Seamus MacKenzie
Sous-Chef at Luc
2800 E Madison St, 328-6645

So you're sous-chef at Luc—Rover's brand-new, slightly less schmancy and certainly cheaper neighbor to the west on Madison Street. I'm poorer than a carnival barker and haven't had the pleasure of an eight-course meal at Rover's. How does Luc compare?

Luc is more of a neighborhood joint. It's a cafe with a bar, and we offer nightly specials and burgers for under $12. We're much simpler, much more country-style than Rover's.

What's your favorite dish right now? The salt chicken [$35, serves two, Mondays only] looks ungodly tender...

The chicken is good. I also think the pommes souffles are great. You take a russet potato and you fry it at two different temperatures, and then it puffs up and turns into this potato crisp. The batches take just eight minutes, but they're really fun to make.

I've got to ask: Your boss, Thierry Rautureau, has been married to a hat for over a decade. What do you think he's hiding under there?

A bald spot.

So he obviously doesn't need it for health-code reasons.

Nope, and he still wears it all the time. There's a seminude spread of him in the kitchen at Rover's, and he's still wearing the hat. recommended