what’s up believe nation it’s Evan my
one word is believe and I believe in you
I believe in your potential and I want
to see that thing that you’ve got inside
you explode out into the world to have a
big impact for you your family and the
world so to help you on your journey
today we’re gonna learn from chef and
restaurateur
Thomas Keller and my take on his top ten
rules for success rule number two is my
personal favorite and I’d love to know
which one you guys like the best and as
always guys as you’re watching if you
hear something that really really
resonates with you please leave it down
the comments below and put quotes around
it so other people can be inspired and
when you write it down it’s much more
likely to stick for yourself as well
enjoy
what are the top three qualities that
you look for when hiring a new talent
for one of your restaurants desire
desire and desire I mean you were quoted
saying that it’s desire that really
matters it’s not passion passion isn’t
leading people talk about passion you
know is I sometimes it drives me crazy
you know some of the some of the
vocabulary that we use in people’s house
a young couple coming si so why do you
want to work your office Jeff I’m so
passionate about what I do you don’t
believe the passion I have I mean every
morning I wake up I’m so passionate
about this I’m thinking okay whatever
this kid just doesn’t doesn’t understand
it’s wonderful to think it like that
right think that you’re gonna be
passionate about your job all the time
but we all know I mean passion absent
flows I mean if you’ve ever had a
relationship with somebody I mean I mean
there there lies the perfect example of
you know how how passion goes I mean
we’re passionate about somebody you know
for a while and it kind of subsides and
then you know reignites for some reason
you know it’s all over the place right
and and if you relate that to food I
mean you know the the first asparagus of
the spring which we saw three weeks ago
you just like wow that’s amazing you
haven’t seen it all year long it’s like
I love it you know I’m passionate about
doing something with asparagus what
happens three weeks later when you’ve
seen asparagus every day for the past
three weeks it’s like okay or whatever
you know it’s just another bundle of
asparagus I gotta do something so what
keeps you going with is it’s the desire
it’s the desire to do something with the
asparagus it’s the desire to be with
that person that keeps you with that
person because it was all based on
passion we’d have a different partner
every other year right it’s the desire
to do something that really drives us so
that’s what I look for is I look for
that desire I know that there are levels
of skill that some people are born with
and some people will be stars and some
people won’t and it breaks my heart to
see those young individuals that are in
our restaurants whether they’re in the
kitchen or the dining room who have this
strong desire to do a good job and they
just don’t have the skills to do it that
that’s really heartbreaking and we try
to find places for them or they’re gonna
succeed maybe it’s not at the French
Laundry
maybe it’s at Bouchon maybe it’s at a
colleague’s restaurant
and then and then those those ones who
have amazing skill and you know they
could be a star but you know they just
they just don’t have the desire and and
that breaks your heart because you just
wanted to stop them in the face of you
know you are so good how come you don’t
you apply yourself more so less about
desire and great restaurants have to be
consistent we can all cook you know
there’s a lot of great chefs out there
who can do a lot of great things but to
be consistent 300 days a year you know
lunch and dinner over and over and over
and over again is really for me what
defines greatness it’s the one one-hit
wonders or one-hit wonders to be there
for a long time
to be impactful for a long time to have
a team that continues to evolve to have
guests that continue to come to your
restaurant to have that relationship
with your partners with all your
suppliers those are really really
important things for me in restaurant I
always knew that at some point in my
career I was gonna have to transition
into another level in other words I
couldn’t be the shift to cuisine at the
restaurant forever so I had to prepare
myself to let go which is a very very
difficult thing to be it and you know
every day I walk into my kitchen I want
to be there I want to be that young cook
I want to be on the line I still want to
be cooking I mean it breaks my heart but
I know that if I was there I wouldn’t be
able to do the job that needed to get
done you’d have to really understand as
you’re planning for that transition what
you’re gonna be doing next and then
who’s gonna take your place
Jonathan Ben oh here I might some of you
may know Jonathan Ben oh he began at the
French Laundry in 1995 and I shot in
1996 later became chef of per se today
he has his own restaurant Jonathan came
to me as a young chef de Partie is chef
de Partie is an individual who works on
a specific station in this case Jonathan
was the fish cook he came to me one day
and Jonathan does at Seaside chef he
does that when he’s making a point you
points out you with all four fingers and
his thumb underneath chef’s I mean that
you know you know he’s serious I’m I’m
not gonna have a cutting board on my
station tonight
and like I’m working I mean I’m busy you
know it’s back in the old days when
would everybody had a lot to do and and
not that we don’t today but you know I
was more immersed in it and I’m thinking
okay well whatever you know that’s
that’s interesting you’re not gonna have
a cutting board or you say yes I’m gonna
be so prepared I’m gonna be so prepared
I have so much confidence in my ability
to have my me–some class done then I’m
not gonna need a cutting board now every
chef de Partie in every restaurant has a
cutting board on their station some of
them need a cutting board the butcher
needs a cutting board to carve the steak
Jonathan was doing fish everything’s in
place everything is ready to go
I was just to do is cook and serve him I
said okay that’s fine don’t have a
cutting board at the end of the service
flawless it’s become the new standard
for that station because Jonathan bento
had the confidence and courage to step
outside of what was the norm in any
restaurant and say I’m gonna do better
I’m gonna create a new standard I
thought how to run a restaurant but I
realized that that was a really good
