You’ve heard the juicy stories from the college admissions scandal, the latest being about a student who got into Stanford through, she says, “hard work.” What probably didn’t hurt her chances was her parents’ payment of $6.5 million dollars to a consultant now in the middle of the scandal.
Rarely has any episode in American life better illustrated the outrageous lengths some people will go to in order to get a badge of accomplishment they can pin on their chests and display for the rest of their lives. Which brings us to Jay Villani, a talented chef and the owner of three restaurants in Portland—Local 188, Salvage BBQ, and Black Cow. He’s been working in kitchens for the better part of 35 years. Did he attend the Culinary Institute of America? The Academie de Cuisine? The Institute of Culinary Education? No. In fact, he’s never had any professional training.
“My tutelage came from Puerto Rican and Portuguese line cooks in New York City,” he says. “That’s how I learned.”
So how did Villani, who wanted to be an artist or a rock star or maybe both, become a successful chef and restaurateur? Watch our interview to find out.