Letting the Food Speak for Him
Posted on | January 14, 2010 | Written by Tom Powers | 1 Comment
Dynamic personality, cutting-edge techniques, great floor presence, and a sparkling TV presence: If these are the components that interest you in chefs, please stop reading now. If, like me, you believe that a chef should be a person who knows how to craft beautiful, honest food, then read on. For over eighteen years I worked in restaurants and was fortunate to meet many brilliant chefs. I also had the misfortune of meeting several who were legends in their own mind—and they were the ones who were spending less time around fire, mise en place and refrigeration and more time around cameras and lights. When I started at IWM, I was curious to meet the man who manned our stoves, and I was introduced to the ever humble Chef Kevin Sippel.
Sippel began his culinary career in his hometown of Buffalo, New York. As a teenager, he began washing dishes at a pub and then worked his way into the kitchen. His Sicilian grandfather later sent him to Italy to help him with his culinary inspiration. Over the years, Sippel has cooked in Italy, France and London, working in many fine restaurants. He spent his last few years in New York working with Scott Conant.
To say that Sippel is old school would be an understatement. Sippel doesn’t talk about his food; rather, it speaks for him. Where many of today’s young chefs are lacing their dishes with foams, deconstructing food and using laboratory devices to prepare their dishes, Sippel employs traditional methods in order to cook from his heart. His cuisine rests in his commitment to source consistently beautiful products. He uses few ingredients in each dish and allows the integrity of the ingredient to carry the dish. The result is something natural, and something beautiful.
One example of Sippel’s commitments to simplicity is where the chef looks for inspiration—for instance, winemaker Josko Gravner. This iconoclastic producer moved away from the ultra-modern techniques that he had championed, even mastered, in order to work with clay amphorae, and this producer’s adoption of ancient methods showed Sippel how a chef could move away from ultra-modern techniques to achieve a state of natural harmony. Sippel embraces techniques that are decades old and have stood the test of time. Some chefs impart their will onto the product, but the result is often something contrived—flavorful yet lacking finesse. It feels manipulated. Sippel’s food is very different. There is a delightful, subtle elegance to his execution. More importantly, he does not sacrifice flavor for technique.
Sippel has the magic in his fingers. His dishes show a profound respect for the integrity of the product. Fish is either served raw or medium rare, always. The delicacy of the tissue remains intact, and the accoutrement complements the flavors. His pastas are made in-house daily and served with traditional sauces with a few simple, seasonal components. This winter he made butternut squash pasta with bone marrow and sage. That crescent moon pasta slid into my mouth and melted, as the understated sweetness of the squash was matched by the herbal component of the sage. The bone marrow gave it the richness that made my toes curl, made my eyes close and made me silently give thanks for being alive.
Macho, as Sippel is affectionately known, handles meat with similar reverence. He lets the product speak for itself. This approach is one embraced by such acclaimed chefs as Eric Rippert from Le Bernadine, Patrick O’Connell at the Inn at Little Washington and Thomas Keller at The French Laundry. These chefs have moved beyond ego to create a sublime sophistication in their cuisine. I am proud to say the young man in our kitchen has discovered this glorious, simple magic at an early age. I’m even happier that I get to eat his food on a regular basis.
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January 14th, 2010 @ 4:17 pm
I would say that those butternut squash ravioli are the best pasta I’ve ever eaten, bite sized dynamite of sweet and savory TNT exploding with flavor in every bite. I would say that, but my grandmother might be reading this. . .