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Luke's Kitchen also offers a complete line of infused oils, vinaigrettes,
moles, and spice mixes that are available in the restaurant. Because everything is made to order at
least two days lead time is necessary for any order over 4 oz. of anything. Infused oils are priced at $40 per quart and can
be purchased in smaller increments. Herb salt is priced at $40 per pound and is also available in smaller quantities.
Updates on LK can also be viewed on Facebook and Maplewood Patch.I would also like to thank all of you
who have taken an interest in Luke's Kitchen. The response to what we have been doing has been excellent.
When I have the opportunity to get into the dining room during service, everybody wants to know about my culinary background
amongst other things. I thought I would take a moment to answer the most regularly asked questions but not in a FAQ
way.
I've been in the business since 1989. I went to culinary school at the Culinary Arts Institute in Jersey City. The majority of my experience has been in New York City. My first postion was at the Rainbow Room under Andrew Wilkinson. After three years and working in almost every position in the kitchen, I moved on to Lutece under Eberhardt Mueller at the time when the kitchen had just turned over from Andre Soltner's control to Eberhardt's. I think that was the only time that I know of that US NEWS & World Report did an article on the sale of a restaurant. After Lutece, I worked at the Thuderbird Lodge in Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico thanks to Andre Soltner. He asked me if I liked to ski, when I said yes his response was that he was afraid of sending me out there because I may never come back. It was almost true. When I came back to New York, I had the opportunity to work with Sotha Kuhn at Le Cirque 2000 when it first opened. The next most influential restaurant I had the priviledge to work at was the Mercer Kitchen when it first opened. I had the opportunity to not only work for Jean-Georges Vongerichten, but also worked very closely with his chef de cuisine, Richard Farnabe who had worked under Jacques Maximum. Just to put in in perspective, Jacques Maximum from Nice has been one of the major influences on Ferran Adria and the Spanish deconstruction movement ever since he gave a lecture at one of the Madrid Summits over 20 years ago, which, in turn, led to the whole molecular gastonomy aspect of the culinary arts, more or less. Anyway, Richard subsequently went on to open Lotus in MePa, and is now the chef at Picholine in NYC. If you have a chance and your in the area, you should stop by. He is very good. When Richard Farnabe left the Mercer to open Lotus in the meatpacking district, I left the Mercer Kitchen to find a more hospitable commute, which is how I started working at Pierre's Bistro in Harding. That's also how I came to know Maplewood through Ed Gruters who was the chef at Pierre's at the time he bought American Fare from Tim. The last free standing restaurant that I worked at in New York City was Alain Ducasse when it first opened. Shortly after that, it became very difficult to work in New York City after 9/11,so I took some time to clear my head and went to work for Intrawest in Snowshoe, West Virginia. When I got back from West Virginia, I interviewed with CMC George McNeil at the Marriott Marquis in New York. Eventually, I was elevated to the position of Senior Sous Chef at the Bridgewater Marriott where I was able to bring the customer satisfaction scores with respect to the a la carte dining experience into the top three of over three hundred properties offering the same type of experiences. Shortly after that, I started looking for a place of my own. When the former American Fare came up for sale, I didn't hesitate. So, all of those experiences influence and inform the way I cook and think about the culinary arts. And not for nothing, but I have found out that relentless name dropping does help my search results on the web. You can contact us at 973-763-4005 for reservations. If you are interested in booking
us for a private function, please contact us at freshfood@lukeskitchen.com.
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