Despite his three successful restaurants, numerous awards and unchallenged position as one of D.C.’s top chefs, executive chef Bob Kinkead — of Kinkead’s, Colvin Run Tavern and Sibling Rivalry (Boston) restaurants — actively shuns the spotlight. He dislikes the razzle-dazzle that so many young chefs pursue, and likens having a cooking show on the Food Network to some kind of purgatory.
“I’m old-school,” he says. “I’m in it for the craft. It’s about doing the best you can.” His reward? “I never get tired of hearing, ‘Wow, that’s the best dish I ever ate!’ ” he says.
Like so many of his colleagues, Kinkead entered the culinary world as an offshoot of his teenage after-school job working in a restaurant.
“I started at the age of 15 dishwashing,” he says, adding that he decided to stay with the restaurant business because he really liked it, and decided to get on-the-job training as a self-taught cook.
“I moved up the usual career path,” says Kinkead, from dishwasher to working as a line cook, to sous chef and finally to chef. After working for several years in New England — Kinkead is a native Bostonian — he moved to Washington from Nantucket, where he had worked as head chef at Twenty-One Federal.
In his new hometown, Kinkead opened a southern branch of Twenty-One Federal, a well-known D.C. restaurant that made him famous. When it closed, Kinkead assessed the local restaurant scene with plans to open his own place. What was lacking then was a high-end seafood restaurant — “I learned from Twenty-One Federal that 75 percent of the patrons wanted seafood,” he says — and because he liked the challenge of working with fish, decided on his new restaurant’s theme: seafood. Since then — 1993 — Kinkead’s has come into its own, and in 1994 was selected as one of the best new restaurants in America. It has earned Mobil’s four-star rating for eight consecutive years and Kinkead himself has been inducted into the Nation’s Restaurant News Fine Dining Hall of Fame.
Certainly at the pinnacle of his career, Kinkead admits he is slowing down, but not out.
“I’m not on the line anymore,” he says. “I love the profession, but not sweating over a hot stove for six hours.”
Relying on his talented, loyal staff, many of whom have worked with him for years, Kinkead still expedites the service, alternating work at his three restaurants, and he dreams of other culinary challenges he might pursue.
“I love the creative aspect,” he says, “and I do like coming up with new dishes and new projects.”
In Kinkead’s own words
What has been your greatest influence? I am self-taught, so most of whatI have done has really been influenced by dining out, and by reading cookbooks and books about food. When I had just started in the 1970s, I was doing what the great chefs in New York were doing. Then I got a chance to go to France, and learned more by dining out there.
How do you define your style? It is very vibrant. I want food to bounce. I use lots of chilies, herbs and seasonings for distinctive flavors. I am not a fan of molecular gastronomy. That’s all nonsense. … Young chefs should learn that steak and béarnaise are sensational. So our food is grounded in classic combinations. Why reinvent the wheel?
What is your favorite dish? That changes depending on the time of year. I eat more meat than fish, so if I cook dinner at home, it will be non-seafood. I am a big fan of pasta. My comfort food is pasta, then hot dogs. I am not supposed to eat them. I can’t name a chef who doesn’t have a junk food obsession.
What are your must-have ingredients? Impeccably fresh products. Wild mushrooms, cilantro, chilies, artichokes, fresh herbs.
What’s in your fridge right now? Condiments and a fair amount of wine. A lot of salad things, a lot of cheese. Turkey breast for sandwiches. Seltzer water. And probably a few experiments in the back of the fridge.
What do you do in your leisure time? Travel. Always to Italy to see the grandchildren and to Boston once a month. I don’t get big chunks of time off, but I travel when I can.
Mustard-Glazed Salmon with Crabmeat and Tomato-Basil Butter
“I learned the basic premise of this dish many years ago,” Kinkead writes in his cookbook (Ten Speed Press, 2004), where this recipe appears. “The dish was originally from the repertoire of my friend Jean Louis Palladin, who toiled for years in Washington. … Jean Louis was an extraordinarily creative and gifted cook with an enormous appetite for life. Sadly, he passed awayfar too young. His friends and the entire food service community miss him tremendously.”
Serves six
1 to 2 cups vegetable oil for frying
2 large leeks, white only, julienne
1 side of salmon, skin and pin bones removed (ca. 2 1/2 lbs.)
1 cup crème fraîche
3 tbsp. pommery or other grainy mustard
sea salt
2 tsp. olive oil
1 large shallot, minced
1/2 cup tomato concassé
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tbsp. Champagne vinegar
3 tbsp. heavy cream
3/4 cup butter, chilled and cubed
1/2 cup jumbo lump crabmeat, picked for shells
1/4 cup loose basil chiffonade
Kosher salt and black pepper
To make the deep-fried leeks, in a cast-iron pan, heat 2 inches of the vegetable oil to 375. Fry the leeks in the hot vegetable oil for about one minute, until golden and crispy. Transfer from the oil and drain on paper towel. Season with salt and keep warm.
To prepare the salmon, trim any dark flesh from the bottom of the salmon fillet. Cut the fillet lengthwise into two halves. Cut each fillet into three portions and pound them slightly between 2 plastic freezer bags to about 1/2 inch thick. Trim each piece as neatly as possible into a rectangular paillard. Keep chilled.
In a stainless steel bowl, mix the crème fraîche and mustard. Salt and pepper the salmon on both sides and coat with the crème fraîche-mustard mixture on the top only. Chill for 20 minutes.
To make the tomato-basil butter, in a noncorrosive saucepan over high heat, heat the olive oil and when hot, add the shallot and cook until transparent. Add the tomato concassé and tomato paste and sauté for one to two minutes. Add the white wine and vinegar andreduce until most of the liquid is evaporated. Add the heavy cream and reduce by one-quarter. Whisk in the butter cubes, a few at a time, until all are incorporated. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add salt and pepper to taste and keep warm.
To make the crabmeat, in a sauté pan over low heat, place the crabmeat and a little of the butter sauce and warm through. Add the basil chiffonade to the sauce and keep warm.
To cook the salmon, preheat the broiler. Place the salmon rectangles on a Teflon or oiled baking sheet and place 6 to 8 inches from the broiler. Broil for two to three minutes, until the crème fraîche is bubbling and golden brown.
To serve, divide the sauce among six warm plates and top each with a salmon rectangle. Garnish each with a stack of the deep-fried leeks.
