85. L2o
March 2008-September 2008: Butcher / Chef de partie
(Australia, Japan & Los Angeles: momentally retired from cooking)
February 2009- June 2009: Chef de partie
http://l2orestaurant.com/
"The most PASSIONATE chef I ever known X The BEST kitchen I ever seen ........ it was MAGIC...."
As I have mentioned previous 3TP post of "The 5th floor" & "Bistro du vent", I have long history with chef LG... 1. I usually put two tweezers on my jacket when I work. It has dual meaning, one is two michelin star(I hate michelin though...)= raising the standard, increase the intensity. Why not 3? 3 star have too much bull shit what we can / what we can't... And second reason is tribute to my two mentors, chef Grant Achatz & chef LG. Considered as they're watching me from behind whenever I stand in the kitchen.... Focus, details & push ALWAYS! 2. I started this blog inspired by chef LG, you could see his blog achieve while he was in L2o >>>
http://laurentgras.typepad.com/archive/
3. I have worked with him 3 times(SF, NY & Chicago) and been in touch more than 10yrs!! And it was NOT intentional but I have worked Alain Ducasse & Guy savoy plus staged at Senderens(ex.Lucas carton) where chef LG used to work. Chef Richard Ekkebus of Amber used to work for chef LG & chef Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin is one of his best friends. So... it's like more than half of my career is chef LG related..... make me qualified as his unofficial Japanese son./laugh
.... Anyway it has been 5,6yrs!? uuu... let me remember my days at L2o.... some information might be unaccurate since long time ago, just note this>> August 2007 I had meeting with chef LG and heard the story he's opening up
his own restaurant.... He told me about the concept, style of cuisine
& location.... What attract me is L2o is seafood restaurant
since I wanted to refine my fish fillet/butchering skills. I made the deal as working as butcher / tournant and I became first cook signed up
for the restaurant L2o. ("Somehow" I became chef de partie of Sashimi station instead of tournant/a bitter smile)
The Kitchen: I have seen the empty blank space, then unpacked all the plates, containers & equipments and assemble things before opening crew started. The kitchen was simply... state of art.... I have staged 170 kitchen over 28 countries and confirming L2o have BEST KITCHEN IN THE WORLD. The space is spacious, practical & functional, 4 combi oven(!), jumbo freeze dryer, blast freezer, 2 dehydrators, soigne baking oven, butter maker, sick ass smoker, 4 gastrovac, 6 circulators, rotary evaporator, temperature control butchering room, super cool knife storage room, dry goods shelf, many MANY custom made silicon molds.... If I borrow the word from METALLICA "Some kind of monster" Some may call it "Rocket science", I say "I mean speechless!!" And yes... we did hardcore cleaning & brutal polishing every single night to maintain that beauty spotless, sparkling and mirror shiny!!
Chef Laurent Gras: As I have mentioned many times on this blog, he is one of the most passionate chef I ever seen. He is like a MACHINE, I mean inhuman in certain way.(sorry, chef!) When L2o opened, he came to work 7,8am to open the restaurant, butcher the fishes with me, set up his station, running Sashimi station during the service then cleaning the kitchen with us.(then he bike to home, 5hrs(??) sleep, wake up, go to gym, get 'cafe', back to work, according to him) I still clearly remember he was scrubbing chemical cart & squeezing the floor saying "Let me help you, Mr.CJ"(laugh) You see chef like that, better get our ass move quicker and push!! I'm hugely inspired how I manage the kitchen by him. Before pointing something and speak(that's anybody can do), move myself, demonstrate & being example. I do, you do, everybody do!!!
The Food: There were few dishes reminded me of the 5th floor such as crab/avocao, pork/potato, & geoduck/sudachi dishes, but the food at L2o was much more progressive and Kaiseki inspired. Seeing the restaurant like Saison (heavily influenced by Kaiseki) and Noma is going to Japan, L2o may be ahead of time(don't like the word "trend")... if it's too much to say, I just say the food at L2o was apart from many of the restaurants I knew, to describe the style I need to mix up few restaurant names.
As I indicated on top, I left L2o once for 4 months and came back. Second half of my time L2o went more fun involving menu development. One time chef LG told me go to Japanese market with the budget 100 bucks to show him some new things, so I bought many goodies and presented some dishes to chef LG. Some dishes turning into the dishes on the menu like fluke/ume/sudachi/garlic & Kampachi/Chirimenjacko/Heart of Palm/Pomegranate. What else... my miso cured foie from foie gras as la Japonne@ RM seafood(
http://restaurantpsi.blogspot.com/2010/04/foie-gras-la-japonne-ptiii.html) is actually inspired by cherry blossom cured foie gras@L2o. I had also freedom to run my own amuse bouche and made probably more than 50 of them, that was fun... but I have no picture except few you see on above....
When L2o is opened, we had easily 15-20 cooks, but I think just a few people made one year.(I don't count myself since I took break). But I would say whoever made working at L2o with chef LG was invaluable experience in culinary career. L2o seems doing great by chef Matt Kirkley these days. Hope one day I can visit the restaurant once again....
Some food picture links of L2o while I was there:
http://www.chuckeahttp://www.chuckeats.com/2008/10/21/l20-chicago-il-striving/ts.com/2008/10/21/l20-chicago-il-striving/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/apocope/sets/72157610262028662
https://www.flickr.com/groups/759455@N23/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/52391789@N00/3883779951/
Thanks list: Chef Laurent Gras, Nathan, Shawn, Francis, Carolyn, Nicky, "Mamanda", "Green giant", Alex, "Brownie", "Mate-oke", Carrisa, "Koreano", Levi, "Italiano", "Wifey", Jason, "Junior", Sam, Johan, Brad, Travis, Yiannis, "Big wheel", Alen, Matt, Big alex, Noel, Frank, Rob, Cole, ,Johnny, Haruka... and the rest of BOH/FOH of team L2o!!!
>>>Coming up Personal "Hot list" of U.S.A. restaurants & others, sharing my research on CJWDT'14 Reunion, Seek & Hunt U.S.A. tour, "CJWDT: U.S.A.".... next!!!!
