The Supermarket Gourmet

by Buck Reed

.André Soltner,the Greatest Chef You Never Heard Of

André Soltner died in January. I only met him once when my class at the Culinary Institute of America visited his restaurant in New York City, Lutèce. He came out and talked to us for a bit before we ate, and he gave us a quick tour of his restaurant. He told us about why he couldn’t franchise his restaurant even though he was quite well known, at least in our industry. He was the franchise, and he could not be in two or more restaurants at the same time. He did sell the restaurant in the 90’s. After a radical menu change that alienated its mainstay clientele, it finally closed in 2004. Without André at the helm, they had indeed tried franchising in Las Vegas, D.C., and California. As he had predicted, the group lost focus, and now it is gone.

Of the many things Chef Soltner spoke about was the rules. Some rules you had to strictly follow, like keeping your walk-in refrigerator meticulously organized and the rotation of your product constantly adhered to. It’s something André and McDonalds have in common.

I remember one rule that stuck in my mind concerning making fish stock: never use an oily fish like tuna or salmon bones to make a fish stock. It was taught to us in various classes at our school. And there he was, a master chef,  telling us how he made our fish soup with a stock made from salmon bones. He further explained that you had to possess a profound understanding of the rules before you could break them. It sounds better if you say it with a French accent.

For all his success, Chef Soltner never considered himself a “Celebrity Chef,” even though the crowd considered him the first of their group. Like his father, who was a cabinetmaker, he never thought he was anything special. Chef Soltner considered himself just a cook who constantly thrived to perfect his craft, no matter how much he advanced the art. Often thrown into the limelight, he never really sought it out. I was fortunate to hear two chef instructors from the Culinary Institute of America in conversation that he was one of the best in his profession but was incredibly humble about it.

As I make my way to the end of my career, I count myself fortunate to have met a man like André Soltner. Although my calling was very different from his, I can see the heights of my career and how different we both were. I thrived under the chaos of the cruise ship galleys, where a buffet or an afternoon snack peppered the day before the next meal, all with our hair on fire. It may not have been Michelin-star cuisine, but there were many times I held on to the words of the greatest chef I ever met.