Chef John Paul Kline of John Paul Custom Cuisine: Q&A, Part Two

Providence when I was 25 or so. I worked at the Back Eddy in Providence

with Chris Schlessinger, a James Beard winner. It was a beautiful area

with wineries and farmland. You were literally waiting for the lettuce

from the farm, not the fridge. I was there three years, the whole time I

was in school. When I graduated, I wanted to get other experiences; I

was burnt out on cooking. So I moved to Portugal and went to school for

massage therapy -- but that's when I started cooking again. I was there

for two and half months, in this beautiful area of Portugal where

everyone in Europe goes to summer. I'd carry a water jug to the market

and fill it with olive oil. I'd cook for the whole class -- 18 of us.

Every night, we'd be at my apartment. There I was in Portugal, aiming

to learn a new skill and take a break

from cooking -- but I was actually falling deeper in love with food. 

Portugal, I headed over to Morocco, as I was fascinated by the

flavors and the culture. It was all mind-blowing. A lot of what I cook

today is inspired by those ingredients and the balance of flavors,

particularly in Moroccan cooking. I traveled around Spain and Morocco

and then came back to the States. My girlfriend at the time wanted to

live on the beach, so I ended up rolling sushi in Nantucket. I went to

Martha's Vineyard... and worked for Jackson Kenworth at the Sweet Life

Cafe (which has since been sold). Then I decided I didn't want to work

for anyone else. But I still did [laughs].

So how did you come to work for yourself?
I

interviewed at [a fancy restaurant] -- they had 500 applicants for six

positions. When they showed me the pay and the long contract they wanted

me to sign, I thought, "Not in a million years." I realized you could

write your own ticket. I pretty much write my own now.

But

before that, I worked at a sweet little place in Nantucket. I helped

open a sitdown restaurant in a movie theater. But I got tired of the

short season up north. My parents had moved down here. I came on

vacation in 2004 and took a sous chef position at L'Opera in West Palm

Beach, worked on Clematis Street, did some catering. When I did my first

wedding -- for a friend in New England with 250 people -- I had never

done a party. There was no refrigeration; I sent someone to go get ten

baby pools and kept everything on ice, hired some bartenders and servers

-- and realized, "This is what I want to do."

first year in business was great -- I had lots of private, corporate,

and political clients, and at one point, I had 30 people working with me

and two events a day. Then -- bang! -- the market crashes and parties

literally got canceled overnight. Even the people that still had money

canceled as they didn't want to be flashing their wealth.

everyone, I had to cut right back, and I actually got offered a private

chef position for six months on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. 

What are five words to describe your cooking?
Comfortable, creative, fresh, historic, and genuinely enjoyable!

What do you eat when you're not working?
One of the

staples of my diet is pizza. It's comfort food. That comes from growing

up in New Jersey, in Seaside, on the boardwalk every day.

Wood-fired or coal-fired?
Stouffer's.