Chef Q&A: Charlie Trotter

R&I Senior Editor Allison Perlik recently caught up with Chef Charlie Trotter to ask what is special to him about this latest achievement, get the latest scoop on his upcoming restaurants in Chicago and New York City and learn about one more award he really craves.

By Allison Perlik, Senior Editor -- Restaurants and Institutions, 5/30/2008 11:44:00 AM

Call him a collector of sorts. Charlie Trotter recently added one more much-coveted honor, the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association’s (IFMA) Gold Plate Award, to the impressive list of industry recognitions he’s garnered at his eponymous Chicago restaurant over the past two decades. Every year, a Gold Plate Award recipient is selected as one of the industry’s most outstanding and innovative talents from among nine Silver Plate Award winners representing a cross-section of foodservice.

R&I Senior Editor Allison Perlik recently caught up with Chef Trotter to ask what is special to him about this latest achievement, get the latest scoop on his upcoming restaurants in Chicago and New York City and learn about one more award he really craves.

You’re in great company with this year’s class of Silver Plate winners. What lessons can a chef in your position learn from these top professionals in other arenas of foodservice?

Everybody brings something different to what they’re doing. We specialize in fine dining, of course, but on the other hand, when you’re somebody who’s running a hotel or running the foodservice program at a university or a hospital, there are valid lessons to take away from that. For example, one guy is running a deli, and he’s firing up his team and they’ve got new sandwiches and new things they're doing. ... Yes, it’s different from Charlie Trotter’s, but it’s the same passion that drives him that drives us. Just seeing the enthusiasm that these folks have and what they bring to their business and how excited they were to be recipients of the award—it renews my own enthusiasm.

I heard you invited the other winners back to Charlie Trotter’s to celebrate.

We did. On the opening night we had a reception at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and I got to thinking, you’re all in town, it’s my hometown, you’ve got to come for something. So I looked to see where we might have something open on the schedule, and I didn't have something planned for Sunday lunch, so we did that. Probably about 40 people came. Most brought their spouses; a couple had kids. We had a little reception and tasting and everything.

Are there any major awards left that you really covet?

The one award we’ve looked at these last couple of years, and it’s a really involved process, is the Malcolm Baldrige [National Quality] Award. ... You have to go through a pretty arduous process of submitting your application and they review you and it usually takes a couple of years. ... What they do is they come out and look at your business, and it’s not just about how much money you make or other awards you may have won. They look at your business as a model, and not only do you have to be able to demonstrate that you take care of your clients, but do you take care of your team, and you have to have a number of things in place that demonstrate that you run an excellent business. I think the only hospitality-based company that’s ever won is The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company [Editor’s Note: Pal’s Sudden Service, a regional quick-service chain based in Kingsport, Tenn., also has won the award].

What’s the status of the two restaurants you’re opening in The Elysian Hotel in Chicago?

We’re a company that just celebrated 20 years six months ago. We’ve never been about “Can we stamp things out? Can we open the next one and the next one?” We’re more about when the right thing comes along. This project with the Elysian is the right thing. These folks really want to do something at a very, very high level. It’s a fun opportunity for us in our backyard. It’s the signature restaurant--dinner-only seafood--and then we’re also doing more-casual food, breakfast and lunch food, in a second spot. And then there will be banquets and private functions.

Is the seafood restaurant going to be like Restaurant Charlie at The Palazzo in Las Vegas?

Similar, but not exactly like it. We’re not going to just take that menu and move it back to Chicago. We will customize things so it will be a unique dining experience. Definitely a four-star type restaurant, very high end. We open, I believe, in very early 2009. So late January, early February.

You said you’ve waited for the right fit for this project. What makes The Elysian Hotel such a good fit?

We’ve talked to a number of Chicago hoteliers about projects in their hotels, some of which are existing, some that are coming online or just opened. A lot of people know how to talk a big game, but very few know how to execute. We pick and choose any partners very carefully, and The Elysian is a quality organization.

This is the first, the flagship, and the intention is to open others—in Aspen [Colo.], in Mexico, in Asia—and we would be the culinary partner for all the projects. So it’s the right fit at the right time. Mexico’s going to be interesting because we’ve already got a project in Mexico [C at One&Only Palmilla], so if we decide to go ahead with The Elysian to do their project there, I’d have to relinquish what I'm doing now. A lot of the way this works is you have to sign off on a noncompete agreement. We can’t compete against ourselves. So as our five-year contract [in Mexico] comes to an end, we have to make a decision if we want to, in a sense, put all our eggs in one basket with The Elysian.

What’s the word on the New York City restaurant you’re planning at the One Madison Park building [a luxury apartment development facing Madison Square Park]?

That’s moving along, too. We’re probably about 18 months away. That’s not a hotel but a residential building. We’ll do a signature restaurant, lunch and dinner, and there won't necessarily be in-room dining, but we’ll be catering some functions in the residences above. That, too, is a great opportunity to work with people who just want to do it right. It’s not going to be as formal as Charlie Trotter’s. We’re still working out [the menu]. It won’t be a degustation. That’s all I've been doing for 20 years, so it’s fun to do some things that are serious and fun dining and fine dining, but not quite at that level. Sometimes I refer to it as us letting our hair down a little bit.