Wednesday, March 5th, we had the opening of our new Culinary Arts Demo kitchen. We had celebrity Chef Thomas Keller here in Denver for a cooking presentation below are the articles that ran the next day.
Chef sprinkles a dash of awe
'Ratatouille' figure wows local crowd with art of cooking
By
Marty Meitus, Rocky Mountain News (
Contact)
Thursday, March 6, 2008
George Kochaniec Jr. / The Rocky
Thomas Keller speaks to students at Johnson & Wales University in Denver on Wednesday. Keller, considered one of the top chefs in the country, also gave a cooking demonstration.
Thomas Keller already has garnered more honors than most chefs ever will attain, but here's the one that's toughest to top: a walk on the red carpet at this year's Oscars.
The chef was a consultant on animated film nominee Ratatouille, entitling him to walk the walk. And Wednesday, students at Denver's Johnson & Wales University treated him like a star.
Known as one of the best chefs in America, he was in Denver for the opening of the university's new College of Culinary Arts Demonstration Kitchen.
Keller, who received an honorary doctorate of Culinary Arts from Johnson & Wales in 2003, performed a demonstration and took part in a question-and-answer session with students.
He owns eight restaurants, including the French Laundry (voted best restaurant in the world!) in Napa Valley and Per Se in New York, award-winning eateries where diners clamor for reservations.
For Ratatouille, filmmakers photographed the chef's every move in the kitchen, using him as a model for rat chef Remy. He also supplied the voice of a restaurant patron, and designed the layered version of the vegetable dish.
"It was very exciting; it was surreal," he says of his Oscar trip. And no, he wasn't concerned about what he wore: "I wore a tux - it's not as hard for men."
Dean Karl Guggenmos, the Johnson & Wales Dean of Culinary Arts, called Keller an icon.
"He stayed true to the art of cooking," Guggenmos said. "So many celebrity chefs create excitement and use the brand to create other things. They're not about the cooking, and it's disappointing because the quality of the food suffers."
Five hundred students at the university - and Colorado chefs including Paul and Lourdes Ferzacca of La Tour in Vail - turned out to watch Keller. He demonstrated a technique called "sous vide," a method of using vacuum packing to cook and store food.
"It's a once-in-a lifetime to meet a chef who's changed the culinary world," said student Bryson Billapando, 24. Would he rather be Keller, or the better-known Emeril, no last name needed?
The answer is simple. Keller.
"Emeril brought the culinary world to the public," he said. "But Keller brought it to the chefs."
COOKING FOR KELLER: It must have felt like a parish priest delivering a sermon to the pope when Rioja chef/owner Jennifer Jasinski had the honor of cooking for French Laundry founder Thomas Keller Wednesday night.
Keller, in town to speak during the opening of Johnson & Wales University's new College of Culinary Arts Demonstration Kitchen, told JWU Dean of Culinary Education Jorge de la Torre he had heard of Rioja from some of his guests at the famed French Laundry in Napa Valley.
When Keller and companion arrived at the Larimer Square eatery, Chef Jen asked Keller if he wanted her to create a tasting menu or order off the regular list of fine fare. They ended up ordering some things, and letting Jasinski send out some specialities.
They ate: house-cured salmon flatbread amuse-bouche, Asian pear and roasted beet tart, vegetarian four squares entree, black truffle gnocchi, tuna sashimi, tuna tartare, brioche-crusted Maine skate wing and fresh bacon appetizer.
"I sent out the bacon because he just had to try my bacon," Jasinski said. At the end of the meal, Keller chatted with the line cooks in the exhibition kitchen.
