Chef Magazine for Thailand December/January | Page 41

Watching Thomas Keller make hollandaise sauce for 17 minutes
(one of the 36 lessons that make up his online Masterclass
cookery course) tells you a lot about what it takes to be a three
Michelin starred chef. He exudes a calm authority as he works
with meticulous ease and laser-like concentration. As he whisks
three egg yolks to a perfect frothy consistancy in a double boiler,
pulling the metal bowl on and off a pan of simmering water
with practiced efficiency to maintain the optimum degree of
heat he says, ‘This is just requiring a lot of patience and a lot of
awareness’.
It’s required a lot of patience and awareness for Keller
to achieve and maintain his position at the pinnacle of
America’s dining scene, holding three Michelin stars for more
than a decade at both The French Laundry in the tiny town of
Yountville in Napa Valley California and Per Se in the Times
Warner Centre in New York. In 1990, he walked away from
his first New York restaurant Rakel (a Wall Street favourite
and critical success with the New York Times saying, ‘Mr.
Keller has the sensitivity of a sculptor’ and that the restaurant
merited ‘enthusiastic recommendation’) when the owners
decided to dumb down the fine dining concept following an
economic downturn.
After relocating to LA and spending several years working as
a consultant, an executive chef and even launching his own
olive oil business, Keller stumbled across The French Laundry.
He spent two years funding the project and finally opened in
1994. He then waited four years to open his second restaurant,
Bouchon, a classic Lyonnaise-style bistro (one Michelin star
since 2007) a few doors from The French Laundry.
Keller’s now presides over a group of 10 establishments that
includes restaurants, bakeries, cafes and a takeaway spread
across Yountville, New York and Las Vegas. It’s a substantial
achievement, especially when you also consider that Keller has
also written five almost biblical-length cookbooks that have
sold over a million copies, publishes his own magazine Finesse,
consulted on the animated movie Ratatouille, has led the
American Bocuse d’Or team to Gold medal glory and since 2015
has had Grill restaurants onboard Seabourn’s fleet of luxury
cruise ships. However, compared to some of his three Michelin
starred peers such as Ducasse, Robuchon and Ramsay all of
whom have expanded their empires across the world, Keller has
been measured in building his business.
So, for there to be two new Keller restaurants on the horizon,
The Surf Club in Miami and The TAK Room in the new Hudson
Yards development on New York’s west side, is big news. So,
what does it take to pique the usually cautious Keller’s interest
and get him to undertake a new restaurant project?
‘The answer is it has to be either compelling or historic,’ says
Keller who plans to revive the ‘continental’ style restaurant
he remembers from his youth, places like The Stork Club, The
Colony, The Blue Fox and The Brown Derby (his mother ran
similar establishments in Palm Beach, Florida) that served roast
beef, schnitzels, lobster Thermidor and pasta primavera, in both
locations. ‘Part of the Miami charm was the history of the Surf
Club. It was a place that was open in the mid 30’s, it was actually
one of the most famous restaurants of its time in the world. It
had that sensibility, it had the history, it had the feel, it had the
energy of this kind of restaurant.
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