So I talked with Milktooth chef/owner Jonathan Brooks recently about being named one of Food & Wine magazine’s Best New Chefs of 2015. (You can listen to that on Eat Drink Indiana Radio here.) But we also talked about stepping out onto the national stage and what’s coming next for the 30-year-old chef.
Jonathan Brooks, chef/owner at Milktooth, was just named one of Food & WIne magazine’s Best New Chefs of 2015.
Q: Would you do it? Step out there on the national stage and be that guy — do TV or more national media?
A: I’m not uncomfortable with that stuff as long as my primary focus is cooking in the restaurant. Because that’s what I really love. But I do have a personal philosophy: It’s fun to just kind of be in any room that you find yourself in. So any door that opens up to you just to go, like, check things out. So I’m not going to say no to anything unless it takes away from the restaurant. Or my family. But I’m all about checking out what’s in the next room.
Q: That seems like a good phiosophy: just see what’s out there.
A: It’s kind of a game I guess. Like, this is my job, cooking food at Milktooth. Everything else is, like, in a way, just kind of a fun game. And hopefully the best it can do is bring more people into the restaurant.
Q: What’s next as far as more restaurants? Any plans?
A: I hopefully want to do something else next year.
Q: Next year? That’s kind of aggressive.
A: I don’t know. Is it?
Q: Well, it took awhile to get Milktooth open.
A: I don’t know. Maybe it’s aggressive. But I want to do some dinner.
–Jolene Ketzenberger
