Best of Restaurants

Best Chef: Eric Pater

By Megan Malugani

Rochester native Eric Pater learned the restaurant business in his early twenties as a bartender at the old hangout The Smiling Moose and as a waiter at The Redwood Room before moving away for seven years to Dallas and then Denver. It was while he was waiting tables at a Mediterranean jazz café in Denver that Pater decided to make the jump to “the back of the house” (restaurant lingo for the kitchen). He continued to wait tables on weekends while learning the ropes in the kitchen on weekdays and weeknights from a chef who served as a mentor to him.  When Pater moved back to Rochester, he worked at Chardonnay for a year before taking the job at City Café more than two years ago.

Chef's delight: Pater loves being a chef because it is “everchanging. It evolves so rapidly. You have to stay on top of the trends and the things people are interested in. It’s not a behind-the-desk, 9-to-5 job.”

Signature dishes: One of the first items Pater added to City Café’s menu was a maple roasted chicken. Another popular dish that Pater created is Atlantic salmon with wild mushroom and pinot noir sauce.

Definition of success: For chefs, “if the presentation turns out right and the flavor combinations are all right, that’s when the job is very fulfilling and exciting for us,” Pater says.

Food philosophy: “Food is a lot about balance, whether in texture or temperature or flavors...  Making two things that are completely opposite, like vinegar and oil, work together [to create a] simple vinaigrette is the perfect example of balancing flavors.  It’s one of the simplest things you can do, with so many applications.”

Early edibles: Pater has enjoyed cooking since he was a kid. He was exposed to accomplished chefs—his grandma was a school cook and his mom liked to experiment in the kitchen—from a young age. “When Chinese food got popular, my mom would cook with the ingredients from a stir fry. She would use fresh ginger. My sister and I hated it and said it tasted like soap...Now I love ginger.”

Home cooking: Pater’s two daughters, Ocean and Ella, love to cook with their dad. “They  love to chop up vegetables like radishes and green onions. We’re developing their knife skills at ages six and four,” Pater says with a chuckle. “One thing I’ve found is that if they help me prepare it, they’re more likely to eat it.”

Network of noshers: Pater, a 1992 graduate of John Marshall High School, comes out of the City Café kitchen frequently to talk to diners with special dietary restrictions, to accept compliments, and (much less frequently) to deal with complaints. He always discovers that he is feeding familiar faces. “It’s hard for me to walk out [into the dining area] and not see someone I know,” he says.

Future goals: Pater is currently involved in developing the menu for a new restaurant that City Café’s parent company, Creative Cuisine Company, is planning to open the first half of this year in town. And although he is in no hurry, Pater says he may attempt to open his own restaurant in Rochester eventually.|

RUNNER UP: Christopher Rohe at Prescotts