Third Grade Social Studies 
Appetite for the Future
What will dining be like in decades to come? We asked the state’s top chefs and foodies.
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Students or young chefs today need to spend less time on the latest trends and The Food Network, and begin with basic skills. What good is learning Sous Vide if you cannot sauté or finely dice and onion? Learning the basic skills and techniques is essential to success in the kitchen, especially for those hoping to open their own restaurant. After that, the world can be your oyster. A good skill set with a creative mind and sharp palate can achieve anything. Without the basic skills, you will be out of business before you even open the doors. It’s a matter of learning to crawl before learning to walk. The celebrity aspect of being a chef often gets in the way of the hard work it takes to get there. No chef ever just starts out, gets their own show and goes on a book tour in their first year. Learn, practice, work hard, stick to your strengths, find your niche and the rewards will some day follow. — Jon Bonnell: Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine, Fort Worth.
Self discipline. This is not an industry that gives anything to you. You learn it, you earn it or you get thrown to the dogs. Have the respect to read on your own time, to experiment on your own time. When you come in looking for a 40 hour work week paycheck and think your gonna be a sous chef in 6 months, your in the wrong business. There are 500% more cooks today then there were 5 years ago, hell even 2 years ago and as the market becomes saturated the competition will become more fierce. So get to work early, work for free and drop that undeserved ego and do it exactly as you were shown by your chef, not your professor that you paid $50,000 to teach you how to make hollandaise! — Jason Dady: The Lodge, San Antonio
to travel and see the world of foods outside of their environment — Bruce Auden: Biga on the Banks, San Antonio
Work ethic. This depends, of course, on how success is measured. — Anthony Bombaci: Nana, Hilton Anatole hotel, Dallas.
Patience. Patience in their cooking and patience in their careers. Cooking schools have forgotten to teach patience as they hurry kids through, collecting ever higher tuitions sold as tickets to instant promotion and fame. It’s a damn shame. — Stewart Scruggs: Wink, Austin.
business and management. — David Garrido: formerly of Jeffrey’s, now developing Garrido’s, Austin.
Work ethic, the ability to learn and take constructive criticism. Listen to your clientele, ignore the competition and focus on your own thoughts and creativity. Lead by example, and never stop cooking (especially in your own kitchen). — John Tesar: Mansion Restaurant, Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek hotel, Dallas.
Longevity and how to make a sauce! — Dean Fearing: Fearing’s, Ritz-Carlton hotel, Dallas.
Leave your ego at the door. Learn to cook for your audience — whoever that is — and not yourself.
Know that being a chef is half cooking talent and half management of your staff & working within food & labor budgets. You may be able to cook — but will never be successful without management & cost controls in your kitchen.
It’s not all glamour! It’s not all fun! — Lisa and Emmett Fox: Fino, Austin.
Always follow your heart - do not waver to follow trends that divert your focus. Learn to control costs, both labor and food. Build a team that includes front and back of the house. Allow yourself to learn from people that have experience. Keep your ego in check - be humble. Get to know your customers. — Hugo Ortega: Hugo’s, Houston.
Go find someone to work for that will teach you how to cook and give you hands on training in the back of the house. Forget all the "local" culinary schools which are rip offs and spit out folks who are line cooks with a set of knives and lots of debt! As a matter of fact, these schools hurt the industry cause folks are coming out of them with so much debt that they can't afford to work in a kitchen. If you are dead set on going to culinary school then go deeper into debt and go to the CIA or Johnson & Wales where you then can walk out better qualified to step into the business with an education that is much more valuable than which you would get at the "local" culinary mill. — Bud Royer: Royers Round Top Café, Round Top.
Professionalism — Robert Rhoades: Hudson’s on the Bend, Austin.
They have to be less impatient about the rate at which they can advance in this profession. — Tom Fleming: Central 214, Dallas.
How to study! How to listen, et al!! — Scott Tycer: Gravitas, Houston.
One word, PERSEVERANCE!!!!!!! — Scott Cohen: Watermark Hotel Company, San Antonio.
Humility. — Will Packwood: Cibo, Austin.
Dedication. It’s not all about the money.
This is a career not just a job. And it’s a long hard road, but well worth the trip !! — Jason Gould: Gravitas, Houston.
Business skills (controlling food and labor costs) and understanding the balance of creative recipes and giving the public it wants. — Stephan Pyles: Stephan Pyles, Dallas.
Passion and drive. Don't be lazy. Stay focused on what you do and stay true that. — Chris Shepherd: Catalan Food and Wine, Houston.
The Food Network will never call you, if that is what you want, change jobs. Learn your craft, you are not an artist, your craft can be artistic but you are a craftsman and should be proud of that. Also, spend what little money you will have on good knives and eating at the best restaurants in town. — Mark Schmidt: Café 909, Marble Falls.
A young chef must understand and embrace the impending shortage of skilled and unskilled labor (baby boomers and immigration reform). They must develop employees — make them more productive — compensate the better and finally retain them. — William McKenna: Texas Culinary Academy, Austin.
