Saturday, November 10, 2012

The Man Kevin Calls "Chef"

Back in the late 70's, fresh out of college, Kevin took a job at The Country Fare Inn, a restaurant in Owings Mills.  The chef owner/operator of Country Fare was then about the same age Kevin is now, and was known as quite the tyrant in the kitchen, working his brigade hard.  The French chef became a mentor to Kevin, and to many other young cooks who passed through his restaurant during his tenure at the Fare, remaining an inspiration to Kevin even now.  Roland Jeannier is Kevin's "Chef" to this day.

It was a classic time in our shared restaurant history.  There are some stories.  And there was plenty of fear.  But don't forget, those were the days when the cooks were smoking cigarettes while working the line!  Kevin learned so much from Roland, and from his sous-chef Bernard, things he never would have learned in Culinary School.  The Roland Jeannier School of Restaurant Work was tough but fair.


Roland and his friends came in for lunch today.  They had originally planned to come two Saturdays ago, but Sandy nixed that idea.  They rescheduled, and showed up today for a three hour lunch.

Kevin started them off with some baked oysters, the same ones we served Friday night.  (Oh, Friday night!  Would that I could forget that night...)

For Chef, Kevin prepared St. Brigid Farm veal kidneys, with mushrooms, on a bed of mixed greens.

Chef was happy.  And so was Kevin.
 

1 comment:

  1. What a nice tribute........and Chef must be more than proud of his student. Shari

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