Chef Gideon believes you’re “only as good as what you do tomorrow, not today”, carefully guiding young chefs in his
restaurants he asks questions like, “What are we going to do tomorrow?” and “How are we going to set ourselves apart from
what everyone else is doing in the area?”
Dedicated to the art of “cooking from scratch” I was amazed to learn that 90% of everything served at the casino is made from
scratch. Chef Gideon oversees the charcuterie program in Fresh Harvest, the restaurant supplying all sausage served at the
casino, as well as the bakery in Rise Kitchen & Bakery where bread is baked fresh daily.
Chef Gideon loves the farm to table concept and strives to support local farms by using farm driven products and produce
throughout the casino. “We embrace anything local and use local products in all of our restaurants. We bring in things from
different farms and local purveyors and try to use local products as much as we can” says Gideon. With the growing number
of farms and local purveyors in the Tampa Bay community, this may sound easy but “the challenge is finding a local purveyor
who can keep up with our numbers.” For example, if the Hard Rock Cafe wants to serve a specially grown lettuce on their Club
Sandwich, the local farm must be able to supply 45,000 leaves a week! That’s a lot for any farmer unless it’s mass produced.
Despite the challenges, Chef Gideon is finding a way to make it happen and is embracing the local in small batches whenever
possible throughout the casino.
The Biggest Challenge
As you can imagine, a man who oversees this many employees and restaurants must have many challenges. What does
he feel is his biggest challenge? Making sure he communicates well with all of the members of his extensive team. “I wish
cooking was all I did now because you miss that piece of being on the stove. I got to where I am today because I’m a great cook
but, great cooks don’t always make great leaders. Part of my job here is to be inspirational, to make sure that my employees
are happy and to give our customers, who expect everything, what they want”
said Gideon.
An Amuse-bouche
I asked Chef Gideon, this amazing man who over the course of his career
has cooked for the Clinton’s, King Hussein and Queen Rania of Hordan,
Prince Charles and Princess Diana, Sylvester Stallone and Julia Child, if you
could cook for anyone, dead or alive, who would it be? His answer was
surprising. First on his guest list, the immortal Johnny Cash, “Simply for
the conversations we would have.” Then, as a native of Hannibal, Missouri,
he chose hometown hero Mark Twain as second on his list, “Because of
the jokes and laughter we would enjoy.”
In closing I asked Chef Gideon which celebrity made him most nervous
in the kitchen, he replied, “Definitely Julia Child, I was popping open
oysters with her in the kitchen used on her television show. I’m usually
a fast oyster guy but just as I went to open it I thought about who I was
opening the oyster for and got nervous. Sweating, I could not open the
oyster! Julia grabbed it out of my hand and had to open it herself.”
Interview Courtesy of 813 Area Christine Annis