{"id":12696,"date":"2017-03-24T10:13:42","date_gmt":"2017-03-24T14:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=12696"},"modified":"2017-05-04T10:09:50","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T14:09:50","slug":"the-second-skill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/the-second-skill\/","title":{"rendered":"The Second Skill"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 2017 | view this story as a .pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Maine\u2019s star chefs find creativity beyond the kitchen. <\/span><\/h3>\n

By Claire Z. Cramer<\/span><\/p>\n

\"APR17-Hungry-Eye\"The dark legend of the restaurant world\u2013according to Anthony Bourdain\u2013has it that once the grueling dinner service is over, herds of hard-working chefs seek oblivion in hipster bars, tossing back high-octane booze long into the night. This clich\u00e9 doesn\u2019t seem to hold up here. Turns out, our thoughtful, talented chefs recharge their batteries chasing other challenges beyond the kitchen, not shots of Patron.<\/span><\/p>\n

BRILLIANT DISGUISE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The French call it le<\/em><\/strong> violon d\u2019Ingres<\/em><\/strong>, meaning possessing another<\/em> skill beyond<\/strong> what one is famous for. It refers to portrait painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres<\/strong> (1780-1867) whose passion was playing the violin when away from his easel. Avant-garde artist Man Ray (1890-1976) paid homage to Ingres\u2019s 1808 portrait of a turbaned, nude bather, La Grande Baigneuse<\/em><\/strong>, with his own famous 1924 photograph titled Ingres\u2019s Violin<\/em><\/strong>, showing the back of the nude, turbaned model Kiki de Montparnasse as a violin.<\/span><\/p>\n

SCREAMING GUITAR<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

For Brian Hill<\/strong>, chef\/owner of Camden\u2019s Francine Bistro<\/strong>, the \u201cviolin\u201d is a guitar. His theory about why serious cooks pursue serious passions outside the kitchen is simple: \u201cWe kind of have to. We can\u2019t all just sit around discussing foie gras<\/em> all night.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After high school\u2013he grew up on a dairy and goat farm in Warren\u2013he headed to Boston in the mid-\u201980s and started up a rock band, the Heretix<\/strong>. Hill was lead guitar. \u201cI was 19. We were just kids, but somehow the band took off. We won the Boston Rock & Roll Rumble in 1988. We got signed by Island Records. We got to extend our adolescence into extra years, into the \u201990s\u2014I was so lucky.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Boston star-chef Todd English<\/strong> of Olives <\/strong>and Figs<\/strong> fame was a Heretix fan. Hill asked him for a job. \u201cI started at Figs as a baker in 1993. I moved to saut\u00e9 and pizza, and later I was head chef.\u201d Hill eventually returned to Maine to open his much-acclaimed Francine Bistro in 2003. In the ensuing 14 years he\u2019s received eight James Beard Award nominations for Best Chef \/Northeast,
\nincluding this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Heretix endure. \u201cWe had a 30-year reunion in 2015. The Dropkick Murphys invited us to open for them at the House of Blues in Boston on St. Patrick\u2019s Day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

These days, Hill plays an acoustic 12-string to relax. \u201cIt\u2019s a good late-night challenge. It takes my mind off the burns on my hands.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s a top chef with cherished rock memories.\u201cI got to tour with the Clash, with Aerosmith!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

GREEN THUMB<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Consider Melissa Bouchard<\/strong>, executive chef at DiMillo\u2019s On the Water<\/strong>. The Eastport native\u2019s \u201cfirst career goal was to become a registered nurse. I received a degree in Medical Assisting from Andover College in 2004.\u201d She was paying the bills meantime working in restaurants. \u201cThe DiMillos really took a chance on me. I wanted to know more and perform better.\u201d Eventually, \u201cI was given creative freedom, and I found joy in that. Staying current in this extremely competitive culinary scene keeps me busy. I\u2019m competitive by nature. That being said, I love to garden. It\u2019s just me, the plants, and my thoughts. There\u2019s nothing more satisfying than nurturing something from seed\u2013it\u2019s a quiet you can\u2019t experience in a busy kitchen. Depending on my schedule I grow what I can when I can. My vegetable garden is still in the making, but I grow tomatoes and peppers every year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And how about Portland restaurateur\/chef Jay Villani<\/strong>? He was a metal sculptor moonlighting in New York restaurant kitchens before moving to Maine to found four of Portland\u2019s enduring hotspots: Local 188<\/strong>, Sonny\u2019s<\/strong>, Salvage BBQ<\/strong>, and Bunker Brewing<\/strong>. His original credo was \u201ceat, drink, art,\u201d and he sticks with it. Look for his wrought iron work in Local 188 and fine art in all his establishments.<\/span><\/p>\n