chef I was a really good cook I had no
idea about finances and I knew nothing
about yeah I couldn’t read a P&L and I
didn’t know how to run a dining room and
and those are a big part of a restaurant
you know certainly a big part of any
business so you know it turns a
financial so when I when I when I was
able to buy Raquel I was able to buy a
French Laundry I realized that I needed
somebody in the dining room they can
focus on it there was an expert on the
dining room and I needed somebody you
know who could take care of our
financial and so it became a tripod
there was me in the kitchen focused on
the food which was really my expertise I
realized that was my expertise that was
my strengths and I need to play with my
strengths and and find those individuals
who could compensate for my weaknesses
and so Laura Cunningham became the
general manager to the restaurant we had
a young bookkeeper named Pat McCarthy
and she took care of all of our
financials and that’s what the basis and
the foundation thought he was it’s
interesting cuz Italia by night so I’d
been cooking for quite some time when I
say quite some time I went to move to
Paris in 1983 so I’ve been cooking now
for almost a decade I think I committed
myself since 1977 to make this my career
so
been focused on I’m working in and I’ve
chosen French cuisine and haute cuisine
as my métier so I was focused on that
the best restaurants were the
restaurants that you were aware of if
you picked up a Michelin Guide if you
picked up to New York Times you know you
even New York magazine or any any any
magazine that was either a travel or
food magazine and or had a head of food
a food section in the newspaper at that
time was was always talking about the
great restaurants and France and the
great chefs so where else would you
aspire to go if it wasn’t the best I
mean if you’re gonna go to France which
was which was arguably the the the best
country had the best food the best
products the best chefs the best
restaurants that’s what you wanted to do
and so I set my sights high it took me
quite a while to get there it was about
three and a half years of trying to find
somebody in France that was actually
gonna commit to giving me a job before
it actually left America you know many
times the advice was well just go you’ll
find a job just go just go over there
somebody will hire you I wanted to make
sure that I had somewhere to go to I
wasn’t I wasn’t convinced that I was
gonna travel to France and knock on
somebody’s door but in reality that’s
actually what happened where I where I
ended up having the commitment from was
a one-star Michelin restaurant in our
Bois which is in the Jura which is in
eastern eastern eastern France just
below Alsace a place I’d never heard
about before a restaurant I had never
heard about but someone suggested I
write them and I did and I I arrived at
the front door and a large matronly
woman you know met me and she was very
harsh and she took me up to my room
which was this small cubicle with a
window but the window was was covered
with with with dust which I thought was
dust and that was my room it was poorly
lit
and I had arrived at work the next
morning in the kitchen downstairs at
5:30 and they would show me what to do
and the kitchen downstairs at 5:30 and
my first job was to shovel coal into the
ovens and I realized that my my window
wasn’t covered with dust but I was
covered with dust was covered with with
soot with coal toast and the kitchen
that I was in was nothing like any
kitchens I had been in in America and I
realized that that’s not why I came to
France and three days later I packed my
bag early in the morning I snuck out the
door caught the train went to Paris and
ended up staying at a friend’s apartment
for almost two years and literally
knocking on people’s doors took for a
job unfortunately you know my my
persistence paid off and I had eight
stashes age difference as I stash is an
observation you know permission to have
an observation and restaurant I was a
stodgy heir and I was doing a stodg
which is you know you go into somebody’s
it’s almost like it’s an apprenticeship
if you will
it’s an externship if you will it’s
going into someone else’s kitchen and
actually becoming part of that kitchen
there’s some and and and it’s up to that
organization or that chef to define what
you’ll do so you know I did different
things in different kitchens because
each each chef needed a stash a year in
a different way it was a normal thing
and it still is today that period of my
life in that period of my career in
France was so so important to I am today
and and really helped me understand a
lot of things about running a restaurant
that have supported my career and my
success well know that there are so many
details involved in what we do and so
many individuals involved in what we do
so a great chef is really supported by
so many others tonight so I think what
makes a great chef is surrounding
yourself with those of like-mindedness
with a common vision common goals and in
many ways are much smarter than you are
remember that always work with people
that are much smarter than you are the
only way to really get better is to is
the
with those who can teach you and be
better so what I’ve tried to do with my
entire career is surround myself with
talented people so oftentimes at school
we discuss how to respond to setbacks
and the first restaurant that you opened
for Cal in New York closed when the
stock market bottomed out in the end of
the 1980s what was the hardest part of
that experience for you I think the
hardest part of my experience is
realized that you’re your ultimate dream
and your ultimate goal which was so so
close and in many ways what was in your
grasp was was something that could could
just disappear without without something
that you had no control over it as hard
as hard as you worked as dedicated as
you were as great a job as you did at
that point though there was nothing that
I could do outside of changing the
format of the restaurant to to to make
myself happier to make the restaurant
successful yeah so it was a choice and I
had a great partner sir Raul and he had
a very successful restaurant not too far
away across town in Soho and we had the
choice to either to to establish a more
of a casual restaurant because the
Strand yeah it was like a bistro was
like this was when you know fine dining
became something that was unapproachable
anymore people weren’t willing to pay
for and so everything was becoming
casual and so we could casual eyes the
