Interview 11: Executive Chef Jeremy Lycan of Niche

Rule29 loves a great meal with friends. You can sit, talk, laugh, and enjoy time breaking bread and having a memorable experience with friends or your special someone. Our next 29 Questions interview is with one of my favorite chefs and provider of fantastic foodie moments – Executive Chef of Niche Restaurant Jeremy Lycan. Jeremy and the crew at Niche are as much a part of the ambiance as the food itself. If you want an awesome culinary encounter, grab your significant other or favorite peeps and head to Geneva to experience Niche. Please read and enjoy…and if you want to know more about Niche, visit their site, or follow their Twitter, Flickr, Facebook or read Chef Jeremy’s blog.

1: When did you first know you wanted to be a chef?
I knew within the first week of working in a restaurant that a I wanted to be a chef. The first couple of days, I watched in awe as the chefs handled the controlled chaos mixed with the symphony of plates rattling, pans shaking on the stove and sizzling meat coming out of the ovens. Soon there after I was allowed to join in the chaos on a salad making station. I found that in the middle of a busy dinner rush with this high level of focus, the world outside of that kitchen could have collapsed without us blinking an eye. Time just slipped by. I knew then that I wanted to be a chef.

2: Where did you get your culinary education?
The short answer is the Culinary School at Kendall College (when it was on the North Shore in Evanston). At the time, it was very difficult to get into the school, which was known for having a rigorous program with small classes.

The long answer is the thousands of hours spent practicing and mastering techniques since I was about 9 years old, along with influential mentors who saw something in me that I sometimes doubted.

3: Did you have an instructor or chef at any level that made a difference in your life?
I was fortunate to have several mentors that took the time to teach me different ways of doing things and didn’t mind the hundreds of why and how questions. Most notably was Joel Findlay of 302 West who taught me that cooking is more than simple mechanics; he taught me why we cook. I’ve learned that every chef has some bit of knowledge from which I can gain. Sometimes the best lessons learned are from mistakes…this happens to all of us.

4: What was your first big successful or unsuccessful cooking experience?
When I was 14 there was a group of people coming to our home for a progressive dinner where I was responsible for the dessert course. I worked all day long to make perfect apple-filled crepes. The recipe called for the apples to be sautéed with sugar and then thickened with a corn starch slurry. This was before I understood how to cook with corn starch. I added the mixture to the seasoned apples and pulled it off the heat. I filled the crepes, drizzled them with a little caramel sauce and served them to my guests. Although everyone raved about them, I kept tasting the silky texture of the corn starch. It wasn’t until a couple years later that I learned how to properly cook with corn starch and to this day I wince when I taste a sauce that the starch hasn’t been cooked properly and think back to that progressive dinner.

5: Your best 5 minute dish is?
First you pick a nicely rounded yet deep bowl then locate a spoon just a bit bigger than a teaspoon. Into the bowl add your favorite cereal (mine is lucky charms or cap’n crunch) and fill it up nearly to the brim with 2% milk and enjoy in less than 5 minutes. One tip is to allow cap’n crunch to soak for just a minute or two to protect the roof of your mouth from being shredded. This recipe is best served late night after a long day in the kitchen.

6: Tell us a little about Niche?
Niche Restaurant was founded following the closing of the acclaimed restaurant 302 West in April of 2006. I, along with thirteen former employees of the restaurant met just days after the closing to discuss the opportunity of working together again. The crew realized that their working relationships and environment were too unique to leave as a memory.

The dedication and passion that they all shared for the dining experience had been fostered for many years at their previous restaurant under the tutelage of Chef / Owner Joel Findlay. It was this ideal that bonded the staff together as they worked so closely together and forged the dream of serving high quality food and wine in a new location.

7: What is the biggest misconception about Niche?
I hear sometimes that people think we are a stuffy fine dining restaurant that is meant for special occasions. We are asked constantly about the dress code. After I tell them that our dress code is whatever they feel comfortable in, I love it when I’m asked if shorts and flip flops are appropriate and my response is that we will feed them as long as they have their clothes on.

8: What is your favorite Niche dish?
The szechwan beef that I learned how to make at 302 West has long been a favorite. I even had it on the menu at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, where I taught senior students in the dining room. To this day, when it is on the menu, the aroma of it draws me into the kitchen like the sirens of the seas; I could eat it almost everyday.

9: What is something that most people do not know about the restaurant business?
The most common misconception is the amount of hours we work. It is not uncommon for cooks and chefs to start their days early in the morning and work until late night, and then even go out with friends afterwards. As an intern at the Four Seasons Hotel in West Palm Beach, I would clock out after eight hours of work, but continue another 5 or 6 just to have the opportunity to work in the fine dining room. As cooks and servers we are night owls, staying up until the early hours of the morning.

10: What is the one thing your professional kitchen will always have?
Kitchen Aid mixer. Every kitchen I have ever worked in has had at least one, and most pastry chefs insist on having one.

11: What 3 things would you tell any person they must have in their kitchen?
A high quality chef’s knife, a wood or plastic cutting board and a diamond steel. Home cooks should make an investment into their knife. With proper care and maintenance it could last a lifetime. For more info on knives check out my blog. Proper care and maintenance starts with a cutting board made of wood or heavy duty plastic that is at least 1/2 inch thick. Finally, a diamond steel when used properly can both sharpen and hone the blade.

