Latest / Chef's PSA Podcast / Jakub Czyszczon on Pasta, Pressure & the Path to Greatness

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Jakub Czyszczon on Pasta, Pressure & the Path to Greatness · Chef's PSA Podcast

0:00
Hello chefs, this is Chef PSA podcast.
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I'm your host Andre Natera. Today's episode we welcome back
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Jacob Chischen. He and I worked together for a
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number of years. You'll remember him from a
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previous episode. We're going to talk about job
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interviews, his experience in Lyon, eating at restaurant Pablo
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Coos, some chef TV shows and a whole lot more.
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Stay tuned. You know what's the worst?
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What? Cooking Interviews.
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Yeah, yeah, cooking interviews are rough.
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You know what makes cooking interviews so bad is a lot of
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times when you're interviewing for a job and you're a chef, the
0:46
person that's interviewing you is not a chef.
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And so they think you should probably do this.
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And I've spoken with so many chefs that will call me up and
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bitch about the crazy cooking interview that they got to do.
0:57
Oh yeah, I had one chef that told me he had two hours to do 9
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courses and a dessert. And I'm thinking like, and and
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you know, what do you like? Like, what do you make with two
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hours that you want me to do 9 courses?
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It's it's crazy. Yeah, no, that is, I feel like
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it's just super, a lot of the times it's just super
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unrealistic, you know? And it's like the one thing of
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like, oh, you're, you know, one thing to cook 9 courses in two
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hours, but another thing to cook 9 courses in a place you've
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never been in. You know, that I feel like
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that's, that's like the number one thing.
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It's like, you know, half the time you're walking around
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asking line cooks where stuff is, you know?
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And then the fact that they said, and also dessert.
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And the thing that drives me crazy is a lot of times it's
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like if it's a hotel or a Country Club or something, like
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it's probably a food and beverage director.
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Or if it's in a restaurant, it might be the general manager,
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the owner asking you to cook. And they say, oh, and don't
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forget to do a dessert. And the crazy thing is, is like
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the other courses that the chef can put up might be brilliant,
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but maybe they're not so good at dessert And.
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And there's a pastry chef there. Yeah.
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And then they're like, well, the dessert wasn't good.
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Yeah. Your vanilla panna cotta wasn't
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good enough. Right, so you're not going to
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give the guy the job or the girl the job that nailed all the
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courses but didn't hit the dessert, right?
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Yeah. It just drives me crazy.
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That it's that I honestly, they're, I, I mean, I've, I
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haven't done too many, but I mean, you were there for the
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first one I've ever done. Yeah.
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Did you do 2 with me or one? I think I only did one because
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for the the Garrison CDCI didn't.
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I didn't. I never did a tasting for that
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one. I it was just the original.
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It was the blessing. Yeah, it was just.
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The Knighting. Yeah, it was just the sous chef
2:40
tasting, which honestly was was really fun.
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But that was because I knew, I knew the kitchen and stuff and,
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and you know what I think was also cool that you did the, the
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mandatory CDP tastings. Remember those?
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No, I actually I don't. Don't remember those.
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Oh my God, that's awesome. I mean, it was like it was
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either like pleasantly surprising or it was just like,
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Oh my God, this is just such a failure.
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Just I mean you at the Fairmont, you made all the CDPS do do
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tastings and we went in line. Really.
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Yeah. Yeah, and those I thought that
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was awesome. When when you say do tastings
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like for the job or just because?
3:20
Just because it was a just, yeah, it was like it was every,
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yeah, every CDP and sous chef had to do a tasting, even though
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it was for nothing. It was just like, and it was
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just for all the chefs. I don't, I do not remember.
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Oh my God, it was so. It was so good.
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It was so good. Those and the chefs would all
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stand around and. Yeah, yeah.
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It was like, and you know, at the time it was like 15 of us.
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And so how? Do I?
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How do I not remember that? I don't know, but we were
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literally standing around and it was like, I remember just like
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they were always just so nervous.
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And a lot of the time it was, it was really cool because a lot of
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the times you kind of saw who like really, really cared and
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who had their finger, finger on the pulse.
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And it was just like, you know, I mean, I remember there was
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some surprising ones that that you were like, well, it did not
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know you have that in your locker.
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And then some of them were just like.
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This is the Mandela Effect culinary edition.
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I don't remember. This I can't believe you don't
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remember. No, no, I now granted I remember
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doing tastings whether there were CDP or susha for stuff like
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that, but I don't remember making them do a tasting with no
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incentive. Yeah, those it was, it was
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mandatory. It went, it went out for like a
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year. Like it was like because we
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because there's so many CDPS. Yeah, it was like every week or
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two we just did one. I mean, I thinking about it, I
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probably understand why did I was probably trying to push
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people to get out of their comfort.
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Zone 100%, I mean it were, yeah. But I I honestly don't remember
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that. That was, I thought that was
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really cool, honestly, but. You know, with chef interviews,
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one of the things that drives me crazy on a chef interviews, like
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they'll, they'll go in and be like, hey, I want you to cook
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something. And then they say, and I really
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want you to impress me. And you have no idea what
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impresses this person. Yeah.
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You have no idea, Like, what impresses you?
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You want me to go like, Noma or do you want me to go like, you
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know, swanier chilies? Yeah.
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Like, what are you talking about?
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What impresses you? I have no idea.
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You want me to do the coolest wings or do you want me to
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forage something? I have no idea what impresses.
5:14
Yeah. And also, yeah, I mean, 99
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impressive courses for yeah, you know.
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Well, I've, I've talked to people that have interviewed.
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I have a chef friend that interviewed at a Conference
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Center and he told me not only did they make him do courses,
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they also made him put on a buffet.
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Oh my gosh. Yeah, and I'm like, like, for
5:33
how many people? Like he had to do a buffet for
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like 10 people. And what's what's even crazier
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about some of these cooking interviews?
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So food and beverage directors that are listening to this, like
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some of the stuff you do is stupid.
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It's stupid. Like it doesn't make sense.
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Like you want the person to put on a buffet and then you'd be,
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you tell them like, oh, by the way, you're 5 minutes late,
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you're not getting the job. I'm like, really for being 5
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minutes? Like it's not Top Chef, it's not
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a cooking competition. It's a job interview like like
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am I? Am I supposed to put up the
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chicken raw or do you want to cook?
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The timing criteria alone is crazy, right?
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Like why? Like where does this timing
6:12
criteria? Like like how does that
6:14
correlate? What do you do for cooking
6:16
interviews like I? I know what we did when we
6:18
worked together, but what do you do like before?
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So I think, I mean, if I'm going to conceptualize the dish for
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the cooking interview, I'm going to make sure that it is tasty
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and foolproof. Like, I can't, like, I'm not
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going in there to be surprised. I'm not going in there to try to
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change anybody's life. Yeah.
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I'm just going in there to put up just delicious food that I
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can make in a timely manner and not put it up sweating and
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freaking out, you know, like that.
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Yeah, I agree. I like, I'd be like, that's the
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worst thing. You know, you put like you go to
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these cooking interviews and you push yourself too hard and then
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you just end up fucking everything up.
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Well, we had, we had a large operation where where we work
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together and we did so many cooking interviews there and it
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was always the same thing. So for people listening for
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context, I would always give them a whole fish, an artichoke,
7:05
a live lobster. And what else am I missing?
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Whole fish, live lobster, Artichoke.
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Was that it? And a whole salmon and a whole
7:12
chicken. Yeah, and a whole chicken.
7:14
Right. So it was like, let's see what
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you could do. I'd said you could have as much
7:17
time as you want. You could use anything in the
7:18
kitchen. We'll even sometimes assign you
7:20
a helper. Yeah, but but you have to use
7:22
that. You have to use those.
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I want to see two dishes with each with each thing.
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So not necessarily 2 salmon dishes, but we need one to taste
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and there's going to be a lot of people, so we need 2.
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It's through that is fucking stunning.
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How many chefs don't know how to clean an artichoke?
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That was the one. That was like, it was like
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always crazy. Yeah, it was great.
7:43
The artichoke was the one that would break people more than
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anything. Yes, 100%, Yeah, yeah, that and
7:48
and serving the nicely cooked chicken or breaking down a
7:52
salmon. Yeah, well enough to where
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you're not just shredding it. Right, right.
7:56
I mean, I, I remember I saw a couple of times, like someone
8:00
would give their, their, their comedy.
8:01
Like here, can you clean the artichoke 'cause I'm really busy
8:04
knowing like I'm watching, like you don't know how to clean an
8:06
art. Yeah.
8:07
Or they would say things to me like, hey, chef, do you want me
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to do artichokes the way I do them or should I do them how you
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do them? I'm like, no, do them how you do
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them. Like I know exactly.
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Oh, I did have someone serve me the choke.
