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| photography by Elizabeth Lavin |
When I knew I wanted to be a chef: Working as restaurant manager with George Brown and Kent Rathbun at Seventeen Seventeen. I hadn’t participated in that level of food until then.
Where I go to eat on my night off: Teppo Yakitori & Sushi Bar, Mai’s Vietnamese Restaurant, Abacus, and Stephan Pyles.
Produce you should be buying now: Tomatoes, asparagus, arugula, cherries, and peaches.
Area chefs I am watching: Lanny Lancarte at Lanny’s Alta Cocina Mexicana, Sharon Hage at York Street, and my sous chef, Jesus Arrellano.
Indulgence foods: Bread and butter (is that guilty?) and peanut butter on anything.
Ingredients I use most: Balsamic vinegar, kosher salt, and sugar. I like a combination of sweet and savory.
Favorite cookbooks: The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller, anything by Donna Hay, Simple to Spectacular by Jean Georges Vongerichten and Mark Bittman, Happy in the Kitchen by Michel Richard, and the Chez Panisse cookbooks by Alice Waters.
One easy cleanup tip: Clean as you go, and keep a wet cloth and dry cloth with you at all times.
One table-setting tip: A simple candle creates ambiance and sensuality.
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| Tracy Miller’s thumbprint cookie with cranberry chutney photography by Elizabeth Lavin |
An entertaining tip to keep the party going: Choose music to set the mood. Right now we have Tracy Thorn, AIR, Jill Scott, and Hotel Costes mixes in the CD player. What you hear becomes part of the memory. And cocktails or wine—it’s elementary, but it’s practical and true.
Best compliment to the chef: Someone leaving dinner and making a reservation for the future. The other night, I had someone say that dinner was beyond her expectations. It wasn’t just the food—it was the phone call, the greeting at the front door, restaurant design, music, server, the rosemary on the nuts—the total experience.
Signature meal: The steak dinner followed by Chocolate Composed, which is a combination of three chocolate favorites: chocolate soufflé, chocolate brownie cookie, and Ovaltine-spiked chocolate shake. The tuna tartar is quite popular, too.
