Gala Chef Q & A: JBF Award Winner Gavin Kaysen

JBF Award Winner Gavin Kaysen, Café Boulud, NYC

What’s your go-to guilty-pleasure food?

Cheetos.

What’s your favorite movie, and why?

Rudy. I love the never-give-up attitude, and when it’s a true story it makes the movie that much more worth watching.

Describe the last great meal you ate.

I was in Lyon for the Bocuse d’Or this past winter and went to Daniel Boulud’s parents’ house for a visit. It turned into a four- hour lunch with his father’s housemade head cheese, sausages, bread, and a roasted leg of lamb his mom made. We enjoyed a bottle of wine and finished the afternoon off with homemade limoncello. It reminded me why I got into this industry in the first place.

What’s your earliest food memory?

Making Christmas cookies with my grandmother at the age of seven. I still use the same roller for the cookies that I make with my kids today. It is something that I will always cherish and mark as a life-changing moment.

What do you eat for breakfast?

Two eggs over easy, apples, and yogurt.

What was your first job in the culinary world?

Subway—certified sandwich artist.

What movie are you ashamed to admit you love?

Dirty Dancing.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

The harder you work, the better the reward.