Jacky Robert
While Boston chef Jacky Robert has won international acclaim for his imaginative contemporary French cuisine, he's best known for his local troika of Petit Robert Bistros. The Buzz recently caught up with the chef and learned that there's much more to him than serious pâtés and a mean crème brûlée.
Eric Grossman: What's new at Petit Robert Bistro this summer?
Jacky Robert: For the summer, we always focus on locally grown products, and we mostly save the exotic, imported items for fall and winter. This summer doesn't seem, so far, to be great for tomatoes, but herbs will be plentiful. Summer also brings free live jazz to our South End location, every Sunday at brunch with the Marie Davy Trio. It's a great scene.
EG: Are there any chefs or restaurants here in Boston or elsewhere that you look to for inspiration?
JR: It is the opposite. Chefs are always looking for ideas, and they often get inspired by me. My crispy poached eggs and my duck confit and kimchee sushi roll have already been stolen. In a way, I like that, because it is pushing me to find more original ideas. If I see or taste something I like in another restaurant, it will never go on my menu. It's a turnoff. I need to invent something that's completely mine.
EG: We hear your daughter Iris has worked in some of NYC's top kitchens – do you two share tips and stories from the kitchen?
JR: After her college graduation, Iris told me she wanted to stay in the restaurant business. I told her that she had to learn from the best, and that she should work in New York City. She is doing that now. She has worked at Per Se and is now working in another top place in NYC, but she has asked me to keep it confidential. She is discreet and doesn't gossip. I am very proud of her for that. She will say that the chef is from Alsace and is, according to her, the most creative in America.
EG: What's your take on the current state of American dining?
JR: Food in America has changed for the better. I have witnessed its transformation since my early days at Maison Robert in the '70s, when restaurants were pretty much all serving the same heavy food. Young Lydia Shire was my sous chef then (when a woman working in a
commercial kitchen was rare), and she has since been at the forefront of the evolution. In San Francisco in the '80s, I was at the center of the California-cuisine revolution. Even then, the dining public was becoming more informed and demanding. Julia Child already had a lot of
followers. Today, the Food Network exposes ordinary people to a high level of cuisine. Recipes are available to everyone on the internet. Customers are increasingly more knowledgeable, and in some cases a pain in the butt.
EG: Besides building up your restaurants, you've managed to also excel at tae kwon do – we hear you're nearing a second-degree black belt! How much time do you put into that? I assume you feel it's important for a chef to have an "outlet" outside of the kitchen, something nonculinary to focus on?
JR: I am fortunate that our Kenmore location is close to the Jae H Kim Tae Kwon Do Institute. I have learned from Mr. Kim how to be more confident, fit and modest. Martial arts are very useful; it helps me move around a busy and crowded kitchen. And, with tae kwon do, I don't have to ask my cooks twice when I want them to do something.
EG: Finally, where's your go-to spot for a quick, sub-$10 meal?
JR: Ken Oringer's Toro and La Verdad are two great places for good affordable food. Anything Ken touches is a winner. Blue Fin in Porter Square is the best sushi place for the price in Cambridge, and you cannot beat India Quality in Kenmore Square for tasty and inexpensive food served flawlessly.
– Eric Grossman