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Laurent Tourondel's steak tartare

By Linda Perney, amNY.com | linda.perney@newsday.com

June 11, 2007

Over the past three years, Laurent Tourondel has built himself an empire. Consider: BLT Steak; BLT Fish; BLT Prime, and, most recently, BLT Burger. In March he took over Brasserie Ruhlmann, which, located at the edge of the Rockefeller gardens, couldn't be better situated for a summertime lunch. On a sunny afternoon, he took some time to talk to AMNY on the restaurant's terrace.

Where did you grow up? I''m from Vichy, close to Lyons. Actually, it's not that close to Lyons, but Lyons is the nearest big city. It's in the center of France. Where the water -- the really bad water -- comes from. But we have good cheese. I started to cook when I got fired from school. Basically, it comes from my family. My grandfather was a chef, and my grandmother cooked, and that's where I started to learn...

What kind of food do you like to cook? I use a lot of French technique -- I have that base. But I'm passionate about American cooking. I cook for Americans.

What's the best thing about American cooking? Ketchup. But there are a lot of great things...There's great meat, and great regional cooking from the states.

Which ingredients can you absolutely, positively not do without? I like ginger, bacon -- all the strong flavors. Sometimes, you don't have the best quality ingredients but with strong flavors you can bring the taste up to the quality it should be.

Do you cook at home, or would you just as soon leave that to somebody else? No. I cook on weekends. Mostly simple things. I experiment. Sometimes it works -- and sometimes it doesn't.