Dan Barber

Co-Owner, Blue Hill Restaurant

Were you inspired from sort of the beginning or did you have a eureka moment?

I didn’t have a eureka moment. My mother died when I was very young and my father didn’t cook and I kind of overcompensated a little bit I guess. That ended up getting me into the kitchen. My father tended to have these business meetings at restaurants and I used to join him because I was home alone and I got to eat out a lot and that I guess inculcated some sense of fine dining.

So at what point…as a kid did you think a chef or a cook was a career option?

I never imagined myself as a chef…I still don’t a little bit today. When people call me a chef I do a little double take. You know I graduated from college and I had no job and I went out west to find myself or something like this. And I ended up baking bread. I had done some cooking to earn some money in college and I just ended up baking bread at night. And one thing led to another and so I started cooking more formally and then that led me to France and then I was really cooking. So yea…it was series of accidents that amounted to a career I think.

Now what is it about your personality that makes you a good chef?

The elements that go into making a good chef I think are primarily about commitment, energy, passion. It’s about to what extent are you willing to forego life’s other pleasures to meet your goals and your objectives? And that’s all about sacrifice and commitment. Do I think I have a particular talent at the stove, or with ingredients, with flavors and combinations the answer is I really don’t know. At times I think I’m quite good and more than just acceptable. But at most times I think I’m pretty average when it comes to you know like natural talent.

Now what is the philosophy that drives Blue Hill – it’s different than other restaurants?

We opened it really to celebrate the wonders and splendors of the Hudson Valley harvest. Initially the hope was to support farmers in the upper Hudson valley with the menu that we ended up opening with and that became a tradition of our buying practices and our beliefs and Stone Barns is a reflection – Blue Hill at Stone Barns our second restaurant – is a reflection of that philosophy.

Now how do you make the leap from chef at another restaurant to opening your own?

You know that’s a good question. I don’t know that there was a “aha” moment of my saying that I can do this better or I can do this with my own interpretation. I mean every chef that I’ve worked for I thought…if I lived 10 lives I’ll never know what this man knows – and I worked for all men as it were. So you know I was very intimidated. I never thought when I opened up a restaurant I was going to compete on a level with the people that I worked with. Never. I just wanted the freedom and the satisfaction of doing it on my own.

How did David Rockefeller choose you and Blue Hill for the Stone Barns estate?

I think what he liked…I mean I’m sure he saw the diligence and the determination and the passion. But I think what he liked even more was the family. You know my brother is in business with me, my sister-in-law is in business with me – we’re all partners. And he didn’t know any chefs very well personally but he trusted the idea of two brothers and a sister-in-law who could work together as a family. And I think that appealed to him. So that was much more than anything I could produce in the kitchen.

Now talk a bit about what goes on here at Stone Barns – what is that all about?

Well Stone Barns is about three elements; it’s about the restaurant and it’s about the farm – the farm is the animals and the vegetables - and then it’s an education center. So that’s the third component or the first component depending on how you look at it that sort of ties everything together. And talks about the collaboration between the farm and the restaurant and the farm and the community. And it’s a very important element. You know I think of it as the three legs of a stool that are very connected.

What is the kind of collaboration between the restaurant and the farmers?

We’re less on the idea of instructing farms and farmers on what to grow and how to grow it and more in tune with this kind of collaboration and support. Because at the end of the day you know, what the farmer does well sells at a fair price. It’s always what benefits us. Usually what works well for our locale is both profitable for the farmer and delicious for us to serve. Those things tend to fall into line so I like to think of it more as a partnership or dance where the farmers always leads. That’s kind of how I always put it.

What drives you as a chef?

I feel like there’s a 1000 people within miles of here who have worked all their lives to be in the kind of position I’m lucky and fortunate to be in. So I’m driven to…I don’t know prove to them that I’m worthy of the attention that we get and also making sure that we don’t slip and continue to get better. Every night I cook. I mean I cook a station which means I really set it up and cook it and break down and so that’s a lot of work. That’s the only way you learn what’s really going out the door.

Now what is the…we all know the cycle of a doctor…what is the cycle for a chef?

You know there’s the long, many years and long hours of apprenticing. There’s school if you choose. There’s many ways up the hill. I don’t have a prescription. I know its hard work any way you slice it.