Foodie Chap With Chef Dominique Crenn of Atelier Crenn

Chef Dominique Crenn's highly distinctive French heritage, imaginative gastronomic flair and proven originality behind the stove, reflect her unique life story. From her beginnings in Versailles, France, to her two star Michelin restaurant Atelier Crenn, combined with her recent James Beard nomination for BEST CHEF WEST, Crenn has built a legitimate and solid reputation for her artisanal, sustainable and seasonal cuisine.

Crenn began her formal training as a chef when she moved to San Francisco in 1988 under the tutelage of San Francisco luminaries Jeremiah Tower and Mark Franz for over two years at the celebrated Stars.

In 1997, Crenn made culinary history as the first female Executive Chef in Indonesia, heading the kitchen at the Intercontinental Hotel in Jakarta. She returned to California in 1998 as Executive Chef at the Manhattan Country Club, in Manhattan Beach for eight years. Since her return to San Francisco in 2008, Crenn led the kitchen at Luce in San Francisco's Intercontinental Hotel where she earned her first Michelin star and maintained it for 3 years (2009, 2010 & 2011).

She is also the founder and driving force behind "A Moveable Feast," a series of dinners honoring CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture) that pairs prominent local chefs with produce from a single local farm.

"Food is art. It should be fun but should also make you think."
- Chef Dominique Crenn

Chef Crenn has been stirring up the San Francisco culinary landscape since opening her own restaurant in 2012, Atelier Crenn. Located on Fillmore Street in the Marina in San Francisco, it's a modern take on fine-French cuisine, where artistry is at the forefront but locallly sourced, sustainable food.

It was at Atelier Crenn where myself and the elegant Chef Crenn recently came together for conversation and a taste (Coquille Saint Jacques) from her poetic yet approachable, seasonal and sustainable menu. "Ingredients matter" Chef told me "we are nothing without our incredible farmers and they fine produce they provide."

Crenn writes poetry in her spare time, not that chefs have much of that, and she pens her menus to read like poems - poetic culinaria if you will:

Oyster and the Ocean, Sea Urchin and
 Lemon Cloud
Walk in the forest, the wild and the
 cold (vegetables)
Foie gras and winter nuances

As a child, Crenn vacationed in Brittany, where her politician father had a painting workshop he called his atelier. Crenn named the Marina space in homage to his impressionistic art and her memories of foraging for blackberries and mushrooms with him, and because, in the Beaux Arts workshop tradition, the atelier is a place to experiment and explore. You will find some of her father's art in the restaurant's recently remodelled bathrooms.

A visit to Atelier Crenn is to have one of those "meals of your life" experiences. I do not know a soul who has dined there and not been blown away by the flavour bombs, inspired by the artistry moved by her poetry.

Catch Chef Crenn on CNN's "Culinary Journey" - Sunday April 6, 2015.

Enjoy my Foodie Chap interview with the talented and spirited Chef Crenn, a chef at the very top of her game. Please do yourself and someone you care deeply about a favour and visit her ever evolving restaurant Atelier Crenn on Fillmore Street in San Francisco.

Cheers and Bon appetit!

Chef Dominique Crenn's Coquille Saint Jacques (credit: Foodie Chap/Liam Mayclem)

Coquille Saint Jacques
Ingredients:
2 live scallops
1 pear sliced and pickled
Black sesame puree
1/2 lemon pearls
Dashi
Method:
For the scallop -
Clean the scallops and leaved them in a shell
squeeze some lemon and add sea salt
Black sesame puree:
1 oz of toasted black sesame
blended with 1 tbspoon of purified water
0.25 tbpoon rice vinegar
seasoned with salt and pepper
Dashi:
1oz dried kelp
1/2 dried shaved bonito
1/2 litter of purified water
Pickled Pear:
1/2 litter of purified water
2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon pink peppercorn
1 teaspoons of organic honey
1 teaspoon mustard seed
2 bay leaves
1 inch stick cinnamon
Sea salt
Combine all ingredients in a pot, bring it to a boil. Pour over the slice pear.