12: When you go to a restaurant what things do you look for?
As difficult as it is, when I go to a restaurant I take my chef clogs off and try to have an objective experience. Great service and beverages are essential, but ultimately the food tells the story of the restaurant and all that work in it. You can taste experience and joy in a restaurant’s cuisine, and without either it is just sustenance.

13: What is your philosophy on ingredients?
Quite simply, great ingredients including ones grown or made by an artisan should be treated with respect and allowed to shine rather than be muddled with too many other flavors and textures.

14: How do you stay current with cooking trends, etc.?
Before working with the crew at Rule29, I was insulated and limited to Trade magazines and the occasional “Check Please” episode on WTTW. Now through social networking I have access to restaurants, chefs, writers, sommeliers and foodies around the country. Following Rick Bayless from Frontera Grill has taken me around the spice fields and markets of India, and I’ve even seeing dishes from the region as they are being eaten.

15: Do you have a favorite reality cooking show?
It’s tough for me to watch any of the current reality shows on cooking such As Hell’s Kitchen or Top Chef mainly because the producers and chefs try to put them in stressful situations to watch them crack. As a line cook and chef, I hate to see cooks in the weeds or stressed out and tend to want to help them out. I really don’t enjoy watching chefs yell and berate the cooks, as I have been on the other side of the apron before and don’t need to be reminded of it.

16: Which show would you want to be on?
I would love to spend some time with Duff from Ace of Cakes. He has surrounded himself with very creative people that share a common goal of relative success.

17: Who is your favorite celebrity Chef?
Mario Batali, mainly due to how well he has stayed grounded since he started with the food network and didn’t get wrapped up in the celebrity. His show demonstrates traditional cooking techniques and you can tell that he still actually cooks instead of just putting on an act for the camera.

18: What is your favorite restaurant in Illinois…besides Niche?
It’s hard to give one favorite as so many of my “favorites” have aspects that I really like but are not without flaws. The one restaurant, though, that was nearly flawless was Charlie Trotter’s. His attention to the details of the dining experience are unrivaled by many chefs and restaurants.

19: Best restaurant you have experienced anywhere?
A tiny little hole in the wall that my wife and I stumbled into near the central market of Florence, Italy. The front of it was a typical cafe, but If you wanted to eat in the dining room you were led through the kitchen into the back where there were only about 8 tables. For the next couple hours we were treated to a lunch progression of non-typical Italian cuisine that was worth skipping that evening’s dinner. It doesn’t have to be fine dining to have an incredible experience.

20: Is your home fridge messy or neat
Even though its mostly filled with beverages and condiments, just like any other home full of a family, it reaches a breaking point and often needs to be broken down just like our large walk-in cooler in the restaurant.

21: Do you have a favorite cook book you could recommend?
Culinary Artistry by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg is a book that I consider necessary for cooks at any level. It breaks down ingredients and charts their flavor matches and seasonal availability. Along with the charts
come recipes, photos, menu items from the best restaurants and interviews of the chefs who made them.

22: If you could be doing anything else what would it be?
Golf instructor at the Sonoma Golf Club, Sonoma California

23: What is the coolest cooking experience you have had?
While working in the butcher shop at the Four Seasons Hotel in West Palm Beach, a guest had caught a very large tuna and wanted us to butcher it. I butchered and portioned the fish for two hours and later that night prepared a multi-course tuna degustation for the guest, his family and friends.

24: Who is the most famous person you have cooked for?
One of our regular customers is the famed Architect Helmut Jahn who has designed several major buildings and structures throughout the world, including the United Terminal at O’Hare airport. While at the Four Seasons Hotel, I cooked for several celebrities but nothing topped cooking for the Victoria’s Secret models as they were doing a shoot on the hotel’s beach.

25: If you could win one award or recognition, what would it be?
I would love to be presented with the highly coveted and highly prized coffee mug emblazoned with “World’s Best Dad.”

26: Do you eat fast food? If so – what is your fav?
I, along with many other chefs, secretly eat commercial fast food (usually after a long night of service where the last thing we want to do is go home and cook a little dinner for ourselves). I have a special place in my heart for a good Chicago style gyro. When I lived in the Bay Area, I could only find truly traditional gyros as opposed to the delicious caramel brown log of forced meat found in your local Chicago style grill. The bright orange wings enrobe the spinning loaf of flavor with heat, crisping it just a bit before being sliced and piled high on a pita (hopefully brushed with the drippings and lightly toasted on the flat top grill). Thinly sliced onions and an extra bit of the tzadziki sauce push it over the top.

27: Favorite childhood superhero?
Zan, a Wondertwin from the Justice League and his power to transform into any form of water: liquid, mist, steam and ice. Water is essential to life, can cut through mountains, flow gently and even crash with great power. He was also able to control weather from rain to hurricanes, but most importantly he had to work as a team with his twin and his monkey gleek. As powerful as he could be, he was even more powerful when he worked with them as a team.

28: Favorite comfort food?
A turkey delicately roasted with herbs and butter under the skin on buttery rich yukon gold mashed potatoes and a dark and rich poultry reduction . . . oh and a side of Stove Top stuffing.

29: What does design mean to you?
A creative process where the final product is not necessarily the goal. It is the process and search for something tangible that starts with a vision and is taken down many creative paths before resulting in something to be seen and felt. The creative journey is often the most exciting part to the “designer” as the final product loses is luster upon final design and will never again have that initial reaction of experiencing it for the first time. Simply, design in any medium is meant to connect emotions and feelings to something created by another.