Chef Robert Reynolds: 1942 – 2012

Robert Reynolds was an educator and chef who learned his craft in France and San Francisco. When he told his mentor, Josephine Araldo, about studying in France with Madeleine Kamman, she answered, “Because you are going to be with the best, I will treat you differently.”

In the early 1980’s, Robert brought France to San Francisco through his restaurant, Le Trou. By 1990 he had co-published From a Breton Garden: The Vegetable Cookery of Josephine Araldo. It speaks to the kitchen garden of Josephine’s grandmother, where cabbage and blueberries came together.

After moving to Portland, Chef Robert Reynolds opened The Chef Studio to create a learning kitchen and community. One on one, he shaped the development and ambition of students from across the country. Skills and information were grounded in tradition, memory and stories. Experience and ideas were passed on in the same manner that Reynolds received his training from his teachers and mentors.

“Robert conveyed that the recipe and cooking is a vehicle by which we may always learn. A story, a thought and an approach are vehicles by which we may always grow. Robert shared both. In that he ignited the passion and gift of cooking in his students.”

Today The Chef Studio lives on in spirit; in the kitchens and careers of Robert’s colleagues and students, and in the hearts and minds of his friends.

→ Read: Remembering Robert by Roger Porter

“Robert captivated us at the table. He built a secret kitchen and each bite unfolded into a story. Sometimes Robert would take us to Josephine, his time in France, or his days at Le Trou. I wish I had hit record, so many times. But, perhaps the connectivity to past, present and future generations may just be held with a wooden spoon. There, in its humble simplicity, rests a legacy.”

Robert Reynolds Scholarship Fund

In 2012 the Robert Reynolds Scholarship Fund was established to nurture the culinary talent of tomorrow and honor the legacy of Robert Reynolds.

→ For more information, please contact .

See what others have said about the legacy of Robert Reynolds.

→ Read: Kitchen Existential by Camas Davis 

→ Read: Grant Butler’s remembrance of Robert Reynolds for The Oregonian

 
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