A little less than a year ago, I became a restaurateur and opened Co. with a sole vision: celebrate bread as the centerpiece of life, not just some obligatory roll on a plate. Sounds easy, right?
I've never really considered myself a restaurateur, a chef, or a cook. I'm a baker. I'm kinda like this big kid who wants to play with gooey blobs of dough all day. But maybe I'm an artist or a scientist or an innovator too; I don't know. I just want to get people to look at food in a new way and to understand ingredients, how they exist naturally and how they interact with fire and water. After all, I'm just a facilitator of ingredients, of edible materials, and dough is my medium.
There are those of us who feed and those of us who are fed. There is something exploratory and sensual and erotic about feeding people. It's kind of crazy to think about it like that especially because the restaurant scene has really become grossly ceremonious, hyped and full of expectations. Personally, I prefer unceremonious dining. For me the ceremony is the act of dining with and among others. The ceremony itself is eating with people. Co. is founded on that principle. Company, from the Latin cum panis literally means "with bread." Really, I just want to feed people, to have them come together and share good food.