Executive chef and restaurateur Jack Gilmore has cooked all over the place and absorbed a little from each spot. The conversation we had at his new restaurant, Jack Allen’s Kitchen, might bring his story into sharper focus.
Austin Chronicle: Where did you grow up, what kind of family background did you have, and how did that point you toward cooking?
Jack Gilmore: I grew up in Brownsville, being raised by my mom with two brothers. I started working in a steak house when I was 15, and during that time down there I really hit on the idea of how fresh everything was, since the vegetables were all grown around there. The Gulf was only a few miles away, so really fresh seafood was always around. Tons of fruits were grown there. There were lots of different flavors in the Valley. I worked at the [Pelican’s] Wharf in Brownsville and South Padre, and then I got into the restaurant scene heavy when I moved to Austin in 1979, when I worked for Guy Villavaso and Larry Foles at Shadows. It was the original Chez Fred. I was there a few years before I moved to Fredericksburg in ’81 or ’82, and that’s where I really got serious about cooking. … [It was] kind of the key to how all of the elements finally came together. It was at George’s Old German Bakery on Main Street, and they would bring in a different German master chef from Europe every year on a one-year rotation. I learned so much working with those guys, and that’s where I got a real feel for French and European technique.
AC: How did you end up back in Austin?
JG: Once the kids got old enough for elementary school, we came back and I started working for Louie’s on the Lake. I worked for them and helped them out with a place in Louisiana, so I kinda picked up on Cajun and creole there. Around that time Z’Tejas got going in ’89 and they were expanding, so I went with them as the head chef. They wanted to open 32 restaurants, and we got up to 16, but they ended up selling six, so there are now 10, in Austin and out west.
AC: So your influences …?
JG: Brownsville and the Valley, the Germans, the Austin scene, fresh Latino and coastal, creole and Cajun. It all formed what I do today.
AC: Have you had an active influence on your son becoming a chef?
JG: I always thought he was going to be an architect. If anything, he’s absorbed my passion and work ethic. He did work for us at Z’Tejas and helped open some stores, and then he got real focused and took off on his own.
AC: How did you get so involved with the locavore, farm-to-table movement?
JG: I traveled around so much with Z that I never realized all the stuff that we had locally … how big the local scene was getting. I was actually walking through the Downtown farmers’ market one weekend when it hit me. Fresh and seasonal was where it had to be, and I tried to initiate that into Z, but we try to go the extra mile with it here at Jack Allen’s.
AC: You have a long history of supporting local charities and, lately, troops. How did that develop, and why is it important to you?
JG: Chefs have to give back to the community. It’s the core chefs in a town that can influence that, and so over time I settled on about six different local charities that mean a lot to me. The troops – especially the troops’ families that are left here – they need so much support, as much as the troops that are fighting. I’ve met a lot of really good folks through my charity work.
AC: If you could travel anywhere in the world to eat, where would it be and why?
JG: I love Mexican flavors, I love the country, the culture, the quality of the people. It would be Mexico.
AC: Your favorite food to eat?
JG: I love simple, quick, and healthy foods. Nothing fancy really … like trailer food and street food. That’s what I’m happiest with. Start the search for a good Bloody Mary and I’m happy. I like tequila … It’s amazing how basic it is and how it achieves such incredibly different flavor and taste when it’s all made using the same basic method and the same ingredient.
AC: What do you do to let off steam when you’re not working?
JG: I hang out at the lake. I love to work with wood and build furniture. Waterskiing, fishing. We have a canoe and a kayak, and they’re a lot of fun.
AC: What do you plan on doing 10 years from now?
JG: I hope to be doing something with my son … and I hope it doesn’t take 10 years. Five years would be much better as far as I’m concerned … and I want to be a granddad. That’s all, really.
This article appears in May 14 • 2010.
