Behind every great restaurateur there's another key person front-of-house or behind the scenes. As Taste of Dublin showcases the cream of the country's culinary talent, Catherine Clearymeets some of the partners in supporting roles
ROSS AND JESSICA LEWIS
Jessica and Ross Lewis have three daughters under the age of five, and earlier this year Ross became Dublin's newest Michelin-starred chef, earning a long-awaited star for Chapter One, in Dublin 1. The restaurant made headlines recently when a reporter came up against a seven-week waiting list for a table for two. "It's great," Jessica says. "But we don't want people having the impression that they can't get a table. Both Martin [ Corbett] and Ross were thrilled at getting a star, especially in a place where when they opened people said they needed their heads read."
She met the Cork-born chef when she returned from Paris, where she worked with Aer Lingus, and he was working in the old Peacock Alley. "Like most things that happen in Ross's life, it happened rather quickly, and we were married in a year and a half."
If you have a partner in the industry it is a huge help if the other half has worked in it too, she says. "There are demanding hours, and it takes a lot of understanding." Jessica worked at Chapter One in front-of-house for a time; she now has another role, as an administrator, for which the hours are more family-friendly. "He goes in around 10am and could be there until 11.30pm or midnight. He wants to be there for every service, but we're lucky in that we don't open on Sundays or Mondays. Everyone envies us our Sundays, because they're getting ready to go back to work and we're just starting our weekend." Those Sundays off usually involve a trip to the DúLaoghaire farmers' market with the girls, then an open-house lunch with friends.
The other balance to the long hours is the possibility of working for yourself, she says. "You're doing it for yourself, and it takes something very special in someone to have the entrepreneurial skills to build up a business with 40 employees. Another plus is that there is a passion there, and food people in general are great. They're people who love life."
So would she like any of her daughters to marry a chef? "They're not going to marry chefs. They're going to be chefs," she says, laughing. One of her daughters is trying to decide between life as a chef or as a waitress. "She wants the job that will give her enough time to be able to cycle her bike as well."
Ross Lewis appears in the chefs' demonstration kitchen at Taste of Dublin on Thursday at 9pm; www.chapteronerestaurant.com, 01-8732266
ESTHER TENNENT AND RONAN RYAN
Esther Tennent met Ronan Ryan at the Galway Races last year, and he rang to ask for a date a week later. Ironically she had been in Town Bar & Grill, his restaurant on Kildare Street in Dublin, a fortnight earlier, on a different first date.
Having trained in London as a hotel manager with the Savoy group, and having worked in hotels such as the Connaught and Claridge's, Tennent was not put off by the idea of having a boyfriend in the restaurant business. "I loved the social side of it and the artistic side."
For the past number of months she has been overseeing the opening of South Bar & Restaurant, Town Bar & Grill's latest venture, opposite Beacon Consultants Clinic in Sandyford, Co Dublin. "It has been great, because we work together but don't really work together, because he stays very much in town. We try our best not to talk about work all the time, but we're both as passionate about it, so there are times we do end up just talking work the whole time." The distance between Kildare Street and Sandyford makes working together more viable, she says - although even if they worked in the same restaurant they would have to leave their personal life at the door. "The food and restaurant business is all about theatre. I feel like I'm going on stage when the doors open, and you have to forget all your problems." Opening the new venture has been very exciting, she says, and they are delighted that Gail Pilkington, one of Dublin's few women chefs, has joined them from the Westbury hotel. "Most of the staff are guys. But the food will be different. Women cook differently to men. Some say it's more of an art form for men."
Eating out is what they do as a couple to relax. But do the long hours worry her? "It did when I was younger, but now a lot of my friends are married and have children, so you have to almost make an appointment three weeks in advance to go out on a Saturday night. I'd only be sitting at home on a Friday or Saturday night if I wasn't working."
South Bar & Restaurant, Beacon Court, Sandyford, Dublin 18, opens next week. The telephone number for reservations is 01-2934050. For Town Bar & Grill, Kildare Street, Dublin 2, call 01-6624724