racquel I could stay there as partner
and as the chef or I could give it up
and pursue my goals and I was I was so
determined that fine dining was was
going to be my venue that I separated
myself from the restaurant that believe
me I mean when we were building the
restaurant the contractors would come in
in the morning and they would they would
do their work and the place would be a
mess and every night I would clean the
restaurant knowing that the contractors
would come back the next morning and
make it a mess again I mean there were
nights I would sleep in the restaurant
this was this was this was my life this
was gonna be my restaurant this was this
was my future
and and to five years later realize that
it wasn’t gonna be anymore in that New
York City which was which again was my
life in the center of the universe the
universe for me wasn’t gonna wasn’t
gonna be the place that I was going to
be was was devastating but what are your
choices I mean at the end of the day
you’re faced with a choice you know
either you can do something you can
compromise on what your goals are you
know I could have casualized the
restaurant and been there and been
miserable or I could have I could’ve
left and and pursued my two goals of
fine dining and and hopefully finding
that that Avenue that would lead me to
to success and it that was in 1990 when
I when I when I left Raquel and moved to
Southern California people ask me a lot
of times about success and I thought
about it for years and I realized that
success is not about Fame it’s certainly
not a about fort fortune recognition
awards it’s about memories about the
memories that we collect throughout our
lives and I’m sure each one of you have
wonderful memories about things that
you’ve done in your life and a lot of
that was about success at define success
for me and certainly one of those
memories or one of the biggest
compliments I can receive is when a
guest comes to our restaurant has dinner
and then comes back to the kitchen or I
meet them in the courtyard and they say
chef this reminds me of and they go into
this wonderful tale about an experience
they had I don’t know in the South of
France in Paris and Italy in Spain or
even in America a great experience that
had in another restaurant and I can only
hope that that individual goes on and
has another great experience and says
this reminds me of the French Laundry as
therein lies the true meaning of success
I’m gonna prepare one of my favorite
dishes which is a simple
and one of the important things that we
intend to neglect is bringing our
protein up to up to temperature what I
mean by that is tempering it so that the
product is at room temperature before
you you start to roast if it’s cold when
it goes in the oven obviously the
temperature is going to drop in the oven
so it doesn’t cook evenly it takes
longer to cook so one of the first
things we’re gonna do is we’d like to
remove the wishbone which allows us to
take the entire breast off of the
carcass we’re just gonna scrape a little
bit of the flesh so we start to feel
that this point then I’m going to take
my knife and on the outside of the
wishbone just cut it down towards the
joint where it meets the wings like
very simple and then
fingers up that wishbone
coordinate meets the breast
pull it out
we’re going to take our wings and we’re
going to slide them underneath the body
of the bird that will help support it
when it’s in a roasting pan or in this
case in our saute pan we’re a season the
inside with salt and pepper we could do
any things with the bird as well you can
put put herbs in there thyme rosemary
bay the next we’re gonna trust our
chicken or tie it with butchers twine we
do that so we can create the same
density in the bird see that we can
compact it all together and helps it
cook in warm evenly take a piece of
butcher twine slide it underneath the
tail and then we’re gonna do a figure
eight be well very simple take on top of
the leg and
underneath the legs you can see that
eight right there now we’re going to
bring our legs into the breast take our
string underneath the neck tube right
there
and we’re just gonna do a simple
Slipknot
and we have our trusts chicken ready to
go down
liberally liberally salted I like a lot
of salt creates a nice a nice crust
we like to season from up above so that
as the salt falls through the air
it separates then you get a nice dusting
some temper if you like that’s also it
works well if you want to use a roasting
pan and add vegetables to it I’m gonna
put just a little bit of thyme leaf
chopped thyme on top and there I like to
have it at a high temperature for
reporter 450 of course timing is
different for each bird this is about a
three and a half pound bird it may take
up to 45 minutes 50 minutes a smaller
bird may take less I’m not putting any
fat on this I’m just gonna roast it as
it is there’ll be some natural fats that
come off of the bird I don’t baste it in
the oven it’s again it’s a very very
simple roasted chicken for me this
technique evolved from really cooking
family meal at the restaurant and having
to cook six or eight chickens at a time
in an organized way so we went and put
this in our chitara me
so here we have our our beautifully
roasted chicken you can see the the nice
uniform the color of it so now as I said
that carving the bird is relatively easy
just remove the twine being able to cut
right down I’ve taken that wishbone out
of there so there’s nothing to stop me
from taking that entire type of chicken
right off of the carcass there how
simple can that be
thank you guys so much for watching I
made this video because Danny Kaye asked
me to if there’s something you’d like me
to cover in a future top ten check out
the link in the description and go and
cast your vote I’d also love to know
what did you learn from this video what
lesson really hit home the hardest what
are you going to immediately apply
somehow to your life or to your business
leave it down the comments below I’m
really curious to find out I also want
to give a quick shout out to Mike
Markham from restaurant HR com Mike
thank you so much for picking up a cup
of my book your one word and doing the
review and post it online
I really really appreciate the support
and I’m so glad that you enjoyed the
read and I just won’t do a review on
even Carmichael’s your one word thank
you guys again for watching I believe in
you I hope you continue to believe in
yourself and whatever your one word is
much love I’ll see you soon
