David Linn

1. Please tell us a little about yourself: where you're from, if you've ever had another profession.

I am David Linn I was born and raised in Elkhart Indiana. I received my Bachelors degree from Ball State University in Muncie Indiana where I studied Telecommunication and I was a four year Varsity member of The Ball State Men’s Swimming and Diving team I also received the award for High point diver my junior and Senior year. I realized my true passion was cooking and I moved to California after graduating to pursue a degree in The Culinary arts at The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of California – Sunnyvale.

2. Why do you want to become a chef?

I want to become a chef because it gives me the opportunity to be creative and work with food every day. Cooking is something that I have grown to love and I want to spend the rest of my life exploring different methods of cooking, different ingredients, and different styles of cooking.

3. What difference wills this scholarship money maker for you?

This scholarship will make a huge difference in my education I am currently a full time student and I work two jobs to afford to put myself though school and pay for daily life. This scholarship will give me the chance to work slightly less and focus my attention and hone my kitchen skills.

4. What do you want to be famous for?

I would like to be famous for being a chef and owner of multiple restaurants and food related businesses. But primarily I would like to be famous for being an innovative and creative chef that produces great food.

5. What's the most important thing you've learned so far?

The biggest lesson that I have learned in life and in the kitchen is to take every situation no matter bad or good and learn from it and grow. I think learning and improving is the key to being successful at anything especially being a successful chef.

6. What's the funniest thing that's happened in the kitchen so far? And the worst thing?

The funniest thing and the worst thing that has happened in the kitchen is actually the same thing during my internship I added salt into the panna cotta instead of sugar. It was the worst thing when it happened but the chef just kept teasing me about it throughout the remainder of the internship it ended up being pretty funny. I leaned if something is not labeled to taste it to make sure what it is.

7. If you could only master two dishes, what would they be and why?

The first dish would be Crisp Paupiette of Sea Bass in a Barolo Sauce that Daniel Boulud does. This dish is so hard to do either the fish falls apart or the potatoes don’t stay wrapped around the fish but when done right it is simple and delicious.

They second dish I would like to master is Chipotle Turtle Soup with popcorn. I had this dish at a Cajun restaurant in Downtown San Jose that is no longer open but it was the most delicious soup and I have never cooked turtle before.

8. If you could be the chef of any restaurant in the world, which one would it be and why?

Currently it would be at Flour and Water in San Francisco It is a modern Italian restaurant. They have extremely simple but creative food. Also there menu changes every day and they use seasonal and local ingredients.

9. What words of advice do you have for anyone considering studying the culinary arts?

First it is a lot of hard work it is not as easy as they make it look on the Food Network. You must be able to put in a lot of long hours. Second you must have a thick skin you need to be able to take criticism and then use that criticism to grow and improve. Finally you need to set goals and stick with them if you don’t have goals for yourself then you cannot achieve anything.