quarters, and I wasnt really spending a lot of money. We had a beautiful time on the back porch of our house, and that Monday night, the next night, he passed away. Chef Thomas Keller is renowned for his culinary skills and high standards. When Thomas Keller says he's built a better chocolate bar, it's worth tasting the results. 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. I learned that doing things that other people do better is not necessarily good just because youre doing it in your own backyard or in your own house. He enjoyed the teamwork of a restaurant kitchen and resolved to become a professional cook. She would spend it seems like days preparing Thanksgiving dinner. Yeah. I became a chef there and moved to Los Angeles. I was very impatient, and I wanted to go out and explore. Of course, when you butt heads with the owner, ultimately the owners going to throw you out and thats what he did. Kon Tiki, things like that. Is that hierarchy something that you observed in France? What about books that you read growing up? Im very proud to have been part of this. At this time newspapers still had a social columnist. So sure enough, Paul calls me ten minutes later and asks me to be the president. So he has to be able to motivate them. [1], In April 2009, Keller became engaged to longtime girlfriend and former general manager at the French Laundry, Laura Cunningham.