Taste before Siegfried can think of going home. For most people, that long day would be a nightmare. For Siegfried, it’s a childhood dream come true. She’s been entranced by food and cooking since the day when, at age 5, she watched her grandmother make pastries and was thrilled that “someone C H E F C H AT could make a cake or bread out of nothing and make everyone happy.” “And for me,” she says, “cooking is pure happiness. It’s how I know to show love. I had Jacque Siegfried at the Tulsa Club’s Chamber restaurant cooking contests fosters a collaborative environment … with innovative results. with my dad every week, and the joshing and laughter made it magical. t’s 5 a.m. and Tulsa’s downMy dad is Native American, and he town lies deserted. On most taught me to show respect for nature days, however, if you walk and the animals that died that we past the Tulsa Club – an Art LEFT TO RIGHT: HEAD might eat.” Deco landmark that ArchiCHEF JACQUE SIEGFRIED IS While Siegfried was at Platt ColHAPPY TO COME IN EARLY tectural Digest recently called lavish, AND STAY LATE AT THE swanky and dazzling – you see a light lege’s culinary program, her instrucCHAMBER INSIDE THE NEW tor chef, Curt Herrmann, spotted on. Jacque Siegfried, executive chef TULSA CLUB. her budding talent … and critiqued of the Chamber restaurant, is preparGRILLED LOBSTER OVER RIher work mercilessly. Her proudest SOTTO IS ONE OF SEVERAL ing for the daily brunch. SEAFOOD DISHES AVAIL“Cleaning a salmon, cutting onions moment was when he said, “You did ABLE AT THE CHAMBER. for 45 minutes, whatever it takes, I’ll good, kid.” PHOTOS BY JOSH NEW Siefried put in time on the line do it,” she says. “I won’t ask my staff at kitchens all over Tulsa, and also to do anything I wouldn’t do.” TO SEE THE RECIPE waited tables at Goldie’s. After brunch ends, it’s time to do FOR SIEGFRIED’S GRILLED “So many chefs get angry at servordering and inventory; at 2 p.m., the LOBSTER OVER RISOTTO, ers,” she says. “I wanted to see things VISIT OKMAG.COM/ next shift arrives to begin prepping SIEGFRIED the evening meal. It’s long after dark from the server’s point of view so I
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wouldn’t be that angry chef.” Later, Siegfried got a job at Cedar Ridge Country Club, where she worked for many years. “There were no angry chefs there,” she says, “because they were doing what they were passionate about. It was a happy place – very hectic but invigorating. I learned all I could.” She and executive chef Geoffrey van Glabbeek soon became fast friends. “I was insanely lucky,” Siegfried says, “because he let me run around creatively. One day, I said I wanted to make octopus because I had never worked with it, and a few days later it was there. Another time, I asked if he knew where I could get pig’s blood, and he showed up a few hours later with it.” Throughout Siegfried’s career, chefs have taught and encouraged her. Now, as an executive chef, she tries to do the same for her staff. “What do you want the restaurant to be?” she asks them … and then listens. Menu items are often collaborations. One cook suggested a coffee-crusted meat dish; another opined that pork went great with blueberry jam. Voilà: A coffee-crusted pork chop with blueberry compote was born. “Nobody knows everything, and I try to learn from everyone,” Siegfried says. “A cook wants to make a dish a new way? Why not try it? “I want my staff to have fulfilling lives, to go out and enjoy life. I try to give everyone two consecutive days off each week, and if that means I have to clean flattops at 5 a.m., I’ll do it. My life? Not much to tell. I married my high school sweetheart. I hang out with my family. I wanted to be an executive chef before I was 30, and I am. I’m 29 now. And I cook.” BRIAN SCHWARTZ