BISQUE

Art Culinaire, Fall, 2001

Located in the quiet city suburb of Chicago, The North Pond Cafe is exactly that, a humble beginning with the aid of an exceptional hand. The former boathouse turned into a cabin-like retreat sits at the water's edge in Lincoln Park. Sherman has been at the location for two years, most of it spent refocusing the identity of the restaurant. "Although it took a lot of work, a lot of hours, a lot of anguish, it is really fulfilling that people are starting to appreciate my food," reflects Sherman. It is an identity that Sherman himself had to discover. After graduating with a BA from the University of Pennsylvania with Honors, Sherman felt pigeonholed. As a means of stretching his creative urges, he started a catering business for the lunch crowd in Washington D.C. which quickly grew into a high-end, full service catering company.

Several years later, Sherman and his wife couldn't pass up a working opportunity in India. During his days off, he traveled south to a Rajasthani village in a culinary exchange of ideas about Western and Indian foods. Relying purely on his sense of pantomime and skill at charades, Sherman learned the value of the food speaking for itself. After three years Sherman and his wife returned to the U.S., stopping first in France. Sherman enrolled in L'Ecole Superieure de Cuisine Fran9aise in order to truly learn the profession he had grown to love. After his school and several stints in Michelin starred restaurants, the couple returned to Chicago where Sherman worked in the kitchens of John Hogan and Sarah Stegner.

Though it is easy to see how India could have tinged the hand of Sherman, it is not so evident in his cuisine. "It hasn't affected my cooking as much as it's affected my thought process," he observes. Though his regard for ingredients was learned abroad, he takes a purist's approach, one in which integrity is key. "It doesn't have to be over-whelming to the senses to be impressive; simplicity and elegance.

What goes through the mind of an eight year old apprentice, as he begins his next fifty pound bag of potatoes? This is a question for Chef Jean Joho, who began, knife in hand, as a little boy in the family's restaurant in Barr, France. At 13 years of age Joho was sent to L'Auberge de L'Ill to apprentice under the highly acclaimed Paul Hawberlin. At the early age of 23, Joho was sous chef of a three star Michelin restaurant in France. He polished his practical knowledge by learning the academics of the business at The Hotel Restaurant School of Strasbourg.

He traveled to the United States in the early 1980s and opened Maxims in Chicago, where he remained for two years, before teaming up with Richard Melman and co-founded Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Inc. One of their first projects was Everest in 1986. The posh downtown dining room received immediate success and accolades. Today, the ambiance still reeks pizzazz; leopard print carpet, black lacquered detail around the room, gold brass rails, and waiters in black tie. A wall of windows overlooks the windy city's skyscrapers; white curtains tent the room creating a dramatic effect, though the food is the main attraction. In Joho's kitchen, no ingredient is too rich or too simple. "I like to blend noble ingredients like caviar and foie gras with simple ingredients like potatoes and turnips," he confides. "The union of simple and noble makes for unique flavor combinations."