Being a chef, like being a ship`s captain, can be a lonely life. Being a chef/owner is even more difficult, as many of the young American cooks who have become entrepreneurs in the last decade have discovered.
They are learning on the job, in many cases without the safety net of a partner or veteran chef. Even if they did attend a culinary school, there is much that can be learned only by doing, or being done to.
Even the best cooks realize there are techniques and tricks they haven`t yet encountered. Even the brightest cooks realize they need to know more about personnel management and purchasing.
But how do they do it? To a large degree, they are prisoners of their own success. The restaurant is built around them. They cannot leave to work for someone else.
Older, wiser chefs probably don`t want to work for a ”kid” (or the
”kid” may be too insecure to hire them). They can read, if they have time. They can talk to their peers at social gatherings or by telephone, but that doesn`t solve on-the-job crises.
With this background, a rare experiment in chefs` exchange becomes more than a promotional stunt.
After David Jarvis of Melange in Wilmette (Plaza del Lago, 1515 N. Sheridan Rd.) spent two evenings cooking with Erwin Drechsler at his Metropolis 1800 (1800 N. Clybourn Ave.) recently, and Drechsler commuted to Wilmette the following week, both chefs were elated. They felt the visits had stimulated their kitchen crews and their customers, but even more important had given them an opportunity to talk business and philosophy as peers, one-on-one.
According to Chef Drechsler, ”The important thing was to define the purpose for doing this. I thought of it as adult education, not as a showcase for my food, and it worked out fine. To be a chef/owner is not just a question of cooking. You need to problem-solve. Working in another chef`s kitchen can be therapeutic.”
Chef Jarvis responds, ”When I was at his place, I got more out of it because I saw how he runs his business while he was seeing mainly my technique as a cook. But that reversed itself when he came to my place. It was great.” The idea of an exchange was conceived by Cathy Drechsler, Erwin`s wife and partner. Jarvis and his wife and partner, Cindy, welcomed it. With their well-separated urban and suburban locations, the restaurants do not compete for customers.
Both men speak of being ”working chefs” with ”similar styles,” so they did not feel either kitchen would be overly disrupted. Their backgrounds differ, however. Dreshsler, 40, a self-taught cook, left a career in education to work in local restaurants. Jarvis, 32, completed the highly regarded culinary arts program at Johnson and Wales College in Providence, R.I., and apprenticed with Chef Jean Banchet at Le Francais in Wheeling.
It was agreed that each visiting chef would do three items to be included on the daily specials menu. He would work with the host chef`s cooks. Ingredients, with the exception of a few hard-to-find items, would be provided by the host chef.
At Metropolis 1800, which the Drechslers opened last summer after five years in a smaller location on North Avenue, guest chef Jarvis prepared a warm California goat cheese salad with wilted onions and field greens; fettucine with minced chicken, bell peppers, wild mushrooms, basil, spinach and soy-butter sauce; and grilled salmon with an Oriental citrus vinaigrette, parsnip chips and asparagus.
”The ingredients are pretty similar,” Jarvis observed. ”We both do parsnip chips and grilled asparagus. But the presentation is different. I tend to blend ingredients, seek a marriage. Erwin seeks contrast. I use radicchio as a basket, a holder. He uses it as a green.
”The customers here are used to Erwin`s food. If mine seems similar, I consider that a positive. My idea was to try to blend in with Erwin`s menu. I`m not here to deliver culture shock. It`s more subtle than that. The dishes themselves will stand out because you cook differently. I`m happy if this merely wakes up the customer to the subtle differences among chefs.”
Backstage, it was somewhat less subtle.
”I did notice, out of corner of my eye, that people were watching how I held a knife, how I chopped,” said Jarvis. ”As a visitor, you are really on the spot. But I learned how setups are done here and how the (cooking) line is run. I work on the line. Erwin expedites from the dining room side.
”Will I be affected by what I see here? Sure. I`m getting burned out working so much with last-minute preparation. I`m trying to pull away from it. Erwin`s taken a step toward that. I did a visiting chef stint in California and discovered the chef there has pulled himself out of it altogether. `How did you do that?` I asked. `Simple,` he said. `I just schedule someone to work every station. Then I`m out of the rotation.` ”
A week later the two chefs toured the dining room together at Melange. Customers seem pleased to chat with them. At one stop there were dual conversations with regular customers. Jarvis was quizzed on changes in the decor while Drechsler discussed the preparation of one of his dishes.
At Melange, Drechsler did a rare-seared Hawaiian tuna salad with mustard greens, skiitake mushrooms, red onion and a lime vinaigrette; saffron fettucini with breast of duck, roast shallots, red chard, roast peppers, fresh-cut herbs and a ginger-flavored broth, and grilled chicken breast with an infusion of basil, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes that was served with polenta, a vegetable brochette and roast garlic vinaigrette.
”Erwin adapted his recipes so the staff could understand what he was doing and not disrupt the flow of the regular kitchen work,” a pleased Jarvis said.
Drechsler added: ”Current styles are more flexible than classic French. When we came to do my chicken dish, I said to David`s cooks, `Play with it a couple of times, until it feels right to you.` I was there to make sure it still felt right to me.
”I think we`re on to something,” he concluded, ”and it might be even better if we did a third day. The first day was non-stop. Tonight I knew where everything was. I met some really interesting people, too. Tomorrow I could really have fun.”
Jarvis` summation was similar. ”It was hell the day before I went. I had to get my own operation in shape and prepare for Metropolis. Once all that was done, though, I could relax and enjoy myself. It was like going on a trip, but the best part of this trip was it was in my own city.
”I want to do it more. When I leave the nest, it forces the staff to take more responsibility. Otherwise it`s hard for me to let loose.”
”It`s a conceptual Catch 22,” explained his chef colleague. ”You can`t gain control of your restaurant unless you sacrifice control.”
There`s another sacrifice involved in exchanges such as this one. Both chefs have to willingly surrender the traditional chef`s prerogative to be secretive, jealous and autocratic.
”It`s hard for chefs to be that sympatico,” said a veteran of many kitchen wars. ”Very hard.”
