Kirk Bruderer: Metro Lafayette's Hometown Chef

Metro Lafayette gets a brand new chef who is local, creative, and ready to cook

Restaurants scour the country to find a chef with Kirk Bruderer’s culinary resume. Lucky for Metro Lafayette, this Acalanes High alum has always wanted to bring his experience back to the East Bay. Here are five things you need to know about the restaurant’s talented and motivated new executive chef.

He’s worked with hotshots: The list of chefs Bruderer has trained with in his 20-year career reads like a who’s who of Northern Californian cuisine: Oliveto’s Paul Bertolli, Manresa’s David Kinch, and the French Laundry’s Thomas Keller. “Paul Bertolli introduced me to great food, David Kinch proved to me I belonged in the kitchen, and Thomas Keller basically erased everything I ever learned and re-created me.”

He’s got no student loans: No Cordon Bleu or Culinary Institute of America training for Bruderer. He attended Diablo Valley College’s hotel and restaurant management program. “California Culinary Academy was trying to recruit me to go over there, but tuition was like $35,000–$40,000. I may have paid $3,000 going to junior college—and got the same credentials.”

Keep it simple, stupid: “I don’t really want the foo-foo smoke rings or the huge sugar chandeliers coming off the plate; that’s not where I’m going,” Bruderer says. “Sometimes, keeping it simple is a lot harder than people think because being simple, it has to have elegance and be able to stand out on its own—and it has to have flavor.”

He wants a star: Bruderer says he would love to achieve a Michelin star for the restaurant. “There’s a different standard of cuisine on this side of the Berkeley hills, and I’d like to see that change … I’m trying to do something that hasn’t been done here for some time.”

He’s keeping a secret: Bruderer is working with a meat purveyor to create a unique cut of pork to serve at the restaurant—something he says has never been served anywhere else. What is it? “We’ll keep that secret for right now.”