Alumni interview with Gabriel Caliendo

Introducing OCC Alum Chef Gabriel Caliendo, Corporate Executive Chef and Vice President R&D for Lazy Dog Restaurants.  

                 

Where are you from? I have been living in California for over 30 years in Orange County.

What did you study while you were at OCC? I studied Advanced Culinary Arts, Catering, and Restaurant Management, so those are the four degrees I got with my Associates as an Apprentice Cook.

What have you been up to since attending the Culinary program at OCC? At the time that I started the culinary program I was with the Ritz Carton in Laguna Niguel. I did my apprenticeship there through the Department of Labor, Orange Coast College, and the Ritz Carlton.  That was a three-year apprenticeship. Then I graduated the program, and then I continued to work at the Ritz Carlton in different chef positions.  After graduating, I was offered position at Orange Coast College as a Chef Instructor.  So really the first thing I did after graduating was to become an instructor. I think I graduated in ‘97 and my first year teaching was ’98, so really I went straight from the program into teaching.  But I had a lot of culinary experience before I started taking the classes. I did that for about 5 years, where I continued to work as a chef at the Ritz Carlton and teach Culinary Arts at Orange Coast College.  Then I left both positions to start The Lazy Dog Restaurant and bar as the culinary partner.

Can you tell us more about your work at The Lazy Dog? In 2003, we opened the first Lazy Dog, and basically my position was to develop the culinary parts, the kitchen design, the menus, equipment, products, kind of just sourcing all of that stuff, all the training of the chefs and cooks, purchasing, design, development—there was a lot of stuff that went into that.  Fast forward, that was 2003, so we’re 12 years into it.  And I’m sitting in the parking lot talking to you from our newest opening in Downey!  This will be our 19^th Lazy Dog.  By the end of the year we will have 23 Lazy Dogs.

How has attending OCC influenced your career? OCC was a great foundation for the business acumen that was required. Cooking in a kitchen somewhere, you learn a lot about cooking, but it’s hard to learn about the business that way.  That was one of the best things. Getting that education on food costing and overall business sense.

What advice would offer to current students about getting started in the food industry?  I used to do this every day the first day when I was teaching at OCC. I would go around and ask everyone in the class what they wanted to do. That would give me some direction in terms of how to teach them something.  The next day I’d ask them all where they are working right now.  It was always interesting to me when you had a big disconnect. For instance, I had many students that would say “I want to be a chef”, but they would be working at Blockbuster Video. My biggest advice then and now is, if you’re serious about being in the restaurant business you have to work in the restaurant business. It is unbelievable how many people think that they are going to be a chef or own a restaurant and they don’t even have a job in a kitchen.  They have no idea what the industry is like.  So in order to be successful, most importantly, you have to work in the field.  And then once you do that, I always suggest to people to try to go work for somebody that emulates the type of business you want to be in.  If you want to do a Chinese restaurant, go work at a Chinese restaurant.  If you want to do Mediterranean, go find the best Mediterranean restaurant and work for them.

If you could take a two week intensive workshop to study and perfect any culinary-related skill anywhere in the world, what would you study & where? I’d like to take a 2 week course in cheesemaking.  If I could do it anywhere I would do it in France.  I am making a lot of cheese at home right now, so it would be fun to do that.

What’s the best piece of advice you were given about the industry when you started out?  My parents were in the business, and they just always taught me not to be wasteful with anything.  Whether it was paper or food, they were always very concerned with making sure they didn’t waste anything.  That’s something that is super important, because really, the restaurant business is a game of pennies.  Just a little bit of waste can make or break whether you are able to stay open and have a profitable business.

Favorite non-slip shoes: I really like the Mozo brand.  I like them because they are very light!  When you are on your feet all day, it’s nice to have light shoes.  And my other trick for shoes is that I always have two brand new pairs.  So I buy two pairs at the same time and then halfway through the day I change my shoes out so it’s like a fresh pair of shoes.

Kitchen tool you cannot live without: There are so many!  The one thing that really makes life much easier is an immersion blender.

Ingredient you cannot live without: I would have to go down to the basics, which would be salt.  You could not live without salt.

One of your favorite dining experiences: My favorite food and favorite way to eat is sushi at Japanese restaurants.  By far the attention to detail, the purity of the ingredients, and the stripped down essence of what you get…the best dining experiences I have had is at a good quality Japanese sushi restaurant.

Restaurant in CA you would most like to visit:  The French Laundry

Restaurant in the world you would most like to visit: I’d love to go to NOMA.

Favorite cookbook: I love Nobu, which covers the Japanese stuff.  And they are old now, but I still enjoy my Charlie Trotter books.  He was one of the creators of nouvelle cuisine in the US and his books are still very cool.

