If Bobby Duncan, Executive Chef at Tribeca's Dylan Prime, has any advice for young chefs it's not to hurry through the learning process. "People often feel compelled to rush through their time as a student, and then as a beginning chef; they want to get on to the glory of creating a dish," observes Duncan. "Behind creativity is years of learning and repetition. You can short-change your career."

Bobby's own path as a chef is a terrific example of attention to the learning process. After graduating from the Institute in 1995, Duncan externed at the celebrated New American restaurant Zoë and stayed on as a line cook for two years. Looking to broaden his experience, he moved on to a job at Gramercy Tavern under Chef Tom Colicchio. At Gramercy, Duncan kept the goal of deepening his knowledge alive and was particularly creative in finding ways to do so: In 1997 he dreamed up the idea of an exchange program, whereby he and another young chef from Napa's famous French Laundry would trade places for a month. The exchange unfortunately fell through, but Duncan did spend a month working at the Laundry, and followed that up with a stage at Paris's venerable Taillevent — one of the most prestigious restaurants in Europe.

Duncan took on the executive chef position at John Mautone's Dylan Prime in August of last year and has faced a number of challenges, not the least of which was the events of September 11 occurring just weeks after his arrival. Duncan says business bounced back fairly quickly and has been growing steadily since. Although steaks are Dylan Prime's signature, Duncan has expanded the restaurant's other offerings, a move he feels has increased his client base.

Duncan's wife, Stephanie, a six-year veteran of Gramercy Tavern, is now Assistant General Manager at Danny Meyer's new Blue Smoke restaurant. Jokes Duncan, "I'm sure we do know some people outside this industry."

September, 2002