Meet Mark Woll,
Chef
Teacher
BADASS
hometown Winchester, N.Y.
favorite crepe Cinnamon and powdered sugar.
favorite holiday treat Stuffing with sausage and chestnuts.
supports obama because “I always wanted to be black as a kid. Almost all my friends were black. I respect people who have to work harder to get where they want to go than those who are given it.”
Q How did you first get involved in food?
A I’ve always enjoyed working hard and making money, but school was never my thing. So I cooked in high school and eventually went to the Culinary Institute of America. I worked in New York at famous places, a few of the top 10 restaurants in the country, like Le Cirque.
Q Working in such prestigious restaurants is a real challenge — lots of hot tempers, right?
A The chef has total control of the kitchen. It’s a non-English work environment too, and these guys are passionate about what they do, and sometimes tempers flair and cooks really loose their cool. I remember when a cook flipped a bowl of boiling-hot soup onto a waiter’s tuxedo front using the tip of his 13-inch chef knife. Another time Chef screamed at the accountant, calling her every kind of swear word, in front of twenty commis [junior cooks]. She balled and cried and told her boss, and then Chef swore at [the boss] for a long time too.
Q By the way, what’s that you’re cooking there?
A Steak.
Q What was it like working in such a high-intensity kitchen?
A I couldn’t take it at first. You have chefs screaming at you two inches from your face and constantly pointing out what you’re doing wrong, not praising what you get right. But I was dedicated; you really feel like a family in that environment, because that kind of work is more than a job, it’s a way of life. I was dedicated and knew I could meet my chef’s standards. I lost 15 pounds in a month and started having heart palpitations, but I eventually calmed down. One time I got in a bad motorcycle accident, and any other person would have gone to the hospital and taken a month off, but the next day I went to work because Chef was counting on me. He saw I was limping and let me go home, but that’s what the environment’s like.
Q So how did you wind up in New Haven?
A I wanted an executive position — I had fifteen years experience and hadn’t led my own kitchen. I moved up to Guilford and took over a place that had a really bad reputation — I turned it around and got it three stars in two years.
Q Why did you open Gastronomique?
A After Guilford I worked in four or five other places, but I wasn’t happy, and I didn’t get with a very successful restaurant owner — they were in the business for the wrong reasons. I reevaluated my life when I got into another motorcycle crash that put me in a coma for over a month. After that I decided to go for broke and take my entire life savings, $22,000, to open Gastronomique, my own place, and it was worth every penny.
Q What do you eat day to day?
A It varies. One day it could be a 99-cent sausage biscuit at Dunkin’ Donuts, a whole pineapple, a rack of lamb or a crêpe. At first I ate all of my crêpes that came out badly and gained 15 pounds doing it. I love home cooked meals, and I don’t judge how they come out. I try not to eat my own food very often.
Q By the way, what’s that you just pulled out of the oven?
AChicken.