I was going back there for good. It was when I was there (the second time) that we received our second Michelin star. It was really cool, and that was the stepping stone after going to culinary school. Q: How do you balance creating seasonal menus that reflect your style while also staying true to the steakhouse fare that guests of The Ranch have come to love? MR: I would say we are an American regional cuisine restaurant that’s driven by the produce that’s available at our farm today. The hardest thing about being a chef and the easiest part of being a chef is showcasing product when it’s available and really using it when it’s the best. It’s hard when you have 600 pounds of tomatoes arrive on your doorstep, but the joy of using it all is in how you use it. The inspiration is always the product. Q: So you wouldn’t throw The Ranch into the category of steakhouses? MR: The interesting thing about it was when I came to The Ranch five years ago, it wasn’t defined. Andrew Edwards had a name—The Ranch Steakhouse & Saloon. He had already trademarked it and then we [Michael & David Rossi] sat down with him and we said we don’t know if we wanted do a steakhouse because we’re going to pigeon-hole ourselves. Ironically enough, we changed the name to “Restaurant” but everyone thinks we’re a steakhouse because we serve a lot of steaks. The Cowboy Ribeye was something that we talked about, and now we can’t even keep them in the house. Our servers don’t talk about it, they don’t try to sell you it, but we still serve a ton of them. It would blow you away.
MEMORY LANE: On his first day working at Border Grill for Food Network’s Too Hot Tamales, Rossi had to make 15 gallons of guacamole for their food truck. He still uses the same recipe 20 years later because it’s how guacamole should taste.
NATIVE KNOWLEDGE: Michael Rossi decided to attend the California Culinary Academy after visiting the San Francisco institution at 23 years old.
Q: Besides highlighting the amazing produce that is grown here, what else can guests anticipate when visiting The Ranch? MR: My brother David oversees the pastries, and he really does just about everything else, too. He does all the curing and smoking we do in the restaurant. We make our own bacon. We make our own pancetta. We make all our own sauces—like barbecue sauces and hot sauces. Everything that we can make from scratch we make. That’s kind of David’s focus. It’s made the journey a lot more fun because we do it together and we’ve both really geeked out on it. Q: How would you describe your leading style in the kitchen? MR: I hate to talk about myself this way, but I guess I’m a teacher with my staff. We have 1,000 tasting spoons in our kitchen, and if someone is tasting something, everybody comes over, grabs a spoon, tastes it, and then we talk about it. Does it need more acid? Does it have enough salt? Is there a balance? Is it hitting every part of your tongue? That’s the part of a restaurant you need to teach your people because you can’t cook everything and consistency is the hardest thing. Cooking is so unpredictable—like these tomatoes are amazing, but some days they’re not and you need to add a little more of something to balance it. That’s what cooking is all about—showcasing the product by letting it be itself, but also giving it other characters or roles in the show so it can be complete. Q: How do you know what the right ingredient is to take a recipe to the next level? Is it instinctual? MR: I have about 600 cookbooks—I’m obsessed. I have a constant need to learn something new, but I rarely look at recipes. To me, it’s about flavor profiles and ingredients that are going together. Q: How would you describe your food in 10 words or less? MR: Balance and layers of flavor. I think it’s important when you take a bite that it hits everywhere on your palate. When somebody tastes the food at The Ranch, they get it. They taste what we tried to have them taste. If I’m looking for balance and layers of flavor, I want you to taste it, too.