Culinary Director at CORE

I went to culinary school after high school without really knowing what I wanted to do. During my first semester, I fell in love with cooking. I got The French Laundry cookbook and was obsessed: I wanted to work for Chef Thomas Keller. After graduation, I went to Napa to eat at Bouchon, and I asked to talk to the chef to see if I could stage for a day. After the day-long stage, I got hired and worked my way up.

My year at Per Se taught me so much. I worked there when Chef Jonathan Benno was the Chef de Cuisine. I learned so much about techniques and ideas. He taught cooking as a craft, rather than a recipe. This idea is what I try to instill in my cooks; it is such an empowering way to think about cooking.

When hiring aspiring professionals, I like to ask them what their goals are, if they want to be a teacher, a chef. It tells me about how driven and ambitious they are. I also want someone who understands the importance of teamwork. To me, knowing how to balance both ambition and teamwork makes the ideal candidate.

Organization is the number one skill. You can teach someone anything, but you need to be able to stay organized and clean when it comes to your prep.