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Did anything surprise you about opening your own restaurant?

How little time there is to cook. You always think, these are all these items we’re going to put on the menu, or we’re going to make A, B, C or D, but there’s so much administrative and set-up training work to do that you really have to start very early in the day, just so you can get to the stoves in time to get the food on the plates for dinner.

What were you looking for when you were hiring chefs to cook with you in the kitchen?

Really looking for people with an awareness of the farmers market and a soft hand on ingredients, that really appreciate the items that we buy, and take care of them. Because shopping at the farmers market is a little more expensive and requires a little more labor and care. That is a big part of it. Also, we’re looking for people who are “Yes” people, who just want to help out in any way that they can.

How can you tell when you can meet them?

Sometimes you can tell right away. They just have an attitude that speaks to you. Sometimes you have no idea. You have to get them in the kitchen for a couple days and go through a little trial and error. Recommendations from friends always help. There are some people we hired who we have worked with in the past, so that’s been great, very, very helpful for us.

What would you say the biggest challenge in opening a restaurant was?

The biggest challenge was, I think, getting the word out this is happening and it’s a great place to come and have great, simple food at reasonable prices. It takes a little while for people to let that information filter down and get here. There are so many restaurants opening, so much competition, that it can be difficult to be the new kid on the block.

Why did you decide on this location, ultimately?

Ultimately, Beverly’s a great location, a fantastic corridor. There’s a lot of stuff happening up the street on Fairfax, with Animal and Rosewood Tavern and those joints getting a lot of people. We have, obviously, a lot of great neighbors.

What was the last meal that you cooked at home?

A lot of times when I’m home, we’ll eat quinoa and broccoli and a lot of kinds of vegetables. It’s not always so much composed dishes as it is fuel for the body vegetables. Not too long ago we had a big Indian feast. We made tons and experimented with Indian dishes, which was a lot of fun.

So an Indian dish wouldn’t really find its way on to the menu at Cooks County?

Not per se. I think one of the things with California style cooking is that it’s basically like you give a nod to a lot of places, but you don’t really go there 100%. We might do an Indian inspired dish. Say we get fresh curry leaves from Coleman Farms and use them in with lentils and some black mustard seed, to go with a fish dish. That would sort of be a nod to India, but it wouldn’t be a true Indian preparation. Those flavors would be there.

What was the last international trip that you took?

The last international trip would be to France. We took a trip to Paris a couple years ago.

How would you say that impacted your cooking or menu?

It was great to see a variety of styles of restaurants in an international city like that, where we found lots of little places with some great food, and we went to a couple super fancy, over the top places just to see the range that they cook in France, and also to see the different products they have to work with, but I think how it impacted was that to be rooted in those very firm traditions is a good thing and you can see the respect they have for their own sort of culture. Going to all those bistros and getting celery root remoulade and frisee au lardoons, we use those here and there on our menu.

Yeah, I saw the celery root remoulade here just last week.

It’s super old school, but it’s kind of good and still relevant. It’s great.

If you could only cook with one more protein, what would it be and how come?

I think it would have to be pork, because pork is so versatile. I know it’s a little cliché to be a fan of pork. Beef seems to have more linear flavors, where everything’s kind of the same. With pork, you get very different flavors with the belly and shoulder, versus the ham versus back legs and the loin.

Where and what do you like to drink when you’re not working?

Usually I would go to Beer Belly and try to support some California craft beers. It’s definitely where we would go.