Chef’s Roll interviewed Chef Jason McLeod about the Chef’s Roll Center Stage program, where one talented and promising cook will win an apprenticeship of a lifetime at one of the world’s best restaurants. With over 25 years of culinary experience under his toque, Jason has traveled the world to train with several of the most prestigious chefs in the industry, including culinary icons Raymond Blanc and Marco Pierre White. In 2009 as the opening executive chef of RIA in Chicago’s 5-Star Elysian Hotel, McLeod led a luxurious seafood-driven restaurant from being relatively unknown, to receiving two Michelin stars during its first year of operation—an honor that only two other restaurants in Chicago (Charlie Trotter’s and Avenues) were awarded that year.
Center Stage was partly your idea, yes?
Yes, I felt there was a gaping hole in the industry of mentor opportunities for young cooks. Most stages are unpaid and many talented young cooks just don’t have the means to travel and stay in cities like New York and Chicago. So I brought the idea of a stage scholarship to the Chef’s Roll founders, turns out they had been thinking about just such a program. We put together an advisory board and came up with a name and structure.
How does it work?
Cooks and chefs with a minimum 4 years experience apply to the program and compete in a series of qualifying rounds. The top 4 most promising stage candidates will get flown to LA for a final test on November 7th and the winner will get a paid one-month stage, including travel and accommodation at one of the top restaurants in the world.
Wow, that sounds amazing, what mentors/restaurants are participating?
We have 8 Michelin-starred Chefs with 19 stars amongst them opening up their kitchens. 3 Michelin-starred Chef Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park in New York City, 2 Michelin-starred Chef Dominique Crenn of Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, 3 Michelin-starred Chef Curtis Duffy of Grace in Chicago, 3 Michelin-starred Chef Chris Kostow of The Restaurant at Meadowood in Napa Valley, 3 Michelin-starred Chef David Kinch of Manresa Restaurant in Los Gatos, 2 Michelin-starred Chef Sat Bains of Restaurant Sat Bains in England, 2 Michelin-starred Chef Josiah Citrin of Mélisse in Santa Monica and 1 Michelin-starred Chef Tasuku Murakami of Sushi Azabu in New York City.
What are the Qualifying Rounds?
It all starts with creating a free Chef’s Roll profile so our advisory board can see what experience you have and get an idea of your dedication to the craft. In the first Qualifying Round, which is going on right now, we ask you to create an original dish based on one of 8 iconic dishes. We got inspired by the latest issue of Lucky Peach – their fine dining issue featured 30 iconic dishes – we thought it would be cool to ask young cooks to reimagine one of them as their own. One of my favorite entries so far is the riff on Ferran Adrià’s “Spherical Olives” – Jon Maley did a play on beef tartare and yolk using beets. The second round is going to have a chocolate component since one of our program sponsors is Callebaut Chocolate – it will be interesting to see how savory cooks employ it.
Beet Tartare based on Ferran Adrià’s “Spherical Olives”Tell us about the final round in Los Angeles.
We are going to have it at BMRS Hospitality Recruitment and Placement – they have a full test kitchen there so we can have the top 4 most promising stage candidates do some live cooking challenges. Brad Metzger who runs BMRS, a chef talent agency, is on our board of advisors and will also be conducting Skype interviews for Qualifying Round 4. We’ll have some cool judges at the finals, including Chef Chad Minton, founder of True Cooks.
Who can apply?
Cooks and chefs with a minimum 4 years experience who are based in the US. Unfortunately due to timelines and costs we can’t fly out a finalist from outside of the US for this first iteration of Center Stage. We are hoping to open it up to applicants from all over the world in the future. If you are a talented young cook with big dreams, you’d be crazy not to apply.
