Interview with Chef Kevin Maxey of Craft - Dallas

Antoinette Bruno: When and why did you start cooking? What inspired you to pursue cooking professionally?
Kevin Maxey: I grew up in Arlington, TX with a family who always appreciated good food and ate together a lot. Restaurants fascinated me and I was always watching cooking shows on PBS. I guess I was always interested in food. Two months after I graduated Texas Christian University in 1994, I moved to California and became a butcher’s apprentice.

AB: Where have you worked professionally as a chef?
KM: I moved back to Texas and got a job at The Riviera under Chef David Holben where I learned the foundations of French culinary technique. Thierry Reautureau suggested I go work for Tom Colicchio. After almost five years, I left New York for Louisville, KY and worked at an artisanal bakery for a year. In 2005 Tom called about setting up Craft in Dallas, and I got in on the ground floor.

AB: Would you recommend culinary school to aspiring cooks? Do you hire chefs with and without a culinary school background?
KM: I don’t think it’s necessary, but I don’t prefer a degree or discriminate against those who don’t have one. I went to TCU for marketing so I can’t say it’s necessary. I think it helps tp be able to develop kitchen vocabulary and good knife technique. You just need to be able to keep up in a kitchen. I suggest a self-directed apprenticeship.

AB: Who are some of your mentors? What have you learned from them?
KM: Tom Collichio is really my biggest mentor, and I met him through Thierry Reautureau so he is one as well. John Schafer, the chef de cuisine at Gramercy Tavern influenced me a lot, as did Damon Wise, the chef de cuisine at Craft in New York.

AB: In which kitchens have you staged? Which experiences were the most influential?
KM: I staged at Le Bernardin for three weeks and with Jan Louis at Palladin for three weeks.

AB: What question gives you the most insight to a cook when you’re interviewing them for a position in your kitchen? What sort of answer are you looking for?
KM: I ask them to define the word “sauté.” I’m looking for them to tell me the French definition. I also ask how they braise short ribs. There is no wrong answer to that one. I want to know if they have been trained in a professional kictchen, and I like to know about their vocabulary and process. 95% of it is gut feeling. I watch them doing service one night, ask questions, and figure out if we can get along.

AB: What advice would you offer young chefs just getting started?
KM: You have to be realistic and realize that it takes a number of years to become a chef. Culinary students often take on too much too soon. You need four to six years of good hard work before you become a sous chef, and each position you take on prior to that should pose a different challenge. You have to have at least ten years of experience before you can start teaching others.

AB: Which chefs do you consider to be your peers?
KM: Chris Ward at Mercury Grill and Stephan Pyles.

AB: Is there any ingredient that you feel is particularly under appreciated or under utilized?
KM: Parsnips because they add an unexpected sweetness and richness to dishes, and they have a good starch content. I roast or puree them. Pureed, their texture is like velvet.

AB: What are a few of your favorite flavor combinations?
KM: I like citrus and poultry or citrus and game together, like blood orange and guinea hen or tangerine and rabbit.

AB: What’s your most indispensable kitchen tool?
KM: The Gray Kunz sauce spoon is perfect for saucing plates. Meat forks are pretty important as well.

AB: What's your advice for aspiring chefs?
KM: I teach line cooks about food cost, controlling cost, and the scope of job changes. I also go over protein invoices with all meat cooks with a calculator because I think it’s important for everyone in the kitchen to be part of the entire process.

AB: What are your favorite cookbooks?
KM: Molto Mario by Mario Batali because he has an uncanny knack for giving people what they want. He knows how to create the whole package while still keeping it simple and not going over the top. Julia Child’s book are great for classic dishes.

AB: Where would you like to go for culinary travel? Why?
KM: I like to go to Vietnam because everything here is so Americanized that its hard to figure out what is authentic. Also, they've hardly toned down their French influences.

AB: What are your favorite restaurants-off the beaten path-in your city? What is your favorite dish there? What are your favorite after hour places and bars?
KM: Cuchito’s for Mexican; I love their chicken mole enchiladas. I like Kuby’s for sausage and beer - they start serving beer at noon on Sundays.

AB: What trends do you see emerging in the restaurant industry now?
KM: Steak houses are huge. Tom Collichio’s Craft concept of everything being a la carte is really popping up all over the place. And chefs seem more concerned than ever with using local and seasonal ingredients as much as possible.

AB: Which person in history would you most like to have dinner with?
KM: I’d like to eat with my ancestors, or my grandparents on my mom’s side in East Texas.

AB: What is your philosophy on food and dining?
KM: I think it’s important to source the best, most unadulterated ingredients based on freshness and pureness. We use locally grown ingredients as much as possible while still combing the globe to find the best of everything.

AB: If you weren’t a chef what do you think you’d be doing?
KM: I think I would like to be a finish carpenter. Sometimes I think I missed my calling as a brain surgeon because of my ability to function under pressure.

AB: What does success mean for you? What will it look like for you?
KM: In five years I hope to have struck a good balance between professional and family life because right now I'm working 50 to 60 hour weeks with a 12 week old kid at home and it's pretty tough. I would like to be the chef of two or three restaurants in Austin.