An Interview with Chef Douglas Keane

July 2009
This month I got to have a chat and a laugh with chef Douglas Keane. Keane is the chef/ owner of the super hot, two Michelin starred restaurant Cyrus in Healdsburg, California. Doug is a good friend and great cook, why he gives me the time of day I’ll never know...  It was a quick Q & A This is what he said...

If you had a fantasy group of eight dining in your restaurant dead or alive would you want it to be and why?
Number one would be my father; as he never got to eat the kind of food I cook now. My Brother, as he is my best friend, James Beard because he did so much for American cooking, Al Pacino because he is just a legend and can do no wrong. JFK and Bill Clinton as they were/are both so smart and would be super interesting to talk to, Jacques Pépin as I idolize him and a stripper, just to lighten things up. I think Clinton would like that too, not so sure James Beard would…

Who would you have as your fantasy kitchen team?
Freddy Girardet as I always admired him, I think he is the best chef ever and I would love to see him cook. Next Gray Kunz. He's a culinary genius, I cooked at Lespinasse and he is one of my mentors and he was influenced Freddy Girardet’s cooking. My right hand man - Drew Glassell he’s a Californian native, a former Marine and I would never go into battle with anyone else. Finally hotelier and mentor Stan Bromley, I would have him washing up. The kitchen would be spotless he is the absolute perfectionist.

What would you serve them?
I would serve them an eight courses dinner… Caviar, a couple of fish courses, Wagyu beef… a real solid Cyrus style tasting menu, with Sake & Krug for their drinking pleasure!

Cyrus Restaurant
29 North Street,
Healdsburg,
CA, Ph 707.433.3311
www.cyrusrestaurant.com