Iconic Dishes It was kind of this magical place, and I just felt an instant connection to it. Thomas Keller: The books that I read as a kid were mostly adventure books. After World War II the men came back and the women stayed at work and that spawned the convenience food generation, which was us. One thing that is so fascinating about your biography is your lack of formal culinary education, the lack of a Cordon Bleu certificate. So at that right moment, in that right period of time, I was able to put my application in and be approved for an SBA loan. Keller began his career as a professional cook at the Palm Beach Yacht Club in 1974. For three years he wrote to restaurants all over France. How did you come to take over The French Laundry? Could you tell us how that came about? And of course, I make the critical mistake of only being able to grab one of the hind legs of the rabbit. Where I ended up having the commitment from was a one-star Michelin restaurant in Arbois which is in the Jura, which is in eastern France just below Alsace a place I had never heard about before, a restaurant I had never heard about. They feel the responsibility to them. Of course its such an uncomfortable story for a lot of people that my publisher didnt want to include it in the book and I made her. Thomas Keller: I think thats just it. The following year he added two additional locations of Bouchon Bakery at The Venetian in Las Vegas while continuing to vary his commercial ventures. It was here he discovered his passion for cooking and perfection of the hollandaise sauce. They ran it in one of their last issues. He was a Marine. And its up to that organization or that chef to define what youll do. He combined his thorough knowledge of French tradition with his own flair for humor and imagination, offering his guests a seemingly endless series of exquisite small plates, such as a miniature ice cream cone of salmon tartare, or a small serving of oysters and caviar resting on a bed of tapioca. We sat in their kitchen in their house next door. And that was a wonderful environment, very familiar, very small. Chefs understand how cutting, heating and cooling food change its composition. And he had told me about this small restaurant in Yountville for sale called The French Laundry and I should look into that. And as time went on we realized that we started selling more and more tasting menus. 1. Just go. I needed to commit myself to doing something I had never done before. In the spring of 1992 he came upon a restaurant in Yountville, California founded by Sally Schmitt, in a space formerly occupied by an old French stream laundry. So we found, I think, a great sense of comfort being in restaurant kitchens, and thats kind of where I found I dont want to say I found a home, but I found a place where I could feel welcomed. He also holds an honorary doctorate in culinary arts from The . Before we get there, Ruth Reichls article, as important as that was, there was an article prior to that which very few people realize. At the same time, be able to do my homework when needed, be able to function as a young person and still keep busy. Chef Thomas Keller is renowned for his culinary skills and high standards. It was the first American restaurant to receive this honor. So, we werent away from it for too long, but long enough that so many of us forgot how important it was. On your website theres actually a wonderfully rich list of philosophy and core values. Lets go back to the beginning. It certainly is very gratifying to see the interest now. We all learned that we had to be aware of the demographics and not just what we wanted to do, but what those around us really wanted to eat. The French Laundry was open almost at the same time that Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse. In France, Keller formed a friendship with the legendary chef Paul Bocuse, sponsor of the Bocuse dOr competition, the Olympics of international cooking. Pierre was in the kitchen Ann-Marie was in the dining room and I became his sous-chef. She would spend it seems like days preparing Thanksgiving dinner. So that was immediate critical feedback. And there was another friend of mine in Los Angeles who taught me how to use a computer. Thomas Keller: I was working at a restaurant. Thomas Keller: I think its helped me understand and analyze what I do, and try to attach other examples of other professions to what I do, in trying to understand and elevate our profession. I was a semi-well-known chef with, I guess, a checkered reputation, and now I needed to go out and raise the money to buy this restaurant. 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. Thomas Keller, the master chef behind the Michelin-starred restaurant The French Laundry, is an unlikely champion for business and organizational excellence. And then going to France and in a five-and-a-half hour period producing those two proteins and serving it to 24 international judges. Saatchi & Saatchi, another huge advertising firm, opened their corporate headquarters down there. You want to go there and you want to have an experience. Thomas Keller: I think that was in 1977. It comes out in a beautiful pan. It was really about price points. What does the American Dream mean to you? You know, Everybody wants casual food now. It wasnt so much casual food that they wanted, it was more of a casual price that they really wanted. Keller started out young in the field of cooking and culinary skills - in fact, his love for cooking surfaced when he once worked as a chef at his mother's restaurant in Florida. So, we have a sous-chef thats responsible for the meats and the garde manger. Hes that person thats going to support you, thats not going to let you fall and dont let him fall, and really its a team. Were dedicated to one another. 3. We built our new kitchen. Thomas Keller: Not really. 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. When he was hired as chef de cuisine at La Reserve, he was the first American to lead one of New Yorks distinguished French restaurants. So I stayed in New York for about a year looking for something to do, never really finding anything. Thomas Keller: My father was a Marine. He provided an introduction or foreword to The Vineyard Kitchen: Menus Inspired by the Seasons by Maria Helm Sinskey, "Happy in the Kitchen" by Michel Richard, "Indulge: 100 Perfect Desserts" by Claire Clark (head pastry chef at The French Laundry), the new publication of "Ma Gastronomie" by Fernand Point, "Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing" by Micheal Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. Thomas Keller: Well, we all learn that. After his second summer at La Rive, he decided to try his luck in New York City and was hired as chef at Raouls. Now people who are interested in food and wine, theyll read the food section of The New York Times or the Chronicle or the L.A. Times or any newspaper. Theres 12 rabbits in the cage and hes explaining to me in broken English how to kill the rabbit. In 1986 he became co-owner and executive chef of the original Fleur de Lys in San Francisco. We went to the local markets all the time. He later opened a gourmet Burger Bar in Las Vegas, Nevada, which features a $60 "Rossini Burger" made of American Kobe beef, sauted foie gras, and shaved truffles. It was such a moment for us because we represented our country. Even though I hadnt spent a lot of time with my father growing up, in my early 20s I made a reconnection with him and certainly we rekindled our relationship and he was very supportive, even though he didnt understand what I did. What an impact that must have had! So it was really I was in a comfortable position in my living quarters, and I wasnt really spending a lot of money. Given free rein, he built a smokehouse to cure meats, developed relationships with local livestock purveyors and learned to cook entrails and offal under his old mentor, Roland Henin, who would drop by on occasional weekends. Michelin came in 2006. And you know, it really goes back to when I was a young child and that was one of the meals my mother would cook would be Thanksgiving. Again I told him how proud we were of that, and that was our responsibility to make sure that we lived up to the reputation. America had competed since the beginning but never even came close to the podium. Apart from his innovative restaurants, ThomasKellers books and above all his dedication and imagination have brought his informed and inventive cookery intohomes from coast to coast and around the world. You have chef plumbers. Soon, he started taking up chef positions at various restaurants in Rhode Island, where he met his mentor and French Master Chef Roland Henin. 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. 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. 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. We all have our own core values, and I think that we can identify them when pressed to find them. As a customer, you come in and you put yourself in the hands of a chef. I guess you also needed to learn who your customers would be. I believe in you, but I need something. Thomas Keller: We did. I said, Im never going to do that again. I had been fired from another. June 13, 2007 FOR someone who works in a restaurant, watching a rat try to become a chef might seem like just another day at work. His book, which was extraordinarily inspiring, was a book of stories. 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. 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. All these great restaurants were defined by that and so they became the La Le restaurants. The chef has recently come under fire for praising a major Donald Trump donor. In your book you tell a story about rabbits, and what you learned. An executive chef would be somebody that would be in a position in a hotel for example, or where there are many different restaurants, and he would be the executive chef over all of the chef de cuisines from each different food and beverage outlet for example.