chef," he says. "You have to show the people that work for you how the job is done. If you don't know how to work, you don't know how the job is done. You can't teach those people." Despite the somewhat dream schedule he's got now, Roy hopes to open a restaurant some day. "I know, it's ridiculous," he says. "But the epitome of the restaurant that I want, in my utopian fantasy of what can happen in a restaurant, would be to [work] with my family. To be with my family and to be able to do what I love is the goal." With the failure rate of restaurants so high, it's a risky endeavor. "I pride myself in the ability to make money for the people that I work for," he says. "I think I've got what it takes."
tHe art of Work The pay sucks, the hours are bad, and it’s really, really hot. So why cook? After all, it's not all "wine tastings and farm tours and book signings and creating new dishes," says Gibson. "There are so many harsh realities to what it actually is. Can you make a nice living for yourself? Yes. But you're not going to get rich." But food, he says, is his life. That's why his shelves are filled with cookbooks and his money goes to sampling the food in (sort of) faraway places (like Chicago). "It's because it's my passion," he says. That's why Roy does it, too. Without passion, he says, there's no point. "Don't do it unless you love it, unless you're meant for it, unless it's calling you. You'll fail and I will laugh at you in my kitchen. You've got to be a hardworking person that really loves it and understands it and is an alchemist." Rosenstein, who's referred to his own style of cooking as "mountain alchemy," can’t imagine having done anything else. Ask him how his life would have been different if he'd never been in the hospitality business, and he’s momentarily at a loss for words. "I've only thought about how to get away from it," he laughs. "But life has been so rich and I have so many human connections and relationships on so many levels because of it." Lately, Rosenstein has eased back into selling food through catering, though he has one condition: "The client is going to have to respect our world. If you don't respect our world, you can't have what I do. It's simple." When asked to elaborate, Rosenstein says this: "You're forgiving of people that don't quite understand what's going on and what it takes to do what we do, how much we give of ourselves. Most people could not do what I do. I don't care how many levels of education they have, most people could not deal with the complexity of running a restaurant. I’ve had people say, ‘Well, I can do this at home.’ I’ve learned to say, ‘No you can’t. This conversation is over. Nice to meet you.’" X Send your food news and story ideas to food@ mountainx.com.
cHEF taLk “people in the industry, We do it beCause We love it,” says e.b., a line Cook at Chai pani.
EvEry rosE Has its tHorn mark rosenstein in his Garden. “most people Could not do What i do.” photo by Warner photoGraphy
mountainx.com • JULY 11 - JULY 17, 2012 33