Favorite family food tradition: I love my mom’s Feast of the 7 seas, which is a Christmas meal that’s all based on different seafood courses that you eat on Christmas Eve.  She makes killer stuff like crab, marinara sauce with shrimp and shellfish.  And a chilled shrimp salad with olives and celery and tomatoes, lemon and olive oil.  It’s so good.

Tell us about a chef you admire: There’s a lot of them out there. I really admire Mario Batali, and I just like what he and his partners have done with Eataly and all of his restaurants. Lidia and Joe Bastianich, mother and son, they are his partners in Eataly.  Everything in Eataly is from their farm or their vineyard or their butcher. Really smart business sense and at the same time, a really good cook.  

Favorite comfort food: There’s a lot of comfort food that I like.  Good old spaghetti and sauce is one of the comfort foods for me!  I grew up eating that.  That would be my Italian comfort food.  One of my favorite Mexican comfort foods is just a quick quesadilla.  When I’m busy I’ll just take a tortilla with some cheese and melt it and have a quick quesadilla. And American style, if I was going to sit down and have a really good comfort meal, I love a pot pie, when it’s nice, fresh made, homemade pot pie!

Student interview featuring Mary Conaty

Introducing Mary Conaty, a Baking student from Rancho Santa Margarita, California and Bakery III at the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel, California.  Mary is nearly done with the Baking program and is currently completing her last course in Pastry Arts during the Fall 2015 semester.

Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity

Tell us a bit about your work in the food industry thus far.  How did you get started and what are you up to now?  My first kitchen job was at Bruxie on the line.  I also worked as a pastry cook at Black Market Bakery, and as a head baker at a Wish and a Whisk, a custom appointment-only bakeshop.  Then I got my job at the Ritz in the pastry shop.  I started as a baker, now I'm doing more pastry and working on the line.  There is a lot going on all the time...And everyone needs dessert when they are on vacation!

What kind of stuff are you doing on a day to day basis?  I work in the morning, on the line.   I don't get too many tickets during the week.  It will mostly be on the weekends.  I am basically doing all the prep.  You know, making ice cream bases, building cakes. We have a special birthday cake and a special occasion cake that we do a lot for in-room dining and for the restaurants.  You know, prep for all the desserts. Tart doughs and cornmeal financiers are on our menu right now*.  It's so good.  It's with a lime [ flexible ] ganache and fresh farmer's market berries, it's delicious... I do a lot of the prep for whatever menu.  Raya menu mostly. It's our steak restaurant that's only open at night. So sometimes the night people will do the prep stuff for that.
[*previous menu from the time of the interview]

So you're doing most of the prep for that specific menu?
Yes.  I try to do most of it in the morning because at night is when we're busiest.  So I try to get as much done in the morning as possible so at night they don't have to worry about getting prep done.  And it's busy.

What made you decide to come to culinary school?  I went to Senior Day at OCC, when I was a senior.  I knew I wanted to go to Culinary and I knew OCC had a really good program...So I came to Senior day, got some papers, and did my matriculation on my prom day.  Actually my friend and I came and did our english and math test and then went to prom that night.  I totally forgot about that, it was so long ago.  It was a nightmare.  We went from there to go get our hair done.  It was insane.  I don't know why we did it that day, but we signed up for that day.  So from there I started... I took Baking 1 with Gunter Rehm.  And then I did, you know, Math and Accounting, Nutrition, all those Hospitality classes.  I took a lot of classes.  After that I kind of stopped doing Culinary and Baking.  And I just focused on my general ed and I got all of that done. And then, when I came back I took Culinary 1, and Pantry...

So you came to the Senior Day, and then what was it that made you stay? Have you always liked cooking?  Yes, oh yeah.  And I took a Baking and Pastry ROP in high school, and I was like, this is what I want to do.  It was at the school district's cafeteria. And this lady, she was so cool.  I don't even know where she worked or anything, but I think she had her own catering business.  So she taught these classes on the side.  She was a cool lady.  She was like "I made my own wedding cake."  And I was like "you're crazy, I would never do that."  I just wouldn't want to stress about that.

What do you think is one of the most useful skills you have learned here at Orange Coast College?  Being on the Hot Food Team, I learned a lot in quite a short period of time.  And you know, it really sharpened my knife skills.  We practiced knife cuts like no other.  It was our homework every week. developing a dish and just refining it for 9 months.  And being able to take constructive criticism is probably one of the most important things I've learned ever in life and not taking it personally. Because people are just trying to help.  Because I know I try to do that and people don't take it as well as I would.

What do you think you have learned from those experiences within the program where you have had to manage a class/lab as a part of an assignment?  You can only do your best.  Try to keep in touch with everyone throughout the class.  Make sure everyone is on time, everything is looking how you want it, everything is tasting good.  It's a lot of work.  I gained so much respect for chef instructors at that point.  Trying to control a class can be impossible.  They probably feel the same way.  You cannot keep track of everyone.  24 people in a class, that's so much.  Checking on all the products, making sure that everything (12-14 different recipes) are top-notch...

