Where did you grow up? 

I grew up in a little town, Swansea, in southern Massachusetts. 

How about school?

Went to school there until Junior High and then transferred to a regional technical school. I graduated from the culinary arts program. I wasn't a book type of person and wanted to do something with my hands. I didn't like to get my hands dirty so I stayed away from auto mechanics. 

That's funny because if you examine what you do as a chef your hands still get 'dirty,' making dough, using oil, duck fat, etc. 

Aww, come on. (He is laughing.) When you get duck fat on your hands, and rub it off, just rub in the residue, it's great for your hands. (We got a visual demonstration) I've been cooking since I was a kid, since I was knee high to a grasshopper. I grew up in a Portuguese household. 

What did you want to be when you grew up?  

I never really thought about that. I wasn't the type of person who said, "I want to do this when I grow up." I didn't want to grow up! I just wanted to watch cartoons. I liked Bullwinkle! I grew up with five older sisters, I'm the youngest. It was a very ethnic household. We are a very loud family. My mom would cook during the week and my dad would cook on weekends. There was a lot of screaming, crying, happy times. It's a good old typical Portuguese family. 

That loud boisterous family dynamic is indicative to the Mediterranean. 

Absolutely, 100 percent! If you get out of the cities, in Spain, South of France or Portugal, it is the same thing. People are passionate about what they do. They care with zest! 

After my mom died, our family meals became less of the sit-down types of meals. However, twice a week me and my father would sit down at the table, have a meal and talk. In this day and age and with the culture, they lose that aspect of family. If I could get back to the roots of food, not just being nourishment for a person, but it is food for the soul. Now you have conversation and it brings people together. That's what we try to do here (Red Clover Inn), it is a little less formal to a point. Our patrons often wind up chatting across tables.

But that's just small town Vermont. 

We also have people coming in for skiing or fall foliage, tourists and locals. 

My research showed that you cooked at young age out of necessity, is that true? 

Early, early not so much, but when I was 10/11 and my mom got sick I stepped up. I had always watched my mom cook, so it was natural for me to help out like that. I took over cooking once in a while. I never really thought about cooking as a career though. I used to watch the old cooking show on the Discovery Channel, I really enjoyed it. 

How did your family influence your concept of food? 

They influenced the flavors of food, but also I became more Americanized as well.  There was Portuguese, but American influences couldn't be ignored. 

So your food became 'the melting pot' so to speak. 

Exactly, there was always something in the Crockpot, but we had Portuguese Banana Peppers, flan, and other Portuguese foods. My sister moved to Bedford and we then had a chance to experience the foods from ethnic communities in that area. 

What was your first 'job' in food? 

I worked in a little café doing a little bit of everything: the line, walk-in, dishes..... 

You've had formal culinary training. 

I trained at CIA 

Were you surprised at how CIA 'worked' when you got there? 

Yeah, I graduated in 2000, went to school with the Old Guard. 

I understand a lot of that Old Guard has since retired. 

Yes, they have. The Old Guard was good stuff. They used to have a six week long butchering class, now it's something like two weeks. Who cares if you can make a perfect omelet, show me how to butcher something. 

I think that's the difference between secondary culinary education in the United States versus Europe. 

I agree. In my eyes, you don't want to teach somebody how to make, let's say roux, you can learn that anywhere. Learning how to take the meat off of a ribcage, that's something entirely different. That's what they (CIA) used to do. Fifty percent of my butchering I learned at school. 

Vermont isn't a food destination. 

It should be. It has the essence of European food cultures with its farms.... 

You've staged as some pretty impressive places though. Share a few of them. 

I staged under Jean-Georges, the Rainbow Room, Lutece.... 

The hands-on experience you acquired at each of them is invaluable. Yet you don't talk much about those times, why? 

They are just stages. It was me just 'hanging out playing,' that's not me working under someone. I'm not going to say I spent a few weeks under Jean-Georges at Trump, don't get me wrong it was great, I really enjoyed it. It is just not the same as working for someone as a full time employee. I worked on some projects with/for him.  I'm more interested in doing, than mentioning that I'm doing it.

Most memorable dining moment. 

When Ferran flew in from Spain and we did like a 40 course tasting menu with him. Samulesson, Boulud, Rocco and others were in attendance, a whole table full of the best of the best. 

I have a special place in my heart for Marcus, he is an amazing person. 

Yes he is, I only met him once, but have tremendous respect for what he's doing.

Trend you embrace. 

The old school is the best school. Traditional techniques, you have to learn them before you can do anything else. With molecular gastronomy you are putting chemicals into your food, like preservatives that are put into foods on the grocery shelf. In my eyes, it is performance art food.  It is an experience. When you look at Alain Ducasse and his menu, break his food down and really look at it; it's whole country cooking with the elements of refinement to a tee. His pigeon is perfection. 