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Oh yeah, yeah, I was there for that, Someone garnished.
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I don't know what they did with art choke, but they they took
8:26
the choke out the the purple leaves and they garnished the
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dish with it. Yeah, I saw that.
8:30
I was there for that. Yeah, yeah.
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It was like, oh. Geez, that was the ultimate.
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Everybody was just standing around and everybody just say
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just like looking at each other words like I was like fucked.
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Yeah, I mean, and the reason I do that, the reason I would do
8:43
those, it's like if you can make a chicken taste good, you can
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make a duck taste good, you can make a pheasant taste good, you
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can make all those other things taste good.
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Yeah, but if you can't make a chicken taste good, why am I
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gonna waste a duck on you? Yeah, right.
8:52
No, for sure. Right.
8:54
I, I mean, I thought that like, I mean, each ingredient does
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show something, you know, it short.
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It shows a lot actually. Like if you can roast, like if
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you can cook chicken properly, awesome.
9:05
If you could break down a lobster and like, not overcook
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it. Awesome artichoke.
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For some reason, that was always the the curveball for everybody.
9:11
Yeah, cuz everyone skips artichoke practice.
9:13
Yeah, everyone does. Like, well, just buy the can.
9:16
Yeah, yeah, just to just buy the marinade.
9:18
Yeah, yeah, just buy the OR or just don't even buy it.
9:19
Don't ever put on the menu no knows how to clean how.
9:21
Are you put artichokes so much worse?
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Or just buy the babies. The babies are easy.
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Yeah, the babies are easy. Yeah, the babies are.
9:28
I'm doing a dinner. I don't know if this podcast
9:31
will be out by the time I'm doing it, but I'm doing braced
9:35
artichokes and I cooked them the other day.
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I was like, let me do some R&D and I cooked the artichokes and
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I've been ranting a lot about food.
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And I was like, let me put my money where my mouth is.
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Let me see if I could get away with just strawberries and cream
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and just artichokes and, you know, just a, you know, a simple
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beef dish. And I'll tell you, I think I'm,
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I was right. I know it's subjective and I
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know I'm, I'm a little bit biased with my opinion that that
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what I created was as delicious as anything I've had this year.
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But the other people that were around that tasted also kind of
10:06
agreed. It's like, yeah, it might not
10:07
have been the most pretty beautiful dish I've ever done.
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And quite honestly, I, I will say it's not yeah, but it tasted
10:15
right. It tasted good and it confirmed
10:18
kind of what my thoughts were about food is like.
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We need to go back to making it delicious first.
10:21
Well, I feel like that's like 75% of it.
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You know, if it's yummy, making it, making it look pretty is is
10:29
first of all, it's objective. Secondly, it's, you know, it
10:32
shouldn't be the like that shouldn't be the first thought.
10:34
It's. Fleeting.
10:35
Yeah, exactly. And especially nowadays, I feel
10:37
like, you know, things are going like obviously in a more simple
10:41
direction, but I think the simpler things get, the less you
10:46
hide. Yeah.
10:47
And I think that serving us like, like you're saying like
10:50
simple cooked artichokes right in barrel and it's all properly
10:54
done. Yeah, and I you know, I did some
10:56
some garlic confit with it and then I when I was done with it,
10:59
I got a little chicken schmaltz over the top hot.
11:01
It was great flipping it with back head.
11:03
It was like someone that was there said, oh, this tastes
11:07
comfort. If it ain't broke, don't fix.
11:09
It right and there's a lot of food out there that it's not
11:12
broken. Yeah, yeah.
11:13
I mean, yes, 100%. Back to the cooking interview,
11:16
though. When we were doing it, I always
11:19
knew like within a few minutes if they were getting the job or
11:21
not. And sometimes I felt bad, like I
11:23
like they're going to be here for six hours, but I knew in the
11:25
first hour they weren't, they weren't getting it.
11:27
Yeah, just by just by the way they're working.
11:29
Yeah, yeah. I was like, oh, they're not
11:30
going to get the job. And like, you can't go up to
11:32
someone. I mean, I guess you could like
11:34
10 minutes and be like, hey, just so you know, you're not
11:36
getting the job I already know you're not getting.
11:38
Yeah, but I think for for the for their own benefit, you might
11:41
as well have them go through it because then they're also
11:44
learning something, you know, like, you know, I'm sure also I
11:48
feel like a lot of those people that within the first hour, if
11:50
you can tell that they're not going to get it, they're
11:52
probably feeling the same thing. And I think everybody should go
11:55
through that, you know, just like forcing yourself to like,
12:00
just, you know, be uncomfortable.
12:03
Do you remember when you did your cooking interview?
12:05
Well, you were interviewing for sous chef.
12:06
Yeah, I was interviewing for sous chef.
12:09
Yeah, I I mean, that was your. Food was good though.
12:11
I I honestly, I was, I was really proud of everything.
12:14
Yeah. And I will say like it was, you
12:16
know, it was in front of, it was in front of you.
12:18
It was in front of of Chef Atticus.
12:20
Shout out, you know, shout out Chef Atticus.
12:23
Yeah. Luke was there.
12:24
Was he? Yeah.
12:25
So it was like kind of in front of a lot of like Jason was
12:28
there. So it was like in front of a lot
12:29
of. More senior chefs.
12:30
Yeah, a lot of more senior chefs, and I was.
12:32
I was definitely a little nervous, yeah, but I was happy
12:35
with the food I put up. Yeah, it was good.
12:37
It was good. And you know, Speaking of food,
12:43
I'm gonna jump right into this. I and I know some of the story,
12:46
but for people listening, you were you were just at the book
12:49
who's how did all that come to be?
12:52
So can you start like how you even got involved with Mentor
12:56
BKB to how you wound up in Lyon, what, two months ago?
13:01
Oh, it's a it's a long story, I think.
13:05
So it started off with the Mentor Young Chef competition.
13:11
Yeah. So I had done it twice.
13:14
Was that the one I met you at? Yeah, the first one you got the
13:17
first one? Yeah, the first one was when I
13:19
was with with Joe Maggio. Shout.
13:22
Out, Joe. Maggio Yeah.
13:23
And you? Were his apprentice.
13:25
I was just, yeah, I was his comedy.
13:27
Yeah. And that's where I met you.
13:31
We ended up getting silver. You know, that was like the
13:35
first, the first time I was ever involved in in anything mentor
13:38
related. Then ended up doing it again,
13:41
this time as the young chef candidate.
13:43
Yeah, I got got got third for that one.
13:50
And then I just, you know, and then I think I've always just
13:54
kept in contact with, with mentor, with, with young.
13:58
You went to the Mexico qualifiers too, right?
14:00
Yeah, so the when we got silver, that was the prize we got to go
14:05
to to watch Kirkley qualify in the Americas.
14:10
And then they got gold, and that was that was awesome.
14:14
And then kind of, you know, Fast forward a couple years, I mean,
14:18
a couple years, probably almost a decade probably, yeah.
14:22
And I think we were still. Involved with mentors.
14:26
Yeah, I think there was, you know, there was always
14:27
communication. We did AI want to say we did a
14:30
dinner in Garrison. Yeah, through you.
14:31
I think I was always like set like involved because Jordan was
14:35
there and Jordan also competed. Jordan was I was Jordan sous
14:40
chef for for context, in Garrison.
14:43
He competed at the same time I competed.
14:44
He got silver, I got bronze. And yeah, so I think we it's
14:49
it's all I've just like always kind of been around mentor And
14:55
then craziest story, you know, last year randomly I get, you
15:01
know, I I get an e-mail saying, oh, you know, we're in we're in
15:04
town. Do you want to go grab dinner
15:05
with us? And that was with young you,
15:09
Chef Robert Soladecki, Matt Peters and Stephanie De Palma.
15:13
Who is the candidate? Yeah.
15:15
Jamie Chu. Yeah.
15:16
And Jamie. And I'm thinking, you know,
15:20
really cool. But I'm like, you know, what's
15:22
going on? What's going on here, you know?
15:25
And so we get there and. And Chevy Robber asks me if I
15:31
wanted to be a sous chef on the team.
15:33
And I, I mean, crazy moment, you know?
15:36
Yeah. Like such a pivotal moment.
15:40
Obviously I have to say yes, right?
15:43
Not because I have to, but because that's just like the
15:45
opportunity of that's the opportunity of a lifetime,
15:47
right? So I say yes.
15:50
And I was crazy. I was, you know, I was going to
15:53
leave to get married like literally a month after that,
15:57
right? The idea was that I was going to
15:59
go get married, come back. I was back in Austin for a day,
16:03
and then I moved to Napa immediately.
16:06
Was in Napa for about four or five months without my wife,
16:10
which, you know, shout out, shout out to Ego for being being
16:12
awesome and, and letting me do that.
16:14
She should have divorced you. Yeah.
