The front page is full of stories these days that could bear the headline “A Leader Left Behind.”
But it wasn’t Mubarek or Gaddafi or Assad that today’s New York Times headline was talking about. It was Charlie Trotter, the Chicago chef who has been proclaimed Outstanding Chef of the U.S. by the James Beard Foundation and whose restaurant was dubbed “The Best in the World” by the Wine Spectactor magazine.
“Trotter, a Leader Left Behind” details the glitz surrounding the self-taught chef’s ascendance into the firmament of haute cuisine, as well as his failed efforts to establish eateries in New York and Las Vegas, and to become a household word a la Emeril Lagasse and Mario Batali. Author David Kamp writes “...Mr. Trotter hardly seems to figure in the national food conversation anymore.”
Considering the number of extraordinary U. S. chefs who do not go on to found restaurant empires and do not gather the notoriety or income of, say, Batali and Lagasse, I'm not quite sure what the point of the article is. But one of the not-so-subliminal messages is that Trotter’s modus operandi – he’s a demanding boss given to kitchen tirades – is partially to blame for his sputtering popularity.
“But there remains a perception that there’s more to these off-site fizzles — that Mr. Trotter is a perfectionist control freak, temperamentally ill-equipped to delegate and collaborate.”
I saw that side of Trotter years ago while covering a gala dinner staged by the Relais & Chateaux collection of luxury hotels and restaurants. It was 1998, and 50 American and international chefs, representing a staggering 90 Michelin stars, had gathered in the kitchen of L.A.’s Biltmore hotel to prepare a dinner for 700 people to honor Robert Mondavi.
Thomas Keller, of French Laundry fame, roasted bacon-wrapped saddles of young rabbit. Patrick O’Connell of the Inn at Little Washington whipped up a gossamer grapefruit butter sauce for steamed lobsters.
Michel Guerard, the father of the nouvelle cuisine revolution, put the finishing touches on an elegant shellfish gelee. Famed Paris chef Michel Rostang, the organizer of the event, readied artichokes for his galette with fresh truffles. Roger Verge, for decades the genius behind one of France’s most beloved restaurants, chatted with chefs, kitchen workers, journalists and camera crews in his role as elder statesman.
Divided into teams of three, the chefs shared tasks, opinions and jokes as they worked, side by side, for 9-plus hours, in tiny spaces marked with their names on flimsy pieces of paper stuck to the walls with tape.
Daniel Boulud, whose NYC restaurant Daniel has won every prestigious award there is, joked about “roughing it” in the Biltmore’s kitchen. “But we’re having fun,” he said, “it’s like going to camp.”
One participating chef was conspicuously missing: Charlie Trotter.
With about 30 minutes left before ShowTime, Trotter made an appearance. My story in the San Diego Union-Tribune described the scene:
“As the last waiter clears the swinging door, all eyes focus on Charlie Trotter, who has arrived with great fanfare and with much of the preparation of his lamb dish done in the morning in his Chicago kitchen.
While a KCET camera lens creeps to within an inch of the glasses perched on his nose, Trotter leans over a plate explaining quietly to his helpers exactly how his lamb with Israeli couscous and red wine essence should be plated. He places an oven-roasted slice of lamb loin on the plate, moves it a fraction of an inch, moves it again, adds a drizzle of sauce, then steps back to assess his handiwork.”
Finally, Trotter took his place at the end of the line of his nine sous-chefs and inspected each completed dish before it was put on a dining room-bound tray. So much for collaboration, camaraderie and respectful teamwork.
On the other hand, Trotter still has plenty of admirers, as today’s New York Times article points out. Author Kamp says “Mr. Trotter is particularly virtuosic with vegetables.”
And Kamp quotes Alan Richman, longtime restaurant critic for GQ:
“Alice Waters may have discovered vegetables, but Trotter was the first man I knew who cooked them beautifully.”
Luckily, I also got to see that side of Charlie Trotter. During a dinner in the Lincoln Park townhouse that has housed the restaurant since its opening in 1987, my sister and I shared two prix fixe menus, one the vegetarian version. We were totally wowed by the procession of exquisite dishes, each one more flavorful, more memorable, more magical than the last.
When I wrote in the Union-Tribune about the 25 best things I ate in 25 years as the paper’s restaurant critic, Trotter’s creations were front and center.
"At first, I found the sleek, quiet, contemporary atmosphere of Charlie Trotter's very staid. But with each remarkable dish – an asparagus terrine with goat cheese; potato cannelloni with artichokes; foie gras served with white asparagus soup and sweet Vidalia onions; skate wing with clams and preserved papaya – and with each delicious wine recommended by the friendly sommelier, Trotter's Chicago town-house seemed more and more like the happiest place on earth."
