// CHEFCETERA
UP CLOSE WITH METRO NEW YORK'S CHEFS
Tim Oltmans
Chef at Jack the Horse Tavern in Brooklyn, NY For Chef Tim and his wife Micki, Jack the Horse Tavern is the culmination of more than a decade of studying, planning, dreaming, patience, and just plain hard work.
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limbing through the ranks in some of NYC’s great restaurants, Tim spent 14 years perfecting his craft with such outstanding chefs as Tom Colicchio at Gramercy Tavern, Laurent Tourondel at C.T., and Floyd Cardoz at Tabla, for example. Micki was the guiding force behind the creation of Jack the Horse Tavern. Her unwavering belief in the success of their restaurant kept them firmly on track as their vision slowly took shape. Micki’s flair for art and design, combined with business experience, served her well in transforming an idea into a reality. What or who inspired you to become a chef, where did you study? Growing up in Minneapolis with a huge garden got me in the mode of thinking about fresh local things. When you are young you don’t always appreciate fresh fruit and vegetables but fresh was the norm for us. We canned vegetables, froze garden pickings, made wine (it was dreadful), and fermented cabbage. After 15 years of being a mechanical engineer and a home cook I was ready for a change. I took a few professional cooking classes to see if I was about to make the right move and decided I was ready for a new adventure. I headed east with Micki and landed at the French Culinary Institute. From there
and why great techniques work so well. Just learning the braising methods they employed have made my braises second to none.
Tim Oltmans spent 14 years perfecting his craft with such outstanding chefs as Tom Colicchio at Gramercy Tavern, Laurent Tourondel at C.T., and Floyd Cardoz at Tabla
I made my way to Trois Jean, a wonderful French Bistro on the Upper East Side. Have any mentors? What have you learned from them? My three most influential cooking experiences were Trois Jean under Jean Louis Dumonet, Gramercy Tavern, Chef Tom Colicchio, Tabla, with Floyd Cardoz. Each chef added to my knowledge in really significant ways. Chef Dumonet taught me many things about French cooking and eating (I was fresh out of the French Culinary Institute at the time). Both Tom Colicchio and Floyd Cardoz taught me about paying attention to the details
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How did you end up in Brooklyn with JtH? Micki and I spent years looking at restaurant spaces in the West Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint. We never saw quite the right thing. One day my broker said I should take a look at a space he stumbled across in Brooklyn Heights. We took a look, took some measurements, did a quick floor plan and said “Let’s do it”. Our investors came to us when we started looking for financing and Commerce Bank (now TD) was happy to help out with leases on equipment. Are you using sustainable sources for your dishes? Three days a week Brooklyn’s Borough Hall farmers market provides me with many great local products. Generally with our seafood items I follow the recommendations of our fish supplier as to sustainability. Cheeses for our cheese plate all come from small local farms & dairies. What role does Micki play at JtH? Micki handles most of our back office functions working closely with our accountant on payroll, benefits, keeping
our investors informed, and keeping track of a million little details that must be addressed to keep a small business running. She is also an idea person when it comes to what’s next, where are we headed, what do we need to pay more attention to, etc. The look and feel of the interior of Jack the Horse Tavern is very much Micki. The artwork on the walls, much of it by her father, all came off the walls of our apartment. The colors, the fabrics, the table settings, the lighting are all part of her vision. What’s the process in developing new menu entrées? As with many menu items you say what is available right now in the market and you build around those items. If the price of a certain fish drops to a certain point it lets us build a dish we can put on the menu at a reasonable price. Then there are times when I ask my sous chefs to put together something they are interested in. That usually involves a bit more give and take since they don’t always take into account some of the logistics of a new dish. On the equipment side, what do you look for when purchasing foodservice equipment for the kitchen? Getting the restaurant started meant looking for bargains. That meant going to restaurant auctions with a huge wad of cash in my pocket. I found lots of great stuff that I would not have been able to afford otherwise. The biggest repair budget - refrigeration. Find a good repair guy and take his advice. I asked many chefs for their advice about what equipment to buy and which items they liked. The restaurant industry has a very
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