Photo by Michael Donahue // Buy this photo
Bryan Black is executive chef of food and nutrition at St. Francis Hospital.
Photo by Michael Donahue
Bryan Black is executive chef of food and nutrition at St. Francis Hospital.
Age: 38
Who or what was your first cooking influence? My cousin Frankie Gattuso got me a bartending job at John Wills' Barbecue on Sanderlin. John Wills was probably my first culinary influence. Whenever he would try a new recipe, he would always bring me up there to assist him, grab all the ingredients, chop the onions, all that stuff. That's what really got me going.
What was the first thing you ever cooked or baked? My sister and I, when we were little, would pretend we were doing a cooking show. This is before the Food Network. I guess we were imitating Julia Child. We would do grilled cheese and act like we were talking to the camera.
What made you decide to become a chef? In the front of the house you gotta always put on that smile. In the kitchen, it's a different atmosphere, a different attitude. You can be yourself.
What was something important that a fellow chef taught you? Jose (Guttierez). I worked at Chez Philippe as a sous chef for three years. He taught me how to plan your day and get ready for tomorrow.
What is the Bryan Black style? Healthy food. We're trying to offer menu items that are under 450 calories. Using more fresh herbs, less fat, less cream, and homemade vegetable broths, vegetable stocks, chicken stocks -- that's really where you can get all your good flavor without all the bad things that go to it.
Describe one of your dishes. Veal parmigiana with tomato sauce and some cheese over spaghetti. It comes with a broiled tomato half. For the modifieds (diet), we take flank steak, cut it real thin. We marinate it and roast it and then put a tomato sauce on it and a little bit of mozzarella cheese.
What's your least favorite food or ingredient? Fruited Jell-O. That's the old '70s health care style. We have a nursing home here. We took fruited Jell-O off the menu and, man, there was a riot. So, it's back on there. Instead of the fruited Jell-O we had a yogurt and berry parfait, which I thought they would love. But no. They wanted fruited Jell-O.
Saint Francis Hospital is at 5959 Park; 765-1940.
-- Michael Donahue: 529-2797
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