16:15
And honestly, seriously, I feel like that that was, you know, I
16:19
feel so lucky. And just the whole, the whole
16:24
thing was just, you know, it was a dream.
16:27
Yeah, here's some something that maybe people don't know for
16:30
about that experience when I met you and in Vegas at the Bokus
16:35
qualifier is you're doing the competition with Joe Maggio.
16:39
And part of my role there in the Young chef competition was to
16:48
shadow and kitchen judge with Roland Hennen and Andre Saltner.
16:53
Rest in peace, Andre Saltner. I I took an Uber with Roland
16:56
Hennen and Andre Saltner to get to the competition and I
17:01
remember for like the first 30 minutes rolling head and was
17:05
standing right in front of me and just watching me like a
17:08
hawk. And I was so nervous.
17:10
I was just critiquing the chefs like loud while I was like, just
17:14
explain to me, oh Andre, look at this.
17:15
Oh, I was, I was, I was like, I don't remember what exactly what
17:18
I was doing, but I was so nervous.
17:20
I was like, Oh my gosh. And like I mean rolling head in
17:25
like for those of for those of you that don't know.
17:27
That's Thomas Keller, chef. Yeah, yeah.
17:28
SO isn't. Yeah, I was.
17:30
I was freaking out. Yeah, that's Thomas Keller
17:31
chefs, and Andre Sultner's a legend.
17:33
Yeah, he just recently passed. But also, you know, one of the I
17:37
would argue he deserves to be on the Mount Rushmore.
17:40
Yes, yeah, right. He does deserve.
17:42
He does, he does deserve to be on the Mount Rushmore.
17:44
Andre Sultner. And it was, it was cool for me
17:46
to just, you know, I was at their hip for like 2 days just
17:50
listening to their stories. It's such a cool experience.
17:52
Yeah, it really was. Yeah, the, the, I mean, the
17:54
whole thing is, is insane. Just just going back to to Napa
17:59
and the competition, just, I mean, just being there and, and
18:04
you're just, you're surrounded by so many talented people.
18:08
So Matt Peters was just on the show and he talked about the
18:11
book whose process and and he kind of explained that, but for
18:17
people that are listening, what is the team look like in
18:20
training? Like what is that structure?
18:22
So they, a lot of it happens at the CIA in, in Napa, Ecopia.
18:30
Yeah, Ecopia. And it's, you know, there,
18:34
there's the kitchen there. The, the kitchen's built out to
18:37
replicate the kitchen that's gonna be in Lyon when you're in
18:41
the box. And then there's a lot of,
18:45
there's a lot of R&D and the team dynamic is, is extremely
18:49
important. You have Stephanie and Bradley.
18:51
The Chef. Chef Stephanie, Yeah, Chef
18:53
Stephanie and and Bradley Waddle, who's who's the comedy?
18:58
Both extremely talented people. Just just honestly, the whole
19:03
the whole team, the whole experience was amazing.
19:04
And you're not on the team if you're not extremely talented.
19:06
Yeah, exactly. And, you know, and then we have,
19:09
we have two assistants, Carson and Alexis, and then we have
19:13
Amanda who's kind of doing a lot of the logistical and, and
19:17
things in the background. And then Sebastian, who was the
19:20
coach. And it was just, it was just
19:24
and, and you and me and it was just an awesome, it was an
19:26
awesome team that it was a lot of R&D.
19:30
And then once everything's kind of in place, then you start
19:33
doing your, your, your runs, your practice runs because it's,
19:38
you know, the difference between the Boku's door and like a
19:44
competition, like Top Chef or anything else is you know
19:46
exactly what you're cooking going into the Boku's door,
19:49
right? You're, every single move has
19:52
been thought out. You've, you know, you're, you're
19:54
in the box. You're not thinking, you're just
19:56
doing something that you've already done countless and
19:58
countless of times. And, and it's just, it's so like
20:04
it's such a logistical challenge getting all the equipment there,
20:10
you know, having all the tooling made.
20:12
You know, the people that make the platter, It's it's just
20:14
crucial detail, crucial detail. It's it's just such it's just
20:18
there's so many little pieces you're going in there and
20:23
everybody's there making the best food in the world.
20:27
That is, that is the thing Five and a.
20:28
Half. So you're in Lyon.
20:29
I mean, who? Who's there?
20:30
Who do you see? Oh, everybody.
20:32
I've seen pictures. But everybody, I mean, like any,
20:36
any chef you can think of is, is there walking around.
20:40
So Thomas is there. Dallas is there, Danielle is
20:43
there, Claire Smith is there walking around, you know, all
20:47
the, all the legends you have all the, the Mofs, you know,
20:50
the, the, the chefs that like restaurant public Coos, Olivier
20:55
Kuvan, all these like amazing, amazing chefs that like, you
20:59
know, you, I just, I just have, you know, a library of their
21:02
books, but I don't know what they look like.
21:04
And then you get there and it's like, oh, shit, you know, yeah,
21:07
it's, it's, it's the best chefs in the world.
21:09
It's you. Know.
21:10
Yeah, so when the competition's going on, like, what are you
21:12
sitting in the stands? You're watching.
21:13
You're cheering. What?
21:14
How to see? Yes, nervously if I can.
21:17
Nervously sitting in the stands. It's just, you know, you're
21:21
watching them so. Are you?
21:23
Are you liking the VIP booth? Are you liking the nosebleeds?
21:26
No, we're the nosebleeds chef. We're fucking cheering.
21:28
We're cheering on. It's it's so crazy.
21:29
The atmosphere is so crazy. It's, it's like, it's, it's like
21:33
a World Cup game. Yeah.
21:35
Like, it's like, you know, each section has, you know, each
21:38
country sits in their own section, right?
21:40
They all have fucking bullhorns, like flags, like, like confetti
21:45
poppers, like all this. It's, it's crazy.
21:48
It's so loud and you're just there and you're just cheering
21:52
the whole time. Huge.
21:55
It's, it's, it's crazy to think about.
21:57
Like how you know, even for example, the Scandinavian
22:01
countries, it's such a popular thing there, like the bug whose
22:03
door is like people follow it. People like are very, very
22:07
invested in it. And you could tell by the way
22:09
that their fans are it's they're like, you know, this guy, this
22:13
Swedish guy that's just like fully body painted out to the
22:16
Swedish flag to for a cooking competition, which is really
22:20
cool. Yeah.
22:22
So the fans are awesome. Just, you know, we're kind of
22:24
we're, we're all kind of sitting there and, you know, cheering
22:27
and just making, you know, just I, I can see the box from where
22:32
I'm sitting. So I'm also just like watching
22:34
and nervously checking the time and making sure that they're on
22:37
time and that everything is, you know, like going well.
22:39
And honestly, they they crushed it.
22:42
Like that was the best, the best run we've ever had was in the
22:48
book Whose Door. And she was on the zone.
22:50
In the zone, both of them. Yeah, they they absolutely
22:52
killed it. Yeah, yeah, it was.
22:54
It was a super, super cool experience.
22:57
And you ate up book whose? How was that?
22:59
I did eat a bokus, honestly. Who'd you?
23:01
Who'd you eat with? Oh boy, that was.
23:03
Like who's at the table? Who's sitting next to you?
23:05
Paint a picture for the people listening.
23:08
It's me, Sebastian, the coach, a lot of the people that are just
23:13
involved in mentor, Jamie Young, the people from Crucial Detail.
23:19
Gavin Cason is there, Thomas is there.
23:24
Just, you know, legends and heroes.
23:28
Show yeah you just you just shut up and.
23:29
Listen, yeah, yeah. And yeah, I would say top three,
23:35
top three. Best meal I've ever had.
23:37
Really. Yeah.
23:37
Why? First of all, everything was
23:41
everything was fucking delicious.
23:44
And all the dishes, they're just so, like, legendary, you know,
23:47
you just, you look at pictures of them in books and, like,
23:49
you're like always thinking like, fuck, I wonder what that
23:51
tastes like, you know? Yeah, the truffle soup is
23:55
insane. Yeah.
23:56
Like, the puff pastry is, like, perfect.
23:59
The soup is perfect. There's pieces of fog around it
24:01
that are, like, just perfectly poached.
24:03
Like, like, not only is it perfect, but like, you know, we
24:08
were sitting at a table with, like, 20 people, right?
24:10
And like, kind of like when, you know, when you're doing APDR in
24:13
a restaurant, like, you know, the consistently putting
24:16
something up 20 times for a single table is pretty hard.
24:19
Making it, making sure everything's hot and
24:21
everything's going out on time. So like, for them to do that for
24:23
20 people and at that level of food, it was also just mind
24:27
blowing to me. Truffle soup is amazing.
24:30
The canals, the fish canals, Yeah.
24:32
That are filled with, like, lobster.
