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To serve great food, start with a great chef.
GICC Executive Chef Delroy Bowen, a Jamaican native and graduate of The French Culinary Institute in New York City, was one of the City's most applauded chefs, winning the favorable reviews in the Times and Post and all the dining magazines, first as chef at Robert De Niro's TriBeca Grill then opening 2Seven7, which was rated among New York's very best by Zagat New York City Dining Guide. Now at the GICC, Chef Bowen is bringing events here a piece of the Manhattan dining experience.
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| F&C |
How would you describe your cooking style? |
| Bowen |
It is international cuisine - that is, I like to combine different types of cuisine into a meal. I work with the classics, but the creativity is in the additional touches, like the spices and sauces. I like to take advantage of seasonal flavorings - figs, cumquats, plums - the best of what is available at the time. |
| F&C |
After working in fine restaurants, what is different about the GICC? |
| Bowen |
The GICC Culinary Arts Center is the biggest kitchen I've ever worked in. We have 10 ovens, 12 fryers and a 60-inch grill. There are separate areas for each department. We can serve 25,000 people without a problem. |
| F&C |
What is different in the way you work than an institutional food service? |
| Bowen |
Even with the largest of events, our goal is to delight everyone. For example, institutional kitchens don't typically put much creativity into vegetarian meals. We take pride in our vegetarian meals - like a pastry that we serve stuffed with sautéed vegetables, the best available on the market that day. Our guests are delighted at how delicious their vegetarian meals are.
My passion is to please the customer. My wait staff is my eyes and ears. I encourage them to come to me with any special requests. |
| F&C |
What advice would you give to people planning an event to get the best results from your kitchen? |
| Bowen |
First, I would advise someone planning an event to be flexible to allow us to take advantage of seasonal offerings and to use our creativity. We can make our most outstanding meals by taking advantage the best things available in the market at that time. They can still request their favorites, but with some additional touches we can add some excitement to the meal.
I would encourage event planners to schedule a tasting session where we can give them some new ideas to go with their favorites.
It is also important to get the numbers right. You don't want to run out of food or a certain item because you underestimated attendance, and it can be an expensive mistake to overestimate. |
| F&C |
As executive chef, you not only create menus but you run the operation. What is the most challenging for you? |
| Bowen |
To please the customer, you have to buy the best ingredients, you have to have an excellent staff and you have to be well organized. Each morning our entire staff meets to discuss the day's events and how we will handle each. But events can be unpredictable - a meal gets delayed, more people turn out for a buffet than was planned. You have to be able to adjust. Managing the unpredictable is a real challenge, but it's also very rewarding when the day is done and everyone has been taken care of and talking about how wonderful the meal was. |
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