Food trends, I don't know. Food almost has to be your life. You have to eat it, you have to love it, and you have to live it. If you don't, you're going to be distracted and maybe even hate what you do. If those elements don't exist in your life you need to find them. It's easy to say farm-to-table, but you have to get your butt up, go to the farm and pick your vegetables. I enjoy that, I spent time on a farm yesterday, with 80 acres on the top of this mountain. It's an experience, that brings you back down to earth. That's why I'm here in Vermont and not back in Boston. I'd like to bring a city type restaurant here, serving that type of food. That would be perfect for me. I took my shotgun this morning to see if I could get some grouse.

That you would have brought here? 

Pretty much. 

I was going to ask you which kitchen tool or gadget you can't live without, it sounds more like it's your shotgun and fishing pole. (Laughing) Is there one you can't live without? 

My spoons, I don't use tongs. I use spoons all the time. They allow you to 'feel' the food which many tools don't do.

Being a chef is probably one of the few occupations where you use ALL your senses. 

That's true, hearing for example. When food is cooking, if you listen, you know what stage it's at by how it sounds. That's hard to teach somebody. You need to hone your senses. 

You've eaten some pretty interesting foods. Not many people, except perhaps Andrew Zimmern or Anthony Bourdain, have eaten whale blubber or duck tongue. 

They're not that far out there. (Maybe not to him!)

 Is there one food that you can't bring yourself to eat or that you don't like? 

I'm not a big salmon person. I do like Arctic Char, but not salmon. 

What was your embarrassing moment in a professional kitchen? 

I burnt my face off once. When you go into the kitchen in the morning, you turn the ovens on (450 degrees). I didn't know the pilot light wasn't lit. I was standing by the flat top and when I opened the oven, there still must have been something on the flat top, it ignited. A fireball roasted this whole side (points to his face) of my face. It was probably an eight foot fire roaring out of the oven. Thank God the executive chef had this stuff, Silver Sulfadiazine, which had been used to treat burn victims in Vietnam War, as you can see, no severe scarring. 

That's really more scary then embarrassing. 

My most embarrassing moment had to be while I was working in Boston, the chef had live eels shipped up from New York. They came in a wooden box.  I asked him, "Hey, what's in the box?"  He tells me not to worry about what is in there, it's just eels. Of course that makes me even more curious. He proceeds to tell me, "It's okay, just put your hand in there and grab one."

You have to understand, I didn't know they were alive, and the box is filled with hay, long straw so you can't see anything. I stick my hand in there and wow, I nearly **** my pants. There were like 10 eels wriggling around in there. I jumped. Everyone got a good laugh at that one.

Is there a chef in particular that influenced your attitude about food? 

Kenny Oringer (Clio) is a truly great guy. I learned a lot from him. (GGM Note: It is evident from the look on Dennis' face the tremendous amount of respect he has for this man.) All the chefs I staged with influenced me in one way or another. Icons like Joel Robuchon and Pierre Gagnaire, but also Jean-Louis Palladin (of sea urchin fame), he was really amazing.  As an admirer of the old style of cooking one can't ignore Marc Veyrat. 

Do you have a book that you rely on, your 'bible' so to speak? 

I have several, but you will always find The Food Lover's Companion sitting on my desk. From a professional standpoint, Le Guide Culinaire (Escoffier) is a must.

Greatest professional success to date? 

Using an entire goat, that was pretty cool. Living and working in France was great, but that's not a professional success. 

I think working at a two-Michelin starred restaurant in Paris, Helen Darroze, is a professional success! There are many who would clamor for such an experience. 

I don't try to be a rock star; I just want to do what I do well. I'm glad I made it this far. I grew up in a rough part of town. Many of my friends didn't graduate, and some even died at young ages. I've got my own truck, I'm cooking some great food, I can go to the farm, that's an accomplishment. This, (Red Clover Inn) is a great restaurant. I like it here a lot.  

Tell us about your cuisine. 

Simple, definitely Mediterranean with European flair. 

What would the last flavor that you would want in your mouth, your last meal? 

That's a wicked tough one, hmmmm fraises des bois, wild untouched strawberries!
Has so much flavor, intense.  It says that when you mess with Mother Nature you get shit! Let it be what it is. 

Best cooking tip for a novice. 

Don't cook on high heat. A novice has a tendency to turn the pan on high heat, then for example, put the steak in. You want a hot pan, but you want to be able to control your temperature. You need to love it, feel it, touch it. Cooking is the same thing as making love.