24:34
And there's like this, like, Champagne, like Le borche.
24:37
Yeah. So good.
24:38
Like perfect glazed, perfectly cooked, like temperature wise,
24:43
perfect. The, the pileo vesi, the, the
24:48
chicken in the pig's bladder. Yeah, awesome.
24:51
Like the way they carve it is so crazy.
24:54
Like the the, you know, the servers are carving and that for
24:57
that, you know, for that amount of people, it's like, I think it
24:59
was like 10 chickens. Was there?
25:01
Was there a dish that stood out more than any other dish?
25:06
I really like the canals. Yeah.
25:07
I think the canals, like one of the best things I've ever eaten
25:11
in a restaurant. Really.
25:12
Yeah. It's just so good.
25:14
And and and again, back to our point.
25:15
Probably not the most beautiful. Dish.
25:16
Oh no, it was. It's three.
25:18
It's literally 3 perfect canals right of fish, Mussolin right
25:23
filled with lobster and like a little doll of caviar and just.
25:28
Gratinate a little bit. It wasn't.
25:30
So they don't gratinate theirs. It's just like, it's perfectly,
25:33
just like, it's just white. Like the whole dish is white.
25:35
Got it. And it's.
25:38
Yeah, beautifully presented. The textures are all perfect.
25:41
Yeah. I mean, it's just one of those
25:43
dishes that you're just like. So I had another friend eat
25:45
there recently, and he was sending me a whole bunch of
25:49
photos. Atticus, You know Atticus.
25:50
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We, we work together.
25:52
So he's sending me a bunch of photos of of what they're doing.
25:55
And he says the most amazing part about this dinner is that
26:02
now I know what that food is supposed to taste like.
26:04
Yeah. Like, like, you think you know
26:06
what it tastes like, but you try it.
26:07
It's like, no, it's different than what you thought.
26:08
Yes, 100%. I think that was that was one of
26:12
the the things as well as like the flavor.
26:14
I mean, like even just the chicken, like it's not like a
26:19
fucking poached chicken. It doesn't taste like a poached
26:21
chicken or a steamed chicken because I mean, it's steaming
26:23
inside this thing. But like the breast chicken is
26:27
just so much different than any other chicken you've ever had.
26:29
It's just like the texture is just wildly different and it
26:32
eats so much more steaky than just like this, like soft
26:36
chicken meat. So like that in, in itself, you
26:40
know, you're eating it. You're like, whoa, like I've
26:42
never had chicken that has that has this texture.
26:45
Right. And it's delicious and it makes
26:48
sense. And then the sauce is amazing.
26:50
And then it's just like, yeah, it's crazy.
26:52
They they put these fat slabs of truffles under the skin.
26:55
So it's just like, it has this like truffle like aroma like
26:59
essence, but it's not like the truffle oil aroma essence.
27:03
It's just like this like earthy, like just, I don't know.
27:06
It's awesome. Yeah.
27:09
That's that's very cool that you got to experience.
27:11
That yeah, that was, that was one of the cooler experiences.
27:13
You get to go to the kitchen. Yeah, really cool.
27:19
Chef Olivia Kuvan, the, the chef that's there currently, He, he
27:23
took me and the coach Sebastian and, and Gavin to the, there's a
27:30
little backroom in, in the house, cuz Paul Bakus lives
27:33
there, you know, and there's like a little living room
27:37
basically that's like a little bit off the, off to the side of
27:40
the kitchen. And it's, it hasn't been touched
27:44
since, since Monsieur Paul was like, was there.
27:47
So it's just like this little TV.
27:49
There's a little table in there, a little couch, you know, it's
27:51
like decorate. The walls are decorated.
27:53
It has very old, like old school, like kind of French vibe
27:56
to it. Yeah.
27:57
And like he took us in there and is like surreal.
28:00
It's just like, yeah. He like, he would spend every
28:03
day in here eating, you know, eating breakfast and like, like
28:06
this historic thing that just like, really hits home.
28:09
Yeah, that's, that's, that's super cool.
28:11
Did being at the competition give you the itch to compete
28:16
like, and, and before I before I let you answer that, I remember
28:21
when we were in Garrison, we had so many chefs come through
28:28
there. And I don't mean to work.
28:29
I mean, I mean, we had a ton of chefs that worked there too, but
28:31
I mean, we had a ton of chefs that would come through and eat.
28:33
And I remember one day, it was like the day before, I think
28:36
Gabe Oralis and Byron Gomez had come through and they had
28:40
dinner. And then just so you know, both
28:42
of them had just come off Top Chef.
28:43
Like the next day it was like the team from Micheli Rico Diego
28:48
and their team are in the PDR. Tiffany Derry and her CDC is in
28:53
the in the dining room. Anastasia Quinones is also in
28:56
the dining room. Joe Chan shows up.
28:58
Her entire team, everybody. That was it.
29:01
Was like the IT was like the industry fine dining restaurant.
29:04
Yeah. And I remember that day.
29:06
So it's one of those things that's like for people that
29:10
don't know, it's like, OK, the restaurant is closing down,
29:13
everyone's leaving, but all the chefs stay late.
29:16
So like, Tiffany's there with her team, you know, drinking and
29:19
AQ's at a different table. They didn't even know that.
29:21
And it was just them and it was like.
29:22
Right. And and Joe Chan I think is
29:24
there and I remember afterwards I'm talking with Tiffany and I'm
29:27
like, Tiffany, what do we got to do to get Jacob on Top Chef,
29:31
right? Yeah.
29:33
So anyway, that's just context for for the question.
29:36
But she had given some advice like, oh, Jacob, do this, that
29:39
and the other. And I remember thinking, yeah,
29:42
you would do good on Top Chef. But at least I, I thought that
29:44
back then. The competition's tough now,
29:46
but. It is, it is.
29:48
I mean, in the new season, it's like, yeah, I feel like it's but
29:51
we just stepped up. Would you ever do that?
29:53
Totally. I mean, I think the the book
29:56
whose door just being a part of that and, you know, being
30:00
surrounded by all that, I think, you know, kind of lit a fire
30:02
under my ass. I definitely would would love to
30:05
compete in any way. You know, I think just by being
30:11
in the industry, I think you're just naturally competitive.
30:14
I think everybody is, yeah. And I think the competition
30:17
thing kinda takes it to another level.
30:21
I mean, I would love to be a part of any of that.
30:24
Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
30:25
I think it would be cool. It's also just a huge blast off,
30:28
I think, for your career. I I like Top Chef of.
30:34
All Top Chef is really cool. Of all the TV cooking, I mean.
30:36
I've been watching Next Level Chef too.
30:38
I like that shows. I've been watching Next Level.
30:40
It's fun. It's like it's one of those
30:43
cooking TV shows. It's like, OK, what am I getting
30:45
myself into? Then You just can't stop
30:46
watching. OK, yeah, I gotta check that.
30:48
Out. Yeah, yeah, it's good.
30:49
Did you see the new? The new Chef's table, Yeah.
30:51
What'd you think? Have you seen it?
30:52
I have. OK, no, I haven't seen all of
30:54
it. I've actually, I only watched
30:55
the the Thomas Keller episode. I think it's amazing.
31:00
Yeah. That episode, honestly, there
31:03
were things that I actually didn't even really know about
31:06
Thomas. That episode kind of showed and
31:09
I thought it was really, I thought it was very well.
31:10
Were they filming? That when you were up there.
31:12
No, I don't think so. Yeah, no, I think, I feel like
31:15
they had to have been filmed a little bit, like probably maybe
31:18
six months before I. Got it.
31:19
Looks like summer. Yeah, it looks like summer.
31:22
It's yeah, I I think so. I think I think it was a little
31:25
bit before. I saw the Thomas episode, which
31:26
was great, and the food looked great.
31:30
It looked like it was a mix of the classics plus some of the
31:33
newer stuff that they're doing. Yeah, the the the cornet and the
31:37
coffee and Donuts, but also like the, the green salad that they
31:40
did. Yeah, it was the food look
31:43
really beautiful. The restaurant look very
31:45
beautiful, as always. The attention to detail in
31:47
there. When I was watching it, I was
31:48
geeking out, you know, they're scrubbing and they're wiping,
31:50
like I like that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, I like, I like
31:52
seeing the kitchen. Stuff.
31:53
I mean, honestly, all the kitchen shots, the kitchen's
31:55
like fucking Immaculate. They just like, damn.
31:57
Like. And then I saw the Alice Waters
32:03
one. I started watching that one.
32:04
I didn't finish it, but but I I got to go back and finish it,
32:07
yeah. I I, so I finished the Alice
32:09
Waters one and again, it kind of goes back to my point, you know?
32:13
You know, there's that one point she's talking about how simple
32:16
food is, and I'm looking at food.
32:17
It's like, oh, that looks delicious.
32:19
Like it does look like I would eat that.
