Pete Combs received his cooking training at the Culinary Institue of America and is the Executive Chef at the University of Kentucky/Chandler Medical Center. We recently met with him to get his thoughts on hospital food and other items.
Where are you from?
I was born in Pt. Pleasant, New Jersey. My parents then moved to Skaneatlas, New York. They were originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Where did you go to college and what was your academic major?
I went to Purdue University and graduated with Bachelor of Science in Restaurant and Hotel Management and a minor in accounting.
I then went to The Culinary Institute of America. I went there to further my cooking skills that had started at the age of 13 in a country Ccub kitchen. My friend’s Dad owned it and gave me an opportunity to work there.
Why the Culinary Institute of America and not some other cheaper, “easier” school?
I picked the CIA because I believe its the best and most equipped culinary school in the country.
What has been your career path from the CIA to the hospital cafeteria at the University of Kentucky?
I worked at the country club during high school and in the summers whiole attending Purdue.
During the school year, I was line cook for the Sheraton in Lafayette, IN. While attending the culinary school, I worked at the Applewood Inn on the Hudson River in New York.
After graduation from Culinary, I went to work as a production manager for Cooker Restaurant Corporation. I was also part of the recipe and development team for the company. I worked the restaurant in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
I then was transferred to Nashville, TN. The Cooker Restaurant in Nashville had two kitchen and had 450 seats.
After working for them for four years, I went onto work for Phil Hickey and Mike Huffler, which were instrumental in starting the Cooker Restaurant Corporation. They opened a restaurant called the Green Hills Grille in a ritzy part of Nashville where much of the music producers as well as artists frequented.
I was their Chef and then was promoted to General Manager. After working there for five years, I was offered a position as Executive Chef for Baptist Hospital in Nashville which was managed by Morrisons.
A patron of the Green Hills Grille was a regional culinary chef for Morrisons and he had been approaching me with the idea for years. The executive chef at the time, had been there and was soon to retire.
I decided to take the position which really proved to be a great career decision. Morrisons became part of a larger company called Compass.
Compass is the largest foodservice company in the world with diverse sectors that cover fine dining, museums, fortune 500 companies, healthcare, stadiums, colleges, high schools, and even events as large as the winter olympics.
I left my position in 2003 to travel as a regional culinary chef for the company and after two years of traveling decided I liked being at the unit level.
The opportunity came about at the University of Kentucky which was a large account for the healthcare sector. I have been here for four years and have loved every minute of it.
What has been your biggest cooking disaster?
My biggest cooking disaster was when I was about 17 and we were doing a golf outing for about 300 people.
One of the entrees was a New York strip steak. We usually cooked them on a wood grill beside a large gazebo.
Unfortunately, the wood shipment didn’t come in and we used charcoal instead. Well needless to say, cooking 300 strip steaks and using lighter fluid causes alot of flare ups or too high flames.
The steaks got a little charred, but James Garner, yeh the Rockford Files star didn’t mind at all. He was the spokesman for “beef” at the time and thought it was hilarious. They seemed to like the steaks “Pittsburgh Style”.
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