Chris Kidder

Executive Chef

Literati II

Chris Kidder grew up in Canton, Ohio, a city better known for the Pro Football Hall of Fame than for its dining scene. Given the lack of quality restaurants, Chris found culinary inspiration at home, particularly around the holidays. According to Chris, “My grandmother did a lot of cooking. I always found myself gravitating to the kitchen.”

At the close of high school, after summer jobs as a dishwasher and busboy, Chris thought about attending culinary school. “I spent a day with a vocational psychologist, who swayed me to learn how to live, rather than earn a living.”

After graduating from Ohio Northern University, Chris couldn’t shake his passion for restaurants and began working at Spagio, a Columbus, Ohio, institution that’s still going strong. “I became a busboy, then a server. I asked the chefs and worked prep for six months. I liked it.”

Chris looked into the Culinary Institute, but thought he needed more kitchen experience to get accepted, so he moved to New York. He soon found work at Zoe, as a busboy. After a month, they had an opening in the kitchen. “Everybody was fired or left. After two months, I had the most seniority.” By the time Chris left, after four years, he’d worked his way up to sous chef.

In an example of culinary Manifest Destiny, Chris moved to San Francisco and got a job at Judy Rodgers’ famed Zuni Café as a line cook. Chris said, “I loved it. It’s a quintessential California restaurant. I learned to use local, fresh ingredients, cooked simply.” This is an approach Chris carries with him to this day.

A chef that Chef Kidder worked with at Zuni, Steven Levine, opened a restaurant in Sonoma with restaurateur Drew Nieporent – Freestyle – and Levine recruited Chris to join him as his sous chef. After a year, Chris moved south, finding work in Mark Peel’s kitchen at Campanile. During a four-and-a-half year span, Chris was promoted from sous chef to chef de cuisine, at which point Chris felt ready to open his own restaurant.

According to Chris, “That’s what most chefs dream of, but I felt like I needed some time to put together a business plan and find a space.” Until that could happen, he lucked into a job as a private chef. “My wife was pastry chef at Lucques, and told (Lucques chef-owner) Suzanne (Goin) I was looking for something else. The day before, she got a call looking for a private chef. The woman liked my style of food. I called and got the job in a week. I mainly did shopping, sometimes prepared lunches and dinners. Sometimes I’d go days without seeing anyone.” After two years, Chris was ready for another experience.

“Through a headhunter, I made a match with the Koubas (Literati II’s owners, Tony and Paty Kouba). It was a good match. It was a new restaurant. It was fresh, organic, simple neighborhood food.” Literati II opened in March 2005 with Chris running the kitchen.

“The idea is people can come here once or twice a week. It’s not a once a year place. We buy about 90% of our produce from the farmers market and farmers that I’ve known for five or six years. Try to serve it in a clean, simple manner. I’m not trying to manipulate the food.” Chris prints a new menu daily, depending on what’s in season.
 
As for his choice of career, Chris said, “People think working in a restaurant is glamorous, but it’s long hours, there’s heat, it’s low pay. It’s demanding. It’s quick.” Chris wouldn’t have it any other way.