Life, on the Line by Grant Achatz (book club reads .txt) 📕

much prep his mise en place as he plowed through it, sweat beading up on his forehead. Despite his effort and competence he never graduated past that prep-cook ceiling, and I wasn’t sure why. I knew he would agree that it was time for him to move on in order to grow as a cook.

After Thomas said that it was okay for me to ask David along I decided to approach him by writing a letter. It read:

David,

Let me start by giving you an overview of what the restaurant is and where I plan to take it.

As you probably saw in the packet, I included the Zagat ratings, some reviews, and other items to give you some background about the place. It started out a huge success in ’94 with Rick and Gail Tramanto. They left in ’96 to open Tru, which has been a great success. When they left, their sous chef at the time took over and has been behind the stoves ever since. He is a young guy, thirty now, who will open his own place in the city in May. Seemingly good (I had a good meal there) but not the person to make the place recognizable on a national level. He maintained the four-star status, received some James Beard awards, but never made it big.

Enter me. I have been looking for about six months for a spot that would let me produce my own food. I was searching for the unique situation that an owner would hire me as a chef and let me have total “carte blanche.” I found it in Trio. Henry, the owner, is a good guy who is a little goofy at times, but I can tell he is good people. He has agreed to “let me go,” so to speak, to develop my own cuisine. It works out for me for a couple of reasons: 1. It is an existing four-star restaurant, so the media attention will be there. 2. That creates an opportunity for me to achieve the goals I have set for myself. 3. But more than anything it is a logical step for me, and this of course will be my first go at “chef.” This allows me to take the reins of a restaurant that has the potential to become great under my direction, thus increasing my market value and putting me in a position for the next step. Ownership.

The food will be modern. Let me explain. My food will be true to itself. Integrity of the food and the way it is presented is my #1 priority. The style will be that of (are you ready for this?) FL + Atlas + elBulli. I want my technique rooted in French. We will clean foie and cook meat and fish the way I learned from Thomas. But I also want to be part of the revolution that is sweeping Europe. The new techniques and bold combinations of flavors. I want to help bring those to the States and develop my own along the way.

The menu format will be similar to that of the FL—a four-course prix fixe, an eight-course tasting, and a veg menu. The four-course will be a bit more conservative in comparison to the tasting, which will be the most avant-garde. But even the four-course will be modern and daring compared to the FL. I stress this, though—the technique will be exacting to the FL. . . . Flawless. I didn’t spend four years here for nothing.

The kitchen will be broken down into five stations: Meat, Fish, GM, Canapé, Pastry. The savory side will have four chefs de partie and 1-2 externs. That’s it. Everyone is responsible for his or her M.E.P. as well as working the station at night. I visualize it will be like the old FL, not the brigade of twenty-eight we have now. I will work the meat station first. I will not have a sous chef starting out. To me a sous is someone who understands the food and the way the chef thinks enough to replace the chef in his absence. Until I feel someone has that knowledge I will not name a sous. Training will be intensive in the beginning; I will need to teach everyone how I want things done.

The restaurant will be slow during the beginning of my takeover. Average covers run 25-40 Tues, Wed., 40-65 Thursday, 80-90 Fri and Sat. This will give me a much-needed opportunity to train and perfect the food. August will be a big month—that is when we will push the media. The Trib and Chicago mag will likely do dining reviews in August.

The kitchen is not like the FL—not many are. It is solid, the equipment is sound and clean and the line is functional. It isn’t the prettiest kitchen in the world but by far not the worst. It does have a kitchen table, so that tells you it can’t be too bad.

You are leaving the best restaurant in the country. Be sure of your next move, Dave. I want you to join the team, but I am no Thomas Keller or Charlie Trotter. I am just a kid who thinks he has a shot. I am going in there confident with my ideas and I will execute the food to the best of my ability, using what I learned from Thomas as a base.

That’s my story. Think it over.

When I next saw Dave the answer was swift: “You bet.”

I had very little money saved up and he had even less, so we had no choice but to jointly rent a large U-Haul truck. Packing into the cab of a moving truck were Angela, nearly six months pregnant; her 140-pound Rottweiler; Dave; and me. Two thousand six hundred miles, a few arguments, a flat tire, and dozens of bathroom breaks and sleepless nights later, we arrived in Evanston, Illinois—twenty-eight hours before our scheduled first day at Trio.

David and I stood in the middle of the space,