Are you hungry for a refreshingly honest take on the high-end dining industry? And for more than a few eating puns?
If you answered yes to either of those questions, you’re going to want to dig into my interview with Douglas Keene, the award-winning chef and co-owner of the Michelin-starred restaurant Cyrus in California.
Keane has a new memoir out, Culinary Leverage: A Journey Through The Heat, and on this episode of How Success Happens, we talk about the life stories that define his cooking career journey, his wacky notion that people who work in restaurants should have normal lives, and I asked just what the heck a Michelin star is anyway. (You’re going to love his answer to that question.)
You can listen to the full conversation here and read some highlights below. Bon appetit!
Dan Bova: We’ve all seen The Bear. Are you going to scream at me if I don’t get these questions exactly right?
Douglas Keane: No, not anymore. Maybe in a past life. None of that stuff used to bother me because I grew up in it — I learned how to cook in screaming kitchens and I was able to focus and understand that I am here to learn something. But then Jacques Pépin told me how he disapproved of Gordon Ramsay’s show, and that was like a light bulb moment for me. I think it’s not necessary. It’s about planning and getting things engineered correctly. When you’re stressed and yelling at people, it’s kind of because you didn’t get your shit together.
Related: Her Side Hustle as a Private Chef Earns Tens of Thousands
What drew you to wanting to become a chef?
I loved digging ditches and mowing grass as a kid because I got to see the finished product. You spend three hours mowing a field, and then it’s done, and it looks great. My mom was a great cook, and when we were cooking for holidays, I’d go in the kitchen with her. There is something immediately gratifying about finishing that meal, watching people eat it, and enjoying it. So I just wanted to cook. In the beginning, I really loved the adrenaline. It was like playing on a basketball team and getting screamed at, and sweating. I realized it wasn’t good for longevity in this business, but I really loved that energy in the beginning.
Cyrus has a unique dining experience. Can you describe it and how you came up with it?
People who enjoy fine dining are willing to give you three hours of their time for a meal, but a common complaint is that you’re stuck sitting at the same table and your back gets sweaty or your legs cramp up. It made me realize that the best meals I’ve ever had were at someone’s home. You have drinks on their front porch, then you sit in the kitchen while they cook, and maybe you help, and then you move to the dining room. That’s when I came up with the idea that we were going to move people around the restaurant in a perfectly timed way. You’re going to sit down in our Bubbles Lounge and have canapes and every 45 minutes, we’re going to move you to a new space. We’ll bring you into the kitchen to watch and talk with the chefs and staffers. There’s a guest interaction that doesn’t happen in other restaurants.
Related: What Happens After You Win ‘Top Chef’? One Winner’s Journey.
You have this crazy idea that people who work in restaurants should have livable wages and balance in their lives.
Yes, we’ve done things that might seem counterintuitive from a business perspective, but they benefit both the bottom line and the staffers’ quality of life. We provide health care, and we close three weeks a year. Two weeks paid vacation in the winter and then we just decided to close in the middle of July. I was like, “People should be able to take a vacation with their kids during summer breaks. F–k it. Let’s just close for a week.” So we did it and then figured out how we could have four-day work weeks. It takes careful planning, but it can be done. Ninety percent of our staff has been here for two full years. Everyone is invested in making this work.
Related: Guy Fieri Is Insanely Busy. Here’s How He Gets It All Done.
So Cyrus is a Michelin-starred restaurant. What does a Michelin star mean exactly?
This is one of my beefs with the industry — the unchecked power that people like Michelin have is very frustrating because it can make or break a restaurant and is not at all transparent. They can award you a star. They can award you three stars. And they can also take those away, and you don’t know why. When you get a review from the New York Times or the San Francisco Chronicle, the reviewer tells you, “This was great, your tuna tartare sucked, you get two stars.” People have a right to judge you, but they’re not anonymous. Michelin claims they have a set of criteria for their star system, but we don’t know what that is and you never get a report. You don’t know what they approve of or disapprove of. Michelin is very powerful, their marketing is amazing and they can literally double your business overnight, but there’s no answer to what it actually means to have a Michelin star.