I study philosophy actually yeah I think
it I think has helped me understand and
start and analyze what I do and and try
to attach other examples of other
professions to what I do in trying to
understand it and elevate it elevate our
profession our job as chefs and as
restaurant owners today is not just
about our restaurants of course we want
to make our restaurants better but our
but our overarching goal is to elevate
the standards of our profession and we
do that by bike training by mentoring by
giving the skills knowledge to those
next generations so that they can not
only help us in our restaurants but then
go out and be impactful in other
restaurants and of course hopefully one
day open their own restaurants that man
on the Left Rowland henan taught me why
I cook he was my mentor it’s my mentor
today mentorship is such an important
part of success we continue to mentor
our staff we assign mentors we ask you
who you want your mentor to be it’s a
process that we embrace wholeheartedly I
began my humble humble career as a
dishwasher oh and I’m not sure why my
mother allowed I guess because of the
age difference my brother Joseph was
allowed to handle a knife therefore he
was allowed to work with the cooks I was
year and a half younger therefore I had
to be sat in front of the dishwasher I
guess it was a much safer position for
me but you know around the dishwasher
whether it was at that early age or more
importantly when I began to realize that
I wanted to cook was at the Palm Beach
Yacht Club and I learned six disciplines
at the dishwasher which have I think
become you know foundation for for my
career and I think for many people who
aspire to have success in their careers
not just not just in the culinary
profession not just in the hospital
the profession but anything I learned
that organization was was really
important an organization is dishwasher
really meant that you had to set up a
template for the servers to you know
where to put their dishes so you always
had a bread butter plate and one spot a
service paid in one spot a bowl or
whatever whatever whatever the service
where was you had a piece set up on the
counter on the drain board where they
were supposed to put it
you’ve had your different areas for your
knives or forks or spoons things like
that of course you had your class racks
for specific racks so that
organizational aspect allowed you to be
more efficient which was kind of the
second discipline that I learned his
efficiency was really really key into
doing things well if you could be more
efficient than the person next to you
then you could have more time to learn
what you wanted to learn to continue to
grow and continue to volley to progress
so efficiency became important you know
how you lined up the racks you know how
you put the the plates in the racks or
when you when when was the time to wash
the glasses when was the time to wash
the the civil war so that nothing so
that everything became seamless for
everybody
feedback was the third discipline you
know if you didn’t if you didn’t
properly rinse or stack or sort the
silverware or the dishes correctly and
you put them in the dishwasher a minute
and a half later when the Machine open
they would still be dirty and so that
was immediate critical feedback you know
you knew when you did a bad job and you
knew when you did a good job and you
know what it was okay either one you
learned from the mistake of doing the
bad job that you learned that that you
needed to either stack your your dishes
differently rinse them differently sort
to some word differently or whatever it
was that critical feedback taught you
that’s what you needed to do so you
modified your behavior to be successful
you know of course if you were
successful then it was positive feedback
and you knew that you did a good job and
no one told you those things
you realized them on your own and that
was really important as well of the
fourth the fourth is meddler was the
repetition right the I don’t want say
the art of repetition but the the
ability to
respect repetition and embrace it
we’re cooks we do the same thing over
and over and over and over again so if
you don’t why if you don’t want to be
repetitive in what you’re doing you
probably don’t want to really be a cook
you know learn how to cut brunoise learn
how to peel an onion learn how to slice
I mean all these things that are our you
know part of that repetition was what I
learned to the dishwasher because the
dishwasher you do the same thing over
and over and over and over again I
learned the importance of ritual doing
things at specific times of the day and
having them having leading up to those
time and being prepared for those times
you had to you had to change the water
in the dish machine every two hours you
had to check the soap every three hours
you had the empty of the garbage can
three times a day you had to sweep
before you know at these specific times
you had to do different things at
different times a day which began which
which which were part of the ritual of
your job and rituals are very very very
important and the last not not any more
important than the others was was was
the the idea of teamwork and embracing
that you as a dishwasher even though you
may have been perceived as the lowliest
position in a kitchen you were you
touched everybody and your job was
critical in their ability to be
successful you had to deliver the the
the dishes back to the chef’s right so
they could plate the food you had to
have the Civil War to the server so they
could set the tables you had that the
glassware to the bartender so they could
do their job so everybody relied on your
ability to be organized to be efficient
to have your job done thoroughly to
understand repetition rituals and give
them what they needed to do the job and
those six disciplines are what we do
every day as cooks and I embrace that I
understood it I didn’t recognize it
until much later in my career but I
realized it and and I understand that
that was a part of the foundation of why
I became a good cook and ultimately was
able to become a good chef
[Music]
yeah the most important work ever if you
had to think of one word that’s most
important to you or that sums you Apple
that would be like a little beacon pay
believe nation if you want to know what
the most important one word is for Tony
Robbins Gary Vaynerchuk Oprah Winfrey
will.i.am and Howard Schultz I have a
very special secret video for you check
the description for details
[Music]
one word is believe and I believe in you
