Meeting Thomas Keller

I can count on one hand the number of brushes I’ve had with celebrity, and the few that I’ve had have been pretty lackluster.  When I was a kid, I met the Philly Phanatic.  When I was older, I met Dennis Franks, a guy who is known only to the most diehard Eagles fans as the guy who used to snap the ball to Ron Jaworski.  Why I even got an autograph.  Things looked up when I got to see Brian Propp and Dave Poulin of the Flyers, but they didn’t see me as it was getting an autograph handed to me by one of the hockey team’s people rather than meeting the players themselves.  I saw Jennifer Lopez’ ass (and a fine ass it was; she was doing some photo shoot at the hotel across from mine) from a distance while on a business trip to Chicago.  That about sums up my meeting famous people.  By contrast, my son, by age 7, met the guy that drives Gravedigger at a monster truck show and got a hug from Curly Neal and has an autographed ball signed by Big Easy Lofton of the Harlem Globetrotters.  I suck by comparison.

A couple years ago, I went to a concert at the House of Blues in Atlantic City, NJ.  After years of either no meetings or meeting the costumed or the b-list of the athletic world, I finally got to meet somebody who was famous, accomplished, and talented, and to top it off, a group of whom I’m a huge fan.  I got to meet Megadeth.  Not just Dave Mustaine, the whole band.  And it was awesome.  Got autographs there as well and actually got to talk to and shake the hand of Dave Mustaine.

After that, I was perfectly content with never meeting another celebrity again.  Then I get this email from my wife right after Halloween this year that Thomas Keller is going to be at Williams-Sonoma at the King of Prussia Mall doing a book signing for his latest cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home.  You foodies out there who know who Thomas Keller is, know that his cookbooks have two main characteristics:  big and expensive.  For those of you who have actually cracked the binding on The French Laundry Cookbook and/or Bouchon know that the recipes in them require the skill and steadiness most neurosurgeons possess.  So imagine my chagrin when I found that in order to meet chef Keller, I had to shell out the $50.00 for his new book.  I figured it would look good on my coffee table at least and I would get one for one of my good friends who actually did go to culinary school.

November 20, 2009 arrives and I head down to the mall so that I can get in line early.  When I get there, I’m pleasantly surprised to find that although a crowd is forming, I’m fairly close to the front of the line.  I go into buy the book that I’m going to get signed for my friend and as I’m flipping through the pages, I’m seeing recipes that actually look like things I’ve seen my grandmother or my friends’ moms cook before.  No peruvian blue potatos or kafir limes… just stuff you can find at any supermarket worth its salt.  This motivates me to buy myself one as well.  I actually do most of the cooking at my house and found several of these recipes “approachable,” the new hip celebrity chef cookbook author term for “you can actually do this.”

My only real complaint about this book is that it’s so damn huge.  My biceps got the workout of their life waiting in line to get these things signed.  I really felt sorry for this elderly lady with a cane who was standing three people behind me who bought six… six of these monsters to ship to relatives.  I held one of her bags for a while to give her a break.  Fortunately, either Keller realizes this, or he was just being nice, because all of a sudden, a waiter shows up with a piping hot cup of absolutely delicious cauliflower soup (and I normally hate cauliflower) prepared by Keller himself.  About 20 minutes later, a piece of homemade crispy something-or-other with homemade marmalade comes as well.  Also delicious.

Anyway, the time comes to meet chef Keller.  I’ll apologize in advance for using the usual platitudes that people say when they meet the famous, but in his case it was actual fact.  He really was genuinely warm, engaging, and very easy to talk to.  For a guy that is the Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, and Cal Ripken Jr. of his field, you would never know it from talking to him.  He answered far too many questions from me that I’m sure he’s heard a thousand times before, signed my two books (one of which is being sent to a former cook and culinary school graduate who is now a soldier who has served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and is now in Korea), and took a picture with me, and for that, I am very grateful.

By the way, a week after I got the book, I tried the marinated skirt steak recipe.  Turned out fantastic.  I can now say that I actually cooked a Thomas Keller recipe, and I look forward to cooking more of them.