Yosemite's Bob Anderson: completely at home out on the range

Nation's Restaurant News, Dec 23, 1996 by Paul King

When Bob Anderson received his degree in culinary arts from The Culinary Institute of America in 1983, be immediately set out for the great unknown the wilds of Yosemite National Park What be has discovered is that while this wilderness is still relatively untamed, it is far from uncivilized. The skills of a fine chef are as much in demand at Yosemite as they are in New York City or San Francisco.

Title: Executive chef, Ahwanhee Hotel, Yosemite National Park, Yosenlite, Calif. Birdidate: Nov. 26, 1960. Hometowm: Swarthmore, Pa. Formal education: Associate degree, business administration, Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, W. Va., 1981; A.O.S. degree in culinary arts, The Culinary, Institute of America. Hyde Park, 1983. Career highlights: Starting at the age of 16 as a short-order cook at Yom's Place, Swarthmore, a "very small and busy sandwich shop"; during his tenure as executive chef of the Ahwanhee, die hotel's receiving the AAA Four Diamond Award every year.

Why did you come to Yosemite?

I had a very good friend out here. At the time in 1982, I was in Hilton Head, S. C., doing an externship at the Sea Pines Conference Center, and he suggested that I come out when I got my degree.

What about Yosemite attracted you?

It was in Cafifornia, and in my mind California was where you wanted to be if you wanted to be a chef. This was the measure of what was happening in the restaurant industry. East of the Mississippi particularly, my impression was that being a chef had a blue-collar feel to it. In California there was more of a craftsmanlike or artistic sense.

What kind of clientele do you get at a place like the Ahwanhee?

Well, the first week I was here [as sous chef, in 1983] we served Queen Elizabeth. We get a lot of wealthy, well-traveled visitors here, and they bring with them certain expectations. That kind of forces you to try to excel.

What is the most challenging aspect of working in a national park?

The most difficult thing to deal with is working within the confines of our concessions contract. We are not simply a freestanding hotel restaurant, we have a client we have to satisfy. When I became executive chef, I found it very frustrating that I couldn,t change menus whenever I wanted to. Everything has to be approved by the Park Service, and that means a lot of paperwork changes hands. Of course, I understand that you need the checks and balances. The contract is a nice protection for the guests so that a concessionaire can't rip them off.

What is the most fun or interesting aspect of working here?

Oh, it definitely would be the special events. We do Vintner's Holidays, Thanksgiving dinner, a Guest Chef series and, of course, our world-famous Bracebridge dinners. Vintner's Holidays are neat because I get to pair wines with courses. I really enjoy that left-brain side of the business. The Guest Chef series is fun because I get to work with chefs I've read about and admired for years.

Who is the most interesting chef you've worked with through that program?

I would have to say Hubert Keller, from the Fleur de Lys in San Francisco. But every chef has something to show you, through the style, the cuisine, thc personality.

What are the Bracebridge dinners?

The Bracebridge is the most sought after of all our events. There are 40,OOO applications each year for 1,800 tickets. We do five dinners: two on Dec. 22, one on Christmas Eve and two on Christmas. It is a four-hour, Medieval English dinner that involves a lot of food. There are 12 courses in all, and each one has its own procession. It is a mad frenzy back in the kitchen, with people changing costumes and getting ready for the next course. If you have to work at Christmas, this is the place to do it.

In 1995 the congressional budget impasse caused die park to shut down twice in the last two months of the year. That must have been very frustrating for you.

Oh, definitely, because we didn't know when or if it was going to happen, and when it did, we couldn't tell for how long. At Thanksgiving we had bakers working three days before the holiday, preparing desserts, and then we couldn't serve them. And canceling the Bracebridge dinners was upsetting because people who had been trying for years to get tickets finally received them, and they couldn't use them.

Other than being at the whim of the federal governmnent at times, what other unique aspects are there to the job?

Operationally, we are two to four hours away from our nearest purveyors, so you have to plan ahead. If you run out of something, you can't just run down to the grocery store and buy more. Then there are things that happen here that don't happen anywhere else. Last year we had a rock slide that closed a main road for six weeks. Half of my staff lived on the other side of that road, and they had to get around the slide. We've had forest fires, one of which a few years ago closed the entire park. We can get too much snow, too little snow, floods and high winds in the fall and spring that can blow trees over. And we've had to chase more than a few bears away from the kitchens.