I believe in your potential and I want
to see that thing that you’ve got inside
you explode out into the world to have a
big impact for you your family and the
world so to help you on your journey
today we’re gonna learn from chef and
restaurateur
Thomas Keller and my take on his top ten
rules for success rule number two is my
personal favorite and I’d love to know
which one you guys like the best and as
always guys as you’re watching if you
hear something that really really
resonates with you please leave it down
the comments below and put quotes around
it so other people can be inspired and
when you write it down it’s much more
likely to stick for yourself as well
enjoy
what are the top three qualities that
you look for when hiring a new talent
for one of your restaurants desire
desire and desire I mean you were quoted
saying that it’s desire that really
matters it’s not passion passion isn’t
leading people talk about passion you
know is I sometimes it drives me crazy
you know some of the some of the
vocabulary that we use in people’s house
a young couple coming si so why do you
want to work your office Jeff I’m so
passionate about what I do you don’t
believe the passion I have I mean every
morning I wake up I’m so passionate
about this I’m thinking okay whatever
this kid just doesn’t doesn’t understand
it’s wonderful to think it like that
right think that you’re gonna be
passionate about your job all the time
but we all know I mean passion absent
flows I mean if you’ve ever had a
relationship with somebody I mean I mean
there there lies the perfect example of
you know how how passion goes I mean
we’re passionate about somebody you know
for a while and it kind of subsides and
then you know reignites for some reason
you know it’s all over the place right
and and if you relate that to food I
mean you know the the first asparagus of
the spring which we saw three weeks ago
you just like wow that’s amazing you
haven’t seen it all year long it’s like
I love it you know I’m passionate about
doing something with asparagus what
happens three weeks later when you’ve
seen asparagus every day for the past
three weeks it’s like okay or whatever
you know it’s just another bundle of
asparagus I gotta do something so what
keeps you going with is it’s the desire
it’s the desire to do something with the
asparagus it’s the desire to be with
that person that keeps you with that
person because it was all based on
passion we’d have a different partner
every other year right it’s the desire
to do something that really drives us so
that’s what I look for is I look for
that desire I know that there are levels
of skill that some people are born with
and some people will be stars and some
people won’t and it breaks my heart to
see those young individuals that are in
our restaurants whether they’re in the
kitchen or the dining room who have this
strong desire to do a good job and they
just don’t have the skills to do it that
that’s really heartbreaking and we try
to find places for them or they’re gonna
succeed maybe it’s not at the French
Laundry
maybe it’s at Bouchon maybe it’s at a
colleague’s restaurant
and then and then those those ones who
have amazing skill and you know they
could be a star but you know they just
they just don’t have the desire and and
that breaks your heart because you just
wanted to stop them in the face of you
know you are so good how come you don’t
you apply yourself more so less about
desire and great restaurants have to be
consistent we can all cook you know
there’s a lot of great chefs out there
who can do a lot of great things but to
be consistent 300 days a year you know
lunch and dinner over and over and over
and over again is really for me what
defines greatness it’s the one one-hit
wonders or one-hit wonders to be there
for a long time
to be impactful for a long time to have
a team that continues to evolve to have
guests that continue to come to your
restaurant to have that relationship
with your partners with all your
suppliers those are really really
important things for me in restaurant I
always knew that at some point in my
career I was gonna have to transition
into another level in other words I
couldn’t be the shift to cuisine at the
restaurant forever so I had to prepare
myself to let go which is a very very
difficult thing to be it and you know
every day I walk into my kitchen I want
to be there I want to be that young cook
I want to be on the line I still want to
be cooking I mean it breaks my heart but
I know that if I was there I wouldn’t be
able to do the job that needed to get
done you’d have to really understand as
you’re planning for that transition what
you’re gonna be doing next and then
who’s gonna take your place
Jonathan Ben oh here I might some of you
may know Jonathan Ben oh he began at the
French Laundry in 1995 and I shot in
1996 later became chef of per se today
he has his own restaurant Jonathan came
to me as a young chef de Partie is chef
de Partie is an individual who works on
a specific station in this case Jonathan
was the fish cook he came to me one day
and Jonathan does at Seaside chef he
does that when he’s making a point you
points out you with all four fingers and
his thumb underneath chef’s I mean that
you know you know he’s serious I’m I’m
not gonna have a cutting board on my
station tonight
and like I’m working I mean I’m busy you
know it’s back in the old days when
would everybody had a lot to do and and
not that we don’t today but you know I
was more immersed in it and I’m thinking
okay well whatever you know that’s
that’s interesting you’re not gonna have
a cutting board or you say yes I’m gonna
be so prepared I’m gonna be so prepared
I have so much confidence in my ability
to have my me–some class done then I’m
not gonna need a cutting board now every
chef de Partie in every restaurant has a
cutting board on their station some of
them need a cutting board the butcher
needs a cutting board to carve the steak
Jonathan was doing fish everything’s in
place everything is ready to go
I was just to do is cook and serve him I
said okay that’s fine don’t have a
cutting board at the end of the service
flawless it’s become the new standard
for that station because Jonathan bento
had the confidence and courage to step
outside of what was the norm in any
restaurant and say I’m gonna do better
I’m gonna create a new standard I
thought how to run a restaurant but I
realized that that was a really good
chef I was a really good cook I had no
idea about finances and I knew nothing
