“I love being in the kitchen more than anywhere else.”
Benjamin Navarro
Q: How did your career start?
A: I started working as a dishwasher, I started moving up year after year. […] Before we started with big french chefs and you start learning little by little and that’s how I learned. […] I have been working [in the culinary industry] for twenty or thirty years now.
Q: Did you always know you wanted to be a chef?
A: I really enjoyed the kitchen, yeah. I love being in the kitchen more than anywhere else.
Q: Was French Cuisine something you’ve always been interested in?
A: Yes, always. I used to watch Anthony Bourdain, all those french shows. […] He was one of the best and Thomas Geller from Napa as well.
Q: Is there any other cuisine you like to expirement with?
A: Actually, I worked with Peruvian food and Italian places before this. I kind of like Indian food, there’s so many flavors. The flavors they have are insane, so many different spices.
Q: How would you describe the making of Parc Bistro-Brasserie’s menu?
A: The chef that opened the restaurant left but the owner called me to see if we could make it work because I was working at the french restaurant two blocks from here. Yeah, he called me and I was going to come for six months and then we started working on the menu. I don’t know we made it through six months, a year, two years, and then we just kept going. It’s about 6 years now here. […]
We have a lot of regulars here, sometimes they come everyday. The process here, I knew kind of the clientele that we have so pretty much we make specials everyday and what people like we add to the menu.
We do alot of wine dinners every month. Depending on what kind of wine we serve, Italy or France, we build the menu off of that. This month is going to be a five course meal. Especially with the wine dinners, it’s all about timing.
Q: What is your favorite dish to make?
A: Ballotine, it’s a rolled chicken breast that’s been pounded. You pound the chicken, roll it, stuffed with apples, cranberries, spinach and cheese. Then we fry it with flower, eggs, and panko and slow roast it in the oven. For seasons we change the stuffing inside.
Q: How long has Premier Meat Company been providing your proteins for?
A: Eight years, since we opened. I worked with premier at my previous restaurants too, another french restaurant and a country club.
Q: What is a tip you can give for cooking at home?
A: When you’re cooking a steak, you have to always put the salt and pepper and let it rest outside the fridge for about 5 or 10 minutes. That way the salt in the steak can absorb. Put it in a really nice hot pan and you’re good. It’s so amazing the difference when it gets to room temperature.