ben klasner |
pHOTOgrApHy By Travis Duncan
The way Ben Klasner sees it, he was paid to go to culinary school. The sous chef at Sycamore in Columbia, Missouri, has no formal culinary training – that is, aside from his eight years in the kitchen alongside head chef and co-owner Mike Odette. Klasner started just a few feet over from the line, washing dishes at the restaurant when he was 20. In his free time, he’d pick up simple prep tasks, knocking more and more off his list before moving to the pantry, grill and sauté stations. Three years ago, he became the sous chef. “I paid attention, asked a lot of questions, got better and better, and eventually got to where I am,” Klasner says. Klasner’s path to the kitchen began in high school when he got a job working at one of the dining halls at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Later, he moved on to a dishwasher and prep position at Addison’s in town. Klasner says that to him, cooking has always been about learning.
ingredients speak for themselves,” Odette says. “Ben likes to experiment, using parts of products usually cast-off – peels, roots, leaves, trimmings – and has a robust interest in modern culinary techniques and ideas. ”
At Sycamore, Klasner has ample room for experimentation. Odette also works full-time across the street cooking lunch and meals for special events at Boone County National Bank – something he says wouldn’t be possible without Klasner’s participation at the restaurant. Odette says Klasner has been invaluable in keeping the kitchen’s prep running while he’s gone, along with his contributions to the menu, which include a pork cheek and shank ragu topped with poblanos, crimini mushrooms and pearl onions served over polenta, and pastas made by hand each week.
At some point down the road, Klasner says he’d love to open a place of his own in the area. But, for now, he says he’s home.
“A lot of Mike’s inspiration and a lot of what he’s taught me is he’ll say, ‘Just like mom used to make,’” Klasner says. “And it’s true. Those are the things that people come back for. That’s the reason they might be here two times a week instead of once a month.”
“I paid attention, asked a lot of questions, got better and better, and eventually got to where I am.” signature dish pictured: Rye tortellini with duck pastrami, beets and cabbage by chef Ben Klasner.
The dish was served at Sycamore this past fall and winter.
Sycamore, 800 E. Broadway, Columbia, Missouri, 573.874.8090, sycamorerestaurant.com
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Odette says Klasner’s palate and culinary perspective differ from his own, which he believes then translates to a richer experience for diners. “My cooking style is conservative, with an acknowledgement of classic combinations, culinary canon and simple preparations that let good
“I have always told myself that until I stopped learning, this is the place I would be,” he says. “I haven’t yet reached that point.”
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Never a fan of the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, Klasner convinced his mom one holiday to let him skip the turkey and stuffing and cook whatever he wanted for himself. At 12 years old, he’d been watching a lot of shows on Food Network and was convinced he could do just about anything. He was, perhaps, less convinced when his meal – a chicken breast marinated in a concoction of applesauce and Worcestershire sauce – arrived at the table.
“It turned out absolutely terrible, but I ate every bite of it because I was very stubborn,” Klasner says. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘This isn’t the best thing in the world, but I know that next time I’m going to do it a lot better.’ That was my first big failure, but in my mind it was also maybe the best thing I could have done because it made me realize that there’s always a better way.”
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WrITTeN By Heather Riske
sous chef sycamore columbIa, mo
