For Tyler Demora, 29, executive chef of Local 121 in Providence, running a kitchen is about inspiring fine cuisine and promoting teamwork.
“If [a staff member] makes a mistake, you need to make sure they understand they made a mistake and the reason why; you can’t let it go,” he said. “A good cook will respect you for that, because all a good cook wants to do is learn.”
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A Connecticut native, he came to Rhode Island three years ago, having graduated in 2008 from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, where he studied the Cordon Bleu school of French cooking, particularly with respect to stocks, sauces, butchery and plating.
He worked at Aqua as a sous chef under chef Joe Buenconsejo, who is now at Wassail in New York City.
“I’m a sauce guy,” he said. “I think a sauce can save a dish, and if you have a wonderful sauce, you can make the dish that much better.”
Fostering teamwork requires standards for cleanliness, morale and consistent quality. That became clear when he was a sous chef at the New Haven, Conn., Union League Café, which has been top-rated in the local and national press, and earned 4 stars from The New York Times, he said.
“When you get those kinds of credentials,” he said, “you have to keep up that consistency, and that’s something I learned how to do.” n
Favorite dish to make: Pate en croute
Dining when not cooking: Any good Korean restaurant
Most admired living chef: Daniel Patterson at Coi in San Francisco
Why Rhode Island? Its up-and-coming food scene, proximity to water and local farms
