From age 4, Tre Rivali executive chef knew her calling Her style
This year marks Heather Terhune’s 20th anniversary with Kimpton Hotels. That doesn’t mean she isn’t a risk taker; when opportunity knocks, she doesn’t say no.
Terhune never wanted to be anything but a chef. She jumped at the opportunity to run a kitchen when she was just 26, and in 2011, she gained a following competing on Bravo’s “Top Chef.”
As the executive chef for Tre Rivali and The Outsider, Terhune oversees all food in the Third Ward’s Kimpton Journeyman Hotel, which opened in June 2016.
She’s hosting the James Beard Foundation’s Celebrity Chef Tour’s first visit to Wisconsin with a cocktail reception, multicourse dinner and wine pairings March 7 at Tre Rivali, 200 N. Broadway. She’ll be joined by Justin Aprahamian of Sanford, Karen Bell of Bavette la Boucherie, Justin Carlisle of Ardent, Red Light Ramen and Laughing Taco, Jonny Hunter of Forequarter in Madison, Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite of Dandan and EsterEv, Gregory León of Amilinda and Tory Miller of L’Etoile, Estrella, Graze and Sujeo in Madison. Tickets, $225, are on sale at Eventbrite.com.
Choosing to be a chef
My parents say I wanted to be a chef when I was 4 years old. We always got to choose for birthday dinners. I asked for spareribs and artichokes.
I have three sisters and a brother, and I grew up (in Vermont and Missouri) around food, tapping maple trees. We were foraging for fiddlehead ferns and mushrooms, getting dairy from the local farm. All of that seemed normal.
I knew I wanted to go to college. I studied hotel and restaurant management, but then I graduated and went to culinary school at New England Culinary Institute. When I was going to school, there was no Internet. I found three schools in the back of Bon Appetit. It was one teacher, seven students. That is still their motto today, very hands on.
Travel and taste
In 2001 I went to Paris, right after 9/11. Everybody thought I was crazy, but I already had the trip planned. I wasn’t going to cancel. That started forming me.
Kimpton has this awesome program, once you work on an executive program you get a month paid to take a sabbatical. You can work, like do a “stage,” but you can’t check email or contact your team. I went and lived in Italy for a month. Rome, Florence, then Tuscany for two weeks. No Internet, no phone, literally pitch dark at night.
(The agriturismo) had a wood-burning pizza oven. That’s what changed my philosophy on cooking. That’s where I really started to simplify my food.
I don’t cook very fancy, I never have. My menu reflects that. I’ve worked with some of the finest French chefs. I worked with Jean Louis Palladin at Watergate. The 19 ingredients, tweezers, cooking in bags, that’s not something I like, so I don’t really do that here. It is going back to the basics.
Work your way up
I have done every job in the kitchen. People will say “Chef, you were a dishwasher?” I say, “Uh-huh.” You start at the bottom and work your way up. That’s how you learn.
The ‘Top Chef’ experience
They approached me in 2011, and I think that it was the right timing. We had just opened Sable (Kitchen & Bar) in Chicago. I sat on it for weeks, and I didn’t tell anybody they’d come to me. I finally did and my friends were like “You have to do it.”
I did it, and I thought if I get it, I get it. That was my whole approach, and it was awesome. I learned a lot, and it was super fun. (She didn’t win.)
Warm welcome
The first person who reached out to me when I was moving here was Justin Carlisle. I’d never met him, but I knew he had an awesome restaurant here called Ardent. He said if you need anything, please reach out. He was generous and kind.
My old sous chef in San Francisco worked with Gregory Leon from Amilinda. I felt welcomed as soon as I came here.
Take the leap
When I first moved to Chicago in 1998, it was the first restaurant where I decided I’d do a bread program. I made my own sourdough starter from grape skins.
But I got bored quickly, so I started making desserts and breakfast breads. You can only go so far. That’s why I decided to make the jump to a 110-seat restaurant.
I was 26 and always a risk taker. If I fail, I fail. There are a lot of people who aren’t willing to take a risk. At some point in your career you need to take the jump from No. 2 to the person who makes all the decisions. It is scary, but that is what I try to teach my chefs.
In her spare time
I just got an Instant Pot for Christmas. This is not your grandma’s pressure cooker. It sautés, I have made yogurt in it, ricotta cheese. It is awesome. If I’m stressed out about something, I start cooking.
Most memorable meal
When we were in Italy, we were cooking in this wood-burning oven. We got a chicken that still had the feet on it. We were just drinking wine and cooking in the Tuscan countryside. It was just roasted chicken and vegetables, but it was delicious.
Utensil she can’t live without
Spoons. I have favorite spoons, wooden spoons, antique spoons. My sister finds spoons for me. Sometimes you see a spoon and you just have to have it.
Ingredient obsession
I’ve always been obsessed with salt, different kinds of salt. I went to Hawaii over the summer and got Hawaiian black salt and pink salt. I think finishing salt is imperative.
Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the everyday relationship that local notables (within the food community and without) have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email nstohs@ journalsentinel.com.