How did you get your start in the industry?

Around 1992-93, I was working during the day as a dishwasher at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown and at night as dishwasher at The Latham Hotel two block away. The Latham Hotel went through a major renovation and the hotel's restaurant became Citronelle with Michele Richard. Before the renovation, the dishwashers wore chef coats as a uniform and when Michele Richard's crew arrived, they thought I was a cook and put me to work as a prep person. When the restaurant got busy I used to help the grill cook and just pull meats from the cold boxes, put salt and pepper on them before they went on the grill.

It was an open-kitchen so all the customers can see the line cooks. One night the restaurant was very busy so I had to stop peeling potatoes and go to the line and help the grill cook and that night Executive Chef Douglas McNeil of the Four Seasons was dining with one of his Sous Chefs, Robert Wiedmaier, and they were seated right at the front and they saw their dishwasher cooking at Citronelle. So next day when I got to Four Seasons the Executive Chef was waiting for me. He asked me why I never told him that I was a professional cook and I tried to explain to him what my duties really were at Citronelle, but he immediately transferred me from the kitchen to the line with all the cooks. Then I spent the next ten years cooking at all the restaurants at the Four Seasons as well doing catering. For about 4 years I worked back and forth between the Four Seasons and Citronelle.

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