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| Raymond Hook; Cheese Guru at Large by Susan Lawson Some people know food and some people know cheese. Raymond Hook is creating quite a stir in the food world, offering his talents as an independent consultant in several fields. He has been very selective about what he does and who he does business with, and that has made him quite popular. Raymond was raised in Oklahoma and was brought into the restaurant business when his family bought a restaurant. He was in charge of the business at age 19, where everything was fresh, nothing was frozen or canned. A few restaurants later, he came to find John Bennett at the Greystone in Norman Oklahoma, who had previously worked with famed James Beard. Raymond was asked to join John and help with special events and gatherings. “This is where I really learned that quality does count,” says Raymond. He graduated in 1990 with a hotel and restaurant management degree from Oklahoma University. After college he went on to Phoenix, Los Angeles, Miami and later Las Vegas. During his time at Ulysses Foods in Berkley, California he got a good taste of the speciality food business. "This company specialized in hand picked lettuces and the owner had a honey farm in Kona, Hawaii. We sold to the top chefs in San Francisco and it was exciting to see them put our products on their menu,” says Raymond. From this point on he knew that this was the business for him. Raymond Hook began his career in Atlanta in September 2000, where he worked on the cheese program at Floataway Café and Bacchanalia. Both restaurants had a cheese course as an option and he would consult them as to which cheeses to feature. He also assisted them in finding unique speciality foods to serve. This endeavor allowed him to go to organic farmers all over the state. In September 2001 he worked as the GM and cheese manager at Star Provisions. It was during his time here that he had a fateful meeting with a customer, who turned out to be the Editor of Saveur Magazine. He was featured in the January 2002 issue of Saveur, which highlighted 100 favorite people, places or things. This was a great honor, especially to be featured with other food greats such as Paul Prudhomme. This is when his career really took off. Hook's background is speciality foods, such as oils, vinegars and honey. In November 2001 he started out on his own as a cheese and speciality food consultant. He worked closely with Doug Strictland at Eno’s in Midtown and helped him get Barrellman open, his wine and speciality shop that is connected to Eno’s. Raymond was able to do all the wines at $20 or less. He has worked with the Jack Rabbit Lounge, creating the menu, training cooks and the staff. He has worked with Shaun Doty, owner and chef at MidCity cuisine. “Raymond is very knowledgeable about the industry and he is someone I could really bounce ideas off of and help raise the standard at my restaurant,” says Doty. Raymond recently helped Doty come up with a Pizza Night on Sundays, which has turned into a huge hit. Every Sunday from 5-10pm it’s $10 for all you can eat gourmet pizza and salad. “Raymond is instrumental in getting people acquainted with the restaurant, he is a very connected individual,” adds Doty . Raymond has been featured in the September 2002 issue of Cooking Light for his Pears with Teleme and fig compote recipe. He is a national spokesperson for Dairy Management Inc. and works closely with Sweet Grass Dairy, which is Georgia’s only artisian cheese maker, that has also won numerous medals at the American Cheese Society. He is in the midst of writing a book about American cheese and has commitments from well-known 5-star chefs to do recipes for the book. He is also Chairman for Atlanta’s Table, which is a resource and marketing advisory board for the Atlanta Community Food Bank, of which he is on the governing board. |
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| Cheese guru Raymond Hook. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Click here to read Cheese 101, by Raymond Hook | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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