Introducing Gavin Kaysen

April 2

I had no idea Kevin Patricio had tied the knot! I sat next to his wife on Monday at Café Boulud, where a press lunch was being held to introduce that restaurant’s new executive chef, Gavin Kaysen, to New York food media.
I actually first interviewed Gavin back in 2004 for an article I was writing about popcorn. Gavin was chef de cuisine of El Bizcocho at the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego, and he was drizzling popcorn with foie gras fat.
I interviewed him a couple of years later about basil seeds, which soak up liquid and get all gelatinous (but not if you use citrus juice). He was using them in raw fish preparations at the time.
He represented the United States in the most recent Bocuse D’Or competition in Lyon. He came in 14th out of 24, which isn't bad, especially since his French assistant, Kevin, for some unknown reason ate the chicken wings that were supposed to garnish one of Gavin’s plates.
I mean, who does that?
Also, the United States doesn’t take the Bocuse d'Or seriously. Daniel said that Norway, by contrast, has a $1 million budget for its competitor.
It did get Gavin to meet Daniel, however, and landed him a high-profile job at Café Boulud (although Gavin also was a Food & Wine Best New Chef last year, so he was already doing well).
Anyway, Kevin Patricio, who is a cook, a marketer and is currently working on opening a restaurant with cocktail guy Jim Meehan, is married to Maite Montenegro, the Maître d' at Daniel. And she sat to my right at lunch. To my left was freelancer Kathleen Squires, who was recently in Japan for three months and shared many stories of it. She also recommended that I check out Soto restaurant here in New York, which she says is doing things very much in line with what the avant-garde restaurants in Tokyo are doing.
Next to Kathleen was engaging conversationalist and talented photographer Michael Harlan Turkell. We also had a Brazilian journalist and a guy from Wine Spectator at the table. So it was a good table. But the dining room was full of cool people. At least one of the Batterburys was there, and Regina Schrambling, and Jennifer Leuzzi, who actually videotaped Daniel’s introduction of Gavin. Daniel said Gavin had worked with Jennifer’s husband, Laurent Gras.
I think it was Gavin. Daniel actually introduced a bunch of chefs, including db Bistro Moderne executive sous chef Jim Leiken, who, he announced, will be heading up the chef’s new burger restaurant downtown, whenever it opens [indeed, it turns out that it was Eddy Leroux, co-chef de cuisine at Daniel, who worked with Laurent -- see comment #1 below]..
In the meantime, at lunch we ate:

Kona Kampachi sashimi with gingered carrot purée, lime gelée, avocado and coriander blossoms
2006 Beringer Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc

Yukon gold potato gnocchi with butter poached shrimp and green asparagus
2005 Beringer private reserve Napa Valley Chardonnay

Jamison Farms roasted saddle of spring lamb with sugar snap peas, flageolets, tomato confit and morel jus
1995 Beringer private reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Chocolate-hazelnut bar with meyer lemon marmalade, rice crispy and perrier lemon sorbet
2003 Beringer “Nightingale” botrytised Napa Valley

(By the way, that picture is of Gavin in 2006, posing for publicity for a 17-course dinner that he and 16 of his chef friends did to help raise money for the Bocuse d’Or competition).

Bar-Be School Sydney (AUS post 6)

Back to School 2007! This time I forgot about the easel, paint brush, t-square, ruling pen, french curves and all my art gadgets back in 1999. It was time to bring out the apron, gloves, ladle, knives, grilling pan, skewers, bowl and all the cooking utensils. Time to learn something new and sharpen my cooking expertise. Let me share with you a memorable experience at the Bar-Be School in Australia.


I never enrolled in any culinary school but I've been cooking for more than 15 years in my life. What made me decide to enroll in a cooking school? And opt for a foreign cooking school? My reasons were very simple. I had a month-long vacation in Australia and I thought it would be great to embrace not just the culture but also the Australian cuisine. And the way to go about it is to enroll in a cooking school. I almost set aside enrolling in Bar-be School because the tuition fee was very expensive. But then again, more than the experience and gaining of knowledge, I was sure I'd meet new people and perhaps gain some new friends.

The school's venue is in UNION Hotel, north of Sydney. It's very far from where I stayed, which is in Goulburn St., Liverpool situated south of Sydney. The venue changes from time to time because it's a barbecue class and it needs open air for the grilling part.

Let me introduce you to Chef Jason (right side) who is the Executive Chef in our school. With him is his tall assistant. I hope the guy will forgive me because I forgot his name already. :p

These were my classmates. Most of them are male Aussies and British. There were few females and among them was The Artist Chef--the only Asian in the class.

What also made me choose Bar-be school among other schools I searched on the net is the hands-on class. What does that mean? Well that means that students are interacting together. The teacher will teach what to do and the students will be the one to do it by themselves. Unlike other schools where the teacher will teach and cook at the same time. Students will just watch and they have their pens and papers to take down notes. I don't like schools like that so I opted for the Bar-be School.

Well those were my Aussie and Brit classmates. Mostly with big bellies. They wanted to serve something new on their dining table.

This photo was taken by my classmate. He saw me taking pictures around the class so he approached me and asked if I want my photo taken. I gladly say YES! Actually he even offered me a ride to the CBD. I refused because my very supportive boyfriend was waiting for my class to finish. :-)

This is the good thing about the cooking class...I ate what I cooked.

Since I was the only Asian in the class, I got all the attention from our teacher. He wondered why I enrolled in Bar-be school. I told him it's part of my vacation and I want to learn some Australian cooking and apply it to my little business called Artist Chef. My teacher said "So you're stealing ideas from us..." Then everyone in the class had a laugh.