Chef of the Year Bret Thompson Is a Well-Traveled and Experienced Culinary Hand
I’ve never chosen a chef from a relatively new restaurant as Chef of the Year before. But there are some reasons I feel compelled to do this. First of all, Bret is no novice cook, though OC has only known him a short time. Second, he has managed to transcend the notion, with the wonderful food coming out of Catal, that restaurants in a place like Downtown Disney can’t be all that serious about their menus. Bret is very serious about the tastes and presentation of the food from his kitchen. He thinks there is never, ever an excuse not to put out the best product. No cop-out because this is “tourist territory.” His reputation is on the line and he aims to protect it.
Since his teens, this LA native has been fascinated with fine food. He’s an accomplished butcher who actually started in that capacity in San Clemente, just after high school. Then, he went to San Francisco to attend the California Culinary Academy, one of the two premier chef schools in America. Two years there led to stints in places like the famed Aqua in San Francisco and Roy Yamaguchi’s eponymous restaurant in Hawaii. In 1994 he joined Joachim Splichal at Patina in LA and has since taken on responsibilities in the expansion of the Patina Group’s many restaurants.
Eventually though, in early 1997, the young chef decided it was time to conquer new culinary frontiers.
“I was ready and curious to embark on my own exploratory mission into the world of European cooking,” he remembers, and he spent the better part of the next 24 months studying fine dining specialties in France, Spain, and even Lebanon.
Eager and interested, Bret soaked up as much cooking knowledge as possible from each of his hosting chefs. He squandered no opportunity once the doors were opened. He commented, “I was lucky enough to study under Martin Berasategui in his two-star restaurant in Lasarte, Spain, with Bernard Loiseau at his three-star La Cote d’Or in the French town of Saulieu, and with Alain Passard at the three-star L’Arpege in Paris.”
After his return to the United States at the end of 1998, Bret applied his newly honed skills for one more successful year as chef de cuisine at Splichal’s popular Pinot Bistro in Studio City. He followed that the next year with a stint as executive chef at the popular Santa Monica eatery DC3. But it was not long before Bret was back under the guidance of Splichal, accepting the position of executive chef at Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse in downtown Los Angeles. In the fall of 2000, he was appointed executive chef of Catal Restaurant and Uva Bar, one of the star attractions at Downtown Disney in Anaheim.
In his cooking at Catal, we are seeing the dishes he has learned and the way with ingredients he’s realized in his travels to Europe and the Mediterranean region. I have had many meals at Catal, even though it is not yet a year old. That’s because I keep discovering the intrigues of the dishes, the little nuances and finesse that are so unexpected. From the time I see the presentations through the last bite, it’s amazing how terrific this food is.
Just to be sure my palate was not being too enthusiastic, I’ve hauled numerous friends along to experience Catal with me. The consensus is unanimous: Bret Thompson is a very fine chef and he’s put an exclamation point on the cooking part of Catal. He deserves to be Chef of the Year. n