32:21
Yeah, you know what I mean? Beautiful salads and stuff like
32:23
that. I was like it looks good.
32:24
Hey, last time I was on this podcast I was reheating on my
32:26
salads. That is true.
32:28
That is true. But it's like you're not trying
32:30
to open up a salad. Like, I also get it, Like salads
32:33
are beautiful and I would eat them, but at the same time, it's
32:35
like I'm not going to go and try and fucking get a job on my
32:38
cooking interview. Give them a salad.
32:39
Yeah. Back to the cooking interviews.
32:41
Don't do a salad. Yeah, don't do a salad.
32:44
Don't do a salad on your cooking interview.
32:47
And I started seeing the Jamie Oliver one, but that was it.
32:49
I didn't finish it. Yeah, I definitely.
32:54
I mean, I love those shows. I think they're even like the
32:58
they're going back to the the Baku's door thing.
33:03
So we have to make a pasta. Yeah.
33:05
And so of course, you know, best, best pasta chef in the
33:09
country. Evan Funky comes down to
33:11
Cheech's pasta, which is like, yeah, it's surreal.
33:14
It was just like a week long crash course on pasta.
33:16
So what'd you learn? Oh, gosh.
33:18
So yeah, you don't know shit about pasta.
33:20
Yeah. Then I don't then I don't know
33:21
shit about pasta. 100%. That's that's number one.
33:25
Yeah. It's just, it's, I mean, he like
33:27
he kind of just shows you like how granular can you get with
33:31
one thing, right? You know, like, like for me,
33:35
before I, before I, I went through that crash course, I was
33:37
like, you know, pasta. I love pasta, you know, But do I
33:40
really understand it? Not really. 2 to one or
33:44
whatever. Yeah, yeah.
33:44
You know, just fucking. I have my recipe, You know,
33:47
sometimes I make it in a Robocup.
33:48
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but but yeah. And then, and then Chef Evan
33:53
comes, don't make it in a bowl. And it's like, yeah, don't make
33:55
it in a bowl. Don't make it in a bowl.
33:57
The chef, Chef Evan comes in and it's like, everything matters.
33:59
You know, we're like, are you needing it on wood?
34:02
What is the relative humidity in the room?
34:04
You know, like stuff like that. It's just like, it's crazy.
34:07
What flour was he? Caputo Double O flour, yeah.
34:10
I went through a phase like post retirement I was making pasta
34:13
every day. There's so many different types
34:15
of like rimashinata was another one that we used in the in the
34:18
dough recipe and I've never even heard of that in my life.
34:21
What's rimashinata? What is it?
34:23
It's it's it's like a it's AI believe it's a type of double O
34:29
the it's a little bit finer grain.
34:32
OK, so I guess it absorbs water quick.
34:35
Like there's so much little shit.
34:37
Like the way that it hydrates is a little bit different, but but
34:41
yeah. And then I mean the whole, the
34:43
whole Evan Funky thing was really cool.
34:46
And you're around everyone. I mean, I don't know if Grant's
34:48
down there, but you. Got he was there.
34:50
I just missed him. So I, I was supposed to get
34:52
there a little bit earlier, but because, because I was getting
34:56
married, it was I kind of got there.
34:58
I showed up a little bit later. So I missed like Grant was there
35:02
and I missed that one. But you know, Tiffany
35:04
Hollensworth was there, like a lot of Chef Eric Anderson, who's
35:07
awesome, who's there all the time.
35:08
Yeah. Yeah.
35:10
You're just surrounded by so much greatness.
35:12
Yeah. It's it's it's crazy.
35:15
But yeah. I wanted to ask you something.
35:17
Though, Yeah, go ahead. Do you ever, do you ever do you
35:20
ever want to go back to the kitchen?
35:21
Do you ever you ever you ever think about that?
35:24
Well, you know the answer. Let me think what I could say on
35:29
the on the podcast that I wouldn't, that I don't want to
35:31
get myself in trouble because people do ask me this all the
35:37
time. Would I go back?
35:39
Of course, I'm not an idiot. Like for the right opportunity
35:42
with the right amount of money, for the right concept, of course
35:44
I would go back. I've had multiple offers real
35:50
estate wise, meaning like, OK, would you, would you put a, a
35:54
license, a licensing agreement restaurant, you know, an Andre
35:57
in a Terra restaurant inside this hotel or inside this
36:00
building? Some of them have fallen
36:02
through. Like I've gotten very close to
36:03
the end. And then, you know, we just
36:04
can't agree on terms. So I like that's why I'm
36:07
cautious about saying who others, you know, and it's not
36:13
always in Texas. Like I've talked to people in
36:15
other states as well about putting something in and other
36:18
times like people approach me about wanting to open something
36:21
up and attach my name to it. But it's a concept that I don't
36:24
want to do. So I am looking for a bit of a
36:28
Unicorn. So I would for the right
36:31
opportunity. But I'm I'm also OK if it never
36:33
happens. You know what I mean?
36:35
Like I'm also very much OK with what I'm doing now.
36:39
A couple of the ideas that I've kicked around that I think would
36:42
be nice is I would love to open up a Mexican steakhouse.
36:46
And I know we've talked about like I want to do a Mexican
36:48
dinner with you. I would love to do like a take
36:51
on a classic steakhouse, but through the filter of Mexican
36:55
food and Gabe and and and I and Rico have talked about it.
37:03
We'd love to do that. Like, hey, if anyone's
37:05
listening, you want a license, you want a three for one deal.
37:07
That's it right there. Maybe we get Jacob.
37:09
Maybe we get Loris Wiki too. I mean, it'd be, it'd be fun.
37:13
I think a Mexican steakhouse. It hasn't been done well.
37:16
I yeah, I 100% agree. And I think the way steakhouses
37:19
blow up, yeah, is first of all. And that's also why I want to do
37:22
it, because I also know that it's like it would be
37:25
profitable. Oh, 100%.
37:26
Yeah. Like I'm also thinking like I
37:28
also don't want to close in a year.
37:29
Yeah, right. I feel like, OK, is it just me
37:32
or do you feel like the steakhouse is like making a
37:35
super strong comeback? I think it is.
37:37
I think now that we've addressed the elephant to the room that
37:41
it's about making delicious food and it doesn't have to be dainty
37:43
all the time. Yeah, I think it.
37:45
Gives a great opportunity for steakhouse, but I do think they
37:47
got to rethink it a little bit because a lot of steakhouses
37:50
feel the same. So you have to be an exceptional
37:52
version of what already exists. Yeah, but people have come to me
37:57
about wanting to do very high end concepts.
38:01
And normally when like this is how the conversation goes is,
38:03
you know, peek behind the curtain.
38:04
If someone comes up to me, you know, real estate investor or
38:07
whatever, or hotelier and they're like, hey, we'd love to
38:09
put a concept in there. Like what are you thinking?
38:11
I'll give them like 3 concepts. Like I'd love to do a Bistro.
38:15
I'd love to maybe do a live fire concept that's, you know,
38:18
vegetables and meat and, you know, think, think beautiful
38:21
prawns on the grill with a simple sauce and family style
38:23
with good service, fun, good music, hip hop, whatever.
38:26
Or a Mexican steakhouse. Those are the, those are the
38:29
concepts I present. But they sometimes say, well, we
38:33
want the farm to table high end tasting menus.
38:37
Like, I kind of don't want to do that because I'd have to be
38:39
there all the time and I don't want to be there all the time.
38:41
Yeah, I think, I mean, I think this for in terms of
38:46
profitability, I think the steak house is, is yeah, the way to
38:50
go. Margaritas and steaks, man.
38:51
Margaritas and steaks. And Mexican food, it's like.
38:54
Do you cash? You do like 400 covers, right?
38:57
You know, like you just you just crush.
39:01
I think, I think the you know, obviously the tasting menu thing
39:04
is, is you know, that definitely has a place, but.
39:07
I don't want to do that though, like like having a restaurant
39:10
that is like super fine dining, tasty menu.
39:13
It would require so much of my time.
39:16
I wouldn't be unless I like put you in there as the the chef and
39:18
it's like, Oh, it's Andre's restaurant, but Jacob's doing
39:20
all the food. I I just can't commit to that.
39:22
It's too much, like I have so much going on with chef's PSAI
39:27
don't want to be on the line every single day making sure
39:31
that's right, because it's like I have.
39:34
I kind of did retire. Yeah.
39:36
You know, I retired for a reason.
39:38
Yeah. I don't want to go back in, but
39:40
a licensing deal or a concept deal where it's like I'm gonna
39:43
show up. I'm gonna design it.
39:44
I'm gonna, I'm gonna do my thing, but I'm not gonna be
39:47
there every day. There's a chef.
39:48
I would consider that, yeah. I, I think, I think that's,
39:51
that's, that's fair. How's the prep going for the for
39:56
the dinner, for the? I haven't even started it.
