Interview: Mark Dayanandan, Food and Beverage Director at Hilton Austin [Food & Wine Fest]
Austinist is a proud media sponsor of the 2009 Texas Hill Country Food and Wine Festival, which runs April 16-19 at venues throughout Austin. [Homepage|Participants|Locations|Tickets]
Most chefs have had some early experiences with food (and family) which drew them into the field. When, where and why did you decide to become a chef?
My father is a chef, my older brother is a chef, and my mother's maiden name was "Cook." I have to admit that in the beginning, more so than the food, it was really the atmosphere and hustle and bustle of a hotel kitchen that drew me in. I was so amazed at the organized chaos that I thought it was an atmosphere in which I could thrive.
In 2007, you were recognized as the Hilton Hotel Corporation's best chef, when you received their "Diamond Chef" award. What did you cook to win them over?
For the cook-off [ed: in which competing chefs had to work with some randomly selected ingredients], I made Vanilla Butter Poached Shrimp on a Smoked Tomato Sauce with a Feta Cheese Potato Beignet.
You've worked as a chef all over Europe, and are natively from England. Is there a major difference in American and European culinary culture? If so, has your approach to meal-making had to adapt?
I think the biggest difference is in your options in education. In Europe, you still have a lot of traditional culinary apprenticeships in which you are able to be trained on the job with some time spent in formal classrooms. You get paid while you are doing this. There are some excellent [cooking] schools here in the United States. However, the education is going to cost you money, which means when you are finished training there is an urgency to make a lot of money to pay back that debt.
What are the advantages of working as a chef in the US?
I think the single biggest thing is the cultural diversity. You can work in one city here, and in one hotel, but be exposed to multiple different cooking styles and ethnic foods. I have worked in some hotels where the entire culinary management team all came from different countries.
Do you think a chef at a storefront restaurant has to operate differently than a chef at a hotel restaurant -- or possess different kinds of qualities?
Absolutely. The executive chef in a hotel has a totally different operation to run. We have clients coming to our property who will ask for a German menu one day and Italian menu the next, possibly an Asian reception in the evening and we need to be able to not only provide these but to do a first class and authentic job on all them. We may have breakfast for one thousand people, five different banquet lunches and all three [Austin Hilton] restaurants busy...and the executive chef needs to know what is going on in all of these areas and be held accountable for the food quality in every one. There are a lot of moving parts to a hotel chef's operation and his organizational and people skills need to be impeccable.
What dish would you most highly recommend at Hilton Austin?
You know, I absolutely love the Saffron Salmon and Mussel Soup we serve here in banquets. It's not my dish -- it came from Paul Bocuse's 'French Cooking' years ago, and I have used it on menus every opportunity I got.
What's your favorite dish at your favorite Austin restaurant (not one at the Hilton)? What's your favorite dish to make at home?
Austin is such a great food town that I really don't go to one place regularly. At home I like to make braised lamb shanks, short ribs, anything that takes time and fills the house with a nice, welcoming smell.
I keep reading that you've cooked for Stevie Wonder. How did that come to pass? Did he impress you with his taste in food?
I have been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time and have had the opportunity cook for a lot of different celebrities. He was one of them and it was so long ago I have no idea what he ate. If there was one person out of all of them that I really felt honoured to cook for it was for the late Princess Diana, at an event for the London Festival ballet.
You've been working as a chef for about 30 years, and cooked for several presidents. If you could give any advice to Sam Kass (personal chef to the Obamas), what would it be?
Know your customer. Ultimately, [the job] is not about what you want to cook. It is about what your guest wants. This does not mean you cannot educate your guest, but you must do it gently.