about yeah I couldn’t read a P&L and I
didn’t know how to run a dining room and
and those are a big part of a restaurant
you know certainly a big part of any
business so you know it turns a
financial so when I when I when I was
able to buy Raquel I was able to buy a
French Laundry I realized that I needed
somebody in the dining room they can
focus on it there was an expert on the
dining room and I needed somebody you
know who could take care of our
financial and so it became a tripod
there was me in the kitchen focused on
the food which was really my expertise I
realized that was my expertise that was
my strengths and I need to play with my
strengths and and find those individuals
who could compensate for my weaknesses
and so Laura Cunningham became the
general manager to the restaurant we had
a young bookkeeper named Pat McCarthy
and she took care of all of our
financials and that’s what the basis and
the foundation thought he was it’s
interesting cuz Italia by night so I’d
been cooking for quite some time when I
say quite some time I went to move to
Paris in 1983 so I’ve been cooking now
for almost a decade I think I committed
myself since 1977 to make this my career
so
been focused on I’m working in and I’ve
chosen French cuisine and haute cuisine
as my métier so I was focused on that
the best restaurants were the
restaurants that you were aware of if
you picked up a Michelin Guide if you
picked up to New York Times you know you
even New York magazine or any any any
magazine that was either a travel or
food magazine and or had a head of food
a food section in the newspaper at that
time was was always talking about the
great restaurants and France and the
great chefs so where else would you
aspire to go if it wasn’t the best I
mean if you’re gonna go to France which
was which was arguably the the the best
country had the best food the best
products the best chefs the best
restaurants that’s what you wanted to do
and so I set my sights high it took me
quite a while to get there it was about
three and a half years of trying to find
somebody in France that was actually
gonna commit to giving me a job before
it actually left America you know many
times the advice was well just go you’ll
find a job just go just go over there
somebody will hire you I wanted to make
sure that I had somewhere to go to I
wasn’t I wasn’t convinced that I was
gonna travel to France and knock on
somebody’s door but in reality that’s
actually what happened where I where I
ended up having the commitment from was
a one-star Michelin restaurant in our
Bois which is in the Jura which is in
eastern eastern eastern France just
below Alsace a place I’d never heard
about before a restaurant I had never
heard about but someone suggested I
write them and I did and I I arrived at
the front door and a large matronly
woman you know met me and she was very
harsh and she took me up to my room
which was this small cubicle with a
window but the window was was covered
with with with dust which I thought was
dust and that was my room it was poorly
lit
and I had arrived at work the next
morning in the kitchen downstairs at
5:30 and they would show me what to do
and the kitchen downstairs at 5:30 and
my first job was to shovel coal into the
ovens and I realized that my my window
wasn’t covered with dust but I was
covered with dust was covered with with
soot with coal toast and the kitchen
that I was in was nothing like any
kitchens I had been in in America and I
realized that that’s not why I came to
France and three days later I packed my
bag early in the morning I snuck out the
door caught the train went to Paris and
ended up staying at a friend’s apartment
for almost two years and literally
knocking on people’s doors took for a
job unfortunately you know my my
persistence paid off and I had eight
stashes age difference as I stash is an
observation you know permission to have
an observation and restaurant I was a
stodgy heir and I was doing a stodg
which is you know you go into somebody’s
it’s almost like it’s an apprenticeship
if you will
it’s an externship if you will it’s
going into someone else’s kitchen and
actually becoming part of that kitchen
there’s some and and and it’s up to that
organization or that chef to define what
you’ll do so you know I did different
things in different kitchens because
each each chef needed a stash a year in
a different way it was a normal thing
and it still is today that period of my
life in that period of my career in
France was so so important to I am today
and and really helped me understand a
lot of things about running a restaurant
that have supported my career and my
success well know that there are so many
details involved in what we do and so
many individuals involved in what we do
so a great chef is really supported by
so many others tonight so I think what
makes a great chef is surrounding
yourself with those of like-mindedness
with a common vision common goals and in
many ways are much smarter than you are
remember that always work with people
that are much smarter than you are the
only way to really get better is to is
the
with those who can teach you and be
better so what I’ve tried to do with my
entire career is surround myself with
talented people so oftentimes at school
we discuss how to respond to setbacks
and the first restaurant that you opened
for Cal in New York closed when the
stock market bottomed out in the end of
the 1980s what was the hardest part of
that experience for you I think the
hardest part of my experience is
realized that you’re your ultimate dream
and your ultimate goal which was so so
close and in many ways what was in your
grasp was was something that could could
just disappear without without something
that you had no control over it as hard
as hard as you worked as dedicated as
you were as great a job as you did at
that point though there was nothing that
I could do outside of changing the
format of the restaurant to to to make
myself happier to make the restaurant
successful yeah so it was a choice and I
had a great partner sir Raul and he had
a very successful restaurant not too far
away across town in Soho and we had the
choice to either to to establish a more
of a casual restaurant because the
Strand yeah it was like a bistro was
like this was when you know fine dining
became something that was unapproachable
anymore people weren’t willing to pay
for and so everything was becoming
casual and so we could casual eyes the
racquel I could stay there as partner
