Hill Chef: More On His Plate Than Food

Chestnut Hill resident David Jansen does not get much time off from his 70 to 80-hour-a-week job as nighttime sous chef at the Fountain Restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel. However, the talented Hiller did manage to escape to the Caribbean recently with his wife, Jennifer, and children, Addison, 3, Jimmy, 10, a student at Chestnut Hill Academy, and Hannah, 9, a student at Springside School.

by ASHLEY PRIMIS

If his house in Chestnut Hill is a perfectly serene desert for his family, his kitchen is the oasis. Thoughtfully designed and perfectly planned, it is fit for a chef. Providing a nice alternative to the usual stainless steel, unbearable heat and loud noises that his professional kitchen holds, chef David Jansen, Fountain Restaurant sous chef, knows the special quality it has to soothe the teetering balance that is his life.

Jansen, 38, has food in his blood. Growing up in Downingtown, he was surrounded by all aspects of food. Cooking with his grandmother, who was a pastry chef, and his grandfather, who was a butcher, started his culinary education. His other grandparents were in the hospitality world, giving him the service aspect and a hunger for the industry. Although he knew he wanted to be in the kitchen, he first wanted to gain a general education and attended West Chester University, and finally, the Restaurant School of Philadelphia.

With his name on the menu, David Jansen has serious expectations to meet, especially since his kitchen has earned “Number One in All Categories,” Zagat Guide; top honors from Gourmet and Bon Appetit and the Triple A’s Five Diamond Award. The title sous chef refers to the French brigade style of kitchen setup (a hierarchical organization) with sous chef (sous meaning “under”) right below the executive chef, handling daily operations, menu planning and the daily-changing tasting menu.

The Fountain Restaurant actually has six sous chefs. Jansen holds one of the more coveted positions, Fountain Restaurant nighttime sous chef, responsible for dinners at the restaurant and special events. With the hotel’s walls overly-boasting its accomplishments, it’s a constant reminder that professional cooking is not only about the food. It appears, though, that food is the driving force that has motivated Jansen to step through those revolving kitchen doors on Sundays, holidays, birthdays and bad days for the past 16 years of his life.

He learned the hard knocks of the industry the French way, starting as an intern, working for the Four Seasons’ former executive chef, Jean-Marie Lacroix, a man who overlooked backaches and burns. Jansen recalls, “It was different in those days. Fewer people had more responsibilities, so everyone had to do everything.” Although there was order to the chaos, it’s obvious that the unbearable, underpaid early years contributed to the level-headed, respected, hard-working chef that Jansen is today.

While juggling the pressures behind the plush dining room and Bernardo china, he managed to get married, have three kids and create a life for himself outside of the hotel. After meeting his wife, Jennifer, originally from Minneapolis (who also attended culinary school and worked in the food industry), they lived downtown before relocating to Mt. Airy.

By the time that their third child, Addison, 3, arrived, Chestnut Hill was their home of choice. Its proximity to the city, beautiful, safe neighborhoods and wonderful schools seemed ideal for their needs. His children have found their place among Chestnut Hill’s private schools, with Jimmy, 10, attending Chestnut Hill Academy and Hannah, 9, attending Springside School.

They love spending time in Wissahickon Park, eating at Fatty’s Bar and Grill in Wyndmoor and always save room for an ice cream treat at Bredenbecks. They also have found a place among their neighbors, who never turn down an invitation to a Jansen BBQ, often hosted on Jansen’s free summer and spring Sunday nights.

Although his BBQ’s are slightly more elevated than the average griller’s, it’s still pretty standard fare. Yet his kids having grown up in such a food lover’s home will try everything exotic they can. From duck confit (one of Jimmy’s likes) to veal cheek and spaetzle, the Jansen family motto is “try everything.” Yet, Jansen would never suggest that his children go into the food industry, citing poor hours and hard physical work as just two of the reasons.

Jansen and wife Jennifer have found ways to deal with his predictably inconvenient schedule. Getting up with his kids between 6 and 7 a.m. is an integral part of his day. They cook breakfast together, going over yesterday’s activities and finishing up homework, before Jimmy and Hannah go off to school; they won’t see David again until the following morning. This is Jansen’s solution to balance the demands of work and family, the acceptance of lack of sleep. “I do find time to catch up,” Jansen insists, “taking naps here and there,” he confidently says through his sleepy eyes. After his catch-up naps, and an occasional round of tennis, he is off to work to cook dinner for Philadelphia’s elite, leaving around 11 a.m. and not returning home until 11 p.m. on a good night.

The high quality and lofty price structure at The Fountain Restaurant invariably attracts a demanding crowd. Dealing with this is one lesson not learned at the stove, and becomes a delicate necessity. Dancing the fine line between food he wants to serve and staple dishes that the restaurant must have can be complicated. Every season Jansen must fill in his experimental creations around Caesar salads, shrimp cocktails and beef filets, having to satisfy executive chef Martin Hamann’s wishes, the hotel executives and his clientele.

When Jansen is forced to deal with the sometimes overly demanding customers, his motto is always, “Kill them with kindness.” Jansen said, “You never know what their day has been like, but you have to strive to change their life for the period of time they are at your table. If they walk out happy, that is good. You have made a difference.”

Camaraderie is one of the best qualities anyone can find in a high-end kitchen environment. “We thrive off each other. Some of the people I have been working with for 16 years, and some of them have worked together longer than that. Each kitchen member concentrates on one thing and then passes that on to someone else. That way you can grow in the kitchen, from station to station, gaining a skill and maturity.”

While Jansen still has people to look up to and learn from, every day he has a staff to manage, who learn from him. “You deal with a lot of things beside cooking in a kitchen. When each cook comes in, it’s different. Just like an unhappy customer, you have to turn them around. If not, it will affect performance and the food. You want them to go home and think, ‘Wow, I really accomplished something today.’”

David Jansen has more items than the average person on his plate. He has a demanding schedule, intense work environment, long, strenuous hours, a staff, attention-craving kids, a wife and a home. On this Saturday night, with over 200 people to serve in three hours, each table having four or more perfectly timed courses, and five guys cooking it all, Jansen finds time to pull one of his line cooks aside, and in a tone that could soothe even the fussiest of babies, says, “You have more time than you think you do. Taste, taste, always taste. Everything has to be balanced.”