Richard Hamilton

Champe is a great chef. Give his place a try. I cannot wait to try before I leave Rhode Island. I am a fellow chef and know great food and his always delivers. Champe bring em in and make them weep with your great food. Best Richard

Having known Champe and being a fellow chef I would recommend his food and certainly cannot wait to eat his food here before I leave Rhode Island. Hes a good man and a great chef. Good luck Champe. Bring em in and make them weep with your great food. Richard

We both fish together. He likes to fish except when it cold. we also use worms but live mainly and we also have used stink bait. As far as prep, he likes his with cornmeal and i like mine sauteed till crisp, because i like the skin very crisp. He likes tartare sauce and I like just a bit of lemon or even a mixture of soy wassabi

Walleye comes form the great lakes of Michigan and up around canada. we have a hotel up there. I go and fish in that area and fell in love with this fish. Its great this time of year.

Bux, Thank you. It was my pleasure to be here and I hope I helped or enlightened you in some way. Good luck and thank you for your time here. Take care

Well first, mymneu is large. Let me see if I can post it here PACIFIC SUN FISH ON ASIAN VEGETABLES WITH GINGER-MUSHROOM CONSOMMÉ AND CRISPY GARLIC OR PUMPKIN VELOUTE WITH PINE MUSHROOMS, POACHED QUAIL EGG, ZUCCHINI PUREE AND BROWNED BUTTER OR SNAKE RIVER FARMS KOBE HANGAR STEAK WITH FINGERLING POTATO SALAD, SWEET SLAW AND BARBECUE VINAIGRETTE OR KUROBOUTA PORK TENDERLOIN WITH OKINAWA SWEET POTATO, GRILLED MIXED ONIONS, APPLE JELLY AND BRAISED APPLES OR MAINE LOBSTER SOUS VIDE, MELTED SAVOY CABBAGE, SALSIFY AND SERRANO HAM VINAIGRETTE ******************************************************************************* LOCAL TAUTAUG GRILLED ON MIXED SQUASHES WITH TINY TOMATO CONFIT AND FRESH RADISHES OR BAGADEUCE RIVER OYSTER CHOWDER WITH BACON, FENNEL, GREENS AND OTHERS OR ORGANIC RABBIT LOIN ON BLACK EYED PEAS WITH RABBIT CONFIT RAGOUT, FALL PLUMS AND GARLIC-HOISEN SAUCE OR FOIE GRAS ON SEPTEMBER PEACHES POACHED IN ICE WINE, VANILLA AND SPICES WITH PICKLED MUSHROOMS OR FOUR STORY HILLS SQUAB ROTISSERIE ON MUSHROOM TART WITH BABY LEEKS, TOMATOES AND CHINESE SPICY ORANGE SAUCE ******************************************************************************* “CALOTTE” OF SNAKE RIVER FARMS KOBE WITH BRAISED PEARL ONIONS, NUGGET POTATOES, CHANTERELLES AND BORDELAISE SAUCE OR NEW YORK PHEASANT WITH MUSHROOM DUXELLE, GLAZED CHIPPOLI ONIONS AND PICKLED HUCKLEBERRY JUS OR ELYSIAN FIELDS LAMB LOIN ON CASSOLETTE WITH SHAVED TRUFFLES AND TRUFFLE JUS OR WALLEYE PIKE ON PAD THAI NOODLES WITH CRAB SPRING ROLL AND SWEET THAI SAUCE OR HAWAIIAN AHI TUNA SERVED RARE ON GREEN LENTILS AND SHAVED VEGETABLES WITH FOIE GRAS AND MADEIRA REDUCTION ******************************************************************************* CHEESE COURSE ENGLISH STILTON WITH PRUNES, WALNUTS AND PORT OR EPOISSES WITH ORGANIC BEETS, TRUFFLE VINAIGRETTE AND BRIOCHE does this help? we also do a 8 course tasting and a 12 course chefs table Also when something doesnt sell, I redo the menu the next day anyway so I just change the preperation or set for it. It has been my pleasure to be here. Thank you alot, all of you for being so kind with the questions. All the best

