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Bret has been cooking since he could reach the stove, and has since taught culinary classes at top cooking schools, led culinary tours Paris, Burgundy and in Provence, and has worked alongside fellow food maestros Suvir Saran, Rocco DiSpirito, Anne Willian, Joanne Weir, Jeffrey Alford and Zo\u00eb Fran\u00e7ois. His website, Bret\u2019s Table, boasts classes, and, among a range of offerings, detailed recipes from his own oeuvre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was never shunned from the kitchen,\u201d he says. \u201cI often hear that moms or dads didn\u2019t like their kids being in the kitchen underfoot. But my mom and my dad and my grandmothers were always welcoming. So, my whole life has been around food.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being a chef, however, wasn\u2019t always the dream. In fact, at one point Bret wanted to be a monk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI did my graduate and undergraduate in two Benedictine Monasteries,\u201d he says, \u201cand they are all about hospitality. So, food and hospitality became my gig. Then I went to France and fell in love with everything French. I worked at Cooks [of Crocus Hill] for a long time, both as a volunteer, and then when I ran the school, I was meeting all the local chefs. So I was surrounding myself with other people who loved food. That\u2019s really how I learned cooking: standing next to these amazing chefs.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After trying out the high-pressure food scene in New York, he found the restaurant business wasn\u2019t the environment to nurture his creativity. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be someone who\u2019s making a hundred chocolate cr\u00e8me br\u00fbl\u00e8es or thousands of truffles because I get bored too easily,\u201d he says. \u201cI would much rather teach than execute the same thing the same way.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Working as a business analyst by day, he cultivates that creative freedom and love of teaching into Bret\u2019s Table. Still, as much as he loves innovation, Bret prizes tradition just as much\u2014especially around the holidays. He points out that without staples like pumpkin pie or turkey, there can be some disappointment around the table. \u201cIt\u2019s that balance of new and old, history and memory,\u201d he says. \u201cYou know, one year instead of a pumpkin pie I did pumpkin tamales, with caramel sauce and whipped cream.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Bret, ever humble, knows that not everyone is up to that kind of challenge. His philosophy is a simple one: bring your best, whatever your best is. \u201cIt\u2019s all about being welcome and putting people at ease and enjoyment,\u201d he says, \u201cwhether that\u2019s ordering pizza or putting on a five-course meal. I want to always have the best\u2014not for me, but for you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He adds: \u201cYou put your other life aside to be present around the table. To be vulnerable with maybe not knowing a particular ingredient. To be open with the other guests at the table.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for my own culinary misgivings, talking with Bret definitely helped. He assured me that there\u2019s no shame in starting with something simple\u2014especially if you\u2019ve spent a good portion of the last two years eating frozen meals and takeout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have to have an interest,\u201d he says. \u201cYou know, not everybody enjoys cooking. I get that. But you also have to have people who appreciate good food. I cook for my audience. I want to make them feel welcome, to enjoy that experience, whatever that experience is.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n