April Member Spotlight:
What is your current position? What kind of chef are you/what is your focus?
- I am the Executive Chef of Providence Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane Wa. My focus is to assist our patients recover by providing good solid nutritional food. To obtain that we greatly limit processed food and focus on fresh ingredients.
What are your Career Journey Highlights?
- I am a graduate of the CIA in Hyde Park. I spent about 13 or so years in the Pittsburgh PA area before I migrated West. I Had an opportunity to build a Culinary Arts program from the ground up. It was one of those once in a lifetime opportunities. I have now been In Washington now for over 20 years.
What is one piece of advice you would give to others just starting out in the culinary industry?
- I must have two suggestions - Be a sponge. Soak up everything you can. Learn learn learn. You will never know everything but set the goal to learn something everyday.
- Two – don’t take things to seriously. Don’t dwell on mistakes. I had a chef tell me years ago after a rough service. “the sun goes down tonight and comes back up tomorrow. Learn from what happened don’t dwell on it.”
Why did you want to become a Chef?
- I guess you could say it kind of just happened. I wasn’t into mechanics or anything like that, there was no computers as a big business. I just knew I liked working in the restaurant, I hated school, so I went to the vocational school for Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management. My plan was get my certificate from there and I am set. However my Chef had other Ideas and made me at least look at Culinary Schools before I made a decision to not further my education. I toured CIA campus and that was all it took. I was sold.
What is the most exciting or rewarding aspect of your work?
- Personal satisfaction. How may occupations are you invited to be a major part of peoples life’s festivities. From date nights or engagements all the way to 60th wedding anniversaries, and everything in between. The satisfaction of another great meal service. It doesn’t have to be in a 5 star restaurant it could be anywhere at any time.
What have you gained by being an ACF member?
- I would not be where I am today without the ACF and certifications. I have been a member since 1991. I have met many great chefs from around the world. All of us get stuck occasionally and loose some of our creativity. Its networking and visiting with others that can help get you going again. Most of the job opportunities I have had have come through contacts or leads from ACF.
What did you learn from your first culinary catastrophe?
- Don’t take things to serious. Must laugh at yourself. We all have made mistakes, be it dropping or spilling a stock that has been simmering for hours upon hours, or you miscalculate that formula, and the sauce doesn’t thicken. it’s the nature of the business, get used to it. Also, as you move up the ranks, someone screws up can’t fly off on them. Remember we were in the same boat once.
What’s the strangest or most interesting meal you have ever prepared?
- I think the most interesting meal or fun event I have taken part in was a Chaine Des Rotissseurs event. When I was in Walla Walla Wine Country this event was a day long event. As the group visited various wineries, we prepared a meal or a course at every other stop. We started off with a salad bar featuring all local fruits, vegetables and meats and the salad dressing was featuring the wine from the winery. The next station was a simple cheese display again from a local cheese maker. The group stopped at Walla Walla Community College to visit our winery and we featured the culinary students Garde Manger final project show platters with Pate, galantines, En Croutes etc. We wrapped up the event with a BBQ at the last winery of the day. You have heard of beer can chicken, we did wine steamed chicken and spritzed the chicken throughout the grilling process. We did grilled corn from a local farmer and featured various salads from all locally sourced product. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun.
What is your signature dish?
- I can’t say as I have a true signature dish. The dish that is one of my favorites that I worked on this fall and received rave reviews was a cider braised country style rib. It is seasoned with yellow curry and turmeric braised in locally produced cider and garnished with an apple slaw.