Corey Lee (Rest.)

*****
2012 Best New Chef Award Profile

Photo © Justin Lewis

Won Best New Chef at: Benu, San Francisco.

Born: 1977; Seoul, South Korea. Raised: New York City and the NY/NJ/CT area.

Experience: Blue Ribbon, New York City; Pied à Terre and Savoy Grill, London; Lespinasse and Per Se, New York City; The French Laundry, Yountville, CA.

How he got into cooking: “I was waiting tables at Blue Ribbon Sushi in Manhattan, which had just opened in 1995. The kitchen captivated me—watching the chefs work, seeing how intense and challenging it was. I asked the Bromberg brothers [the restaurant’s owners] if I could work in the kitchen at their other restaurant, Blue Ribbon. They’re such nice guys; they said sure. My first job was chopping parsley. And Blue Ribbon does big numbers, so that meant chopping a case of parsley.”

Best city for a young cook: London. “I interned at La Tante Claire with Pierre Kaufman and the Oak Room with Marco Pierre White. I also did several one-day stages. It was a great city to be cooking in when you’re young, at least in the late ’90s.”

Biggest influences: Thomas Keller. “I worked with him for nine years. I spent almost my entire twenties at the French Laundry. And Christian Delouvrier [then chef at New York City’s Lespinasse].”

Memorable cooking experience: The first time he cooked for his parents. “It was only last year. I’ve been cooking for so long, but it’s the first time they ever came to a restaurant where I was working. They never wanted their son to be in the back slaving away while they were in the front enjoying a meal. I served my mother porridge with black truffles; it came in a cloche that she’d painted for the restaurant. And I snuck my dad two fingers of whiskey—he’s a Scotch drinker, but we don’t have a liquor license.”

Pet peeve: Machines breaking. “We have two of almost every machine at Benu; you need a backup.”

Ingredient obsession: Tofu. “We make tofu with all different kinds of flavors, using soy milk as a base. The mustard tofu is really interesting. But classic ones, like sesame and sweet miso—those are great, too.”

Childhood cooking story: “My grandmother would visit from Korea and make acorn flan. She’d pick acorns in parks that had oak trees, she’d shell them, clean them, rinse them, dry them, grind them. She’d turn that powder into a jelly. As a Korean kid, it’s tough when you’re trying to assimilate into American culture and your grandmother is out picking acorns in the park. But it’s the first time I saw someone take something from the wild and process it. Wherever you went—the kitchen, the laundry room—there was acorn in some form. We’ve had acorn on the menu at Benu since we opened.”

Favorite kitchen tool: Spoon. “I use a spoon for everything: plating, roasting, basting. A lot of cooks use the same spoon for years. I’ve bought some in antique shops when I’m traveling. It drives me crazy when someone uses them.”

Memorable meal: L’Arpège, Paris. “I had lunch there by myself when I was 19. It was intimidating. But they made me feel so welcome, even though I was young and not rich and not speaking French properly. That’s what great restaurants are about. That almost trumps any kind of creativity.”

Favorite food city: “It’s changed over the years. Ten years ago, I would have said Paris. Five years ago, I would have said Tokyo. Right now, I’d say Hong Kong. It has an amazing diversity of food, in terms of different kinds of cooking, fine dining, casual, street food—at such a high level, in so many different places. If you ask five people what’s the best restaurant for roast duck, you’ll get five different answers. That’s the mark of a really great dining city.”

Cheap eat: Cantonese style noodles with wontons, in broth. “I like broth with all kinds of different noodles. Egg noodles, rice noodles; I especially like thin, chewy noodles. And I like congee, too. A bowl of congee or noodles is what I go to.”

After-hours hangout: Bar Agricole. “They have great cocktails, and I love the design of the place. And they have an outdoor seating area, which is rare for San Francisco.”

Fantasy restaurant: “I’d love to do a Korean barbecue restaurant with grills at the table. I’d do beef sliced to order. Either that or a very, very casual and classic French bistro.”

Favorite thing about San Francisco: “Right now, it’s being able to watch Yuan Yuan Tan at the San Francisco Ballet.”

Food trend he most dislikes: “These days, every chef at every level feels like they need to tell a story with their food. You know what? Sometimes food doesn’t need a story. Sometimes those stories aren’t that interesting—it becomes very contrived.”

Favorite cookbook: The Great Chefs of France by Anthony Blake and Quentin Crewe. “It came out in the late ’70s. It’s about the lifestyle of three-starred chefs in France, outside of Paris. It made me appreciate how hard these chefs work, how much commitment their career requires.”

Favorite website: The USDA site, usda.gov. “I think it’s an amazing resource that every cook should bookmark. It provides a nutritional breakdown for almost every ingredient. An apple: You can find out the amount of water, of sugar, of fiber.”


Restaurants

Benu
22 Hawthorne St. San Francisco, CA, United States
(415) 685-4860

http://www.foodandwine.com/best_new_chefs/corey-lee