Chefs Who Don’t Cook

Does it matter who cooks your meal at a restaurant? André Soltner famously ran both the dining room and kitchen at Lutèce for more than thirty years and, according to legend, only took a handful of days off in those three decades. Soltner knew customers came to Lutèce to eat his food and believed that he always needed to be there. Those days are gone. But in the era of the “celebrity chef,” it’s even more of a status symbol to have eaten food prepared by the chef himself or herself.

There is a lot diners don’t understand about what chefs do and don’t do. Here’s a peek behind the kitchen door.

Myth: If a chef only owns (or cooks in) one restaurant, the chef is always there.

Reality: Today’s chefs want to have it all—I know I did—so they take advantage of travel opportunities, family time, and so on. Many of the best chefs get lured from the kitchen to raise money for worthwhile causes like SOS or to James Beard Dinners in other cities. Cosmos’s Seth Bixby Daugherty, a 2005 Food & Wine Magazine Best New Chef, is always on the go. At my last meals at Vincent, Solera, and Cosmos, none of the chefs was in the kitchen, but the staff handled the cooking flawlessly.

Myth: When the chef is in the restaurant, the chef cooks all the food.

Reality: Only if the restaurant has twenty seats or less. Most chefs float, helping where needed, and most devote the bulk of their time expediting orders out of the kitchen, where they position themselves to see all the plates before they go out.

Myth: Four-star food is best eaten at big four-star restaurants.

Reality: Chefs in smaller restaurants try harder because economics require that they do the heavy lifting;  thus their cuisine is more personal because they are involved with every plate. Chefs at Alma, Auriga, Corner Table, Modern Cafe, Lucia’s, Heartland, Levain, 112 Eatery, Confluence, and many other small owner-operated restaurants offer the best values in dining today. Remember, someone has to pay for all the flowers and empty tables in opulent dining palaces.

Myth: I have no control over who cooks my food and when.

Reality: Sure you do. Call ahead and ask when the top talent is in the kitchen. Order the tasting menu—most chefs handle such dinners themselves or are assisted by a trusted line cook. Go often. If the chef knows you, the chef will work harder to satisfy you. It’s worth noting that the best restaurants these days have sous chefs who are the culinary newsmakers of tomorrow, so eating on a Sunday or a Monday when executive chefs tend to be off can be the bee’s knees if you know where to go. Peter Botcher, Levain’s chef de cuisine, and Bruno Oakman, Cosmos’s chef de cuisine, are big talents getting ready for their star turn.

The truth is, most celebrity chefs do almost no cooking in their restaurants, so the quest to experience their food is really about tasting cooking inspired by their vision and culinary trademarks. Should you care? I wouldn’t. But for those who do, the only way to succeed is to catch these chefs before they become household names. Once they’re on the Food Network, it’s too late.

Reach restaurant columnist Andrew Zimmern at azimmern@mspmag.com.