I recently had the great privilege of touring the Park Slope, Brooklyn home kitchen of Dan Kluger, the executive chef of Core: Club. Core, located on East 55th Street in Manhattan, is an exclusive private club with a restaurant that offers members a gourmet dining experience and extensive wine list. Dan started the 90-seat restaurant with advice from consulting chef, Tom Colicchio, and now oversees the operation, including numerous private events. Prior to Core, Dan spent seven years at Danny Meyer’s Indian-fusion restaurant, Tabla, where he also met his wife, Hannah. Before that, Dan worked at Union Square Cafe where, in his words, he got his start in the kitchen as a prep cook.
I was so curious to find out what a “real” chef’s kitchen looks like. Is it teeming with gleaming appliances? Is it organized alphabetically? Does the chef turn out seven course meals? Are there secret accouterments that only a chef would have? No – no – no – yes.
Dan’s rental kitchen is exactly the same type of kitchen any of us mere mortals would have. What surprised me is that he does not have a million kitchen gadgets or more pots and pans than an average home cook would have. He does have a perfectly adequate selection of exactly what an experienced chef would need … nothing more, nothing less.
This includes a beautiful set of copper pans, one of which is his favorite. He has a complete spice collection, including some unusual items like basil seed, which “expands to look like caviar when water is added,” beet powder, and hot dried pepper hand-imported from a trip to Spain.
Refreshingly, nothing is unusually orderly – unlike what one might expect of a professional chef. His drawers, in fact, exhibit the same chaos one would expect of a family of two working parents and a two year old.
As I spent more time there, poking around a bit more and watching him effortlessly whip up two gourmet pizzas for lunch, I noticed a few things that were out of the ordinary. An oven thermometer lives in the oven, for example. He also has some rather deadly-looking Japanese knives, one of which is specifically for sushi, and he tapes a penny to their protective sheaths for good luck (U.S. Army superstition handed down from his dad).
Although Dan does not have a ton of room on the counters, he has an industrial-sized KitchenAid mixer (an eBay purchase), a professional food scale, a large, serious-looking gelato maker stashed on the bottom shelf of his bookshelf in the living room, and a Chitarra (“guitar” in Italian), a very interesting-looking pasta cutter with chords that cut perfect long strands of pasta from sheets of pasta dough (he developed a passion for handmade pastas while working at Union Square Café).
The apartment has three large bookcases (two in the office/toddler’s room and one in the living room) that are full of food magazines and cookbooks, among which are extensive back issues of Gourmet, Food & Wine, Food Arts, Fine Cooking and Art Culinaire (some go as far back as 1994).
He typically cooks easy, simple meals at home, catering in part to his daughter, Ella.
And the pizza we had for lunch? It was phenomenal - perfectly shaped and evenly cooked – one pizza margherita and one white pizza with ricotta and dates. I have to do this more often!
Favorite restaurant
Gramercy Tavern & Tabla
Favorite dish to make at home
Roasted Chicken
Favorite dish to make at the restaurant
Braises
Favorite dish to have out
Pork buns and peking duck from Chinatown
Favorite place to shop for restaurant groceries:
Union square green market (I go three times a week for two hours at a time with a wallet full of cash and do two cabs worth of shopping for the restaurant)
Favorite place to shop for groceries for home
Union Market – Brooklyn
Greatest wish for his next home kitchen
Large stove, exhaust hood and a wall oven (my back hurts)
Biggest surprise about being a chef (what you did not expect)
I guess just how much I love it. I love being really busy and jumping in and cooking on the line next to my cooks; there is nothing like it!
Favorite cookbook
Think Like a Chef by Tom Colicchio (it teaches solid cooking fundamentals)
Favorite kitchen tool An old fashioned cast-iron grilled cheese maker called this speed grill (another eBay purchase) that reminds him of his childhood
Related: Kitchen Tour: At Home in Paris with David Lebovitz
(All images: Sabra Krock of Cookbook Catchall)
Very interesting post. Glad to have the cookbook suggestion. That pizza's making my stomach growl.
view bklynfoodie's profile
I know the penny tradition! Received a knife set for our wedding, at which point my aunt asked for a penny. Since it is considered bad luck to give a gift of a knife, the recipient "buys" the knife rather than accept it as a gift. Traditionally in the US, you pay a penny.
view bklynfoodie's profile
Great post!
I would like to add one thing that probably every chef has in their home kitchen. It can be seen in the second picture (the first picture of the kitchen). A commercial roll of plastic film wrap. It's usually around 12 bucks at a restaurant supply store. It really clings! Not like the stuff you buy at the store. And it will last a year or more. It's also great to have on hand if you are going to fly somewhere. You can wrap your toiletries in it in case if they want to leak. It's also good for moving.
I noticed the "On Cooking" textbook on the left hand side of the book shelf. That was my introductory text in cooking school. Brings back memories. Stocks, sauces, chopped onions and garlic, sliced fingernails down to the nailbed.
I love the green market story. It shows how dedicated a chef can be in order to provide his or her guests with the best seasonal products.
I must get a chittarra!
Those pizzas look incredibly good.
view art's profile
Awhile ago, someone asked about thost small corked spice jars. I wonder where he got his.
My favorite part was his using the corner cabine for pots and pans. I think things that are big and blessed with handles are the best things to store in that awkward area! Also, I was relieved to see his knives stored blade up on his knife bar. Seeing them blade down always makes me nervous!
@art--we used On Cooking, too, but a newer version. They seem update it every other year! I don't have the space for industrial-sized plastic wrap, but I am a fan of stretch-tite--it seems to work better than the standard Saran wrap!
view OneWallKitchen's profile
On the spice jars - just heard back from him through Sabra, and he says that he got them at CB2 about seven years ago.
view faith's profile
Thanks, Faith!
view OneWallKitchen's profile
Wow. GREAT post. Thing that really caught my eye was the mise en place...what's with the bowl full of eggs when he's making pizza???
view mh330's profile
Thanks, Art, for your observations and thanks for calling out the plastic wrap. I had meant to mention that specifically - that is one of their favorite items - in fact, it's Dan's wife's very favorite kitchen tool. She says it works better and takes years to go through!
mh330 - I asked the same question - Dan was initially going to make something else and then changed his mind (don't know what).
view Sabra's profile
beautiful kitchen!
i'll have to go search out some of that plastic wrap...
http://threadtrace.wordpress.com
view cassiopia's profile
Thanks againg guys for showing this post and thanks to Dan Kluger for letting us into his wonderful kitchen. I don't feel so badly about the cooking magazine that I have collected. I can display them. Great job!! How does one operate the chittara?
view jaudre's profile
oh, my. i want to make that white pizza now. yum!
also, the lighting in his kitchen is just wonderful. i like a really bright kitchen - but soft bright, not harsh. living in an apartment with little natural light in the kitchen and terrible overhead lighting, i've had to be really creative about it. these pictures make me covet his situation - and want to continue working on mine!
view katiebug's profile
I love the orange food scale and matching colander.
view kdb's profile