Hannah Sayle has written a beautiful feature on Chef Jose's extensive 30-year career in Memphis for the February 2013 issue of Memphis magazine. Below are a few excerpts from the article that we love.
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Gutierrez leaves the espresso-making to the espresso maker. He takes the upcoming Saturday-night dinner service with a laidback assuredness. After 30 years in Memphis, 22 of them spent at Chez Philippe in The Peabody, Gutierrez has mellowed. He is, after all, the dean of Memphis cuisine, a master chef who has seen restaurants come and go, and a mentor who has played a significant role in nurturing many of the individuals who are at the center of this city's contemporary culinary scene. And it's been quite the journey . . .
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At least some of this mentality is a result of spending his formative years working under internationally celebrated master chef Paul Bocuse. In that "no excuses" kitchen, Gutierrez was made to understand that food quality is a religion.
"In France, the way you do things reflects on you, your family, and your past instructors," he says. "You're not allowed to make mistakes."
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His accent, mustache, and unrelenting standards made him a formidable presence in the Memphis restaurant scene, which was at the time mostly a place of barbecue joints and blue-plate specials, with limited fine dining.
What Gutierrez did at Chez Philippe over the next 22 years was nothing short of what his Bocuse-influenced standards would allow. He got Chez Philippe in The New York Times. He was named one of Food & Wine magazine's Best New Chefs in 1990. And at the age of 36, he became a master chef.
"A master chef's quality should never be compromised," says Gutierrez. "He's always trying to do better and better. We call it the sacred flame that pushes us, and that's because of our training. You train, apprentice, and prove you're respectable and that you don't drink or do drugs."
You also have to live and breathe cooking, he adds, to reach its nirvana: "That moment when you look at a dish and say, 'Wow.'"
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He hosted everyone from Kathy Bates to Julia Child. He put on "masters nights" for master chefs or master artists like the Memphis Horns and Sun Records rockabilly star, Carl Perkins. ("Every French person loves Carl Perkins," he says.) He became friends with the mustachioed painter LeRoy Neiman. "LeRoy once told me, 'Jos�, your cooking is fine but your mustache needs a little work.' I said, 'Your mustache is fine but your painting could use a little training.'"
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To read the complete article click here or pick up an issue, on stands now!
