Chef at Oak Spring Garden Foundation

I learned the hard way how to season a Molcajete (Thank You Mark Ladner, it was a lesson in patience and perseverance and it made me a better cook.)

The rule of 3’s. When training someone, show them 3 times, do it with them 3 times and watch them 3 times. Mario Batali taught me this when a piece of place on my station failed because I relied on a junior cook to make it and I hadn’t trained them properly. In this particular instance, I was deserving of some harsh discipline, but, instead, he taught me something important and I learned a couple of invaluable lessons.

Nothing is permanent. Work every day like it might be your last. There’s always someone out there that can do your job.

My mentors taught me: Didier Virot – Composition and Taste; Mark Ladner – Commitment and passion; Zach Allen – The craft of curing meat