There are about 70 master chefs in the world, and nine of them reside here in Metro Detroit. Four of them are part of the culinary department at Schoolcraft College in Livonia, which is the highest CMC/Student ratio of any culinary school in the country.
On Saturday, we met with three of those certified master chef instructors: Joe Decker, Jeff Gabriel, Daniel Hugelier, along with certified executive chef Marcus Haight.
The full day of production started with Joe Decker, a Certified Master Pastry Chef with deep roots in our Detroit culinary heritage. He reflected on the many chefs including Yvonne Gill, Chef Milos, and others who not only inspired him but drove his pathway deep into the culinary arts. Joe who's been on staff since 1991 at Schoolcraft College helped us understand the depth of influence of the early chefs who came from Europe. Once we were done sitting down with Joe, we were able to film him interacting with students while they were making a batch of macaroons. I was fortunate to have worked with Joe at Jacques restaurant when I was the day sous chef for Sture Orlof Anderson. It was so nice to reconnect with Chef Decker.
CEC Chef Marcus Haight
Staying in the Pastry department we were then able to sit and talk with Marcus Haight, no stranger to the culinary world as the one time chef at the multi award-winning Lark Restaurant in West Bloomfield. Over Marcus' lifetime he has also held leadership positions at 4 of the 15 Mobil Travel Guide Five-Star Restaurants in the United States. The Lark, La Maisonette, Le Francais, and Le Bec-Fin.
His repertoire of cooking is so expansive from creative hot food to incredible pastry creations. Marcus became emotional talking about those who have passed such as Jim Lark who was considered the modern day Lester Gruber to his father-in-law Chef Leonard Stec who was Marcus’ teacher at Schoolcraft. After our talk, we were able to document Marcus working with students where they were creating small chocolate bonbons for a desert.
CMC Chef Jeff Gabriel
What a joy it was to sit with one of my dear friends who I first had the opportunity to assist as a young 20-year-old cook. Chef Gabriel competed in Frankfurt, Germany as an individual at the prestigious Culinary Olympics. Just like the sports Olympics brings together every four years some 40 countries with their best teams compete against one another. Being accepted to compete on that global stage is already a feat not many can accomplish but then to win a bronze medal competing as an individual set Gabriel up for many years to come as one of the most dynamic food show culinary competitors. Funny story, the silver platters he had shipped to use for his displays were lost by the airlines. I was tasked with finding new platters by going door to door to some of the leading hotels in Frankfurt. As you can imagine as a 20-year-old American who did not speak German resulted in not finding one hotel chef to let us borrow platters, the collective decision was to take the beautiful framed mirrors off the walls in some of the hotel hallways in hopes no one would notice. So that's what we did. So often as a chef you just have to figure things out. When done reminiscing about old times and listening to his thoughts on Detroit's culinary heritage, we were able to see Chef Gabriel working with students who were making savory scones. That were delicious, by the way.
CMC Chef Daniel Hugelier
For anyone who understands the significance of what Chef Danny has meant to all of us you will understand just how fortunate we are to have Chef Danny in this film. A three-time member of the only culinary team in history to win the prestigious hot food Gold Medal three consecutive times, 1980, 1984 and 1988 in the IKA or International Culinary Olympics in Germany. He has also coached for Team USA 1990-2000 and was twice a member of the USA national Ice carving team for Japan. He was a part of the Schoolcraft Culinary facility for 20 years impacting countless paths of so many young culinarians.
By far one of the most humble culinary professionals you will ever meet. The amount of international awards this gentleman has amassed is staggering, not to mention the kitchens he has led. From the London Chop House to directing the food service at the DAC to the Amway Grand Plaza. Hugelier has not only inspired and taught so many of the chefs in our state but single handedly helped place Michigan and Detroit on the global stage. I was so privileged as a young cook to witness his leadership during the final round of the 1980 Culinary Olympics once again in Frankfurt, Germany. Late in the evening, the day before all the countries would compete for the Gold Medal for the hot food competition, Chef Hugelier realized a flaw in the dish they would be preparing, a flaw which he knew would cost the team an opportunity medal. Hugelier in his soft-spoken leadership way went to the team manager, Ferdinand Metz, and said, the team will lose if we don't redo the dish they created which was called Turkey Oklahoma.
After a close review the decision was made, Chef Hugelier was right. No small feat considering it also meant Chef Hugelier would have to find a butcher shop open at 2am to regrind all the turkey meat needed for the dish. As a young 20-year-old cook, I was so honored to travel with Chef Hugelier in a little car with a driver in the early hours of the morning and be part of helping and watch him re-do the entire recipe that would normally take many hours, in just a few short hours with the team working feverishly together. Incidentally, as fate would have it, Chef Marcus Haight, a young wide eyed chef like myself was also there as part of the young apprentices helping. Marcus would also pull an all nighter helping with any task tossed at him. Collectively, the team came together and won the Gold Medal defeating every other country.
Chef Hugelier also reflected on his time attending the Chefs 200 club meeting where he was told that he would need to be in suit at tie. This was before the Michigan Chefs de Cuisine existed in the late 1960's. This was the true beginning of chefs presenting themselves as professionals.
To be able to sit and talk with Chef Dan Hugelier was both emotional and inspirational as he reflected on his life as a chef and how proud he is of our Detroit culinary heritage. Chef Hugelier took us on a journey of discussion about the early immigrants who blazed the food trails not only by bringing the foods from their homelands but also as food merchants who helped create our beloved Eastern Market.
Once we were done talking, a few students were fortunate to have this historic retired culinarian share his cooking knowledge.
Chef Keith Famie
So I dusted off the chef jacket, tied an apron on and for old time sake did a quick dish. Needless to say, it was an honor to be able to step up to the stoves that these same masters create from.
Once we were done with filming in the kitchens, we set up a set to film images of chef Milos that will be used throughout the film. This set filming will enable us to bring to life historic images and articles in a unique way. Make sure you look at the clay version of Chef Milos created by CCS student, Alexandra Martinescul. Our goal is to recreate all of our chefs/restaurants in this likeness.
CEC Chef Chris Misiak
It's so important to point out that none of this could have been possible without the support and directorship of education of the Schoolcraft College Culinary program, Chef Chris Misiak, and ACF National Chef Educator of the Year. His passion and desire to ensure that Schoolcraft College is and always will be considered one of the top culinary colleges in the United States is so apparent. In the very near future, we will be sitting down with both Chef Misiak and another one of Schoolcraft’s legendary chefs, Master Chef Kevin Gawronski to talk about the rich history of the teaching chefs and Schoolcraft’s culinary history.
We are so grateful to the student sous chefs who took the time to be apart of this full day of filming:
Mia Johnson
Cameron Aramian
Jae Myoung
Gloria Klein
Jordan Demchak
Allison White
Adam Wolf
As you can imagine, because of my history as a chef and restaurateur from my early years, I am so proud to be able to shed a light on the rich history of Detroit’s culinary heritage for our film, Detroit: The City of Chefs. Pull up the table and get ready to feast on the trailer for this film in the coming weeks.