Sous Chef Chris Royster, Flagstaff House, Boulder

Starting as a dishwasher at Twist in Hyde Park, New York, and working his way up to executive chef there, Chris Royster knows how to run a restaurant from the ground up. He worked as sous chef at Zucca Italian Restaurant in Louisville and next door as executive chef at The Huckleberry before moving up the hill to become sous chef at The Flagstaff House.

Strongest food memory

My exposure to food cooked from scratch and food that was grown in the backyard or food that was taken through hunting was huge. My father’s parents always had the family over on Sundays. I have many memories of my grandfather smoking venison on the porch or my grandmother cleaning fresh green beans from the garden.

Ingredient you’re obsessed with right now

Anything made from scratch. I recently started making my own butter and I have been playing with different charcuterie like pancetta and prosciutto. Working with ingredients that I made myself makes me feel connected to the end product.

Kitchen tool you can’t live without

Terrines. I can’t go more than a couple weeks without making a pate or a terrine.

Most Memorable Meal

That’s really hard. If I had to pinpoint one it would probably be Gotham in Manhattan because it was my first fine-dining experience, and I still remember how perfect the service was, how perfectly seasoned the food was and how beautiful the plates were. Even the petite fours were beautiful.

Pet peeve

Tasting with your fingers. Not OK!

Favorite music in the kitchen

I was taught to appreciate a quiet kitchen so I don’t listen to music while I cook. The sizzles and clanks of a kitchen are music.

If you weren’t cooking

I don’t like to think about that. I am a kitchen lifer. I did take some classes in business, and I found it pretty interesting. I also did some carpentry work when I was younger. I hope to have a future in business with restaurants so that is probably the direction I would have gone.