and as the chef or I could give it up
and pursue my goals and I was I was so
determined that fine dining was was
going to be my venue that I separated
myself from the restaurant that believe
me I mean when we were building the
restaurant the contractors would come in
in the morning and they would they would
do their work and the place would be a
mess and every night I would clean the
restaurant knowing that the contractors
would come back the next morning and
make it a mess again I mean there were
nights I would sleep in the restaurant
this was this was this was my life this
was gonna be my restaurant this was this
was my future
and and to five years later realize that
it wasn’t gonna be anymore in that New
York City which was which again was my
life in the center of the universe the
universe for me wasn’t gonna wasn’t
gonna be the place that I was going to
be was was devastating but what are your
choices I mean at the end of the day
you’re faced with a choice you know
either you can do something you can
compromise on what your goals are you
know I could have casualized the
restaurant and been there and been
miserable or I could have I could’ve
left and and pursued my two goals of
fine dining and and hopefully finding
that that Avenue that would lead me to
to success and it that was in 1990 when
I when I when I left Raquel and moved to
Southern California people ask me a lot
of times about success and I thought
about it for years and I realized that
success is not about Fame it’s certainly
not a about fort fortune recognition
awards it’s about memories about the
memories that we collect throughout our
lives and I’m sure each one of you have
wonderful memories about things that
you’ve done in your life and a lot of
that was about success at define success
for me and certainly one of those
memories or one of the biggest
compliments I can receive is when a
guest comes to our restaurant has dinner
and then comes back to the kitchen or I
meet them in the courtyard and they say
chef this reminds me of and they go into
this wonderful tale about an experience
they had I don’t know in the South of
France in Paris and Italy in Spain or
even in America a great experience that
had in another restaurant and I can only
hope that that individual goes on and
has another great experience and says
this reminds me of the French Laundry as
therein lies the true meaning of success
I’m gonna prepare one of my favorite
dishes which is a simple
and one of the important things that we
intend to neglect is bringing our
protein up to up to temperature what I
mean by that is tempering it so that the
product is at room temperature before
you you start to roast if it’s cold when
it goes in the oven obviously the
temperature is going to drop in the oven
so it doesn’t cook evenly it takes
longer to cook so one of the first
things we’re gonna do is we’d like to
remove the wishbone which allows us to
take the entire breast off of the
carcass we’re just gonna scrape a little
bit of the flesh so we start to feel
that this point then I’m going to take
my knife and on the outside of the
wishbone just cut it down towards the
joint where it meets the wings like
very simple and then
fingers up that wishbone
coordinate meets the breast
pull it out
we’re going to take our wings and we’re
going to slide them underneath the body
of the bird that will help support it
when it’s in a roasting pan or in this
case in our saute pan we’re a season the
inside with salt and pepper we could do
any things with the bird as well you can
put put herbs in there thyme rosemary
bay the next we’re gonna trust our
chicken or tie it with butchers twine we
do that so we can create the same
density in the bird see that we can
compact it all together and helps it
cook in warm evenly take a piece of
butcher twine slide it underneath the
tail and then we’re gonna do a figure
eight be well very simple take on top of
the leg and
underneath the legs you can see that
eight right there now we’re going to
bring our legs into the breast take our
string underneath the neck tube right
there
and we’re just gonna do a simple
Slipknot
and we have our trusts chicken ready to
go down
liberally liberally salted I like a lot
of salt creates a nice a nice crust
we like to season from up above so that
as the salt falls through the air
it separates then you get a nice dusting
some temper if you like that’s also it
works well if you want to use a roasting
pan and add vegetables to it I’m gonna
put just a little bit of thyme leaf
chopped thyme on top and there I like to
have it at a high temperature for
reporter 450 of course timing is
different for each bird this is about a
three and a half pound bird it may take
up to 45 minutes 50 minutes a smaller
bird may take less I’m not putting any
fat on this I’m just gonna roast it as
it is there’ll be some natural fats that
come off of the bird I don’t baste it in
the oven it’s again it’s a very very
simple roasted chicken for me this
technique evolved from really cooking
family meal at the restaurant and having
to cook six or eight chickens at a time
in an organized way so we went and put
this in our chitara me
so here we have our our beautifully
roasted chicken you can see the the nice
uniform the color of it so now as I said
that carving the bird is relatively easy
just remove the twine being able to cut
right down I’ve taken that wishbone out
of there so there’s nothing to stop me
from taking that entire type of chicken
right off of the carcass there how
simple can that be
thank you guys so much for watching I
made this video because Danny Kaye asked
me to if there’s something you’d like me
to cover in a future top ten check out
the link in the description and go and
cast your vote I’d also love to know
what did you learn from this video what
lesson really hit home the hardest what
are you going to immediately apply
somehow to your life or to your business
leave it down the comments below I’m
really curious to find out I also want
to give a quick shout out to Mike
Markham from restaurant HR com Mike
thank you so much for picking up a cup
of my book your one word and doing the
review and post it online
I really really appreciate the support
and I’m so glad that you enjoyed the
read and I just won’t do a review on
even Carmichael’s your one word thank
you guys again for watching I believe in
you I hope you continue to believe in
yourself and whatever your one word is
much love I’ll see you soon
I study philosophy actually yeah I think
it I think has helped me understand and