DRIVEN TO ABSTRACTION<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

How about a chef who paints? Stephen Lanzalotta<\/strong>, owner and executive chef of Slab<\/strong> and creator of the legendary Sicilian Slab pizza that has seduced the Forest City for years, had an epiphany at the Nickelodeon Cinema in the year 2000.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was inspired after seeing Ed Harris as [abstract painter Jackson] Pollock. I went out the next day and bought tube colors and cheap Masonite to paint on.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Go ahead and call him an abstract expressionist. \u201cThe broad, easy sense of that classification spurred my painterly motivation and best sums up the simple, no-nonsense, gestural approach I take by painting with a carpenter\u2019s drywall knife. Abstraction is as pure an expression of nature as any act\u2013a handprint colored onto a cave wall, or its ephemeral predecessor, a footprint in the sand.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Portlanders may remember seeing Lanzalotta\u2019s work at The Clown, the spacious art gallery\/imported home wares\/wine cellar on Middle Street. He also used his bakery\/caf\u00e9, Sophia\u2019s, on Market Street as his own gallery, by hanging his paintings on the walls. \u201cPollock gave me inspiration on how to save Sophia\u2019s during the low-carb, Atkins Diet years by creating a gallery space with eats. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCreatively, painting provides an outlet that cooking cannot. While the exact same drives and parameters exist for me whether I have a skillet or a tube of oil-color in my hand, I\u2019m always quite conscious of the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

These days, he thinks of Slab\u2019s distinctive interior as his art. He plastered and painted the earth-tone walls himself, \u201cwith the same dry-wall knife.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

RAMEN REDEMPTION<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a producer, cooking was my outlet,\u201d says Kei Suzuki<\/strong>, executive chef\/owner of Ramen Suzukiya<\/strong>, of his hobby-turned-profession. He spent 30 years as a New York City-based news producer for Japan\u2019s Fuji TV network. It was a fast-paced job involving travel and crazy hours. In his precious leisure time at home with his family, Suzuki cooked the comfort foods of his childhood in Japan. \u201cI cooked to relax.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Then one day he chucked the TV biz, moved to Maine to be near his now-adult children, and opened the sleek little ramen caf\u00e9 overlooking the Eastern Cemetery on Congress Street in 2015. Since Suzuki and his team make fresh stock and noodles every day, cooking no longer qualified as a pastime.<\/p>\n

So he found a new creative fulfillment in traditional Japanese calligraphy. \u201cWhenever I have time, I take out my black ink. It makes me calm. You have this piece of white paper. You can draw a large or small character, leave a space. There\u2019s balance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Look for his work overhead in the restaurant. The white ceiling is a grid of wooden tiles, and some of the squares contain Japanese characters in bold black brush strokes. Suzuki points and translates\u2013\u201cThat\u2019s \u2018hope,\u2019 and \u2018friend,\u2019 and \u2018soul.\u2019\u201d He explains, \u201cIt\u2019s not just the words, but how you write, sometimes with just a soft touch.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

WOOD WHISPERER<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Minnesota native Daniel Bushman<\/strong> came to Portland in search of a new place to call home. Trained at the Cordon Bleu cooking school in Mitchell, South Dakota, where he learned to prepare game birds like pheasant and big-game caribou and elk, Bushman landed a job at Central Provisions. Chef\/owner Chris Gould eventually introduced him to his friend, the chef Pete Sueltenfuss. Today, Bushman now runs the second of Sueltenfuss\u2019s two Otherside Delis <\/strong>on Vaughn Street. The pair share a passion and skill for butchery and charcuterie. <\/span><\/p>\n

The story doesn\u2019t end there. Bushman\u2019s \u201cviolin\u201d is carpentry, learned in the Midwest. \u201cI made the seven-foot pine bookcase and cherry lamp in my apartment. I felled the trees and milled the wood myself.\u201d Now that he\u2019s a city-dweller no longer stalking the forests for lumber, \u201cI\u2019m joining the Open Bench Project on Thompson\u2019s Point,\u201d where members share work space and tools. Bushman\u2019s latest frontier: \u201cA series of coffee tables.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 2017
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