Jason, Its been my pleasure. Good luck

You are correct. I dont jump up everyday excited. Most days im very tired as like today. Its dreary, we are very busy, I left here at 12:30 am and I have been here since 8. So I am just like you. For me though, I love comfort foods and when it rains or is could, I find great joy cooking these items. So it almost always perks me up. Plus when food gets like this, I can make it a bit spicier and use more root vegetables and squashes, which I love. Also, white truffles are arriving and they are so sensual, it makes the day go very fast. Also, its almost Black Truffle season. I cant wait. ← Weather everywhere seems to have been odd around the US this summer. For us it is still too much summer. I am longing for the luxury of heating up the kitchen with comfort foods -- braising, roasting, stewing, souping my way through the week. Even baking the bread I have been craving is not the comfort I want it to be when the heat and humidity just go on and on. Enough of my interminable summer whine! What I want to know, considering this is Halloween weekend and the lovelies are on my mind, do you make much use of pumpkin in your daily menus at this time of year? In soups, other savory dishes? Sweets? ← I enjoy pumpkin alot. Soups, gnocchi, under foie gras with lamb as a sauce, foie panna cotta with prawn salad etc. Its a very versatile item and can be used many ways

You are correct. I dont jump up everyday excited. Most days im very tired as like today. Its dreary, we are very busy, I left here at 12:30 am and I have been here since 8. So I am just like you. For me though, I love comfort foods and when it rains or is could, I find great joy cooking these items. So it almost always perks me up. Plus when food gets like this, I can make it a bit spicier and use more root vegetables and squashes, which I love. Also, white truffles are arriving and they are so sensual, it makes the day go very fast. Also, its almost Black Truffle season. I cant wait.

Well at my restaurant no one, including sous chefs, participates in the creation of dishes. I keep a very tight reign on the food and actually create all dishes myself. Its the only way I can guaranty that the food follows my vision and my style. In the early days of creating a restaurant and building a team( about 3 or 4 year) chefs almost always do it like this to get on course and build sous chefs repetoire of food. (did i spell that right?) Its not a dis on the sous chefs or other staff, its just about getting and staying on track. All chefs eventually have their day when the get to be creative in their restaurant. It just takes a while. As far as asking for money, you know its never a good time to ask. Seriously, I couldnt say one way or another. If you bring and invaluable service to the table, are under payed, they cant like without you, and its been awhile...maybe its time. Dont say I said so.

I will stand corrected if I'm wrong here, but to cook la plancha is on a griddle over high heat, i.e. hot coals. Fire up your grill -- hot -- set your griddle (or large cast iron pan) to heat. Cook. When I do this I seldom need anything in or on the griddle as the heat releases fats from fish or meat. Very quick method. I'm sure Chef Hamilton would have a better explanation for you. ← Yes you are mostly correct. Actually "la plancha" is an iron cook surface. My bonnet has one built in that gets very hot and has sides that drop off into a well where the fat can drain into a container or a drawer in the stove. Its brillian and I love it. Makes things very crisp (i.e. scallops, fish, skin etc).

Well usually what seperates them is a good p.r. firm, timing and that just right review at the right time. Also a job where you can succeed. A boss that will allow you to be great, in a town where you can be great and customers who think your great. Talent isnt all they look for. It takes flar, charisma and that just right umph in your food they have been looking for and you filled. Its alot of things.

Thank you also. Let me know if I may be additional help. Good luck! Best Richard ← I can't resist asking this. Without telling tales out of the kitchen . . . Could you, please, elaborate on your method for preparing your potato crusted scallops? ← Well....that is a kind of, I dont want to say secret, but it is something I do that alot of people would love to know how to do. I hope you dont feel this is disrespectful. Its not the intention. THank you for asking about it though.

