Self-made chef, David Polin

At the head of the Montmartre bistro Le Bon, la Butte, David Polin prepares lively, gourmet and generous cuisine. Before becoming a chef, this former sound engineer took his microphones around the globe for documentaries and broadcasts, often dealing with cuisine...

Sylvie Berkowicz Published on 5/23/22 at 10:00 AM

Gault&Millau: How did the idea of changing profession come about?

David Polin: I loved eating, I was passionate about gastronomy, and people knew it. So, gradually, I started working on quite a few cooking shows, documentaries where, for example, I'd spend a month at Rungis. Over time, I built up a database of producers, addresses and tastes. Thanks to my job as a sound engineer, I was able to eat at some of the world's top chefs. I had to work about 250 days a year, so I ate out 250 times a year, morning, noon and night. It helped me educate my palate. Then, along the way, I lost interest in the job. I'd come full circle, and felt like I was doing the same things I'd done fifteen years before. One day, some friends suggested I buy a restaurant with them. One evening, we opened and had to send out. We were doing tapas, quite simple, efficient cooking, with good products. Then I split up with my partners and took over a kitchen in the Marais, but after a year and a half, I got fed up with it and wanted to be at home. It took me two years to find this restaurant. In the meantime, I did some intermittent work in the kitchen. I worked on sites and as a cook in brasseries and laboratories.

G&M: You were never asked for a diploma?

D. P.: No, I was accepted without any formal training. You put yourself on an app, and when people call you for a day, they give you their listing, the preparations to be made. But it's like in sound, if you're not good, they kick you out the same evening. Generally speaking, every time I went somewhere, I was asked to do two days, a week, a month... In this intermittent situation, I've done a bit of everything, from a crappy brasserie, which serves 450 covers at lunchtime, to a gastro, which I've never been able to do. I sometimes ended up working with guys who'd just come from Chez Ducasse. I'd make quenelles all night at home and arrive the next day ready to take them out. I worked hard and learned a lot. When I was shooting, I was already observing, taking notes, recording gestures, and reading a lot too. Over time, and especially with the good fortune of having my own restaurants, I was able to experiment too. The technique came as I went along, by doing.

G&M: What is it about your former profession that serves you well today?

D. P.: Rigor and preparation. If you go off to do a concert and you're missing two cables, it's all over. Cooking is a bit like that too. It's a lot of preparation. It's also about finding the right balance. You're not going to hit higher or lower, you have to be really balanced in terms of your cooking skills, your creative abilities, and your ability to send things out as well. You have to be able to manage everything from start to finish. When you manage to send out 60 covers in two hours, when people are happy and all the plates are beautiful, well-seasoned and taste as I imagined them at the start, well yes, you can say you're a real chef!