JEZE July 2012 : Page 105
meet greet cook young best the He’s in the world! Literally! 105 Success Tastes Great Atlanta’s unexpected young culinary star takes us to the club. As chef de cuisine at Buckhead’s Cherokee Town and Country Club, the No. 1 Platinum Club in America, Daniel Gorman manages a kitchen staff of 16, presides over four restaurants on the terrace level—together seating hundreds of patrons, six days a week—and he just turned 25. You might think that’s reason enough to tell his story, but here’s the kicker: Gorman also holds 12 gold-medal titles, one of them being “best young cook in the world.” That’s right. The young gourmand just returned from Daejeon, South Korea, where he competed in the world’s top test for under-25 chefs, the Hans Bueschkens Junior Chefs Challenge, and clenched the big win. No other chef in the world can claim his culinary chops. Gorman’s very nature is ambitious. At 17, he left home; by 18, he was interning at Kiawah Island’s The Ocean Room; by 19, he had graduated from culinary school at Asheville-Buncombe Tech; and by 20, he was working his way up from garde manger (read: salad tosser) at Cherokee in Atlanta. At first, the self-described “country kid” was hesitant to leave behind his hometown of Bethel, N.C., but, five years later, he relishes living in Buckhead—and playing as hard as he works at bars like Buckhead Saloon, East Andrews and Stout. “When I go out, I go out,” he says assuredly, which makes us hope we’ll meet him over a gin cocktail soon. But while he carves out time for rugged sports that remind him of home—mountain biking, hiking, downhill longboarding—his far-and-away focus is his cooking. He leads his crew members with finesse far beyond his years and prepares dishes he believes go neck and neck with those at his favorite restaurants—Holeman & Finch, Local Three and Empire State South. “My goal with the kitchen is to drive the ‘country club’ idea out of people’s minds,” he says. “This is a restaurant. We take pride in our food, and when you come here, it always compares.” As you might guess, most of Cherokee’s elite diners are quite a bit older than Gorman himself, but he does have an insider tip for the aspirational: Applicants under age 35 get a nearly $50,000 discount on club membership. That’s a serious steal—especially if it means you’ll be chowing down on Gorman’s cuisine. @chefdgorman –Kate Abney Photography by Austin Holt
Success Tastes Great
Atlanta’s unexpected young culinary star takes us to the club.<br /> <br /> As chef de cuisine at Buckhead’s Cherokee Town and Country Club, the No. 1 Platinum Club in America, Daniel Gorman manages a kitchen staff of 16, presides over four restaurants on the terrace level—together seating hundreds of patrons, six days a week—and he just turned 25. You might think that’s reason enough to tell his story, but here’s the kicker: Gorman also holds 12 gold-medal titles, one of them being “best young cook in the world.” That’s right. The young gourmand just returned from Daejeon, South Korea, where he competed in the world’s top test for under-25 chefs, the Hans Bueschkens Junior Chefs Challenge, and clenched the big win. No other chef in the world can claim his culinary chops.<br /> <br /> Gorman’s very nature is ambitious. At 17, he left home; by 18, he was interning at Kiawah Island’s The Ocean Room; by 19, he had graduated from culinary school at Asheville-Buncombe Tech; and by 20, he was working his way up from garde manger (read: salad tosser) at Cherokee in Atlanta. At first, the self-described “country kid” was hesitant to leave behind his hometown of Bethel, N.C., but, five years later, he relishes living in Buckhead—and playing as hard as he works at bars like Buckhead Saloon, East Andrews and Stout. “When I go out, I go out,” he says assuredly, which makes us hope we’ll meet him over a gin cocktail soon. But while he carves out time for rugged sports that remind him of home—mountain biking, hiking, downhill longboarding—his far-and-away focus is his cooking. He leads his crew members with finesse far beyond his years and prepares dishes he believes go neck and neck with those at his favorite restaurants—Holeman & Finch, Local Three and Empire State South. “My goal with the kitchen is to drive the ‘country club’ idea out of people’s minds,” he says. “This is a restaurant. We take pride in our food, and when you come here, it always compares.”<br /> <br /> As you might guess, most of Cherokee’s elite diners are quite a bit older than Gorman himself, but he does have an insider tip for the aspirational: Applicants under age 35 get a nearly $50,000 discount on club membership. That’s a serious steal—especially if it means you’ll be chowing down on Gorman’s cuisine. @chefdgorman –Kate Abney Photography by Austin Holt
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