39:59
What is that? The 18th of May. 18th of May.
40:04
Yeah, so it's it's Sarah Hurd and I.
40:06
So Sarah and I work together. She's my sous chef or chef to
40:09
cuisine, I don't remember exactly.
40:11
She ran the restaurant and this is the chefs that raised a
40:15
series. So her and I are collaborating
40:17
on the menu. So we're looking at, you know,
40:19
kind of items that she already has on her menu already.
40:22
So I think we're doing a cool out steak and I wanted to do
40:26
something like I'm again, I've been talking a lot of shit.
40:28
So it's like I want to do like an an onion soup flavor.
40:32
So it's I, I cook the onions in a bag.
40:37
I put a lot of umami and there's some kombu, some miso, some
40:40
smoked soy sauce from foods in season, a little bit of olive
40:44
oil bagged them some other stuff.
40:46
I kind of, I'm not thinking about it.
40:48
Bagged them, cooked them in in, in the at the set temperature.
40:53
And then once they come out, I glaze them.
40:55
So there's the onion, there's a palmalle go next to it.
40:57
So trying to get that Gruyere flavor with it.
41:00
The steak I did the old, the old seasoning, the mushroom.
41:04
The Wakame. The Wakame.
41:06
The salt, the black peppercorns on top of the steak cooked at
41:09
sous video. And then I also cooked it in a
41:12
pan. So I did.
41:12
I wanted to do 2 iterations of it, so like figure out which one
41:15
tastes better. Ironically enough, sous video
41:18
tasted better. And then brush it afterwards
41:20
with a little tallow made with Rosemary and garlic.
41:23
Slice the steak up. And then the broth that I made
41:25
for the steak was I made onion soup.
41:29
Basically, that's what I did. I made onion soup, but I reduced
41:32
it so it's like a like a zoo consistent and strained it so
41:36
it's clear. But it has all onion soup
41:38
flavor. So when you're tasting it, you
41:39
taste the onion, you taste the meat, you taste the the the
41:41
Gruyere, it tastes like onion soup.
41:44
Which sounds delicious it. Was like, it was honestly very
41:46
good. Yeah, it was honestly very good.
41:48
And then I did a a panna cotta. So they do panna cotta at the
41:51
restaurant. So like, let's do panna cotta.
41:52
So I wanted to like strawberries and cream, which is, I've been
41:54
talking a lot of shit about it. And I know it's not like the
41:57
most exciting thing, but we got some beautiful strawberries and
42:01
I did them three different ways. So some, some of them, the ones
42:04
that weren't so great, I grilled them.
42:06
The ones that were perfect, I left them untouched, Just cut
42:09
them up. Yeah.
42:10
And the ones that needed a little bit of something, I
42:12
compressed them with olive oil and salt.
42:15
And so you got three different flavors.
42:17
Put that on the panna cotta, a little bit of olive oil, little
42:19
basil, little Meyer lemon zest. And then I did.
42:22
Are you familiar with like Hokkaido cream?
42:25
No. So Hokkaido cream in Japan, and
42:28
I might be wrong, but it has more, more fat in it, so it
42:30
whips up more like shaving cream.
42:32
Luxuriousness. OK, so I wanted to recreate
42:35
Hokkaido cream. I can't get Hokkaido cream.
42:38
Yeah. So what I ended up doing to get
42:40
that texture was a combination of sweetened condensed milk,
42:44
heavy cream and a little bit of xanthan come.
42:46
So no, no, like granulated or powdered sugar in the Chantilly.
42:49
Whip that up and it has like this luscious shaving cream
42:52
texture. So I put that on the panna cotta
42:54
and honestly again. Like I mentioned, it was good.
42:56
It was fucking delicious. Yeah, yeah.
42:57
I mean, and it's like, it's not the most beautiful stuff.
42:59
Like, I'm not going to post it on Instagram.
43:01
Yeah. But I guarantee you everyone
43:02
that tastes like it's not fucking weird.
43:04
It's very familiar. It's very delicious.
43:06
And, you know, it's like everything tasted comforting.
43:08
And then I did the artichoke dish, which I told you about.
43:11
Yeah. That sounds good.
43:12
Yeah, it's a, it's a three course.
43:13
It's $65. It's a, it's a great deal.
43:15
I get to cook with, I get to cook with, you know, a new team.
43:18
And thank God they have a team because, you know, my back
43:21
hurts. But I think it'll be fun and
43:23
it'll it'll let me see if what my thoughts about food are
43:27
correct. And I think, I think I agree.
43:29
But I can tell you what I think is the new new.
43:32
What's the new new? What's the new new?
43:34
So for people that have been listening to the last four
43:38
episodes that have been hearing me rant and want me to shut the
43:40
fuck up about this already, I've been wondering like, what is the
43:44
new new? And I seen it.
43:46
I finally saw it and it's what the European chefs, the du
43:51
Casas, the chefs that run the Robichon's are doing in Asia.
43:57
Yeah, no, there's there's a lot of really good.
43:59
Their food looks so different, like it has this blend of
44:02
minimalism with perfect technique.
44:05
Yeah. And then like, that's it.
44:07
Yeah, I mean, it's because the stuff they're getting is like,
44:10
so nice, yeah, like everything they.
44:12
Get it Looks like nothing. I've nothing that you could find
44:14
right now in the states. Yeah.
44:15
I think I mean a lot of those, a lot of those chefs over there is
44:18
are, I mean, it's, it's just on a whole another level.
44:21
Is Kirkley in Asia? Yeah, I believe so.
44:23
Yeah. I think he's in.
44:24
I think he's in Hong Kong. I mean, the Daniel Cliver, the
44:31
the chef at Cezanne, Yeah, in Tokyo.
44:34
Crazy, right? Crazy.
44:37
It's so I mean it's next level. It's so it's so nice.
44:40
He was. He was at.
44:41
He was at the book. Movie.
44:42
Yeah, he was like. Yeah, he was like he was, he was
44:44
an honorary. Like he was an honorary.
44:47
I don't know if he was an honorary judge, but he was.
44:49
I think it was the chef of honor.
44:51
Like he was like, he was like, he was the guy.
44:54
It's crazy because I think he's only like 3533 stars, right?
44:57
Yeah, he's got three stars. I mean, he's worked.
44:59
He's worked everywhere. Yeah.
45:01
Just just just insane Chef. Yeah, I know.
45:05
I definitely agree with that. Yeah, the food in Asia is just
45:08
right now, I think. But it it's not just Asian food.
45:11
It's like the European Asian food blend.
45:13
I saw this beautiful dish that was like and and it's like 2
45:16
perfect things on the. Planet, I think you said to me.
45:18
Was it the same one? Yeah, Yeah, yeah.
45:20
That was like perfect, right? Yeah, it was perfect.
45:22
It was perfect, but I know you've got a lot of shit going
45:25
on and I don't even know if you're allowed to talk about
45:27
what you've got going on, but are you?
45:30
Not fully. Yeah.
45:33
Yeah, I definitely have a lot of stuff going on, staying
45:36
extremely busy. Just I know through so many
45:40
different facets, yes. You're you're like that.
45:43
Some of it I could talk about, you know, the, you know, I'm
45:46
still doing a couple of little private events here and there
45:48
and, you know, stuff like that. But but a lot of it, you know,
45:52
I'm just, I'm just staying slammed with with, you know,
45:55
there's just a lot of opportunities coming my way.
45:57
A lot of a lot of a lot of good things in the works.
45:59
Yeah. So stay tuned.
46:00
Stay tuned for that. I'll have you back when you're
46:02
ready to talk about it. Yeah, definitely, definitely.
46:04
Yeah. I think it'll be good.
46:04
I'm excited for you, by the way. And you know, kind of like what
46:09
I was talking about, what's what's interesting about my
46:12
situation, kind of tying into your situation is a lot of
46:15
people do come at you and be like, hey, would you like to do
46:17
this? That.
46:17
So it's important to say, yeah, maybe not that one.
46:20
Yeah, I mean 100% I think, I think being in this position of
46:25
doing the, you know, the, the, the private chefing, The thing
46:30
is nobody's going to try to poke you.
46:32
Yeah, You know, so it's, you know, the opportunities come in
46:35
like all the time. So it's just like for and it's,
46:39
it's nice because I, I kind of, I can kind of choose which,
46:42
yeah, which is a good spot to be it's.
46:44
Good to be a hot commodity. Like I used to joke around when
46:49
you when I had stepped away and you were still in Garrison.
46:53
I used to say you're the the most talented chef in Austin
46:55
that's not retired or Matt Peters.
46:59
That always has the biggest way in there, yeah.
47:03
But yeah, let's talk the kitchen, chef.