start and analyze what I do and and try
to attach other examples of other
professions to what I do in trying to
understand it and elevate it elevate our
profession our job as chefs and as
restaurant owners today is not just
about our restaurants of course we want
to make our restaurants better but our
but our overarching goal is to elevate
the standards of our profession and we
do that by bike training by mentoring by
giving the skills knowledge to those
next generations so that they can not
only help us in our restaurants but then
go out and be impactful in other
restaurants and of course hopefully one
day open their own restaurants that man
on the Left Rowland henan taught me why
I cook he was my mentor it’s my mentor
today mentorship is such an important
part of success we continue to mentor
our staff we assign mentors we ask you
who you want your mentor to be it’s a
process that we embrace wholeheartedly I
began my humble humble career as a
dishwasher oh and I’m not sure why my
mother allowed I guess because of the
age difference my brother Joseph was
allowed to handle a knife therefore he
was allowed to work with the cooks I was
year and a half younger therefore I had
to be sat in front of the dishwasher I
guess it was a much safer position for
me but you know around the dishwasher
whether it was at that early age or more
importantly when I began to realize that
I wanted to cook was at the Palm Beach
Yacht Club and I learned six disciplines
at the dishwasher which have I think
become you know foundation for for my
career and I think for many people who
aspire to have success in their careers
not just not just in the culinary
profession not just in the hospital
the profession but anything I learned
that organization was was really
important an organization is dishwasher
really meant that you had to set up a
template for the servers to you know
where to put their dishes so you always
had a bread butter plate and one spot a
service paid in one spot a bowl or
whatever whatever whatever the service
where was you had a piece set up on the
counter on the drain board where they
were supposed to put it
you’ve had your different areas for your
knives or forks or spoons things like
that of course you had your class racks
for specific racks so that
organizational aspect allowed you to be
more efficient which was kind of the
second discipline that I learned his
efficiency was really really key into
doing things well if you could be more
efficient than the person next to you
then you could have more time to learn
what you wanted to learn to continue to
grow and continue to volley to progress
so efficiency became important you know
how you lined up the racks you know how
you put the the plates in the racks or
when you when when was the time to wash
the glasses when was the time to wash
the the civil war so that nothing so
that everything became seamless for
everybody
feedback was the third discipline you
know if you didn’t if you didn’t
properly rinse or stack or sort the
silverware or the dishes correctly and
you put them in the dishwasher a minute
and a half later when the Machine open
they would still be dirty and so that
was immediate critical feedback you know
you knew when you did a bad job and you
knew when you did a good job and you
know what it was okay either one you
learned from the mistake of doing the
bad job that you learned that that you
needed to either stack your your dishes
differently rinse them differently sort
to some word differently or whatever it
was that critical feedback taught you
that’s what you needed to do so you
modified your behavior to be successful
you know of course if you were
successful then it was positive feedback
and you knew that you did a good job and
no one told you those things
you realized them on your own and that
was really important as well of the
fourth the fourth is meddler was the
repetition right the I don’t want say
the art of repetition but the the
ability to
respect repetition and embrace it
we’re cooks we do the same thing over
and over and over and over again so if
you don’t why if you don’t want to be
repetitive in what you’re doing you
probably don’t want to really be a cook
you know learn how to cut brunoise learn
how to peel an onion learn how to slice
I mean all these things that are our you
know part of that repetition was what I
learned to the dishwasher because the
dishwasher you do the same thing over
and over and over and over again I
learned the importance of ritual doing
things at specific times of the day and
having them having leading up to those
time and being prepared for those times
you had to you had to change the water
in the dish machine every two hours you
had to check the soap every three hours
you had the empty of the garbage can
three times a day you had to sweep
before you know at these specific times
you had to do different things at
different times a day which began which
which which were part of the ritual of
your job and rituals are very very very
important and the last not not any more
important than the others was was was
the the idea of teamwork and embracing
that you as a dishwasher even though you
may have been perceived as the lowliest
position in a kitchen you were you
touched everybody and your job was
critical in their ability to be
successful you had to deliver the the
the dishes back to the chef’s right so
they could plate the food you had to
have the Civil War to the server so they
could set the tables you had that the
glassware to the bartender so they could
do their job so everybody relied on your
ability to be organized to be efficient
to have your job done thoroughly to
understand repetition rituals and give
them what they needed to do the job and
those six disciplines are what we do
every day as cooks and I embrace that I
understood it I didn’t recognize it
until much later in my career but I
realized it and and I understand that
that was a part of the foundation of why
I became a good cook and ultimately was
able to become a good chef
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yeah the most important work ever if you
had to think of one word that’s most
important to you or that sums you Apple
that would be like a little beacon pay
believe nation if you want to know what
the most important one word is for Tony
Robbins Gary Vaynerchuk Oprah Winfrey
will.i.am and Howard Schultz I have a
very special secret video for you check
the description for details
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