About Rocky
When the world-renowned Santa Fe School of Cooking decided to produce
a series of instructional videos, it needed a featured chef for
the premier edition. Rocky Durham, born and raised right there in
New Mexico, was the obvious choice. And not just because he was
a local product who happened to be on the school’s staff.
Rocky—who has worked as a chef, an instructor or a TV host
on four continents and in the UK, and who currently writes a syndicated
column called Plates Across The States—is in a large part
responsible for the growing international popularity that traditional
New Mexican cuisine now enjoys. Not bad for a guy who began his
career almost by accident.
When he was 14, Rocky started work as an apprentice to Jean-Jacques
Alexandre, chef at La Frogerie in Santa Fe. “I wasn’t
interested in cooking,” says Rocky, “but I had a crush
on the girl who was the baker at the restaurant, so I applied for
the job. Luckily for me, Jean-Jacques took me under his wing and
his enthusiasm soon rubbed off on me.”
After serving his apprenticeship, and eventually graduating from
the Western Culinary Institute, Rocky become lead cook at Shane,
a favorite celebrity haunt in Los Angeles. His reputation soon allowed
him to move on to Sydney, Australia, where he trained chefs for
the Arizona group of restaurants. The post of executive chef at
La Rinconada, an exclusive lodge in Argentina’s Patagonia
region, followed, as did educational work in St. Petersburg, Russia,
and a stint cooking for backpackers in the remote climes of North
Vietnam. From there, Rocky returned to Santa Fe and became chef
de cuisine at the acclaimed Santa Café, winning the Rising
Star Chef Award at the 1998 Santa Fe Chile & Wine Fiesta. At
the same time, he became an instructor at the Santa Fe School of
Cooking, where lessons in Southwestern cookery have become a mainstay
for both food professionals and at-home chefs alike.
With his ongoing desire to introduce the pleasures of Santa Fe
style worldwide, Rocky was soon off to London, to serve as executive
chef for a new restaurant called, not surprisingly, Santa Fe. While
overseeing the culinary details and opening the first Santa Fe restaurant,
Rocky said, “I feel that I’m an ambassador for Santa
Fe and its food. Southwestern cooking is such a wonderful mixture
of flavors and fresh ingredients; it’s very modern. It’s
a cuisine that’s incredibly popular in the States, but not
widely known or available in the UK right now—and I intend
to change that!” And change that he did, as Santa Fe grew
to a group of seven locations. The popularity of Southwestern cooking
became such that, while in the UK, Rocky served as host for two
television series.
Today, Rocky can be found as an internationally syndicated columnist
for the Universal Press Syndicate, Inc. His column, Plates Across
The States, allows Rocky to lend his own unique perspective to
the joys of the distinctive, regional styles of cooking found
all across the United States. It’s a job he’s singularly
qualified for. Because if anyone knows how to bring the best in
regional cuisine to a hungry world, it’s Rocky Durham, Chef-At-Large. |
