I always think Graze was
built for speed, so we have our
friers, our plancha, grill and
then our--
>> Chef Tory Miller may not be
your typical restaurateur.
>> I'm the executive chef and
co-owner of L'Etoile and Graze
in Madison.
We make all of our pastas in
house and--
I started cooking in a
restaurant, my grandparent's
restaurant when I was about
five, after kindergarten.
All of my family worked at the
restaurant, so someone, my aunt
or my grandma or my mom would
come and pick me up and then
drop me in the back of the
restaurant.
In a second we just toss it.
You see how nice and light it
is, you guys?
>> Being exposed to the
restaurant business at an early
age gave Tory a deep commitment
to food and the people who enjoy
it.
>> It's really rich and light.
So let's go ahead and give a
taste.
When you're a little kid, and
you make something like an
omelet or something for your
family and people are like, oh
man, this is really good.
You start to get that feeling
of, man, I made that and they
really like it.
That instant gratification of
knowing that we did something
like that was what really drew
me into it.
>> It's really good.
>> It's good, right?
>> Today on the French Chef --
>> And he had a little help from
a friendly chef on PBS.
>> And I'll beat it.
I'm not beating it up to be
funny--
>> I would go home and watch PBS
and watch Julia and Galloping
Gourmet.
I have all these memories of
TV shows with cooking back in
the day from PBS.
>> This was a very, just a very
nice pie dough.
>> Growing up, Chef Tory learned
the value of fresh, natural
ingredients.
>> I was born in South Korea,
and then I was adopted by a
family in Racine, Wisconsin and
grew up on a farm with chickens
and vegetables and then mostly
hay and horses and stuff like
that.
>> Tory studied with the French
Culinary Institute and worked in
New York City, but he soon
realized there was something
missing--
>> But it was one of those
things where I was like, I
want to get closer to food.
I want to get closer to
ingredients.
I drove from New York with all
my stuff, moved into my place on
October 31st.
The next day I was working in
the kitchen.
As soon as I started going to
the farmers market I know this
is where I wanted to be.
I knew I wanted to be part of
this community.
I knew that this was where I
could really sink my teach into
the craft and the art that we
do, and then the farmers kind of
changed everything.
L'Etoile started in 1976 with
Odessa Piper.
She owned the restaurant until
2005.
I came on the scene in 2003,
from New York, and became her
chef.
I worked with her, and after a
couple of years she was like, I
want to move on.
L'Etoile had done so much work
in the local community
developing the farmers market
that's downtown, developing
relationships between chefs
and farmers.
I felt like it was my mission to
grow them even further so we
ballooned our farmer resources.
We get whole animals in.
We choose to call up all of
these farmers every week and get
all the food.
We made it more about the
community and more about being
a part of it.
That's why in 2005 we took the
opportunity to buy the
restaurant.
The focus for our restaurant is
to buy locally--
>> Apart from building
community, Tory also works to
teach others about food.
He started a Chef in the
Classroom series to promote
local, sustainably-grown foods
in public schools.
>> It's all right, man.
Sherman Middle School won a
fresh fruits and vegetables
grant.
This room is exactly the same as
it was then, with the same
stoves, but they weren't using
it as like a cooking class.
I remember being in here for
Healthy Living class, and they
were literally learning how to
write checks or something and I
was like, what is going on in
here?
That was the main reason for me
coming in here.
I want kids to eat better.
In this country there's no
reason why there should be the
obesity levels, and the
malnutrition, and all those
things that we have.
I try to bring in things that
are weird and then make them in
a familiar way so that they say,
oh, I wouldn't normally try
these vegetables, but since
they're in fried rice I'll just
knock 'em out!
It's delicious.
You guys did great.
One of the best comments was,
"I thought it would just taste
like vegetables, but it really
tastes delicious."
And it's like, well, sometimes
vegetables can be delicious.
>> And Chef Tory says kids
aren't the only ones that should
be trying new things.
>> A lot of restaurants even
will say, well, I would buy
more local stuff, but then what
do I do in the winter time when
I can't get a tomato or I can't
get, you know, carrots and
cucumbers and all the things
that they want to have on their
menu all the time.
And it's like, well, you have
to change your menu.
You have to think on your feet a
lot.
You have to be a little more
flexible with your menu.
>> Even after spending almost a
decade growing and managing his
Madison restaurants, Chef Tory
admits there's still got a lot
to learn about sustainable
foods.
>> We have a hard time trying to
define that as people.
I teach the kids, I'm like, you
know, sustainability is
something that even grownups
don't really understand or don't
know how to define yet.
I'm less about organic than I am
about being sustainable and
being good for the environment
and good for you body.
What it boils down to is the
people behind it.
Their passion translates to
everything.
For me it's like, it comes
through in the food.
It really, really does.