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Richard Ruskell, Executive Pastry Chef By Patricia D. Sherman |
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Not surprisingly, Chef Ruskell, who was named one of the “Top Ten Pastry Chefs in America” by Chocolatier magazine, is particular about the chocolate he uses. “At Montage we use chocolate from many manufacturers,” he says, but he has two favorites: “Michel Cluizel and Debauve et Galais. Cluizel chocolate is from the Normandy section of France. Still family owned, they make their chocolate in small batches. It is an all-natural chocolate, not using any artificial binders or flavors. It is my favorite chocolate. “My other favorite is Debauve et Galais. Unlike Cluizel, which started after World War II, DetG has been around for almost 200 years. Appointed the official chocolate by Louis the XVIII, DetG is still made in small batches. It is a rare chocolate, so we get it while we can.” Chef Ruskell originally trained as an actor but turned to the culinary arts
when, he says, he grew weary of being a starving artist.
After he graduated from the French Culinary Institute in New York, his culinary career officially began at the Hotel Gray d'Albion in Cannes, France, where he worked in the pastry kitchen of Le Royal Gray Restaurant. His experience in France led to a turning point in his culinary career. “It happened abruptly one afternoon in Paris,” he recalls. “Like most of us, I loved chocolate growing up. I consumed the requisite amount of over-the-counter chocolate bars, Easter bunnies, and chocolate- covered mint patties at Christmas. As I grew older I ventured out. I began sampling the truffles and molded chocolates of Fanny Farmer and Russell Stover’s, eventually working my way up to Godiva. But all that changed on my first visit to a legendary chocolate shop in France. “I had recently completed culinary school and was fortunate enough to work with a chef and his staff who were from the south of France. After my “stage” at Le Royal Grey, I returned to Paris for a few days of R and R, hoping to find all the pastry shops and chocolate places I could. This was the 1980’s and I was eager to find and eat everything. “When I walked into La Maison du Chocolat it was a life changing experience. From the milk chocolate colored walls to the bittersweet chocolate colored boxes tied with an even more intensely brown ribbon, I was transported. The attention to detail was overwhelming. Everything was perfect. I remember saying to myself, ‘This is what I want to do with my career!’ I bought as much as I could, drank as much of the varietal hot chocolates as my stomach could hold, and brought back home gifts upon gifts. “Several years later I was working with a gentleman from Michel Cluizel. He had worked with Robert Linxe, owner/chef of La Maison. He introduced me to M. Linxe and I felt privileged and a bit awestruck to shake hands with the man who, unbeknownst to him, changed my culinary life.” Chef Ruskell worked in Maine and Vermont and was a baking instructor and chef at the New England Culinary Institute. He opened Pastry Maxine, a pastry shop in Scottsdale and spent eight years at The Phoenician in Phoenix as chef patissier. Chef Ruskell has been featured on “Sugar Rush” on The Food Network, as well as in Pastry Art & Design, Chocolatier, Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Travel & Leisure, Phoenix and Phoenix Home & Garden magazines. His recipes have been included in onbaking: a textbook of baking and pastry fundamentals (2005) and The Good Cookie (2003). He won first prize for his colorful “beehive” sugar showpiece at the 2005 National Pastry Competition. He earned silver and gold medals in the Patisfrance U.S. Pastry Competition. He has been a guest artist chef at Manele Bay Hotel in Lana’i and at The Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, as well as a guest instructor at The Stratford Chefs School in Ontario. |
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mood for
just one more bite,” says Richard Ruskell, Executive Pastry Chef at
Montage Resort and Spa, a 250 room luxury property with three dining
venues in Laguna Beach, CA.