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   Dizzying
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David Aaronson   




























Photo: David
Aaronson












 





For the last 18 months Vertigo
has been a hot ticket on the San Francisco dining scene, where 
competition is intense and
success means international recognition.
Well known for its spectacular dining room in one of San Francisco's most
prominent
edifices, the Transamerica Building, Vertigo is further distinguished by 
the extraordinary cuisine served by Executive Chef Jeffrey Inahara.
The menu features culinary fare such as a grilled pork chop with
red-curry baked beans,
coconut black Thai rice, and mango relish.


















Inahara has worked with the best.  He cooked under Joachim Splichal
at Patina in Los Angeles.  At 
Elka, in San Francisco, he worked
with one of the most talented group of chefs that the city has ever seen in
one restaurant concurrently.  Headed by Elka Gilmour
(Executive Chef, Omni Plaza Hotel, New York City), the kitchen
included Inahara, Traci des
Jardins (Executive Chef, Rubicon), Lynn Sheehan (Executive Chef,
Mecca) and many others.  








































Hard study with superb instructors, a puritanical work ethic, and a multi-cultural palate primed Inahara to
take the culinary reins at the celebrated Vertigo, where his cooking is
rising to new heights.


This week Jeffrey Inahara took time out of his hectic schedule to talk to fillet about his life, his career, and his cooking.

























fillet:  Let's start with a little background.  You grew up on a
farm....


Inahara:  In Oregon, Eastern Oregon, a farming town called
Ontario on the border
of Idaho, about 16 miles west of Boise.  I eventually got my Bachelor's
degree in biology from Eastern Oregon State College.  I then moved to
Phoenix, actually Tempe, to do my graduate work in molecular
biology.


fillet:  So, how does a molecular biology graduate student end up
as the
Executive Chef at Vertigo?


Inahara:  Ugh....


fillet:  I suspect you've heard this question before?


Inahara: Yes, only a few times.  I started cooking to put myself
through graduate
school.  I had a cousin working at a restaurant called the Rusted Pelican
in Phoenix, and they opened a new one in Tempe.  So, through my cousin I got
a job as a cook.  That is where I started cooking.


fillet:  How did you end up in San Francisco?


Inahara:  Well, I worked at the Rusted Pelican for about a year
and then Beni
Hana's for about a year-and-a-half.  I even waited tables for about six
months before moving to San Francisco to go to school.


fillet:  Tell me about your experience waiting tables.  How did
you like working
on the other side of the line?


Inahara:  My stint as a waiter?  It may not have been a long
time, but it was
hilarious while it lasted.  One month after I started  I was training
people.  To me, waiting tables is about common sense.  Some people get it
and some don't.  Some people just don't have what it takes, one plus one
does not equal two in their books, if you know what I'm saying.


It was funny.  One of the first trainees I had, it was her first day on the
floor and she had to serve a salad, table-side.  It was tray service and she
was walking through the dining room with a tray that was holding a huge
bowl of salad.  I could see that she was starting to lose it...."She's
breaking up, Captain, she's breaking up!"  Sure enough, she loses it.  It
was during lunch time, in the middle of the week and there was this
business woman in the center of the dining room wearing this salad bowl on
her head like an Easter bonnet with Italian dressing rolling down her face.
I was at the back of the dining room rolling on the floor laughing so hard
that I had to be picked up and carried into the kitchen.






































fillet:  You mentioned that you came to San Francisco to go to
school.  Was
this to continue your graduate work?


Inahara:  No.  I came to San Francisco for culinary school.  I
decided to
continue in that direction, and I wanted to learn what I already didn't
know in a shorter period of time than doing an apprenticeship.


Look at it this way... (draws a pyramid on
it with one section at the top, 2 sections on the next level and so on): 
in order to know anything at the top of the pyramid, you have to understand
all of the other building blocks.  Through my previous cooking experience,
I knew a little on each level, but I was clueless about many of other
facets of cooking that I had not yet come into contact with.


I figured that the easiest way for me to fill in that missing information
was to go to school.  That way I would get an overall picture of what this
pyramid was supposed to be about.  That is why I went to cooking school.


The reason I came to San Francisco was because I had a sister here.


fillet:  Did you feel that you got what you wanted out of your
experience with
culinary school?


Inahara:  No.  Well, I can't really say that.  You see, I am very
bipolar when
it comes to my experience with school.  I learned some of what I wanted to
learn, but I didn't feel like I learned everything that I should have.
Especially considering how much money it cost me to go to that school.


California Culinary Academy will take anybody that will pay them the
money to go there, regardless
of what kind of cooking experience they have.  I had people in my group
that were Sous Chefs and Executive Chefs, and I had people who had never
picked up a knife before.


fillet:  Did you feel that this mix of people brought down the level of the
classes that were taught?


Inahara:  Absolutely.  I came out of that school at the top of my
class with a
4.0 GPA and I did not even fell challenged.  Having come from the rigors of
academia, finishing my bachelor's degree, having studied for two-and-a-half
years at the graduate level, I had learned how to think, and how to
question.  This also taught me how to be responsible, to be critical, and
not to simply regurgitate what was spoon fed to me in school.


I mean, some of the people that I went to cooking school with were so 
clueless that they didn't know their asses from their elbows, that's how
clueless they were.


fillet:  Did that jade you a bit?


Inahara:  No, not at all.  The great thing about cooking, and more
specifically my
experience at school, was meeting the right people at the right time.  Jean
Marc Fullsac, one of my teachers at the school, was very good friends with
Huber Keller, the Chef at Fleur d' Lys.   Jean Marc saw that I had
potential, and he saw how hard I worked in his class, so he asked me about
where I planned on doing my externship.  I replied that I didn't know, but
that I was interested in going to Japan.  He suggested that I perform my
externship at Fleur d' Lys, he knew Huber and could possibly set something
up for me.


I proceeded to go down to Fleur d' Lys and met Huber; who, incidentally, is
a great guy, a very nice man.  After that, I explored the possibilities of
going to Japan with the Executive Chef of the School and he said that my
chances in this direction were between zero and none.  So, I said,
"Alright, I will go to Fleur d' Lys."


I went to work with Huber.  What a remarkable person.  Not only is he
extremely talented culinarily speaking, but he is probably one of the
nicest people you would ever meet.  The thing about working with Huber is
that you realize the people around him are lifers.  They have worked there
for years.  His Sous Chef has been there for at least 13 years, his
pantry guy, Toshi, has been with him about that long as well.  It just goes
on and on.


fillet: Obviously that has a great deal to do with his
personality.  Does it
also have to do with the fact that he keeps the job challenging?


Inahara: Absolutely.  He is constantly revamping his menu.


fillet: Speaking of having a job that you love, how did you get
your current
job?  I know that reputation has a lot to do with it.  Having Patina, Elka,
 Coconut Grove, and other well respected restaurants on your resume had
to help.


Inahara: I was working at the Coconut Grove and heard that Mark
Lusardi,
Vertigo's former Chef, was planning to leave.  Coconut Grove was not the
place for me, and I decided to pursue the position at Vertigo.  After
numerous attempts to get in touch with Doug Washington, the General Manager of Vertigo,I finally made an appointment for a meeting which lead to another meeting
and finally I cooked for him.


fillet: So, you pursued the job at Vertigo.


Inahara: Absolutely, because I knew that I had to get out (of
Coconut Grove).
And, after I cooked for them, I think that their decision was made.


fillet: What did you cook for them?


Inahara: I did an oyster creme brulee to start with.  Then, I did
a shiitake
pulpitine, which was off the menu at Coconut Grove, which is roasted
shiitake mushrooms stuffed with duck confit fois gras and sweetbreads,
wrapped in spinach, wrapped in colfat, served on caramelized onions with
brunoised mirepoix.  Then I did a red-curry boulliabase, with my own homemade red-curry paste and a real tight lobster reduction.  It was sweet,
probably one of the best dishes I've ever made.    Then I prepared a squab
with parsnip puree and cherry sauce.  I finished the meal off with
chocolate-orange souffles.  That seemed to do the trick.





















fillet: What is your philosophy when in comes to cooking?  What to you want
your guests to get out of a meal?


Andrea Freda, Jeff's fiance [to Jeffrey]:  May I answer?  What you often say
when you eat something really fantastic is that it is better than sex.  You
want people to go home with their palates and their libidos satiated,
right?


Inahara: That's almost it.  No, that's it exactly.


fillet: Any meals of recent recollection that bring those ideas
to mind?


Inahara: Well, I was in New York a couple of months ago and I had
a couple of
meals that blew my socks off.  One meal by Gray Kunz at  Lespinasse was
probably the most humbling meal I have ever eaten.  In fact, I had three
meals that were amazing, one at Nobu, one at Daniel and the meal at
Lespinasse.  The meals at Nobu and Daniel I feel that I could somehow
replicate, or at least come close to it given enough time to play with the
food.  However, the flavor combinations that Gray was putting together at
Lespinasse were just mind blowing.  I was trying to take his food apart, and
I just couldn't do it.  Very rarely do I get so stumped that I am at a loss
and cannot determine how something was done.  This was the case for 
that particular meal.


fillet: How about some of your best meals.  Any
in particular
that stand out in your mind?


Inahara: I did a meal for Paul Bocuse at Vertigo a few weeks ago.
It started
with my oyster creme brulee, which he really enjoyed.  He even complimented
me personally on that dish, something that I am rather proud of.  The other dish that
I thought was pretty cool was a roasted lobster with braised salsify and
uni butter.  I got the sea urchins in that afternoon and they were still
moving!  We made this beautiful uni beurre blanc with fresh tounges of uni.
To add to it, my grandmother has a plant growing in her back yard, it's
called kirume - prickly ash in English.  It is common in Japan, but I
have yet to see it fresh in the United States.  So, I had my sister go to
my grandmother's house, pick the kirume and Federal Express it to me for
that meal.


fillet: It sounds as though you take pride in your work when
others compliment
you and enjoy your meal.  It also sounds like you are somewhat of a
perfectionist.  Are you able to meet the standards that you set in your own
mind?


Inahara: I have learned to set reasonable goals for myself.  And
I try to keep
those standards reasonable for my staff as well.  I do not want to be a
tyrannical chef.  I have taken a step back from my days of being harshly
critical.  I have realized that I have to be more human, less perfectionist.


fillet: Has this made cooking more enjoyable for you?


Inahara: Absolutely.  I feel that it is very important to be
intensely involved
in my cooking when I am at the restaurant, and it is equally important to
divorce myself from it when I leave.  I leave work at work, unless there are
things that I need to get caught up on.  I have always been good at
defining what is work and what is not, and more importantly, not mixing the
two.





































And on that note our conversation came to a close.  Jeffrey Inahara had
food to cook and I had food to eat.  He prepared an exceptional six-course meal
that, as my date aptly put it, "was like reading poetry."  If
ever in San Francisco, make the effort to dine at Vertigo, but
make your reservations early: Vertigo
tends to be booked well in advance, and for good reason.