By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Robert Waggoner, left, explains how to make grits with wild
mushrooms, while David Paul Johnson examines the mushrooms.

A fresh start

A chef hopes his new
culinary program will help
troubled youths find new
beginnings in the
restaurant world

By Betty Shimabukuro
Star-Bulletin

David Paul Johnson -- 14-year-old car thief, runaway, truant -- finally found salvation in two women. His mother, and Julia Child. Johnson was doing his third stint in jail and his mother wouldn't bail him out until he agreed to settle down and take a job.

Entertainment in the youth facility was pretty much restricted to television and the television was permanently tuned to PBS. Johnson's break time coincided daily with the cooking show hosted by the great French chef.

"I'd watch Julia Child and I thought, 'That's something I could do.' "

So, a deal was struck with Mom, who got him out and found him a job at a pizza parlor. A chef was born. This was in Salt Lake City in the 1970s.

By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Waggoner's veal dish is ready to serve..

Now Johnson -- owner of Lahaina Grill in Maui and one of Honolulu's premier restaurants, David Paul's Diamond Head Grill -- has his eye on other "kids of questionable character."

Beginning in January, he plans to bring two at-risk youths into his restaurant every year on paid apprenticeships, then send them to culinary school on scholarships.

To help fund the program -- he estimates it will take $28,000 a year to cover each apprenticeship -- Johnson founded the Center for Culinary Excellence. The center will host cooking classes featuring superstar guest chefs, and money charged to attend those classes will support the apprenticeships.

The center was inaugurated last week with a class taught by Bob Waggoner of the Charleston Grill in South Carolina.

Johnson is direct about his ambition. He wants a national reputation for his restaurant and his cooking school. He figures this will provide the catalyst to make the apprenticeships work.

"The whole idea is to get exposure, to raise funds to put two at-risk youths through our program every year."

At one of the tables at last week's class was Terry Fisher, program director for Adult Friends for Youth, along with two young men who would very much like to be Johnson's first apprentices.

No one else is offering young people such a chance, Fisher said. "There aren't very many business people with the attitude that, as well as having their own business be a success, they want to give back to the community."

Adult Friends counsels about 300 youths each week, Fisher said, many of them gang members, and many of whom are interested in cooking careers.

Apprentices will be those who've learned to curb their most destructive impulses through such programs, Johnson said. "We don't want to take kids who have a chip on their shoulder, who get in our program and just go crazy."

Fisher agreed. "Something like this takes a great deal of motivation and commitment on the youth's part, so we want to be sure we know the youth well enough and know he's ready to commit. We don't think we'll have trouble finding that person."

They'll start out as dishwashers; finish up at the right hand of the general manager, Johnson said. "Back of the house, front of the house, they'll work the bar, they'll learn it inside out."

A restaurant provides a disciplined, structured environment, he said. "They need something they can pour their passions into."

David Paul's Diamond Head
Culinary Excellence Program

Guest chefs: So far, Charlie Trotter, Charlie Trotter's, Chicago; Charles Dale, the Renaissance, Aspen; Bradley Ogden, Lark Creek Inn, Larkspur, Calif.; Douglas Rodriguez, Patria, New York City
Featuring: A cooking class-luncheon taught by a guest chef, a fusion dinner combining the cooking of David Paul and the guest chef, and a third event at David Paul's Maui eatery or another restaurant site.
Dates: Every other month, beginning in January
Cost: About $45 for lunch, $75 for dinner
Call: 922-3734

By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Robert Waggoner's salad is piled high with good stuff.

Astound your guests with
four-star dishes

By Betty Shimabukuro
Star-Bulletin

Robert Waggoner took up cooking in his teens, just like David Paul Johnson, but minus the delinquency aspect.

He went from an international foods class in high school, to Trumps in West Hollywood, to a series of apprenticeships in France (room and board were his only pay), to a private club in Venezuela, to his own small restaurant in Moneteau, France.

A few other stops later, he has landed at the Charleston Grill, where he serves up zucchini blossoms stuffed with lobster, trout with crawfish tails, sometimes rabbit.

After Waggoner had spent just four months in Charleston, the grill was awarded four Mobil stars, the only restaurant in South Carolina so honored.

Last week, Waggoner inaugurated Johnson's Center for Culinary Excellence -- "the guinea pig," Johnson called him.

Waggoner prepared an entree of grilled veal tenderloin over wild mushroom-truffled grits and a salad with marinated shiitakes. Dessert was an apple tart and ice cream scented with lemon thyme.

They are dishes, Waggoner said, that home cooks can use to amaze their dinner guests. With some prep work, they could all be ready to go before the guests arrived, then brought quickly to the table.

This allows the host or hostess time to relax and socialize, yet still magically appear with an elegant meal that's miles beyond typical company food.

The salad, for example, can sit for 20 minutes all prepared, and another 10 minutes with the dressing thrown on.

"You go into the kitchen for a few minutes and everything's ready and no one knows what happened," he said.

One caution: This is not a meal to serve guests on diets (check out the calorie count on the salad). "We're doing it fat-free," Waggoner said. "We don't charge for the fat."

Marinated shiitake and
roasted hazelnut salad

3-5 ounces (12-15) Baby Lola Rosa leaves or other baby greens
10 hazelnuts, toasted and split
5 shiitake mushrooms
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 ounces blue cheese
6 sunflower sprouts
Chopped rosemary, for garnish

Port dressing

2 cups port
4 shallots
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1/4 teaspoon chopped rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste

To make the dressing, reduce the port over medium heat until it is a light syrup. Process in a blender, adding the grapeseed oil slowly until it emulsifies. Add rosemary, salt and pepper. The dressing will keep in the refrigerator up to a week without separating. Makes about 1-1/2 cups.

Quarter the mushrooms and steam for 2 minutes. Immerse in the vinegar and olive oil overnight.

To assemble, place greens on plate, top with cheese and nuts, then add mushrooms and sprouts. Garnish with rosemary. Add port sauce sparingly. Serves 1.

Approximate nutritional analysis for the dressing, per 2 tablespoon serving, without salt: 100 calories, 5 g fat, 0.5 g saturated, no cholesterol, 5 mg sodium. With 1/8 teaspoon salt sodium increases to 25 mg. For the salad, with 2 tablespoons dressing and 1 ounce cheese: 900 calories, 80 g fat, 13 saturated, 21 mg cholesterol, 40 mg sodium, without added salt.*

Apple tart

1 puff pastry layer, about 8 inches in diameter
1 granny smith apple, sliced very thinly
1 teaspoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon raw sugar

Arrange apple slices in a circle on top of the pastry dough, overlapping the slices slightly. Place leftover slices in the center in an attractive pattern. Dot with butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Back in 375 degree oven for 12-15 minutes, until pastry is flaky and apples are soft. Serve with ice cream. Designed as a single serving, but can be sliced into 4 pieces.

Note: Regular pie crust may be substituted for the pastry dough.

Approximate nutritional analysis, for one serving, no ice cream: 390 calories, 22 g fat, 5 g saturated, 10 mg cholesterol, 120 mg sodium. Using pie crust: 200 calories, 9 g fat, 4 g saturated, 10 mg cholesterol, 90 mg sodium.*