I get asked this question alot. People generally try and define cooking by French, Italian, Asian, etc.. I try not to be limited to those boundaries. My career has taken me many places and I have seen many styles of food. I truly try and cook for the moment, based on the ingredieants and to what my whim of the day is. On any given day you will see many phylosophies of food. Did I spell that right? Anyway, Asian, Italian, Southern, New England, French, Creole, American will all be on the menu. My technique is based on French but I love all types of food. I define it as Seasonal International cuisine. The seasons are the most important thing in my cooking. We wont search out ingredients that are not in season in my region, or at least in america...except truffles and the like. I know its vague. Its always a challenge to define and it may always be that way. Hope this helps ← I can't understand you better for your words similarly resonate like mine too.. Though undoubtedly people refer to home cooking, as mine refers to cooking for home, as being too dissimilar to professional, it is too true that one only reflects the other in a true way.. I've known housewives cooking in general for a crowd of 23-30 on those days before when we were kids and many do today too in many traditions in many cultures even today.. so I'm not surprised that I have inherited this ability and sense of it too.. Definitely as professionals Chefs must borrow some from their long ago families too which as time goes by we have ingnored.. Love to hear from you since on a day to day basis I prepare meals at home some times for friends but occasionally.. and I experience the same spur of the moment cooking and I'd call it a challenge too but none the less enjoyable experience to create for others based on the ingredients at hand and letting your emotions and inspiration do the rest for you.. it is easy then very easy and you 'll do it cause you enjoy doing it thus and anyother forced manipulations are those of planning for hours before for ingredients.. I know it is a departure and people desist from doing this sort of thigs but then nothing new can happen before you really let go of our inhibitions to true creative potential in us all of us together.. really to enjoy the creativity is to encourage so all of you who praise the potential in you are understandably doing a greater service than anything else for you and all others in this place for us With Regards to all participation in this revealing process of ingenuity Geetha ← Geetha, Thats very nice. Your words are true. We all, in our own way, search for inspiration in our daily activities. Chefs, housewives and the like are all very similar. It helps to realize this. All the best in your craft. Take care

Sometimes people have no realistic idea of what's involved in working in any profession or industry until they actually start working, or at lest until they go to school. At other times people have a very real idea about what they are already doing, yet have an epiphany that radically changes the core of their thinking. You grew up in restaurants. Did you ever cook in those restaurants? Had you ever thought of taking over that restaurant? Did you study and work in France before working in other kitchens or had you already had some kitchen experience by the time you studied in France? You've said that your views on food, and even your life changed dramatically as a result of going to France. Can you go into more detail on that? ← Big Question. I did work in my families restaurant, though not as a head or even sous chef. My mother finally sold her restaurants before I was old enogh to assume the lead. But quite frankly, I dont think I would have ever tried to take them over. It wasnt my style of food, as I later learned, and it is impossible to work with and for family. At least my family anyway. I went to France much later in my career. I had worked in many mid level restaurants as was quite good. But nothing really super high end. When I was 16 I worked with Paul Prudhomme in New Orleans and my family used to travel to N.O alot and I would visit the kitchen of Commanders Palace when Paul was there and later Emeril. So I started likeing more of the fine dineing world. When I got married we decided to go to France. This was my early 20's by then. What changed me in France was that I learned there was a deeper meaning to food. It was not a craft but a passion that needed to be fed and there was a whole world of food I had never dreamed of, even with all my travels and experience before. Sitting on the Champs on a Sunday, sipping wine with chef friends and eating fresh bread and people watching, really changed me. Working in 3 star kitchens and seeing the discipline and talent it took made me realize there was more to being a chef. When I was younger, I used to believ being a chef wa alomst a bad thing or what you did with no educational almost. Like it was frowned upon. All that changed during my time in France and I grew to deeply respect chefs, their craft and ability and want it could and would mean for me to be a chef of that high callibur.

How would you have answered this when you were starting out? Has it turned out as expected or did your desires and expectations shift? How would you answer now? I can never ask just one question at a time. Thanks! rien ← When I first started I wa about 6 in my families restaurants. So its much differnt than when I started. When I finally realized I wanted to be great was after I had been a chef for many years, even an exec chef for alot of them. I graduated collge and went to France to learn more about my craft. IN those two years my life and views of food changed so dramatically I could never have expected it. My goals however since that time have not changes. That has been 15 years and I am still working towards them. And I will continue to do so for a long time from now.

Well thats a big question. The rewards are very personal and different for each person or chef. Some thrive on the pressure, some the attention, some the game itself, some the satisfaction of the guests liking your food, some is working with younger chefs and teaching them, others its the creativity, others its being great at it and making something good-great and so on. To identify it in simple terms is not that easy. Im not trying to be vague but just to let you know that its not any one thing or certain things. For me its everything that I love, enjoy and take pride in.

Pedro, Im sorry for the delay. I thought I answered this one and it didnt seem to post so Ill try again. Right now, corn is finishing, halibut is abundant winter squashes, greens and the like here. Great beets, rhutabegas, turnips etc. Apples and winter fruits, various potatoes etc. also its white truffle season in france and i just love those As far as the menu: I like multi courses rather than 2-3 course dinners. Basically its due to the fact I believe in quality over quanity. I like alot of varied tastes throughout a meal rather than 2 or 3 very large portions of something. THis way isnt for everyone but it works for me.

