Publication Date: Friday Feb 6, 1998

A no-numbers kind of guy

Name: Kevin Colgan

Restaurant: Buck's Restaurant, 3062 Woodside Rd., Woodside

Education/Background: "I have a bachelor's degree in business from the University of San Diego, but I'm not too good with numbers. I thought about going into dentistry, but I decided I'd rather give cavities than fix them. I graduated from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco in 1995."

What was your first job in a restaurant? "I was 15 and worked as a busser in what is now Spago's, a restaurant called the Gatehouse in Palo Alto. I was always kind of attracted to food and helping out in the kitchen at home."

What do you like best about your job? "I like the variety and having a team and being able to explore. I also love it when someone will say, 'Wow, that's the best I've ever had.' That is better than any gratification I could ever get."

What is the most challenging aspect of your job? "Being in charge and making sure everything is in place, but it gets easier as it goes by. I really thrive on being under the gun. The pressure is hard, but that's what draws me to it. I like to strive for excellence."

What was your most traumatic kitchen experience? "I burned myself once. It was my first day on the job at a restaurant in San Diego and I was a little nervous. I was pulling a sheet pan out of the oven and I dropped it, but before it landed, I grabbed it and burned my hand and arm. It blistered up and I went to the doctor the next day."

What cuisine/technique would you like to master next? "I think I'd like to go more into Asian flavors, incorporating Asian elements into my food. We studied Pacific Rim cuisine in culinary school, and those flavors can mix really well with a lot of things. I came here from Evvia (in Palo Alto) and I also like working with Eastern and Mediterranean seasonings, flavors and techniques."

Where do you like to go out to eat? "I like Evvia, but unless it's a special occasion, I don't like to get dressed up to go out. I also like Chantilly II (European Restaurant) in Palo Alto. That's a family favorite."

What is your favorite meal of the day? "Definitely not breakfast. It's going to have to be dinner because I rarely eat breakfast, I eat lunch on the run and I have more time to enjoy dinner."

What do you normally prepare at home? "My girlfriend does all the grocery shopping, so I usually just open the fridge and whatever there is, I just put something together. I had a teacher in school who taught us to create with whatever ingredients are available."

What food or ingredient is most overused today? "Garlic is in everything. I've always used garlic and I still use it, but I love to make things without garlic because it is in everything."

What do you predict will be the next movement in cuisine or dining? "It's moving right now. Instead of using other ideas, people are inventing things, taking two opposite cuisines and making something new. A while back I would have said the next movement would be Greek cuisine, but it has kind of settled down a bit."

Who is your culinary hero? "There was a pastry chef when I went to school, Chef Beau. He was a Swedish chef who would give very little information but give help when you needed it. For savory food, I would have to say Jacques Pepin, a French chef who is up there with Julia Child and James Beard."

For what person, living or dead, would you most like to prepare a meal? "I would like to prepare a meal for 30 of my closest friends. What I'd like to prepare, I don't know, but I would like to share my skills with my closest friends and family, enjoy their company and, of course, good food."

With what person, living or dead, would you most like to share a meal? "Julia Child. I really think she has a sense of the culinary world. I read up on her, and knowing her background a little, I'd like to hear what she has to say."

When did you decide you wanted to become a chef? "In San Diego. I was working for Moose McGillicuddy's, a chain started in Hawaii, and had a roommate who was a line cook. I was also working in telemarketing at the time, which was fine, but I really had the urge to get back into a restaurant. Anyway, I was in the kitchen one day chopping vegetables, and my hands were chopping while my head was talking and I just knew this was for me."

If you weren't a chef, what would you be? "Definitely nothing with numbers. I might have tried to go to dental school. I like to work with my hands, that is definitely something I've always done."

What goes on in the kitchen that diners don't realize? "The pressures. Everybody comes into the restaurant and it starts to get crowded and the kitchen has to deal with everything at the same time. Everyone in the kitchen is working as fast as they can and as best as they can to make sure the food looks as good as it tastes."

What cookbook do you most recommend for the inexperienced cook? "The Bible would be 'The Joy of Cooking.' That's the first one I picked up and the one I keep going back to. That's the most classic and it gives me ideas. I'll read it, then I'll put it down and incorporate my own ideas into its recipes."

Three secrets to being a good chef: "Poise, staying calm. Trying to get along with everybody from the dishwasher to the diner. And knowing your stuff. If you don't know what you're doing, then it all goes downhill. It's pretty hard to fake it.

What is your most indispensable appliance/gadget in the kitchen? "My 8-inch chef's knife and my Robot Coupe, an industrial food processor."

What is your favorite ethnic, regional or national cuisine? "That's hard because I love all foods. I'd have to say Mediterranean. I really enjoy Evvia and the flavors and foods sparked an interest." 1