The Importance of Trussing Chicken

Not long after I left Roland Henin’s kitchen, I was hired to open a new restaurant in West Palm Beach called the Cobbley Nob. It was my first real executive chef position. I cooked classical French food. I was very proud that I had a repertoire of fifteen different classical potato preparations. I cooked everything in clarified butter. I cooked Lobster Bohemian—lobster with cream and paprika—which was straight out of Fernand Point’s book, Ma Gastronomie. But the Cobbley Nob, which was near the jai alai courts, died a quick death, and I learned that the quality of the food does not necessarily determine the success of a restaurant.