People Watch A Tale of Two Chefs A pair of Midwesterners feeds USC’s appetite for healthy California cuisine.
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Ernest, left, and Koenigsberg
dients,” says Koenigsberg, who promotes eco-friendly, farm-to-table cuisine. “It can be simple food that’s not dialed up.” Ernest agrees. And with his ties to local growers and fishermen, he plans to replace institutional fare with California cuisine.
Professor Gehry
World-famous architect Frank Gehry has joined the faculty as Judge Widney Professor of Architecture. Named for USC founder Robert Maclay Widney, the chair is reserved for eminent individuals from the arts, sciences, professions, business and community leadership. Gehry’s appointment will be in the USC School of Architecture, from which he earned his bachelor of architecture degree in 1954. Gehry has designed distinctive museums, concert halls, offices, homes, and other public and private buildings across the globe and throughout California. Among his most iconic works are the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. “Frank Gehry is arguably one of the most innovative designers in history, integrating design, art and community in such unique, pioneering ways,” says Qingyun Ma, dean of the USC School of Architecture. “He acts as an alchemist – every city touched by his architecture is touched by his creative power. I am proud of the fact that he is a USC Trojan.” – Jeremy Schoenberg
a fine-dining French restaurant in his native Milwaukee. He has worked at several high-profile restaurants since then. He was the sous chef at MC2 in San Francisco, a saucier at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago restaurant in Beverly Hills and the executive chef at BOA Steakhouse in Santa Monica. For Koenigsberg, it was gourmet grandparents who lit the culinary spark. “They ate escargot, drank espresso,” he recalls – not the usual fare in small-town Ohio. he worked with Southwestern chef Bobby Flay and Italian chef Mario Batali before moving to Silicon Valley to become executive chef at Bon Appétit, a restaurant at the Google corporate headquarters. Together, these two chefs will be changing the culinary landscape at USC. Ernest has some big ideas. He wants to create “action stations” around campus – a central bakery, a sushi center and a butcher station. He wants to open interactive bars in dining halls. He envisions organic sandwich carts along Trousdale Parkway. The days of institutional food at USC are numbered.
AFTER CULINARY SCHOOL,
– Shirley Shin For the full story on Gehry’s appointment, visit tinyurl.com/4bnzx6a
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U S C T R O J A N F A M I L Y M A G A Z I N E spring 2011
CHEFS PHOTO BY PHILIP CHANNING / GEHRY PHOTO COURTESY OF FRANK GEHRY
AFTER ONLY TWO WEEKS on the job, chef Eric Ernest had met two presidents: USC president C. L. Max Nikias, at his inauguration ceremony Oct. 15; and U.S. president Barack Obama, during his Oct. 22 visit to the university. Not bad for a Milwaukee boy who can trace his culinary career back to an Easy-Bake Oven. “It’s like being a chef with a large city,” Ernest says of his role as executive chef for USC Hospitality. The job entails overseeing 39 campus venues, including Lemonade, a retro-style gourmet eatery; the Lab, a science-themed gastropub; and the jewel in USC’s culinary crown, Moreton Fig, a full-service restaurant in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center. Luckily, Ernest has another solid Midwesterner – Todd Koenigsberg, of Dublin, Ohio – right by his side. The head chef of Moreton Fig joined USC last summer and has already set a high standard for campus dining. Ernest and Koenigsberg share more than hometowns in the Central Time Zone. They are both advocates of simple and natural ingredients. “Good food doesn’t have to be millions of different ingre-
BORN INTO A FAMILY of chefs, Ernest immersed himself in the culinary world at a tender age. A gift mixup one Christmas morning sealed his fate. “I got the wrong box,” he says. “Instead of a truck, I got an Easy-Bake Oven. The funny thing was, I didn’t care. I was excited about it and happily started making cakes in the corner.” After graduating from culinary school, he got his first professional gig at Grenadier’s,