Chef Phillipe Ruiz, Palme D'Or, Coral Gables, Florida
Part 1
Are you married?
Yes, wife and two children.
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Who cooks at home?
It used to be me, but I trained my wife. Now it's my wife, but I still cook at home.At home we are very simple.
Where did you grow up?
The southeast of France, close to Switzerland, Geneve. I left when I was 22 years old.
How did you come to love food?
In the beginning it was a TV commercial with a baker, making bread, croissants. I said that's what I want to do.
Any influence from your mom and dad, or your family?
Not so much, my grandmother used to cook pretty well, but not so crazy.
I did a stage to try to be a baker and I hated it. I started at 2 o'clock in the morning at 14 years old with my small scooter (laughing as he remembers).
So you knew at a very young age that you wanted to be a chef.
Oui, I knew I wanted to be in the food industry.
Was that your first job?
Yes, I hadn't started school yet.
Did you ever think, maybe I don't want to do this?
The thing is my parents used to know a small restaurant, auberge, because I lived in a small town. It was all classic food. It was the time of Bocuse, all the dishes made by the chef. They used all types of fishes, they used to make pate. Everyday they made something new. I loved it, I thought, "This is cool."
You were more impressed with the actual cooking than you were with what they were producing.
Yes, for sure.
For you it was the act of cooking, not the fancy plate.
It was great to receive every day different fish and other ingredients.
You went to school?
After, yes. I did 15 days to see if I liked it.
You fell in love with it. What did you do when you worked in this kitchen? What was your first 'station,' washing the dishes?
No, but it was peeling, prep work. At the time I remember I used to do those French fries, we were famous for it. I peeled bags and bags of potatoes. (Laughing) After I applied to go to school and they accepted me.
Where did you go to school?
The Hotel School in Bonneville, France. It is near Geneve where I grew up.
You learned classic French cuisine.
Yes, I don't know how it is now, but we had the chance to have from very good teachers. Those guys, I think, they teach you more than now. If we finished the school in 3 years, we were ready to get in. You know.
When you learn in France, it is different then in America. Were you prepared, you think, to work in a restaurant? Was there a big transition from the school to actually working in a restaurant?
Of course you have transition, but you have your base. When I start, I start in two star Michelin. The chef doesn't want me to touch anything. I'm not allowed to touch anything. Just maybe a garnish.
What did you do?
For 15 days you do nothing but watch.
Very hard?
It's hard because you want to work. The first day I want to be at the fish station. We received salmon and I want to filet. I start to filet the salmon and the chef got all excited. You don't touch nothing for 15 days. After that you start with two star Michelin you have a lot of pressure. There are a lot of cooks.
What was the name of the restaurant?
Château de Divonne (Divonne-les-Bains, France), close to Switzerland too. It was a change for me too. When you stop school, to start in this kind of kitchen, like starting at the top.
Do you think you are better for that?
It was good to start like that. I worked for somebody while I was at school and this guy used to work with those chefs before. He opened his own restaurant. I used to cook for him during holidays and vacations. So when I finished my school, he told me, "When you finish your school I'm going to send you to some chef. The chef was Marc Veyrat (Three Star Michelin). I was to start with him, because he used to know him. but in the end the chef told me to go to Guy Martin to start. ~~
That's a heck of a place to start.
Because Marc Veyrat used to be a little crazy chef, you understand, so nobody stay over there. He told me if you go over there and stay two months, it makes no sense. Guy Martin was tough too, but he was more kind.
You trained with some high profile chefs, who gave you a certain perspective of food.
You remember some recipe and after you move them, you transform them, you play with them.
Your first job out of school...
My first job was with Château de Divonne. At the time he went to Paris and I went with him. I worked with him for a few months.
With a chef like that, though he is very technical, he is very conceptual as well. Did you find that working for Guy was more hands-on technical learning or more of 'the love of food' side?
It's difficult to say, at that point in time, I worked small. I tried to learn and maximum I could take. Guy used to find some old, old recipe from (i.e.) Savoy, a very old recipe. Then he'd move them and change them. At the time I was only 18 years old. I tried to learn and maybe in a few months I'd be able to take the station.
Did he change how you look at food at that point?
You don't know any different. You just learn and take it all in. After years and years, you create your own philosophy or where you're going, but not at the beginning.
When did you come to America?
Ten (10) years ago.
Where did you work first here?
Here, La Palme d'Or (Miami, FL), before that St. Maarten.
Why here? You've made a very big mark for yourself?
I left, France, at 22 years old and went to St. Barts in the Caribbean. I spent 3 years over there. I worked at the Francois Plantation Hotel.
What type of cuisine was it?
It was French from a island perspective.
That's a different experience in terms of ingredients. You stayed strictly French in technique but played with the ingredients.
Plus we got some stuff from Europe. Every Wednesday the plane, you know Air France, used to bring European food.
Would you say your style of food is more classical?
Yes
Do you embrace Molecular Gastronomy?
I'm scared of it. Yes, I play with, but I don't do just that. It was Caribbean and French influence.
Use some fish from the Caribbean Sea, you do a French recipe.
You wouldn't say it was fusion though. When it comes down to it, it is French.
You were talking about Molecular Gastronomy.
You said you were scared of it?
Yes, I'm going to tell you why, it's not that I am scared. It was my experience in the Caribbean I used to be the chef at the Francois Plantation Restaurant, used to be the best table of the island. When the chef before me left, I took his position. We have 120-130 different spices, we have a small file cabinet in a room. My job with molecular was to find spices that could go with another. This was about spices. You play with, you know the molecular.
But (the spices) gave a big world influence.
It was not the molecular thing, it was about the spices. All spices came from places around the world. We had a special shop for that. When they found a new spice they would send it to us. So we were working, everyday on that. But the staff was trained for that, we were all European. You put one ounce more or one ounce less and it changes everything. After I left, I went to La Samanna, St. Maarten. I used to be an executive chef over there. Chef de Cuisine and I work on the spice, a little bit less, because we had more international people.
You have to cook for your market.
People from New York used to come every year, a different market then La Samanna. Ten years ago when I came here, the pastry chef who used to work with me at La Samanna, came to work here. After the Chef de Cuisine that was here left, they called me to do a tasting. I did a tasting and they hired me. I said I was going to back, like I used to do before with my spice in my kitchen.
You were able to come in and have carte blanche like you did before.
Yes. But really after I came here, and it is all about with who you work. You can be the best chef in the world, but if you have nobody behind you, to understand what you want to do, to find those who really want to do it. Here, the mentality is maybe 5% really love their job, the rest do it for a paycheck .They are here to work, for the job, to pay bills.
It's very hard to get a team together.
Exactly.
There's a different philosophy. Some chefs want you to be a robot. They want you come in and do what I say, how I say, when I say. Every night you do it the same exact way.
Most you walk in and they give you a book, a recipe, you're here today and that's all you're going to do.
This is the end of part 1 of a fascinating conversation with Phillipe. Part two contains more about cooking and the direction of cuisine today.