A while back I wrote about the passing of one of the people who influenced my life immensely, cooking wise and in general and to my shock somehow his mother came across my post and commented. I was deeply touched that she had come across these pages and left a note, and while I tried emailing her back several times, the address she provided me kept bouncing back. So, with that, I am hoping she will find this response on these pages as she had my original entry about her son.

Dear Mrs File,

I knew Chris and Jamie from Lucien’s in the gardens when it was a take -out place. My wife (back then she was my fiancée) and I found the place while we were looking at apartments to rent and immediately fell in love with it - my favorite thing to get in the beginning was Chris’ London Broil with Horseradish Mayo sandwich. I still smile and my palate whets when I think about it and to be honest, to this day I cannot replicate it - even with my all training - and I have tried often. Anyway, when I got married and entered culinary school, Chris was kind enough to give me a job in the Kitchen even though he was not advertising for help at the time. I was out scouring the Austin Street scene looking for a job that would help pay the bills but not tire me out as my school schedule was a grueling one when I stopped in to Lucien’s for lunch. I am not sure how it happened, I wish I could recall the conversation, but I walked out not only with a perfect lupper (that’s what my wife and I called the meal between lunch and supper - broke newlyweds we were) I walked out with a job.

I learned so much from Chris while I was there - I believe it was about ten or eleven months that I worked there, and when I graduated and went to work in a Manhattan restaurant I found myself employing what I had learned from your son. I graduated top of my class and I was placed in a great restaurant - and I partly attribute that success to Chris’ influence. Not so much in my skill set, but in the frame of mind. Chris taught me how to think like a chef, how to respect my superiors in the kitchen - and how to handle myself in a hot and steamy place where tempers flare under pressure. And I learned from Chris and Jamie as she was the business behind the business, how to run a food business.

I have had a great career and to this day I say I learned more from Chris than I did from the school. He had raw talent, a great demeanor, an awesome presence and he was with me in spirit (and in my head yelling at me) throughout my career - from the four star restaurants like Montrachet and Union Square Cafe, to my own quaint and homey place in Manhattan. Looking back on it now, even that place was inspired somewhat by Lucien’s, friendly, warm with a cast of regulars who came in each day. Your children have this way of making everyone feel comfortable and welcome and of course, the food that was served in both Lucien’s and Dirty Pierre’s (and the parties they threw at Keegan’s) was always outstanding.

We moved to Israel in 2006 and I opened a successful catering company (I learned some things from Jamie as well). Upon our arrival here I got a job as senior lecturer in a culinary school. I have many friends in the industry and one of them, who taught in the same school as Chris told me about what had happened. It is a real loss - but hopefully his legacy will live on for a long time as I teach my students the way I was taught, not by my school but by Chris. If you would like, I can forward you some of the lesson plans I have that were inspired directly from experiences I had in Lucien’s (knife throwing not included).

I am really sorry for your loss Jeanne. If it is any comfort, please know that he is not forgotten - and that he has made a wonderful impact in someone’s life, an impact that lasts to this day and carries on through the next generation of not only chef’s, but individuals.

Please send my regards to Jamie if you can. If she is vague about who I am, please let he know I am the tall Jewish kid (who loved bacon on anything) from the mid 90’s that Chris used to yell at all the time for screwing something up - even when I did not.

Thank you for writing me, I am truly touched.

jay