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Orsay's Jason Hicks makes lobster salad

Linda Perney | STAFF WRITER

4:33 PM EDT, June 26, 2007

Jason Hicks, executive chef at Orsay, was brought up in England, but his work as a chef has taken him around the world, beginning with jobs in Europe and a stint in Asia.

We caught up with him one late morning on the terrace at the restaurant.

Growing up, what was your favorite food? Beans on toast. I'm from England. We don't do a lot of beans on toast here....

When did you start cooking? I started as a dishwwasher when I was 14, getting acquainted with the kitchen. I used to enjoy my mother's cooking. She made a lot of soups when I was a kid, a lot of braising. I think that was the reason for me getting into the kitchen-- the fascination of seeing things go into a pot and then trying to work out how to make them edible.

Do you use the farmers' market a lot? I'd love to be able to say I go to the market every morning...The Farmer's Market is very important and it's a very beautiful thing. One day, maybe I can have a small restaurant where we would use 100 percenty farmers' market produce. But in reality...Orsay serves 400 people during service, and I don't want to disappoint the clients by only having five portions of something.

Do you cook at home? Yes -- not every day. I cook more in the summertime than any other time. I have a great barbecue, and I like to marinate a leg of lamb, fool around with marinades for chicken, and cook them outside.

Do you have a favorite spice? I like to use things like saffron, but I'm well aware that it's overused and abused. If you use too much of it, you can ruin a dish. I like to keep spices as a subtle background to a dish.