CLEVELAND, Ohio -– Zack Bruell remembers the moments when he truly realized the importance of one of his early restaurant jobs.
He was in California & working for his college pal Michael McCarty, who ran Michael’s.
"All I know is when people asked 'What do you do?' and you said 'I'm a chef at Michael's' it would stop them in their tracks."
The iconic restaurant that has been a launching pad for chefs who go on to ambitious culinary ventures is marking 40 years with a benefit party Sunday, April 28, for No Kid Hungry. It is known for its pioneering spirit, coming of age when the term 'foodies' was unheard of and television shows focusing on cooking were relegated to PBS.
"I was a part of that," Bruell said. "I was there while it was happening. We knew we were doing something a little different."
Bruell was among a team of chefs who were working with an owner who sought the best products on the market. Michael's opened in 1979, before farm-to-table or sourcing was emphasized as it is today. He would work, learn, and face a turning point that would send him back to his hometown.
"We were working with stuff that was a privilege to work with," Bruell said. "Air freight was taking off. We're getting stuff shipped in from all over the world. If something wasn't in season in the United States we'd have it shipped in from some other place in the world.
"We were working with the best ingredients you can work with - white truffles would come in to season, we would work with those. Price was no object. Which is a real privilege for a cook to work with that."
Bruell remembers "Once or twice a week there would be an open-bed truck pull up to the back door, filled with shaved ice. These guys would start shoveling fresh shrimp out of this truck. We were three blocks from the Pacific (Ocean), but a lot of our fish was being shipped in from New York."
"It opened my eyes," he said. "I knew how to cook but to be exposed to those ingredients, you don’t get that opportunity. … It changed my mindset forever."
The experience of working there was never lost on Bruell who, at 28, was the oldest chef at the time at Michael's.
The restaurant is nestled in the downtown of Santa Monica and started when the city was more of a "sleepy little town" instead of the trend-embracing place it would become, Bruell said.
"The check average in 1980 was $65," he said. "We were serving people in L.A. (who had) money. It was a movie-industry crowd. What I didn't know about the movie industry was these people are all on expense accounts.
"This restaurant was getting worldwide attention."
Bruell eventually would be recruited to run a restaurant in Cleveland, but he was torn between the California lifestyle and family in Cleveland. When the call came in 1982 from investors hoping to lure him to The Garland, a French and Continental cuisine restaurant, Bruell said no.
" 'Let me explain something to you,' " he remembers telling the folks with the restaurant. " 'I live three blocks from the beach. I walk to work, which is unheard of in L.A. Please don't call me again.' "
"They called me back."
He figured he'd fly in to see his family, play some golf, and check out the restaurant. It became clear the menu would be left up to him, should he take the job. He still said no. Then salary came up.
"What will it take?" he was asked.
"I throw out what I thought was an outrageous number. They go 'OK.' "
"I figure I'd come back for a while, save money, and return to open a restaurant in Santa Barbara. The goal was to do that.
"I think I'm a little behind schedule."
He thought about leaving, but life kept him in Cleveland. He started catering. He began working at Mario's in Aurora on the weekends. His father got sick. He stayed, opened Z Contemporary Cuisine in Shaker Heights in 1985, and would eventually expand his restaurant empire to the current roster that includes Chinato, L'Albatros Brasserie, Alley Cat Oyster Bar, Parallax, Table 45 and others.
But it all began at Michael's.
"I cut my teeth in L.A. because I got exposed to products you wouldn’t be exposed to back then. Stuff that would be considered normal now was not normal," he said.
"It was crazy. It was the who's who of my generation of great chefs."
The all-star lineup of chef alumni includes Jonathan Waxman, Mark Peel, Brooke Williamson, Sang Yoon, Miles Thompson, Roy Yamaguchi, Kazuto Matsusaka, Ryan DeNicola, Dorte Lambert, