Name: David Krog

Title: Executive chef

Age: 34

Restaurant: The Tennessean

First cooking job: CDB Italian restaurant. I started as a dishwasher and finished as the lead line cook.

Best original dish: I don't think anyone has done anything original with food since Escoffier, but if I had to pick, then I did a pan-roasted pheasant with a shiitake, tomato, and black truffle orzo, and than hit it over the top with natural jus from the pan. It was very pretty.

Worst original dish: Way too many to count, but I learned a lot.

First food you remember eating: My mother's piccadillo, a Spanish dish made from ground beef, green olives and tomatoes served over saffron rice.

Your favorite meal: It was 2000 and my pastry chef from Madidi, Anden Hamilton, and I drove up from Clarksdale to surprise Justin Young at La Tourelle. We walked in the back door and he forced us to eat, but there was not a table, so Justin flipped a tray over on a jack, dropped a white linen on it and we ate in the kitchen, something like eight or 10 courses, pretty much until we said no mas. It was a bunch of innards and "stuff" and also the first time I ever had a big, burly rosé, so yeah, kinda memorable.

Favorite junk food: Cheese pizza from Little Italy in Midtown.

Favorite ethnic food: Authentic Spanish, but it's hard to find and even harder now, with all the current fusion trends.

Favorite culinary destination: Barcelona.

What do you cook at home? For me, nothing. But for my fianceé Brit, anything.

The most ambitious or challenging meal you've cooked: I cooked for Ming Tsai and guest at Madidi one night around 11, after he had done a demo at the casinos. I did, like, nine courses all while trying to pair the dishes with really expensive Bordeaux.

Best place in town to eat, besides your restaurant: Bari Ristorante e Enoteca. I think it's the best Italian in Memphis, and not to mention has one really great wine list.

If you weren't a chef, what would you want to be? I would be a cigar shop owner but I think I would have a four-top in the back for special customers. So I guess I would still be a chef.

--Jennifer Biggs: 529-5223