Jason, first let me say there is alot of advice I could give but if you are like me, you will need to experience most things for yourself to understand what Im talking about. So I will only say this: This is a very rewarding industry that has many rewards. To reach the top of this feild means sometimes alot of money, sometimes fame and a great deal of pride. But it also comes with a great deal of challenges. The amount of time and energy it takes to achieve those goals is never ending. Days are 15 hours, seven days a week, holidays, weekends, birthdays, special occasions and the like. It never ends and you can never rest on the previous days success. Everyday you need to search yourself for something, that at times is so impossible to find, that no one else has or that makes you keep working when you are too tired to stand or too stressed to think. If you do this business to be rich or famous, you will not succeed. You must, and I say must, be in this because your love of food and the guest are so great, you want to do it better than anyone else. Never compromise your passion or standards for money or fame, It only ends badly. Jason, I wish you luck down this road. The competition is fierce but its a family and"brotherhood" like no other. Enjoy it and dont rush to the finish. You might miss something

Well I have to say fall and spring are my favorites for different reasons. i love the comfort foods of fall and the color and freshness or spring. I cant resist white truffles in fall as well as all the squashes and in spring I love spring Lambs, english peas and morels. Oh I love it all but those are very special in flavor.

This is a fine question. I have some things (main ingrediants) that are always there for example: Elysian Fields Lamb Kobe Tenderloin Lobster and maybe a few others They are always different and not always on the same course. We have alot, and I mean alot, of regulars who eat at our place at least once a week. They come because its always different and new for them. Its very challenging doing this but very rewarding at the same time. I love the challenge and I think it pays off with the guests. Our changes are not loose at all but very broad and very deliberate. My sous chef who works in purchasing tries to make sure I mix up the ingredients a great deal and always tries to sneek in a few surprises for me, the guests and the team to play with.

I think I answered this in another post. Is that correct or am I wrong and still need to answer this one?

Again, there will always be things some guest will not accept. Like I said, it comes down to them trusting me and me trusting them. If I choose to do exotic flavors the dish as a whole needs to balance and go forward in the same direction as the meal. Flavors and styles are subtle but there none the less. Its all part of personal style and learning who I am as a chef, my boundaries and abilities as a flavor builder and who my guests are. In a week, at least at our restaurant, I find the guests very differnt from days to weekends. For example, the weekend guests almost always go for a very exotic tasting menu and the weekday guests will almost always go for shellfish and kobe or lamb entrees. There will always be exceptions to this but we have a trend that I try and follow what they order and are looking for. But of course I will always include oposites to both for the people looking for something else.

Rien, Inspiration and actual are very different. I will never truly do an actual Italian dish but maybe with ingredients and style inspired from that country. All the food is mine and is all eventually designed by me. I take alot of consideration as to how one dish will flow to the next and yes, an Asian insppired dish will have to meld with an Italian inspired dish. But eventually its all in the tastes of the diner and what I feel works, must really be what our guests are looking for. I try and read this on a regular basis and the more I get comfotable with what they expect and hit it, the more they become comfortable with me. Its always progressing. The format for us is we have 3 menus daily. One 4 course menu with 5-6 choices in each course plus the option of a cheese course; we do an 8 course tasting and a 12-14 course chefs table menu. I like this style as opposed to a smaller 3 course menu. i love smaller more intense courses allowing to try a various amount of flavors as opposed to 2 or 3 of very large same flavor ideas. Not everyone likes this and I understand but this is my feeling of what works for me and what our guest as a whole are looking for.

Well we have a very large program for commis (interns) and cooks alike. Students make a big part of what we do happen. I do work with the commis but my under chefs have more contact with them on a regular basis. For service, I work personally with each and respond to areas of improvement and areas that are progressing well. I have never been to England but I do know, personally, a few of your big chefs. I would love to visit as I hear great things about the direction the food is going. As far as emploment options with us, please go to our web site and forward a resume. Also do you have a permit or would you require sponsorship? Please include a cover letter with your goals, expectations and where you would eventually like to be in this profession over the next few years and long term as well. Thanks