Three Generations
How Much Do the Cooks at GTF Like Their Jobs?
Looks like…a lot!
Here’s Emily, aka “Hot Tomolly,” and Brian, aka “Sticks.”
Meet Hamid, Our New Pastry Chef
And now in his own words;
I was born and raised in a beautiful village in Algeria (North-Africa), called Cherchell, which is situated on the Mediterranean sea, with a population similar to that of Corvallis. It is in this idyllic setting, that I was raised and taught a love for food from my mother and grandmother. Together, we would forage for mushrooms and snails, as well as various herbs for food and medicine. Every day we would visit the village market to buy fresh produce and walk down to the small harbor for the day’s catch.
As a young man I moved to the Champagne region of France where I fell in love with their cuisine, wine and my lovely wife, Maryna. We relocated to her hometown of Stellenbosch, in the heart of South Africa’s wine region. It is there where I graduated from the renowned Institute of Culinary Arts (ICA) as ‘Chef par excellence’ and received the Wusthoff Achievement Award. The next 2 years I worked as full-time lecturer and instructor at the ICA, where I taught upcoming chefs the finer skills of baking, pastry-making and chocolaterie. In 2003, my wife, son and I decided to further broaden our horizons and settled in Oregon.
Over the past 13 yearsI have perfected my skills at Grande Roche Paarl ,Willowbrook Lodge Restaurant, Lanzerac Manor, Erinvale Estate, J.C. Le Roux in South Africa and several restaurants in Oregon.
I love food! It is what I do best. I cook it, I photograph it, and, best of all, I eat it!
Rockstar Sous Chef
Ricky has been an important part of the GTF kitchen for quite a while. Here he is sporting the 2009 kitchen t-shirt. Every year we all sport a GTF shirt with the current year. If you see one out on the street, make sure to give a shout out: “Love those donuts!” or something.
Ricky has also been working very hard to make his band The Crescendo Show a success. Here is a small sample:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djQZNifqpRc&w=560&h=315]
Know Your Tosser
Dick G. will again be burning tossing your pizzas this year. He has been with us for years in his spare time and this year will up his involvement in the kitchen. Dick is full of power, energy and enthusiasm, commitment and kitchen experience. He spent his off-season training in various Portland kitchens picking up trucs (French word for chef’s tricks). This year Dick will step off the wood oven station and move to the hot line to gain experience with fish and meat. There is always so much to learn, and culinary curiosity is almost a requirement in the GTF kitchen.