A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Eismann began working professionally with Fan Asian flavors in New York City in the 1980s as chef of the Acute Cafe on West Broadway, and then at such restaurants as Batons, Fandango, Mondial, and China Grill. In 1994, he became one of the first chefs to receive the Robert Mondavi Award for Culinary Excellence. THERE ARE MANY differences between a chef and a cook. A chef, in a competitive big-city environment anyway, needs to have vision, create his own dishes, and manage a crew of peripatetic soldiers for hire. He needs to be able to stay calm under pressure, navigate any number of thorny political situations, and be able to recognize and coddle the media. A cook doesn't have to do all that. A cook has to do one thing: execute, execute, execute—the same dishes, over and over, all day, every day, for months if not years at a time. Some cooks want to be chefs one day, and that's fine. But ambition isn't a job requirement, at least not in my kitchen.
