Noah Sandoval, chef-patron of the two Michelin-starred Oriole in Chicago is ever evolving, especially when it comes to his culinary philosophy.
"It's changed a lot over the past 20 years I've been cooking. When I first started it was very much a learning thing and trying to adopt different philosophies from mentors and peers. At this point, it's a much more simple approach. Make sure you're respecting ingredients, make sure you don't do too much, too nice things and stick with a certain terroir, if that makes sense. If I get beef from Japan, I like to get other ingredients from Japan and put them together," says chef Sandoval.
Since Covid, his culinary philosophy hasn't changed too much but has switched more to people's well-being and emotional health than actual cooking "which is unfortunate, but it's kind of a good thing at the same time. During Covid it was very hard to stay focused on creativity and when we got back into the kitchen, it was a rush of ideas. Two years' worth of ideas and it has become more of a passion thing, less philosophy".
"I realised that cooking isn't just a way of making money, there's a lot more involved. It's a lot more emotional. You lose track after 20 years of doing the same thing every day and then not going to work makes you appreciate the business a bit more," the chef adds.
But the buck doesn't stop there. For chef Sandoval, the integrity of the producer and farmer is a big deal. At Oriole, he works with a lot of farmers, local and non-local.
"Before Michelin, that was a lot harder. Now, I get approached; people send me boxes of chocolates or care packages, which is really nice. In Chicago, there are a solid, tried and true community of farmers and producers that people have been using for decades that just slide right in, and it's all good."
The cuisine at Oriole would be best described as "New American, with a lot of Asian/Japanese influence". Though this is because a lot of the chef's favourite things are Asian. Japanese for simplicity and respect for the produce.
"I have a template at Oriole and if you're doing 12-20 courses, I feel it's the right thing to do. It starts off light, delicate and even kind of sweet because I like dessert. It then moves on to the intense courses," explains the chef.
Maintaining two stars is quite stressful, admits the chef: "Whether you like it or not, it defines you. Everybody always wants to talk about the stars or the lists or whatever, and I try to avoid it as much as possible because I don't define myself that way. But the difficulty lies in the stress, not the execution of dishes or anything like that. We stick with the template, make sure the salt's okay, make sure the food's hot, make sure the service is good, make sure the bathrooms are clean… all that stuff is easy. It's the emotional stress. That's difficult."
While Oriole may be his first love, chef Sandoval also oversees Kumiko, a Japanese dining bar, where food and drink are treated with equal reverence, along with mixologist Julia Momosé. "The food at Kumiko is much more comfort. It's more like karage and potato salad; it's more simpler."
Chef Noah Sandoval of two Michelin-starred Oriole in Chicago.
Once quoted as wanting to start an "anti-trend", chef Sandoval says he is sick of trends in the restaurant business: "It's so easy for somebody to put a dish out or a concept or a philosophy on social media and then hundreds of people just adopt it. It shouldn't be that everybody's got to do it to stay ahead of the curve. It takes singularity out of it. People should not do influences for everywhere else, because it just waters down, makes everybody the same. I'm seeing that in the restaurant business. I've seen that with chefs. It's everybody's doing the same thing.
"Though, I'm guilty of it. I can't help it. Because I have Instagram and I have peers, I have to. For me, I just wish I could just take myself out.
"The older I get, the more I realise that I'm not an idiot. If I had chosen to do certain things, I could have been successful at pretty much anything. I think the blond-haired, blue-eyed American guy can pretty much do whatever he wants. But I perhaps would have chosen to do something a little bit more noble like help people. I don't think it's too late, I can still do something that changes lives or makes other people happier. Oriole can't last forever, it's impossible. But opening something that maybe will last for 20-30 years that is half education for underprivileged youth and then half non-profit, that at least gets the ball rolling. Providing jobs is something that helps me sleep at night.
"I would like to take a step back a little bit from Oriole and allow it to evolve without me, so I can evolve away from it. I have a lot of opportunities in New York. I want to open a restaurant in Bangkok. I just want to be able to potentially have a life outside the stresses of running a two-star restaurant."
Bergamot sorbet, nettle Balinese meringue, longan and sorrel-nettle granita.
Oriole’s menu is best described as ‘New American, with a lot of Asian/Japanese influence’.
Fennel, gianduja, calamansi and hazelnut nougat.
