Not just good eats, he has great determination

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/03/2014 (4219 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Discovering a new place to go out for dinner for me is often as easy as being sent to shoot a photo for a restaurant review. I have a handful of places I like to go to for particular dishes and rarely stray from this list, but when I was sent to Gasthaus Gutenberger a few weeks ago I found that I might just have to make room for a new restaurant.

After taking the requisite photos I asked the owner and head chef if I could get his story.

“I always loved cooking, got it from my grandmother. BBQ’s and Sunday brunches after church. It’s the only thing I was ever good at. So, when I was sixteen I decided to go into the cooking field. Just normal fast-food restaurants, hotels and then one time I decided to come here for an interview. Nineteen years old, I walked in here, the previous owner was a master chef … I asked him if he would take on a student. He said yes, and then ten years later I became the owner of the place, working up the ladder. From prep-cook to line cook to sending me to school, then sous chef then head chef at 23, then a few years later he sold.”

“It was always about moving forward, you always have a dream. My dream was to own a restaurant. I don’t take no for an answer, the only thing holding me back was long hours, weekends, holidays, you lose your life.”

What is your greatest fear at this point?

“Failure.”

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