Ah, the legendary Culinary Institute of America. “Harvard on the Hudson”, “The Culinary”, “CIA”, the “Institute”… By any name it is the school to go to if you want to be a really good chef. The graduates include some of the best and most well-known cooks in the country; even Paul Bocuse sent his son Jerome to attend the school. As I think I mentioned, my brother Vin Scully had graduated from the CIA in 1980. He then went on to complete a fellowship at the Ivy Award winning Escoffier Room Restaurant. As a graduate, Vin worked at Le Cote Basque and its sister restaurant La Lavandu in Manhattan. He was really living the life of a chef and I wanted some of what he had. In order to decide what to do next, I asked Vin to take me up to the school while I was in New Jersey for my sister’s wedding. So, up we went, driving through some of the prettiest country in New York State. It was early summer and the dramatic wisteria vines that creep across the school’s main entrance were in full bloom. Talk about an easy sell…
I walked into the building and immediately felt at home. Could be the Catholic thing; the CIA used to be a Jesuit Seminary (St. Andrew’s-on-Hudson). As a matter of fact one of the priests buried in the cemetery out back is a relative of ours. Whatever the reason, it was instantaneous- I needed to be there.
Vin took me down the hall to see the main dining room which used to be a big old church. It was awe-inspiring and filled with the hustle and bustle of students eating lunch. Throughout the building there were (are) kitchens literally behind every door. Vin knew most of the chefs, so it was a great experience. His favorite guys were Jim Heywood and Dieter Faulkner. Jim was (is) a wild chili making chef who never met a stranger. He showed me around his kitchen. The thing that stood out for me was that I didn’t speak his language or know any of the things he was showing me. I knew then that I had a lot to learn. I felt that if I could learn from someone as fun as Chef Jim Heywood, I would have fun and become a good cook to boot. Dieter was a lot more low key. He and Vin worked together at a restaurant in Carmel, NY and truly loved each other. The respect that Vin had (has) for Chef Faulkner was obvious. Chef Faulkner was the kind of fellow that gave compliments sparingly, but if you did get an atta boy, it was for something really very good indeed. We went on to see all the restaurants at the school and explored more kitchens. All in all it was the most excited I had been about anything in my adult life. I mean, here is a place devoted to food and the techniques involved. Here is a place with a chef around every corner, teaching basic cookery, fish cookery, bread baking, pastries, you name it. They even have mysterious subjects like Charcuterie and Garde Manger! I was captivated, enthralled. I had to go.
Archive for the ‘Joe's Stuff’ Category
CIA, love at first sight!
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009More of Joe’s Checkered Past
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
I have had some online comments that I should finish the “biography” of myself with another Blog entry and then move on to more serious subjects, like the story of the Corner Kitchen, recipes, cooking techniques, etc.
I’ll try to fit it into one entry, but I might need two…
Ok…, after about a year in Hackensack, I grew restless (a common theme in my life…). There was a cooking opportunity in Denver, CO. I thought long and hard, about 1 minute, and jumped at the chance to go west. Not one to do much ( ok, no) research, I pictured Denver as some sort of mountain town, a visualization of pine trees poking up through skyscrapers, arranged to give the appearance of climbing a mountain. I was NOT prepared for the arid, flat expanse that was, and is, Denver. I arrived at the height of the oil boom of the 70’s and the joint was jumping. I liked the feel and in no time was enmeshed in the kitchen business as well as the music and theatre scene. Denver is a great city for young pioneers, which is how I pictured myself.
During this time period I worked for Houlihan’s , TGI Friday’s, and local favorite, Govn’rs Park as well as a short stint at The Normandy Restaurant. The fast pace and lifestyle that I lived at the time was exciting on some levels, but ultimately destructive. I burnt the candle at both ends and sometimes even in the middle. It certainly was NOT about the food, rather it was about the party life. Eventually I had to pull a “geographic”. I knew I had to slow down but couldn’t. I girlfriend of mine was moving to Lincoln, Nebraska to finish her undergraduate work. I decided to go along.
My family said “Nebraaaska! What on earth would compel you to go there?” I, however, had a great time. The high point was working at a place called Kenneth Meier’s Cork and Bottle. Ken had a wine shop that was (and is) the finest wine store in the state. It was here that I learned the basics of two things, wine and salesmanship. These guys were serious about both. In no time they helped me to be conversant in all the German wine regions and adept at reading a German wine label. Then I started on the French. I read Alexis Lichine’s Encyclopedia of Wines and Spirits and the Windows on the World Book, both of which are still in my library. I started to cook differently during this time as well. Learning about the finest wines in the world leads very naturally to finer food.
After about a year working with Kenny and the boys, I called the Culinary Institute of America. My brother had graduated from there a couple of years earlier and was doing well. I felt the need to get back in the kitchen, but wanted to go somewhere else with my career path. I spoke to a guy in Admissions and he assured me that I wouldn’t make any more money than I was making working for Ken Meier. He obviously missed the point. It wasn’t and isn’t about the money. If I learned anything from my father, it was to seek excellence and be very good at something you love. I enrolled starting in May of the next year, 1985.
Laying the Foundation for the Corner Kitchen
Friday, March 27th, 2009This being my first blog entry, I think it may be appropriate to give a little background on me. I also feel that this info should not be the boilerplate bromide that is published on our website. I mean, what’s the pay off for making the extra effort to go the blog, right?
As you may realize, it takes a special type of person to stay in this business for any length of time. “Special” has too many meanings to list here, but suffice it to say, I ain’t braggin’. I am saying that I have been in the Hospitality industry for the last thirty-one years. It all started because I was out of work and putting myself through college. My older brother Vin got me a job as a host at Houlihan’s Old Place at Riverside Square Mall in Hackensack, New Jersey.
Try telling New Jerseyan’s that they would have to wait for a table,even for a minute. The wait could grow to as much as two hours. Can you say thick skin? Oh yeah, it was very colorful. After several months of hosting (which I really liked), I quickly trained through out the whole operation, ending up working in the kitchen. Back then the “American Bistro” restaurants like Houlihans’ and TGI Fridays were doing a lot of scratch food preparations. They also did (and do) huge volume. When I started cooking I was lame, very lame indeed. I had to be talked through the rush by a kindly manager by the name of Jimmy Knikos. It was so different from working the door, in the kitchen a confident smile carries no weight, it didn’t matter that I had manners or was glib. The only thing of importance was the food. And getting the food out in sych with the other three cooks on the line. Thankfully my brother had gone on to the Culinary Intstitute before my inauspicious start, so I had no witnesses to my daily humiliation.
I have to say, it was love at first sight. Where else can you work with a large group of fun (and usually good looking) people, all bent on making money and having a good time doing it? Not only that, they fed us, we could buy beer and the dating game was fast and furious. I never wanted to go home. Problem was, school faded into the background and my life quickly became work-centered. I dropped out after two years as a communications/theatre major. To make matters worse in my parents minds, Don Pardo, the famous announcer, was going to help me find a job at NBC after graduation. Alas… but as the zen master said, “We’ll see…”
More on the next post. JWS