Gavin Kaysen
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Gavin Kaysen (born 1979 in Thousand Oaks, California) is an executive chef working at El Bizcocho in San Diego. In 2007, he represented America at the Bocuse d'Or.[1] He was a competitor on The Next Iron Chef, eliminated during the third challenge, ‘Resourcefulness’. It was announced in October 2007 that he will be moving to become the executive chef at noted French chef and restaurateur Daniel Boulud's New York City restaurant, Cafe Boulud.[2]
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[edit] Biography
A graduate of the New England Culinary Institute, Kaysen was inspired to become a chef while working at a Subway in Bloomington, Minnesota:
| “ | This guy named George Serra was opening a place called Pasta Time next door. He’d come in every Saturday and order tuna, then I’d watch him go out and throw the sandwich in the trash. After four or five Saturdays, I asked him why he was throwing out his sandwiches. (He was checking out Kaysen’s sandwich-making skills, not the sandwich.) He said, “I want you to come work for me, you have a great work ethic. So he gave me $1 more an hour, and I went to work for him. He taught me how to love food, and how to love the whole process, and to cook with a lot of emotion. That’s what I learned from him.[3] | ” |
[edit] Career
In 2007, Kaysen was named one of the top 10 ‘Best New Chefs’ by Food & Wine Magazine.[3] Before becoming executive chef at, he has worked at Domaine Chandon in Yountville, California, under Robert Curry, at Auberge de Lavaux in Lausanne, Switzerland, and under Marco Pierre White at L'Escargot in London, England.
Chef Kaysen was eliminated during the third episode of The Next Iron Chef due to his food being ‘underseasoned’ and ‘undersalted’ in the opinions of the judges. After the elimination, he explained to judge Michael Ruhlman that the problem had been that the food had been stored improperly by the tech crew of the show, and had become submerged in an ice water bath, leaching the salt and seasonings out. Ruhlman has stated that had he known of the technical glitch, he would likely have judged differently.[4]
In 2008, chef Kaysen won a James Beard Foundation Award for Rising Star Chef of the Year.[5]
[edit] Bocuse d'Or incident
The Bocuse d'Or is a high-end cooking competition, held in France every two years. It is often referred to as the Olympics of cooking, because of the representational aspects (each country may only send one team), the trial ‘audition’ that needs to be passed to enter, and the frequency of the competition.
While other issues caused problems for Kaysen at the Bocuse d'Or, the main failing was caused by a dish-washing assistant. Kaysen prepared a wheel-shaped ballotine of chicken, inlaid with chicken liver, foie gras, and Louisiana crayfish. Two of the side dishes were missing. Mistaking two chicken wings intended for the platter as rejects, the dishwasher had eaten them. Kaysen placed fourteenth.[1]
[edit] Television appearances
- The Next Iron Chef, 2007