47:06
Chef. So you're, you're working the
47:08
line, you have your station set up, What's on, what's on, what's
47:13
on? First of all, when you arrive to
47:16
work, what are you doing? Like how are you setting your
47:18
station? So I think that there's there's
47:22
a universal standard. Because what's your universal?
47:25
Standard. So obviously, you know, I'll set
47:28
up my board. What kind of board?
47:30
I really liked the ones that we had at the hotel, the kind of
47:33
like the composite ones. Yeah, I know a lot of people
47:35
don't because their knives dig into them and stuff like that,
47:38
but. They're they're better for your
47:40
knives. I agree.
47:40
They're better for your knives, I think, like wooden boards,
47:43
like, you know, the booze blocks and all that stuff.
47:46
Yeah, get kind of nasty over time.
47:49
If you don't treat them right, they do get.
47:50
Yeah, and I just, I just feel like I've, I've seen, I've seen
47:52
them just just miss, you know, misused a lot.
47:55
I was at a place that they hired me to consult and I won't say
47:59
where there, but that was the first thing I did.
48:01
When I got there, I threw away all their boards.
48:02
They were covered in mold and they stunk.
48:04
Nasty they. Stunk like mildew.
48:06
Yeah, yeah, I prefer those. Those composite ones are great.
48:11
You know, obviously I like to honestly, I like to use silicone
48:16
underneath my board. I've I've been doing that a lot.
48:19
Now. You could buy like these like
48:20
rolls of thin silicone on Amazon, on Amazon and you could
48:24
just cut them and I'll just, I'll use that to hold my board
48:28
down which which I like. I I prefer it to the wet towel.
48:31
I prefer it to the little like, I don't know what they called
48:34
the little like rug non slip things that people put in their
48:36
rugs. Yeah, people use those a lot.
48:39
The SIL, the thin silicone honestly working well.
48:41
Silicone roll on Amazon. Yeah, you just, yeah, just just
48:44
find, you can find they're like these thin.
48:46
It's like a thin little, like just sheet of silicone.
48:50
And honestly, it's good to have around.
48:52
If you, you know, like if you're ever doing any R&D or you wanna,
48:55
you know, make a stencil or you wanna have some sort of like
48:58
thing like that, it's honestly great to use silicone to cut it,
49:01
to cut it out of. So yeah, I'll do that nicely.
49:06
Fold the towel, right, you know, right above the board, steel,
49:10
whatever knife I'm using. Biggest pet peeve is I hated
49:14
when people put like 6 fucking knives in front of their board.
49:19
It's like, and then they need one.
49:20
Yeah. And you literally are just using
49:22
one. And it's like, what?
49:23
What? Why?
49:24
Like why do you have 6 knives? Right, Right.
49:26
Like in front of you? So one knife, you know, handled
49:32
to the right, blade facing away. Yeah.
49:34
Never, never towards you. And then depends on, I guess
49:38
depends on what I'm doing. I like to have like some sort of
49:42
trash container, compost container.
49:45
So I'll do 2, usually a Bain Marie or something like that.
49:47
Do you do blue tape or green tape?
49:50
I like the green frog tape, yeah.
49:52
Use the frog or the Scotch brand.
49:54
I like the frog tape. I like the Scotch brand, Really.
49:56
Yeah, yeah, it sticks better, I feel.
49:58
I mean, honestly, I, I, I don't think I've ever used the green
50:02
Scotch. Is it the same thing as the blue
50:04
one? It's.
50:04
The same. It's the same thing.
50:05
As oh, I guess I I mean the frog tape does kind of have it
50:09
doesn't stick like sticks, but I still.
50:10
Think the adhesive isn't perfect?
50:12
Yeah, I think I, I agree. I think I I do like the
50:14
stickiness of the blue tape. So maybe, maybe I switch over to
50:17
the green. But you could get you could get
50:18
the green Scotch. That's what I use at home.
50:20
Yeah, yeah, it's great. Are you a a sharpie guy or a
50:24
Milwaukee something? I forgot they're called like
50:26
sometimes I'll put up there on chefs PC like Sharpie.
50:29
There is no second best and then all of a sudden like no, you
50:32
gotta use Milwaukee pens. I think they're called
50:33
Milwaukee. Pens.
50:34
I've never used those in my life.
50:35
Apparently they're better. For me, clicky clicky fine tip
50:38
Sharpie. You like the clicky fine tip?
50:41
I like the clicky fine tip 1 because my handwriting is
50:44
fucking atrocious and I write really small.
50:46
So like when I'm using a Sharpie like the 1st 10 labels, you know
50:50
when I have a brand new Sharpie, Yeah, it's.
50:52
Do you know why I hate the click Sharpie?
50:53
Have I ever told you why? No, because a lot of people put
50:55
in their. Because they unclick.
50:57
And it, and it stains the chef coat.
50:59
Yeah. And if, like, I'm paying for the
51:00
uniforms, I constantly have to buy them new uniforms.
51:02
That's number one. Yeah #2 is there's nothing worse
51:05
than the cook that just stands there and clicks.
51:07
Clicks. Yeah.
51:08
Like you're trying to focus that.
51:09
Like flings the tweet like the you like have the tweezers and
51:12
you do the little like. Clicky thing.
51:14
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah it.
51:15
Drives me fucking nuts. That's why, that's why I'm not a
51:18
click Sharpie guy, OK. And then when you're working the
51:22
pass for dinner service, what's on your station setup besides
51:26
the cutting board and all that? Like what are you finishing
51:27
with? What kind of citrus are you
51:28
using? Are you citrus or vinegar or
51:30
both? I think honestly lemon
51:32
squeezers, yeah, for me are are. Like little lemon cheeks.
51:35
Yeah, I think lemon cheeks, I mean, it's just so much fresher.
51:41
I don't mind vinegar. I just feel like there's just so
51:44
many. Like to me, there's like not
51:46
really a universal vinegar that could just go with everything.
51:49
Yeah. And you think Lemon does?
51:52
I feel like lemon just is just fair, the ultimate like just,
51:55
you know, you add a squeeze of lemon to it and like it's just
51:58
like it just brings universe freshness and just nice
52:01
brightness and it's like you can't put your finger on it that
52:04
that's a for sure a lemon, right?
52:07
Finishing salt, what do you do? I like Jacobson.
52:09
Jacobson. Jacobson Salt.
52:11
Yeah, the one out of Yeah, I'm from.
52:13
Yeah, I think it's out of Oregon or Washington.
52:15
Yeah, some. Some are Pacific Northwest,
52:19
yeah. I mean really, really good
52:20
stuff, but they. They have a variety of salt.
52:22
Stuff Now they do. Yeah, I remember.
52:23
They used to. It used to just be like, just
52:25
finishing salt, like flaky salt. Yeah.
52:27
Now I think they have, like, smoked salt.
52:30
Yeah. And you know what I saw the
52:31
other day? It's really funny.
52:32
I saw Malden salt. Now they have it with, like,
52:35
gold flakes. Why?
52:37
I don't know, Like, you got gold salt now you can buy it from
52:40
Malden. I mean, cool, you know,
52:42
whatever. For that Mexican steakhouse.
52:44
Yeah, exactly. You're gonna be the next salt,
52:48
Basia. Yeah, yeah.
52:50
What about? What about kosher salt?
52:53
What do you use? You like Diamond Crystal?
52:55
Diamond Crystal, Not Morton's. No diamond Crystal.
52:57
I know I'm from Chicago, but Diamond?
52:58
Crystal, I'm with you. I use diamond crystal also.
53:00
I just wanted to see what you say.
53:02
It's actually kind of crazy the difference cuz you know, when I
53:06
was working in Chicago, everybody's using.
53:08
Diamond Crystal's hard to find for home.
53:10
Cooks. Yes it is.
53:11
It is really hard to find out for home cooks.
53:14
Everybody's using Morton's in Chicago.
53:15
And, you know, that's just the way I, you know, was seasoning
53:18
food for years and years and years.
53:20
And then, you know, I go to a kitchen that starts using
53:23
diamond crystals. I'm like, whoa, yeah.
53:25
So it's like, I mean, it's so much.
53:27
It's so different. Where do you stand in 2025 on
53:30
microgreens? I feel like they.
53:37
I mean, I guess it depends. Yeah.
53:39
What is what do you consider a micro green?
53:42
Is it like the fucking rainbow mix?
53:44
No, no. No, just the intensity, not the
53:47
intensity mix, but yeah, like maybe it's Sorrel or Oxalis or
53:53
something like that. I think less is more, yeah.
53:56
And I think that obviously take into account the flavor of the
54:01
microgreens. Well, that's.
54:03
You bring up an excellent point. Here's something I would love
54:05
chefs to think about is that those microgreens are actually
54:08
very intense. 100%. I don't think people think about
54:11
how intense they are the. Cilantro blooms that a lot of
54:13
people use now, they're so intense.
