How long were you at Gramercy Tavern?
I went up there for three months and went back several times when
Craft was opening. I wanted to see how they were doing things
and learn from it. Tom Colicchio, Buddy Darby, Robbie, Leonard
Long and I were working on the concept together. We were excited
to get Tom’s perception and vision since he had adapted several
spaces in New York, which takes someone who is very creative
since everything is vertical in New York. At Cassique, we have a
dishwashing machine in the basement, and we have a porter running
our wares up an elevator. We would never have thought to do
that. It’s a little expensive, but it freed up space in the kitchen. In
addition, all the noise and humidity of dishwashing would be kept
out of the service kitchen. Tom brought a lot to the table with the
design here, including our cooking suite. The company we used,
Grande Cuisine, builds custom commercial kitchen equipment, and
we were starting from nothing. We sketched out the design, it was
approved, and we were good to go!
I loved being at Gramercy; it was such a special time for me. I have
given Tom a hard time about it ever since because I was put through
the ringer so intensely for the first two months. I was running each
station for three days and moving onto the next; it was hard but
really a good way to learn. I asked him if it was intentional, and he
said: “No, it was just because people were calling in sick and you just
happened to be there.” It was very much a trial by fire, but it was fun
and successful, and we hit it off.
Once the three months ended, I returned to Kiawah, but we would
return to New York occasionally in groups. My wife Amy Everett,
who runs the front of the house, would go with us to New York as
well, and we would all observe the front of the house service at
Tom’s restaurants to get ideas of how we would adapt that to our
club service. The last time we went was September of 2001, and
we had leased a big apartment. We were supposed to fly home
to Kiawah from New York on September 11th. On September 10th,
I went for a long walk to release some tension which included
walking around the World Trade Center. I came back and said,
“You know what guys, I think we are done here. We could stay for
another night but why don’t we just leave today.” Everyone agreed,
and we moved our flights up and left that night. The next day as I
was driving to work and heard the news, I couldn’t believe it.
Tell us about the opening day for Voysey’s.
Robbie and the partners wanted the opening to be incredible. He
told me to spend whatever I wanted, and so I did! It was really
successful. We were open for lunch each day for a week, and the
members could just come by and experience it for free. We created
a buffet style setup that would show a little flavor of what the
menu might be. It was the best buffet with which I had ever been
involved, but the bill was astronomical! The sticker shock was
almost comedic, but I said, “You told me to do whatever I wanted!”
They said, “What are you - crazy?” I reminded them, “I asked you
three times!”
We started out with a great staff, and there was a lot of buzz about
this place, as there was nothing like it in South Carolina. Five of my
staff members had been Executive Chefs in the past, so we had a lot
of depth and experience. We are now on our fourth generation of
staff, including about 70 percent women, and it’s working very well.
Tell us about the James Beard connection.
Several years ago, Tom Colicchio was visiting, and he asked me if I
was interested in doing a James Beard dinner. Of course I said that
would be great for our team. He told me they were doing a hidden
chef series, and he gave me the contact details and told me to use
his name for the referral. It was funny because, at first, she was very
dismissive. But as soon as I mentioned Tom and the Hidden Chef
series, her interest peeked.
We did the dinner in June of 2004, and it was very successful. We
brought everything up from here, and when Tom came in around
course number three, he said, “You have brought everything but the
kitchen sink!” I explained we’d never done this before, so I wanted it
to be the best.
What was the reaction to Cassique and Voysey’s?
We had the reputation that we were one of a kind. Even at that
time in the USA, the restaurant industry was trying to find their own
way – especially in the private club world. Things were just starting
to improve, and the celebrity chef was becoming a trend. The
Food Network became more and more successful, and we often
appeared in magazines as they were impressed that Tom Colicchio
had become involved in a private golf club.
What makes Cassique special for you?
Having been here from the inception, being a part of the design
team, and having nurtured it for this long, it feels like home to me.
The people that work here are a very close-knit team. We don’t
have a big separation between the front and back of the house,
which happens so often in restaurants. Since we co-managed both
from the start, we work seamlessly. This is the longest I have spent
anywhere in my professional life. I have put a lot of myself into this.
I can rely on the people here, and we have developed a distinctive
culture just within this clubhouse. I like the fact that we have very
high-quality cuisine here. But it’s also very simple, even though a lot
of effort goes into creating it. We put hours and hours into prep of
sauces etc., and we make everything here.
What drives you to create new menus?
Everything is seasonally driven here. Rarely do we ever step out of
these premises during our busy season. We get excited about each
season and what we are going to do with the