Organized Chaos of the Kitchen with Chef John Jenkins
By Michaela Steil
Chef John Jenkins
Roth Cafe has recently changed in a few ways. For one, there’s a Subway and now, as of this week, there is a customizable pasta bar. The executive chef at Roth is Chef John Jenkins, a Brooklyn native who has been here at Stony Brook since July.
Jenkins started his work in the culinary department at the age of 13 when he got a dishwashing job at a local French restaurant in his native Brooklyn. He immediately began working his way up to being a chef by doing prep with the head chef and apprenticing him.
“I love what I did. I love the rush of the kitchen,” recalled Chef John. “When it’s hot and you’re cooking for 400 people and everyone is just yelling– it’s what I call ‘organized chaos,’ because there is an organization to you. You have to be able to think of nine things at one time. But to any other person, if you walked into that scene it would just be absolute chaos. Screaming and yelling, flames and heat, but I love that part of it.”
By the time he was 20, he received his first head chef’s position, so he has been running kitchens for 34 years.
While Chef John also looked into nutrition and the more corporate side of the culinary discipline, he always returns to cooking.
“My favorite food to cook is basically the classics: Italian,” says Chef John. He also worked with two Italian chefs previously, so he was able to learn authentic Italian cuisine cooking and methods. “Some people don’t realize that New York Italian and Italy Italian are very different.”
Chef John also enjoys working on university campuses because he is able to interact and be more hands on with his tasks.
“One of my favorite things is the new pasta bar because I get to go out there and talk with students. I like interactions.”
The new Roth pasta bar that allows students to customize their dish.
The pasta bar itself was partly a result from student suggestions and requests, but also allowed the chefs to address other issues.
“We were asked for more options for vegetarian and vegan for example. So, because it is a ‘make your own’ it gave us the ability. If you’re vegetarian, I’ve got you. If you’re vegan you can do it. And if you’re avoiding glutens, we have options,” says to Chef John.