54:17
Yeah. Like if you put it on anything
54:19
delicate it's just all I taste is.
54:21
Like extremely hard. I'm not a fan of the cilantro
54:24
blooms unless it's like we really need it.
54:26
Yeah. Or like if the dish is small and
54:29
dainty enough to where you could put like one of the little
54:31
flowers on top, cool. But if you're putting like the
54:34
big pollutions that have like like 5 flowers on it, then it's
54:38
like very, very intense. I think less is more.
54:41
I think like, there's no reason to just like cover something
54:46
with. Micro like like a Christmas
54:48
tree. Yeah, it's just like, it's like
54:51
all you really need are, you know, maybe 5, like 5 of
54:54
anything. And you should.
54:55
You should taste. It and you should, Yeah.
54:56
And it should make sense. Yeah.
54:58
And don't use rainbow mix. No.
55:02
Yeah. And there's just certain
55:03
microgreens that I just like. Honestly, they just don't look
55:06
nice. Yeah, like what?
55:08
Micro basil you don't like. Yeah, it doesn't.
55:12
It doesn't look, it just looks. But I do like basil buds like
55:14
for I. Think basil buds.
55:15
Yeah, basil. I I prefer just tearing basil.
55:17
I think it looks better. Sure.
55:20
I I or, you know, you could cut it into something or it's also
55:24
like everything doesn't have to be micro like.
55:26
No, I agree. Like fresh herbs on anything.
55:27
You could cut them nicely. You can, you know, it's like you
55:30
don't have to. Yeah, you know.
55:32
What what, what's something that you do that maybe a lot of
55:35
people don't know to enhance flavor?
55:38
Like what is what is something that's for the for the the cook,
55:42
the chef that's listening right now is like, have you thought
55:44
about enhancing flavor by doing this?
55:48
I think I, I mean everybody does the whole umami, hidden umami.
55:53
Thing how do you do umami? I think there's just so many
55:56
different ways. What's your go to?
55:59
You could, you know, you could spray things with.
56:02
Like with an lacto. Fermented liquid.
56:04
Or you could, you know, like you could obviously always sneak MSG
56:09
into shit, but like, you know, that's kind of cheating.
56:12
Is it Hondashi's a good trick? Hondashi, I love a good one.
56:16
Shiro dashi's a good one. A lot of people use Shiro Koji
56:19
nowadays. Then there's the two different
56:23
types of Shiro Koji. There's the one that's like
56:25
actually like it's like blended Koji, like like blended rice.
56:29
Then it's like no, it'll sometimes it'll come in like a
56:31
liquid form. It's like this like white like
56:33
liquid that's really good for like curing fish or you know,
56:37
putting it on like a piece of steak for an hour and then doing
56:41
that. I think that's a good one.
56:45
I love Shio kombu and I feel like a lot of people don't use
56:48
Shio kombu, but I think it's so yummy.
56:51
It's so good in herb sauces. If you do a chimi or you're
56:56
doing like a salsa Verde and then just like having this like.
56:59
A a little. Bit of shiokom, a little bit of
57:01
shiokomo like just hashet and throw it in there and it kind of
57:03
like rehydrates and then you get like this like super like little
57:06
umami and it also is kind of like textural.
57:08
I remember you showed me that I had never seen it before.
57:10
I really like. The first time I ever used it
57:12
was in Hawaii. We used to put it on this
57:14
amazing savage dish. Where did you show me that with
57:17
'cause I remember I I was like, what is this?
57:19
This is really good. What did you?
57:20
Oh, you put on a salad maybe? I think I our first salad is
57:25
gonna haunt me forever. I think I, I used to put it.
57:30
We used to put it on the grilled.
57:31
We actually used to put it on the grilled cabbage and
57:32
Garrison. And then we, I used in so many
57:36
things. We used to put it.
57:37
I used to put in a lot of like herb sauces.
57:39
Yeah. It was just like, it's just so
57:41
yummy. Yeah, yeah.
57:44
You, you know what else you did that was like, I, I, I don't
57:52
know if we said this last time you were on the show, but it's
57:53
like, I remember what we were talking in the French Laundry
57:56
Per SE book they talk about. Veg Blanc.
57:59
No, not the veg Blanc, the prehydrated xanthan.
58:01
Yeah. And I remember I was like, this
58:03
is brilliant. And I'm, I'm looking at it as
58:05
like, why don't, why did we never do this?
58:06
Like, yeah, I've been doing that forever.
58:07
I was like, why the fuck didn't you ever say anything?
58:09
Like, I just discovered this and you've been seen as like throw
58:13
key bumps of of of xanthan gum, Yeah.
58:16
I just, I I remember reading some like recipes in places I
58:19
worked at where it's like, you know, key bump xanthan gum is.
58:22
Like come on, it would it would get all gluey and.
58:25
Yeah, You have to blend it, You know, it's like, like, yeah, if
58:28
you can't just that that was. I feel like that's everybody's
58:30
issue with xanthan gum is like, you're fucking making something
58:34
in a bowl and you're whisking it together.
58:35
Yeah. And the recipe calls for a
58:36
little bit of xanthan gum stuck to the whisk.
58:38
Put your xanthan gum in there. Then you start whisking.
58:40
It's like. Yeah, it's stuck to the spoon.
58:42
It's like, yeah, it's like, yeah, that one guest is just
58:44
gonna get that one little booger or xanthan gum.
58:46
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
58:47
It's like what? Yeah, you have to blend it.
58:49
Yeah, you have to. OK, Last, last question, Chef.
58:53
If you had a Mount Rushmore of chefs out there, not me, you
58:56
can't put me on that Mount Rushmore.
58:58
Thank you though, chef. I'll joking aside, who would?
59:02
Who would you put up there as the Mount Rushmore of chefs For
59:05
you for Jacob Triple Z? Honestly #1 Paul Bacuse for
59:12
sure. I would say #2 I would put
59:18
Thomas Keller in there. It has to be.
59:23
It's 4, right? 4 Ducasse, I would say #3 yeah,
59:30
just cuz. I mean, yeah, just he was
59:34
insane. Yeah, yeah.
59:36
And then honestly, I like, I love Marco.
59:40
I think Marco #4 just cuz I don't know.
59:42
I just like Marco is just so cool and like I like all of his
59:45
books are so good and like he's still relevant.
59:48
How many books is that? I only know white heat.
59:51
Does he have other? Books.
59:51
I think he has. I'm pretty sure he has other
59:53
books we're. Gonna have to find out.
59:55
Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I think there's one with like.
59:58
I mean, there's the devil in the kitchen.
1:00:00
I have that one white heat and then there's I think he has a
1:00:03
couple like actual. Cookbooks like for Home Cook?
1:00:05
Yeah, sometimes Marco wears funny hats.
1:00:09
Though the fucking towel is awesome.
1:00:11
I love it on the BBC thing where he's like he's talking about,
1:00:14
he's like I'm a home cook now and he's just doing the garlic
1:00:18
slicing. Yeah, no, but he's just so
1:00:21
intense. Like he's just such an intense
1:00:23
guy. But I don't know.
1:00:24
I just, I've always looked up. We've seen the the video that he
1:00:27
does for, for ignore where he he's like, this is how you chop
1:00:31
an onion. Have you seen that?
1:00:32
Probably he like he, he takes an onion and he like like cuts it
1:00:36
up like really like really poorly and then sticks it into a
1:00:39
fucking brown bag, like a brown lunch bag and then shakes it up
1:00:44
and then pours out like nicely diced onion.
1:00:47
No, no. But that's not him.
1:00:49
That like someone made a made a a parody of that.
1:00:52
No, no, no. I think that's for real.
1:00:54
I think it was like messing around.
1:00:55
I'm pretty sure it's a parody. We have to check it.
1:00:58
I thought this whole time that he was messing around and it was
1:01:00
like a real thing. No, no, I think, I think
1:01:02
someone, I think there's a real video of him chopping an onion
1:01:05
and then someone just cut in the shaking it in a.
1:01:07
Bag. OK, I, I we need to double check
1:01:09
that. Yeah, double.
1:01:10
Check anyway, Chef, where can people find you?
1:01:12
Instagram hit me up. Yeah, just DM me on Instagram if
1:01:17
you have anything. Jacob.
1:01:18
Jacob Trishtroid. OK, I'll put it here.
1:01:22
So it'll be exact. I'll put in the show notes.
1:01:23
Yeah. Jacob Tristian.
1:01:25
I have a kind of like a private dining business here in Austin
1:01:29
under Tabella. So that's another another way
1:01:31
you could find me. And yeah, that's those are the
1:01:34
two outlets. Awesome brother, it's good
1:01:36
seeing you all. Good seeing your chef.
1:01:37
Yeah. Thank you.
1:01:38
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1:01:40
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