On the opening night beautiful women in long red dresses were helped out of long black limousines, town cars and yellow cabs by fine well dressed gentlemen. The paparazzi were held at a fair distance from the excitement and tables filled quickly. Many lucky guests flew from New York, London and Paris and were chatting with a local Dallas couple on the rooftop garden drinking fine champagne.
The first course immediately dazzled with its cutting edge avant-garde flavors … To create this precious moment this early fall 2006, David Gilbert, the young executive Dallas chef of the LuQa Restaurant, is working relentlessly.
FoodCandy caught him for a virtual tour of his kitchen and a few questions before the New York times and Food & Wine.
DB: You are living a life for food. Where in Dallas was your passion for cooking born?
My passion for food was instilled in me since I was a young child. My grandfather owned a neighborhood butcher store where he began teaching me about food and meat fabrication. This quickly led to a young future in the food business - that's right, Chick-Fil-A was my first ever paid food job!
DB: You are creating a more modern cuisine next to Grant Achtez’ Alinea. What defines the contemporary American food and where are the limits that you are going to break?
The cuisine we are going to present @ LuQa will be considered "New American Cuisine"which I am defining as familiar foods, tastes, aromas, presented in a unique and exciting way. There are always the unspoken rules of the culinary world that must be respected, and never broken... now granted, that does not mean they can not be manipulated!
DB: The press is raving about you as one of the hottest American chefs and probably the youngest. What are your inspirations?
I have so many inspirations that affect my cuisine and creativity, first and foremost is traveling out of the country. Having the experience of eating off of the local road side stands, in local restaurants, talking with local people, watching the techniques they use to prepare the foods of their country is just an amazing experience. I also have a very unique philosophy regarding my management style. I meet with my team on a regular basis regarding ideas, creations, concepts, etc. It’s an open forum at all times, I run my kitchen as a group effort and push my vision of passion and perfection day in and day out. There is also a dry erase board in the kitchen that has a section for random ideas/thoughts. It is amazing what appears on that board.
DB: LuQa is a story, an adventure and a major enterprise. Please tell us about day 1 of the concept and what it has become today.
The vision of LuQa Restaurant and the Dallas Roof Gardens (name of building) was born on a trip by the owner, Obi Ibeto to the Kensington Roof Garden (owned by Sir Richard Branson) in Keninston, England. From that day forward the vision was developed to create an urban retreat right in the middle of the city. The idea was to be able to provide an environment that could offer the taste, style, and opulence of London, Paris, and Monaco to Dallas (and future markets). The concept was to have a restaurant that served impeccable food in a fun and exciting way, then once done dining, be able to relax and socialize on the roof garden. LuQa has been an evolving project over the past 3 years but has never lost its vision - I began my involvement in LuQa approximately one year ago- and have taken the ball and ran with it! We are looking to provide the diner with a delightful, comfortable, and intriguing experience through the food and ambiance.
DB: From Vermeer in Amsterdam and the notable Eau Bistro in St. Louis, who are the people that you worked with and respect most?
I was told when I first started the world of fine dining that if you do not strive for perfection, reinvent yourself , your cuisine, push the limits, and lead by example every day that you will be one of the few that make it at this level. Thank you to: Chef Solomn, Ganley, Cruchet. With that being said, I have the utmost respect for the cooks and stewards in the kitchen. Without their support, drive, and dedication my visions would not be executed!
DB: I am glad to hear that teamwork is essential to this. Is there a particular system to running your kitchen?
Yes, I treat everyone with the same respect that I want to be treated with. Stressing team work on a daily basis, motivate through education and training, and keeping an open door policy with my staff are the keys to my successes in running my kitchen.
DB: Beyond the regular stoves and knives your kitchen has a reserved special section called the "food lab". Could you please describe some technical details and maybe secrets?
The "food lab"or as I prefer to think of it as "my creative retreat area"is a vital part of our kitchen There are pieces of equipment that are used daily, such as water circulators (for exact temperature control during sous-vide cooking), vacuum pack machine for a myriad of uses, dehydrator, vaporizer, and other functional pieces of equipment, spices, herbs, etc. This is an area that just breeds creativity - I am not into the liquid nitrogen and all that other jazz.
We want to keep the integrity of the food, just perhaps enhance it or work on presenting it in a fun and exciting way! Some recent creations that we have come up with for the Opening Chef's menu are "Exploding Watermelon", "Chocolate Air", and "Foaming Apple"... The goal is to always present food items that customers are familiar with... just with some pizzazz and fun tossed in the mix! When you come and sit @ LuQa we do not want you to just have a standard "fine dining"dinner. We want every diner to have a wonderful experience that tickles all their senses!
DB: Thank you Chef! Looking forward to LuQa’s opening this fall.
David Gilbert can be found on FoodCandy, MySpace and on the LuQa Restaurant Website.