A Rising Star at the French Laundry

The big news in the culinary world right now is that Corey Lee, the chef de cuisine at Thomas Keller’s French Laundry, is set to leave the restaurant by summer’s end to open one of his own. Lee is currently on the verge of signing a lease, so details are still sketchy, but insiders say that his new restaurant will definitely be located somewhere within San Francisco.

Replacing Lee will be the French Laundry’s self-taught sous chef Timothy Hollingsworth, who began his career while still in high school as a prep chef in his hometown of Placerville, California. After reading Keller’s The French Laundry Cookbook, Hollingsworth was determined to dine at the famed restaurant, with resume in hand. “I told the reservationist that I wanted to turn in an application after dinner,” he says. “Afterwards, I went into the kitchen and met Thomas Keller. I told him I wanted to work for him.” After much persistence, Hollingsworth began working for Keller in the summer of 2001 as a commis (prep cook), gradually worked his way up, and eventually took part in training the kitchen staff at Per Se in New York when that restaurant opened in February 2004.

The 29-year-old Hollingsworth made news last January when he and his assistant Adina Guest (a commis at the French Laundry), competed against 23 other countries and placed a respectable 6th at the Bocuse d’Or. The competition — often referred to as the Olympics of cooking — was founded in 1987 by French chef Paul Bocuse and takes place every two years in Lyon, France. It is finally beginning to garner a fraction of the popularity in the U.S. as it has in Europe, thanks in large part to chefs Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller, whose celebrity has brought more attention to the competition. “It’s like a sporting event,” says Hollingsworth. “It’s very intense, very loud, and it takes place in a theater with lots of fans yelling, screaming, and blowing horns. It’s massive in Europe, but in the U.S. it’s known mostly to cooks who are interested in international cuisine.”

Diners can expect some changes when this rising young star takes over the kitchen this fall, but Hollingsworth says not to expect anything too drastic: “Thomas Keller’s philosophy is all about taking an ingredient at its very best, like peas at the peak their season, and then elevating it. In its simplest form, it’s really about carrying ingredients from our garden across the street and presenting them at their best at the table. It’s not overly complicated or overly manipulated. It’s just about heightening these simple ingredients. Likewise, [Keller] has let us all grow into ourselves in the kitchen and really take his philosophy and make it part of our own. So this is really more an evolution than it is a transition. The changes you will see will reflect where I grew up. I grew up on American food with French influences. I grew up in California, so you will see a lot of fresh ingredients.” In other words, the changes will be subtle. (www.frenchlaundry.com)