by Steven Doyle
Kent Rathbun entered the food industry at age 14, washing dishes at a local Sambo’s, a job for which he had lied about his age, claiming to be one year older. By the end of his first day as a dishwasher, he had asked to help the night cook, who within three weeks recommended that Rathbun be promoted to the cooking station. At age 17, he was working as an apprentice in the 5-star dining room of Kansas City’s La Bonne Auberge restaurant, where his mother worked as a maitre d’.
The fine dining experience changed his culinary tastes, causing him to come home determined to educate the experienced cooks in his household: “When I started learning how to work with fresh vegetables and snails and foie gras, that’s when my taste just exploded. I told my mother, `I can’t believe it. All those things you and Grandma have been cooking all these years – you’ve been overcookin’ ’em.'” Continue reading
