Cooking with Cafe Boulud's Gavin Kaysen
Photo credit: | Chef Gavin Kaysen at Cafe Boulud; Kaysen has been named one of the city's rising culinary stars by the James Beard Foundation.
Five months ago, puckish, 28-year-old Gavin Kaysen arrived on a red-eye from San Diego, where he'd been whipping up European fare at El Bizcocho that earned him a "Best New Chef" award from Food & Wine Magazine. By the next day, he was helming the kitchen of venerated Upper East Side eatery Café Boulud, taking over from predecessor Bertrand Chemel.
Last month, Kaysen's Gallic cuisine -- which he says has "a little more American touch" -- earned him even more props: a nomination for the much-sought-after James Beard "Rising Star" award. Here, the chef weighs in on being "discovered" at a Subway, his frustration with cooking in winter, and following in the footsteps of other Boulud hot shots.
You arrived in town in November 2007 after cooking in southern California for five years. How's the transition going? The best part of New York City is that you can get anything you want any time you want it, and it's there. The hardest part is the transition between winter and spring. Like now -- the weather feels spring. Everybody wants to feel spring. People don't want to see any more squash, no more root vegetables, no nothing. We don't want to see it, either. Trust us.
Was it difficult to start out with a winter menu? Absolutely, 'cause it's so different. Plus, I haven't felt winter in five years. I didn't know what it felt like to eat something hearty and then go outside and be cold.
Where are you from originally? Minnesota. So I have no excuse to say I don't know cold weather. However, I did leave there 10 years ago.
Is that where you worked in a Subway? Yeah, when I was 16.
And you were "discovered" when the owner of a nearby Italian restaurant came by to check out your sandwich-making skills? Isn't that awful? Isn't that terrible?
Any Subway sandwiches you still like? That's the thing: I've eaten there maybe 15 times since I worked there, and I think it's not the same.
Which New York restaurants have you liked? I haven't eaten at a lot of places. I had dinner at Soto, that was fantastic. Parea -- that was very good. Bar Masa, Per Se, Daniel -- eaten there many times. I've never eaten at Bar Boulud; I can't get in. [Laughs] Every time I call they're like, "Yeah, we're packed." One time I called to make a reservation for two of our regulars, and they were like, "We can do 6:30 or 9:45." I said, "I'm the chef at Café Boulud." They were like, "Sure, we can do 7:15, that's perfect."
How does it feel to be nominated for the Beard Award? It's a great honor; it's a great feeling. It's exciting to have guests come in and know about it. That's taken me the most by surprise. When you're in another city, you don't get the same fan appeal, or the craze, or the buzz. It's more intense here. Everybody knows, and it's like -- voomp.
Whose French fare is best in New York? Daniel. I think it's phenomenal. I've eaten at Per Se and Jean Georges, but I haven't eaten at Le Bernardin. [Eric Ripert] does live in my complex, so I should eat there. I see him in the elevator. He said, "Ah, I voted for you for the Beard." He's such a nice man. He got off at the ninth floor and said, "Oh, you're the 31st floor. Daniel must pay you very good, you live higher than me!" [Laughs] But I was like, "My apartment is probably a quarter of the size of yours. You probably own the floor."
What are your plans for the future? Right now, the most important thing for me is to be able to put a mark into the Café Boulud regime. It's obviously housed two very good chefs before me. I mean, I go out to the dining room and they're still talking about a dish that Andrew [Carmellini] did or Bertrand [Chemel] did. So that's cool.
Is it tricky living under that legacy? No, I don't think so. It's not comparing apples to apples. We're all such different people.
Whose opinions do you value more: fellow chefs or critics? I think you'll always take your peers' flavors over a critic's flavors, just because you know your peers think differently about it. I feel like they go through the steps with you.
The winners of the 2008 James Beard chef and restaurant awards will be announced on June 8 at Avery Fisher Hall.
Recipe: Seared sea scallops Serves 6
Ingredients:
5 cups sugar snap peas, ends trimmed 4 cups cream 1 cup spinach, trimmed salt and pepper to taste 6 canned whole peeled tomatoes, chopped 1 white onion, peeled and finely diced 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced 1 tablespoon tomato paste ¼ cup dry white wine 1 small head cauliflower 1 cup water 12 large pieces fresh diver sea scallops, rinsed and patted dry 2 tablespoons butter 1 sprig fresh thyme
Directions
1. Roughly chop 2 cups of sugar snap peas, combine them in a pot with half of cream and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook at a low simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes. 2. Pour the mixture into a blender, add the spinach and blend until smooth. Adjust seasoning to taste. Set aside. 3. Preheat oven to 400. 4. Place 2 tablespoons olive oil, onion and garlic in an oven-proof pot over medium heat and sweat for several minutes until onions are translucent but not colored. 5. Add tomato paste and white wine and continue cooking approximately 5 minutes. 6. Add the chopped tomatoes and combine well. Transfer to oven and let cook until most of the liquid has evaporated from the tomatoes, about 30 minutes. Set aside and keep warm. (Note may be made the day before and re-heated.) 7. Pick the cauliflower apart into small florets. Add them to a saucepan over medium heat with remaining cream and water and a pinch of salt and pepper. 8. Cook approx 3 minutes or just until tender. Adjust seasoning to taste and set aside. 9. Season the scallops on both sides with salt and pepper. 10. Place 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet large enough to hold scallops in a single layer. Place over high heat and add the scallops. Sear on both sides. Add butter and the sprig of thyme and continue cooking another 2 to 3 minutes or as needed to cook through. 11. Return the pan with the cauliflower to the stove, over medium heat and add remaining chopped sugar snap peas. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until peas are just tender. 12. Divide the vegetables mixture evenly between six serving bowls. Add the scallops over the vegetables. 13. Heat the tomato mixture, adding a few drops of water as needed to lighten the consistency. Spoon the tomato mixture evenly around the scallops and serve.
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