They must learn leadership skills so that they can direct their team in order to get them where they want to go. i.e. higher earning potential, status, Food Network, multi-unit, fine-dining. — Diana Barrios Treviño: Los Barrios, San Antonio.
Long hours. I think a lot of young people that call me about going to culinary school need to work in a kitchen for a couple of years before dropping all that money. It’s not as glamorous as it appears. — Marion Gillcrist: La Traviata, Austin.
Commitment, passion, dedication. — Avner Samuel: Aurora, Dallas.
Know your customers, there is more to becoming a chef than being a great cook, you need to possess people skills and business skills as well. — Randy Evans: Brennan’s of Houston, Houston.
It’s all about the costumer! And what you can contribute to there experience. It takes work, do it well, and do it once. — Alma Alcocer-Thomas: Jeffrey’s, Austin.
The most important thing a young chef needs to know is the basics with speed, precision and proper seasoning. But at the rate we are going with corporate America maybe some knowledge on opening boil in bag's is much needed. Oh yeah and everybody that goes to culinary school isn't going to make it to food network, it's a tough life and job so you have to love doing it. I do I'm a lifer. — Paul Petersen: Café Cenizo, Gage Hotel, Marathon.
Good listening skills, team work, dedication, ability to keep striving for more knowledge—and to stay focused. — Mark Cox: Mark’s American Cuisine, Houston.
Forget about all of the TV and cooking school hype… this is a hard profession that takes years of you paying your dues and learning the basics from cooking under seasoned chefs and kitchen crews. It is harder to roast the perfect chicken than to create a dish with 5 sauces that is stacked 5 inches tall. — Lou Lambert: Lamberts Downtown Barbecue, Austin.
It’s all about passion. Stay true to authentic ingredients, master the culinary basics, find your own direction, and relentlessly pursue your goals. Above all, stay humble and develop a palate! — John Campbell, Central Market
See #19.
Nothing is ever as it seems, only as the customer sees it. Think like the Guest, not like a Chef, once in awhile. — Nick Badovinus: formerly of Hibiscus, now developing F\NB, Dallas.
Cook with your heart and a sense of place and season and most importantly learn how to season properly. — Andrew Weissman: Le Rêve, San Antonio.
It takes a lot of hard work to become an old chef and every chef of tomorrow has to be an entertainer…they need to engage their customers and look at their job not only as creating an unforgettable meal but creating an unforgettable experience. Entertaining people is what the restaurant business is all about. — Kent Rathbun: Abacus, Dallas.
They need to get an American Express card and travel to some major American cities, like San Francisco, New York, Chicago and eat in the great restaurants in those markets. They should bring back those experiences and some of the wonderful ideas out there and augment them with their own ideas and creativity. Just as important, though, is that they never let their curiosity of culinary creativity become stale.
They must take advantage and fully utilize the resources available today through the internet, and food channels and magazines. They should eat out often and develop a keen sense of what guests want today — and develop a vision for what they don’t know they will crave tomorrow. Chris Pappas: Pappas Restaurants, Houston.
Espanol por favor! — Michael J. Cordúa: Americas, Houston.
Humility and how to take constructive criticism. — Bruce McMillian: Tony’s, Houston.
You will need to learn how to work hard, long hours and if you are smart you will pay attention to what your guests want and enjoy… the guest is why we are here. — Jason Weaver: French Room, Adolphus Hotel, Dallas.
I think the first thing a young chef needs to learn is the same lesson every young chef at every restaurant has ever learned -- check your ego at the door. Being a chef isn’t easy, and you’re not going to be handed a TV show just because you make a mean risotto. Work hard, prove yourself and let your food speak for itself. — Tim Love: Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Fort Worth.
Listen and practice. — John Sheely: Mockingbird Bistro, Houston.
The business end of the restaurant. — Rebecca Rather: Rebecca’s Table, Fredericksburg.
An important thing for young chefs to know is not to expect to be worshipped by the tomorrow’s diners (and, oh, how I miss those days); diners will increasingly see restaurant menus (that heart-felt-fingers-worked-to-the-bone-creative-menu) as only a suggestion. Food will still be creative, but if the diner is in the mood for an omelet, expect to break some eggs. — Robert Del Grande: Café Annie, Houston.
21. Other thoughts.
The cell phone is changing how we eat & cook:
Cell phones have changed how we communicate
& how we communicate changes how we socialize
& how we socialize changes how we eat
& how we eat changes how restaurants cook
(Note: restaurants simply mirror the times)
& the times have shifted toward the impromptu
& the impromptu has created a come-as-you-are crowd
& the come-as-you-are crowd is generating new niches
So the future of food will be heavily determined by the cell phone.
In fact, it’s already happening. “Let’s grab something to eat —
We’ll call a restaurant on the way” — Robert Del Grande: Café Annie, Houston.
I still believe that cell phones have had and will continue to have a substantial impact of restaurants. We are now in immediate reach of each other and it’s changing how we behave and socialize. I was at a reception this week and a woman came up to me to show me the screen on her cell phone. It had a text message from her husband. It said: “Honey — how about a bit to eat? I have a table at Café Annie. See you in 20 minutes.” That’s the sign of the times. — Robert Del Grande: Café Annie, Houston.
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