CleverRoot

6 0 | t h e c l e v e r r o o t If you are a culinary professional interested in being featured here or want more information on Chef's Roll, please email featured@chefsroll.com. Ian Davis Executive Head Chef at Band of Bohemia in Chicago, IL Michael Gulotta Executive Chef/Partner of MoPho, Rum and the Lash, and Maypop in New Orleans, LA PHOTO: KRISTEN MENDIOLA How would you describe your perspective of Chi- cago, and how do you use that insight in the way you cook, present your dishes, and evolve as a chef? Personally, I am a New Yorker who fell in love with Chicago, and I didn't realize it until I moved back to New York City. Chicago has the hustle, grit, and diver- sity that New York embodies, but it's cleaner, nicer, and more balanced here. This translates to me being able to pull from different types of cuisine to create clean flavors that work together and are also balanced as a result. Recognition from the Michelin Guide is a huge achievement for any restaurant. How has that evolved the way you carry your everyday production? Earning a Michelin star has greatly affected how we handle our business. We have a positive reputation that we need to uphold and continue to grow every day, one dish at a time. What are the main factors at Band of Bohemia when sourcing ingredients? The main factor for me is seasonality, then the actual product. I usually ask myself how it tastes, how it's grown, and if I can develop a relationship with the farmers. What's your ideal food, drink, and atmosphere mashup? Barbequing with friends while enjoying batched cocktails and cold beer in the backyard. We've partnered with Chef's Roll, the global culinary professional network, to learn more about chefs from around the country. PHOTO COURTESY OF SERGEY KOLIVAYKO, FIELD GUIDE What was the process like when you finally opened your first restaurant, MoPho? Terrifying. It feels like free fall tempered with being strapped to the front of a Formula One car. You can't quite tell your trajec- tory: Are you screaming toward victory or falling to your figurative death? All the while, you're trying to figure out every little thing eating away at your bottom line that you never really knew any- thing about until you became an actual owner. And at the same time, you're trying to motivate your staff to tell a story through their food and service—one that's compelling enough to keep guests coming back. Where does the Southeast Asian influence in your cooking come from? New Orleans has this amazing ability in that it assimilates all cultures. The Vietnamese are among the latest to join the city, so their cuisine has not yet been fully assimilated. It stood out to me while I was growing up in NOLA: Its flavors were fresh and exciting, and the more I researched, the more I realized our food shared some major influences. It became the piecing together of these cuisines—starting with their commonalities and then plug- ging in the disparate parts—that really got me excited. What advice do you have for young chefs looking to make their mark? Cooking is a craft and a science; there are rules that need to be understood before they can be bent or broken, and you have to practice until you can do it in your sleep. Allow yourself to be consistently pushed out of your comfort zone, because nothing is further out of your comfort zone than opening your first restaurant. ■cr

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