Early evening, just after a shift at Jake’s On The Lake, Chef Scott Yorkey pulls up a chair. Nearly four years into the job, the 30-year-old head chef, has definitely put his stamp on this lakefront Tahoe City restaurant. Sitting back in a hoodie and baseball cap, with beverage in hand, Yorkey talks about cooking with his mom, going green in the kitchen and why he loves the Braised Beef Short Ribs, a dish he introduced to Jake’s that has since become one of the most popular selling items on the menu.
Moonshine Ink: What’s your story? How did you end up at Jake’s?
Scott Yorkey: I had worked at one of the other TS restaurants (that were affiliated with Jake’s) in Maui – the Hula Grill. And that’s how the connection came with Jake’s. But I grew up in San Jose, lived in Santa Barbara for a while – then to Maui, back to Santa Barbara and then to beautiful Lake Tahoe four years ago. I did live in London for a few months too, where I worked at the Kensington Park Palace Hotel and a French restaurant called Café Flo.
MI: So compared to the other places you have lived, what do you like the most about Tahoe?
SY: Probably the people – great people here in Lake Tahoe.
MI: Where and what was your first restaurant job?
SY: It would have been when in San Jose, California at Orlo’s Restaurant in the Hayes Mansion. I was 14 years old and my first two days there I was a bus boy. But in the middle of my training to be a bus boy, one of the kitchen guys walked out in the middle of his shift. So they put me in the kitchen, and I’ve been in the kitchen ever since.
MI: When did you start to cook? What are some of your first memories in the kitchen?
SY: I was so small, I had to stand up on a chair to cook with my mom and my grandma. I was in charge of making the cheese sauce for the Mac and Cheese, probably because there was just a whole lot of stirring.
MI: So, what do you like to cook?
SY: My favorite thing to eat is braised meats, like our short ribs that we have on the Jake’s menu. It’s more the comfort-food style.
MI: On the Jake’s menu, there are a lot of cross-cultural influences. Where did that come from?
SY: I worked for Chef Jean-Paul LuVanVi in Santa Barbara at a couple of different restaurants. His mother is Vietnamese and his father is French, so he had a real Asian-fusion cooking style. I learned a lot from him. And then living in Hawaii, I was exposed to a lot of the Pacific Rim styles which feature many different kinds of Asian influences – Japanese, Pacific Islander, using local fruits – stuff like that.
MI: Ingredients like the Char Sui BBQ sauce, plantains and jalapenos are all featured on the Jake’s menu right now. Do those come from your Asian-fusion background?
SY: Some of those ideas I’ve seen before. Just having years of experience in the industry, you kind of step back and draw from different ideas. You get to put your own spin on them and create your own dish. The Chinese BBQ Pork Sandwich is a classic southern dish. But we put in the Char Sui, which is a Chinese BBQ sauce, and that’s a sweeter flavor. With the spiciness of the jalapeno and the coolness of the cucumber and carrot, it all comes together.
MI: With spring on the horizon, what ingredients are you attracted to these days?
SY: Halibut always comes in during the spring when the fishing season opens (in Alaska) in the last part of March. Asparagus and artichokes are coming in too. California crops are just starting to come in right now. The Delta Asparagus is great, and artichokes out of Watsonville – that’s the artichoke capital of the world. So all that stuff is abundant right now.
MI: How would you describe the cuisine at Jake’s? And what stamp have you put on the menu?
SY: We describe it as California cuisine, with a Pacific-rim influence. Growing up in California, working under one of the great chefs in Santa Barbara and living in Hawaii – that style is right up my alley. And I think my pickiness for fresh, top-quality product – especially the fish – we’ve really stepped it up here at Jake’s in the last couple of years.
MI: What values dictate your style in the kitchen?
SY: We’re slowly starting to work towards using more local ingredients, sustainably-raised fish and natural meats. And we’re staying away from buying meats that are just loaded with growth hormones and antibiotics. A while ago we moved away from using any products that have transfat in it – which has become law in California now. But we were ahead, and we’re proud to say that we try to cook as healthy as we can.
MI: What is your favorite item on the Jake’s menu?
SY: That’s going to be the short ribs. At the Autumn Food and Wine festival a while back, we pretty much won the whole thing with the braised short ribs. It’s a dish I’ve been making for a few years before I got to Jake’s. And the response was so great at the festival that we decided to put it on the menu immediately. Normally, braised food is a Fall-Winter dish, but they’re so popular we sell the heck out of them all year long.
MI: As far as the job goes, what do you like about working in a kitchen?
SY: I just like the fast-pace and the action in the kitchen.
MI: What about the creative element?
SY: Yeah, it’s always fun to come up with a new dish and put a twist on something classic. We have a menu that’s pretty much set by the seasons. But our special events, wine-tasting dinners and stuff like that – we really get to try some different stuff and go crazy.
MI: Speaking to the atmosphere at Jake’s, what’s different about this restaurant compared to others you have worked in?
SY: You know the old saying – location, location, location? Being located, literally, right on the water’s edge of Lake Tahoe is pretty spectacular. And just the comfortable atmosphere here at Jake’s, having live music here on the weekends – I think it’s very welcoming to people. It’s the mountain aloha spirit we have. And of course, the people who work here make it. Some restaurants I’ve worked at, it seems like there’s a battle between the front and the back of the house. But here at Jake’s it seems like everyone gets along great. Everyone is friends before they go to work.
