A culinary artist is the guy who's making dinner with ingredients that are three hours removed from the farm, says chef Kevin Kohler.
ON DAY 4 of our best choices in American cuisine, we offer ...
CAFE PANACHE
The philosophy of chef Kevin Kohler never changes -- he'll tell you he hasn't done anything differently in 31 years.
Chef Kevin Kohler, in the dining room of Cafe Panache in Ramsey Which is why his mornings aren't spent in the kitchen of Cafe Panache, they're spent at Abma's Farm in Wyckoff. Kohler is choosing -- by hand -- the Swiss chard, the Jersey tomatoes; he's doing what it takes to get the best possible product.
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Young chefs often don't understand; why not just have everything delivered?
But from the kitchen, you don't sense the seasons, you can't know that the tomatoes are hanging low on the vine, that the peaches are fully ripe and won't make it another day.
A culinary artist, says Kohler, is not the guy with the same menu every day, choosing ingredients to fit a formula. A culinary artist is the guy who's making dinner with ingredients that are three hours removed from the farm.
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Kohler also is the chef who takes annual culinary vacations for inspiration. In 2015, he was off to Tuscany, Michelin Guide in hand, to dine in some of the most famous restaurants of the region.
He had plans to visit La Chiusa, where he was hoping for the chance to work in the kitchen with Dania Masotti. "If I have the opportunity, I'll definitely give up three days of my trip to do that."
• Cafe Panache | 130 E. Main St., Ramsey | (201) 934-0030 | cafepanachenj.com
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