5 Questions for the Buffalo Club’s Patrick Healy

Patrick Healy is executive chef and managing partner of the Buffalo Club in Santa Monica. After training under chefs such as Alain Ducasse, Jean and Pierre Troisgros, Michel Guerard and Roger Verge in France for several years, Healy worked in Los Angeles restaurants Le Saint Germain and Colette. He went on to open his own acclaimed restaurant, the erstwhile Champagne. At Buffalo Club he’s credited with revitalizing American cuisine by injecting modern influences, whether chicken pot pie or lobster dumplings. New menus at the Buffalo Club reflect both the traditional and the international, underpinned by Healy’s attention to classical technique.

What’s coming up next on your menu?

We recently launched an exciting dual restaurant concept at the club. The Iroquois Room, our original dining room, will feature a sophisticated menu with tableside service. Dover sole, 36-hour lamb bourgignon, double-thick Niman Ranch tomahawk chop will all be prepared and served tableside as will international cheeses from a rolling cheese cart. Our outdoor dining area, the Garden Courtyard, now features a price-friendly menu of international small plates designed for sharing. Some of the new Garden Courtyard menu items are cassoulet maison, Korean BBQ wagyu short rib, moussaka and oxtail dumpling to name a few.

Latest ingredient obsession?

Fresh salted seaweed from Brittany, France. There are several different colors, textures and flavors -- all amazing! I’m using them to wrap a diver scallop tamale that we serve on our Garden Courtyard small plates menu.

Your favorite day off away from the kitchen is ...

Spending the day with my 8-year-old daughter, Olivia. We ride bikes, watch movies, dine in nice restaurants, cook dinner together at home and laugh until our sides hurt.

Favorite breakfast?

Corned beef hash with fried eggs made with leftovers the morning after St. Paddy’s Day -- usually with a glass of Guinness.

What was the last cookbook you read, what inspired you to pick it up?

Julia Child was a close family friend and confidant, and she helped me land my first job in a three-star French restaurant, which set me on a course to later work with Alain Ducasse and some of France’s greatest chefs. She once told me, “Once you are a trained chef you will learn proper technique and not need to read cookbooks.” She was right -- I almost never read cookbooks, but I do read food reference books. I have turned to the “Larousse Gastronomique” so many times over the course of my career that the cover is in shreds!

Buffalo Club, 1520 Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 450-8600, www.thebuffaloclub.com.

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