星厨 Star Chef

考慮了好一陣子才決定把這則不是太新的新聞上載 ，當初猶豫的原因是怕此舉有點自吹自擂，但想深一層，既然是事實，便不算吹虛了。況且看我這個泊的，大都是我的親友，當是向他們報告一下近況好了。

各位路過的朋友，希望我這則剪報沒有趕客吧！

(1) Cooking with class: A&M senior executive chef one of the top culinary artists in the nation
By: Elyssa Jechow
Posted: 11/19/07
The Battalion

Gary Arthur, the first senior executive chef at Texas A&M, is ranked among the best. Arthur, who came to A&M last year, is featured in a newly-released book, Chefs to Know, and is also ranked as one of the top 500 chefs in the nation. Joining him on the list are chefs such as Emeril Lagasse, Anthony Bourdain and Stephan Pyle.

"The beauty of this listing is that it is not a competition at all. And none of us consider ourselves better than anyone else," Arthur said. "In the words of the editor of the book, 'It is a collection of those that are talented, innovative, passionate and driven who contribute greatly to their culinary community.'

Arthur took over at A&M when the Food Services Department was in the middle of a complete revamping.

"I was recruited in by the current executive director once he realized the huge scope of options that need to be implemented," Arthur said.

Arthur said Aggieland is a wonderful place with some of the nicest people he has ever met, but he is aware that there are still plenty of challenges ahead.

As the first executive chef at A&M, Arthur is in charge of all food that is purchased, prepared and served on campus. He also oversees the people working to provide the food."

Commitment to building a great dining program remains a concern that I have," he said. "There is no comprehensive University ambition, which can be very challenging.

"However, Arthur said he still has plenty of amibitions of his own.

He has already brought sushi and the Tomato Bar to A&M students and has many more plans cooking.

"Moderate implementations have convinced me that there is not only a need, but a desire to upgrade concepts and put in new ones," Arthur said. "Vegetarian and healthy is an obvious expectation."

He also said health issues are being taken into consideration because of the obesity crisis that is gripping the nation. His Fall Crop program, which will last until Dec. 21, is bringing vegetarian food to Sbisa to address a variety of dietary concerns.

Arthur's personal ambition is to match every food he considers unhealthy with at least one option to minimize that unhealthy item.

"It will then be individual choice how folks eat," he said.

Arthur has more than 20 years of experience in luxury cooking and has racked up quite a resume by living and working in places such as New York City, Chicago, Atlantic City and Hong Kong. However, Arthur believes the work he is doing at A&M could be some of his greatest. He has set a goal of spring 2008 as a marker by which to show a drastic improvement in the food offered.

"I have set product integrity, cultural and technique integrity as a definitive goal of my efforts," Arthur said. "I believe we will be successful. We will address health options, real flavors and reasonable portions to price ratios and overall offerings.

"Despite his passion for food, Arthur said his favorite part of his job at A&M doesn't involve the food he serves.

"It's the students, students, students," he said.

(1) Shows Great Taste: Texas A&M Chef Included Among Nation's Best
A&M News

The authors of a guide that selects the top chefs in America must believe Texas A&M University’s Gary Arthur can truly cut the mustard: they have named him as one of the nation’s best chefs in the just-released book Chefs to Know.

Arthur, Texas A&M’s first senior executive chef, joins the list of the top 500 chefs in the United States, according to starchefs.com, the group that compiles the list that includes renowned chefs Emeril Lagasse, Anthony Bourdain and Stephan Pyle. It’s no doubt the cream of the crop of the best culinary experts in the country.
Making the list is hardly as easy as pie. As the book notes, selectees were chosen “for their approach to cooking and their lack of boundaries rather than being tied to strict cultural traditions in the kitchen, and they are free to interpret cuisine from every country in the world.”
“I was selected for work I’ve done in the industry over the past 20 years or so, and this is a very nice honor,” Arthur says.

“What makes it especially nice is that I am the only university chef included in the book, which says something about the competition. The list contains the most well-known people in the culinary arts, and it calls itself a ‘guide to chefs for chefs.’ So I feel very honored to be mentioned alongside some of these great names.”

Arthur came to Texas A&M last year when the university’s food services division was in the midst of a total makeover. The unit changed its name to Dining Services, and Arthur was hired for the newly created position of senior executive chef by Nadeem Siddiqui, executive director of dining services.

“Gary is a visionary and so highly accomplished that I knew he would bring the same distinction to us,” Siddiqui said. “The improvements he has made in his short time at Texas A&M have been wonderful.”

Arthur has spent much of the past year creating new menu items, listening to customers’ suggestions and helping to run the division that serves 30,000 meals a day at 41 on-campus locations and employs more than 1,000.

He grew up on the island of Trinidad and eventually earned a chef’s apprenticeship at the United Nations in New York. With 33 years of cooking skills, he has worked for several renowned hotel chains, including Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, the Larkspur hotel chain on the West Coast and also at Stanford University. At one time, he was the owner of two restaurants.

“Many people don’t have a high opinion of institutional food, such as the meals served at colleges or hospitals,” Arthur explains. “But there is no reason why it can’t be very good. Texas A&M is making the commitment to upgrade its dining operations, and we have the opportunity to be creative in the types of meals we now serve.”The preparation of food has changed over the years, he adds.

“Now we look at things like the nutritional quality of the food we serve, the science it takes to prepare good meals and research on how to make it all better,” he says.
When asked what his favorite dish is, Arthur has a quick answer. Any chef worth his salt will not name just one dish, he believes.

“I want and like to prepare them all – meals, desserts, everything,” he adds.

“All of the chefs I know say the same thing – they don’t have a signature dish. They want to be known as someone who can prepare just about anything and do it well. We have the chance to do that here at Texas A&M, to be real trendsetters in this type of dining experience.”