The legendary founding chefs of the modern restaurant boom each made their own distinct contribution. The late Julia Child went on television to show us that anyone can be a French chef. Emeril Lagasse brought showmanship to the kitchen. And Jacques Pepin – the special guest of the recently held Newport Mansions Wine and Food Festival – took a classic approach and combined it with modern techniques to do American food his way.
Pepin was the special guest of the recently held Newport Mansions Wine and Food Festival. He was honored at a gala at Rosecliff, where he put on a cooking seminar, signed copies of his newest book, “Chez Jacques,” and sat down with me just before the ballroom doors opened to the guests. He looked around our opulent surroundings and laughed, “I feel like Louis XIV!”
I asked about his cooking demonstration earlier in the day: “We were in a tent just above the sea here. We did ‘The Bounty Of The Sea’ from the new book.” Pepin described how he steamed lobster and served it with herb sauce, lobster bisque, cod and fresh local fingerling potatoes and corn. He raved about the freshness of the local produce.
Said Pepin, “The organic vegetables really made it. My mother was an organic gardener, but she didn’t know it. She fertilized with what the chickens left us. There were no chemical fertilizers. Now we are rediscovering organic methods.”
In fact, many of the current generation of chefs have adopted Pepin’s philosophy in sourcing their ingredients. Casey Riley of the Newport Restaurant Group was among the first to forge a relationship with local grower Manic Organic Farm and has passed that philosophy down to his team of chefs.
Another chef who carefully sources his ingredients is Brian Kingsford, chef-owner of Bacaro in Providence, who for many years worked at Al Forno for two close friends of Jacques Pepin, George Germon and Johanne Killeen.
Pepin spoke fondly of the couple during our chat. His memories of cooking in Providence include a benefit cooking demonstration in the ’80s at Rhode Island School of Design during which one of his assistants was Nancy Starziano, now general manager of Eastside Marketplace.
Many are unaware that Pepin was director of research for the now-defunct Howard Johnson Co. I asked Pepin about his tenure with one of the largest restaurant chains in the country.
“It was a great time and certainly opened my eyes to the American palate, far different from what I had been doing in France or even in New York when I was with Le Pavilion [a leading French restaurant in the 1960s]. But I have to say, we had great products at Howard Johnson’s, very high quality. … At one time at Howard Johnson’s, our volume was bigger than Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald’s and Burger King together! It was such a big company.”
I told him I thought he was ahead of his time and how much more of an impact he might have in a similar position today. I asked him how far American tastes have come in the last 35 years.
“Have you got a couple of hours?” he asked with a laugh. “When I came [to America] there were two types of lettuce for salad in the supermarket, iceberg and romaine. There were no shallots, no leeks, no Oriental vegetables, no mushrooms!”
Looking ahead for Pepin, there is a new TV series in the offing. “I’m going back to San Francisco, where I taped my television show called ‘Jacques Pepin, Fast Food My Way.’ It was so successful that we are doing another 26 shows that will be on the air next year.”
A passerby asked about his daughter Claudine, who appeared on his most recent TV series. “Claudine is married to a chef and she will be joining me on some of the episodes. I am a grandfather!”
Chef Pepin had to leave for a cocktail party before the main gala, at which he was to be honored. He left us with this thought: “People tell you no one cooks anymore. If no one is cooking, what are [the supermarkets] doing with all this stuff at the end of the week? Happy cooking!” •
Dining Out with Bruce Newbury (bruce@brucenewbury.com) can be heard on Talk Radio 920 WHJJ-AM Fridays at 6 p.m. and Saturdays at noon.