What has been a favorite experience here?  The Hot Food Team.  That's like, my glory days!  I just loved it.  It was so much work, and it was so tiring.  After we won state, we were at school every single day at 5 am.  On Fridays we were here at 6 am, so we got to sleep in on one day.  We were working on our platter...that platter was brutal.

What is one long term or short term goal that stands out to you?  Actually one of my goals is to really get chocolate tempering down.  At work we do it a lot, and it's just something I know a lot of people have trouble with.  We do the table tempering and we do all of our own chocolate decor.  So it's something I really want to learn and it's something I absolutely can with all of the people I work with who are just so talented.  People think it's easy but it's not that easy.  You have to work quick, you have to work clean.

If you could take a 2 week workshop to perfect any skill, what would it be?  Chocolate!

And then, any tips for incoming students?  Put time and effort into it.  People don't practice at home, they don't do their homework and their projects.  Put time into it and you'll get more out of it.  Come prepared to class.  Read your recipes through, do the reading. Show up no matter what. I've never missed a lab class.  The only lab class I ever missed was when we were in Idaho for our [Hot Food Team] competition.  Just care about what you're doing.

Is there any piece of advice you have been given about working in the industry that stands out to you?  Chef Bosich says "Fake it 'till you make it" a lot.  I like that.  That's pretty right.  People get really scared for their first kitchen job.  Just show you have confidence.  If you don't seem like you know what you're doing, they'll think you have no idea what they're doing.  And they're probably right.  Just power through it.  When I started at the Ritz, I started as a Baker III, which normally you get hired as an apprentice or a [Baker] IV.  So I was really lucky to get hired that high up.  And I was like, I hope I don't blow this.  Because working at the cake shop, it was like, this lady owned it, there was 5 of us, and it was super easy.  I just made cake and buttercream and mousse and it was the same thing every week. But then I was going into somewhere where it was going to be a little bit different.  I mean, it's the Ritz.  But everything was fine.  People train you, they show you how to do stuff, ask questions.  Never be afraid to ask questions, that's something that, you know, I just learned.  I don't know if anyone told me that, but I have never shied away from asking questions.  Ask "Am I doing this right"?  Double checking procedures.

What are your favorite non-slip shoes? Mozo

What's the kitchen tool you cannot live without? mini offset, paring knife.  Do I have to choose only one? Chef's knife, paring knife, slicing knife, heat proof spatula, microplane, a good pot.

What was your first chef's knife?  Messermeister.  A German one. 10 inches long.  I now have an eight inch Victronox and I like it a lot better.  That was a good beginner's knife.  Kept you steady.

What's the ingredient you cannot live without? Valhrona chocolate, 46%

What is one of your favorite dining experiences of all time?  Chez Panisse.  Long term goal is to stage at Chez Panisse.

What restaurant in California would you most like to visit? The French Laundry. You've got to save up for that one.

What restaurant anywhere in the world would you most like to visit? Noma, Japan

What is your favorite cookbook?  The Chez Panisse fruit book, dessert book, and vegetable books.  That's three different books, all Chez Panisse.

What's one of your favorite family recipes? Yaki soba. I'm Japanese.

Tell us about a chef you admire and why.  Alice Waters.  Starting the Farm to Table revolution.  Edible Schoolyard, her work she does with kids and school and education. The fact that she has not served the same menu in 40 years baffles me and inspires me at the same time. She opened it as a place for her friends to eat at, to eat French food in California.  And she's a lady.  A pretty bad ass lady.

What is your favorite comfort food?  Anything Japanese, curry and rice.

Is there a class you unexpectedly loved that you did not know you would?  I didn't think I would like the meat cutting so much in Culinary 2 since I am more pastry backgrounded, but I loved hacking at veal bones.  Chef had some extra veal bones one day and he gave them to Emily and I, my partner, and he was like, you can use this for our whatever stock, and there's a picture of her sawing at these bones.  I didn't think I would like sweetbreads but I loved them. Liver I still can't do.

Is there anything else you want to add? Don't wait until you're done with school to get a job.  I have heard that a lot.  "Oh I'm just waiting to finish school."  No, go get a job stat.  That's my advice. Do anything.  Bruxie. That was my first kitchen job.  I was just like, listen I have no experience, please take me.  And I put together waffle sandwiches and I made it happen, you know.  When we first opened we were so busy.  It was the Rancho Santa Margarita location, so it closed down.  But I learned how to move fast in a kitchen, because we were slammed, all night, every night, all day, every day for the first couple months we were open.  You know it slows down, but it was... you better know what you're doing because you have to be on autopilot.  It was nuts.  And I had Culinary 1 and Pantry at the same time-- I think that helped me with my speed as well.  Culinary 1 is so long and people tend to take their time, but Pantry was a short class.  It made me go faster in my Culinary 1 class.  I would finish everything and chef would give me more recipes to do.