Most chefs , like the artists they are are driven. Yet for Curtis Duffy, chef of the great Chicago restaurant Ever it's more than drive , it's fireborn of hardship and determination. This is what has made hom the success that he is.
Regular contributor Kim Severson wrote about his m in today's New York Times Wednesday Food section. Some may recognize him and his restaurant from the FX series"The Bear" His restaurant servers at the set for the fictionalized Chicago restaurant run by Jeremy Allen White as mercurial chef Carmen Carmy Berzatto. He;s quick to point out that the show isn;t based on him nor is the restaurant based on Ever. Yet he and the main character have the same amount of torture and angst in their lives.It will come out in his memoir due out in August. He wrote Fireproof: memoir of a Chef with his friend Jeremy Wagner, a novelist.It's not just an autobiography of how he learned to cook and his background. It brings on the worst day of his life when his father took his mother hostage at the supermarket where she worked. Bear, his wild father , a tattop artist shot Jan and then himself. Chef Duffy had just come home from culinary classes at Ohio State University and received a day off from his job at the local country club.After it was all over he got his father's, leather biker jacket, his tattoo equipment and a blue spiral notebook, There was a good bye telling Curtis that he would someday be the best chef in the world.
His father also issued a warning Dont walk in his footsteps "It is a world of pain hate, and sure won;t be loved and won;t be ablet show love." Instead he has channeled his feelings into martial arts dogs and running. He is scheduled to run a triathlon soon.His love of cooking did not come from his mother or father but from his sixth grade HOme Ec teacher Ruth Snider. Thanks to her his first dish was a pizza with a frozen's biscuit crust.She also taught him to sew and he made is first backpack for his skateboard from the material she bought him because his parents had been to broke to afford it. She served as a balm when his parents died. Ms. Snider was the most important guest when he opened up his first eatery Grace. He wound up at the famed Charlie Trotter working with the great Chicago chef in 2000. he had convinced his first wife Kim to move from Ohio. He was also influenced by Thomas Keller and Grant Atchatz ,chefs who believed in minimalist menus and kitchens.It was a militaristic kitchen brigade where everyone worked in sync to create tasting menus worth hundreds of dollars. He's looking for the next generation of chefs who have the same beliefs.
Curtus Duffy has come through the fire to produce great food. He will be an inspiration to younger chefs. His is a menus that will stand out for decades.
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