As a child, Franklin Becker cooked a lot with his mother, essentially serving as her hands after a stroke left her partially paralyzed. He has worked in restaurants since age 14 and later gained acclaim for his work at Local, Capitale and Trinity in New York City before taking the helm as executive chef at Brasserie.
Becker, who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at age 27, also is the author of “The Diabetic Chef,” which was published in 2005.
In addition to his restaurant responsibilities, Becker makes use of his talents and contacts to serve as a voice for people affected by autism, a group that includes his 7-year-old son, Sean. Becker currently is pulling together a fine-dining and entertainment extravaganza in New York City called “Autism Speaks to Wall Street: A Celebrity Gala,” which he hopes will raise upwards of $2 million for autism research. The event, slated for Oct. 24 at Capitale, brings together 40 top chefs—including Wylie Dufresne, Nobu Matsuhisa, Ken Oringer and David Waltuck—who will each prepare a four-course dinner at one of 40 tableside “kitchens.”
When you were entering college, did you envision a career as a professional chef?
I had other things in mind. I had originally thought I’d be another lawyer.
I worked my way through college in the kitchen, and it just called me. It was what I needed to do. I don’t think any chef really chooses to be a chef, unless they’re off their rocker. You know, I think it kind of chooses us because anybody that chooses to be it—maybe a few of them wind up laughing, but most of them probably wind up going out of business because it’s too hard. But if it chooses you, then no matter what, no matter how hard it gets, no matter how ugly a service, you’re going to stay in it, and I think that’s me.
Are you able to do much hands-on cooking in the kitchen these days?
I do. I do all my own chef’s tastings, which we happen to do a number of. I still do all my own specials, and obviously when it comes time to changing menu items, I do those as well.
How many people order the tasting menu each night?
I do an average of about six tastings a night.
Do you know in advance what the evening’s tasting menu will be?
No. I feel out the guests. I actually go out to the table, and I ask them if they have any aversions or if they have any allergies, and then once I find out that information, I kind of size them up and see where it needs to be. If it needs to be on the safe side, then I go on the safe side, and if it needs to be a little bit more adventurous, then I do so. I think that to just do a tasting and say, ‘This is my five-course’ or ‘This is my seven-course’ without knowing whom you’re cooking for is not necessarily fair to the guests. It’s fine for us; it’s fine for our egos, but the bottom line is, it’s not about us or our egos. It’s about the guests. I went into this business to make guests happy. It’s not going to make somebody happy if I cook something that’s really adventurous that they don’t want to eat. It kind of defeats the purpose.
On a seven-course tasting, everybody has different courses. If I have a four-person table, then I’m actually serving 28 dishes.
So you’re thinking on the fly all the time.
It makes it more fun for me. I don’t want to be pigeonholed. I want to give the guests what’s on my mind.
BIOGRAPHY Title: executive chef, Brasserie, New York CityBirth date: October 4, 1969Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.Education: Brooklyn College and The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.Career highlights: serving as executive chef at Capitale when Esquire’s John Mariani named it a Best New Restaurant 2003, being named a Rising Star Chef in 2006 by Star Chefs for his work at Brasserie
Aside from the tasting menu, what’s your philosophy behind the regular menu?
You can’t be all things to all people. Do what you do and do it well, but you have to have enough diversification on the menu so that if somebody comes in and all they want is a simple steak and French fries, they can have that. And if somebody wants to be a little bit more adventurous and have something that goes out on an edge a little bit, then they should be able to do so as well.
The guest is never wrong for me. If a guest wants something well done or if they want something [specific]—anything that I can do within my power to make them happy, I want to do. If a guest has an allergy, this is the perfect place for them to come because I literally go as far as making the cooks wash the pans through the dishwasher, put on new gloves, change their spoons. I really take very good care of the guests when it comes to an allergy.
CHEF’S TIPS When reheating meat-based sauces, strain them again and then brighten them with a touch of acid, such as red wine vinegar, to make the sauce shine again. If you purchase the right ingredients and the best ingredients, then you really don’t have to do much to them to showcase their flavor.
Has that been influenced by your being diabetic?
No. I think it has been influenced more by my son being autistic and having tremendous food allergies, so I am sensitive to it.
Describe how autism has affected your family.
It hit my family real hard. When you have a diagnosis of autism in the family, you go through a stage of denial. You go through a stage of shutdown. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody. I’ve chosen to make it my mission in life to raise awareness and to really help those who come after my son, so that they don’t have to suffer through some of the things that my son or my wife and I have had to suffer through. The financial burden that autism puts on a family is astronomical. It’s insane.
What advice do you have for aspiring young chefs?
Work hard. Do what the chef says. If it doesn’t make sense, do what the chef says. Question it afterwards. There’s nothing wrong with asking questions. There are only problems with not asking them. If you burn something, own up to it. Be honest. Don’t do anything that’s dishonest or that can break the integrity of the restaurant. Don’t stop working hard, and care about what you do.
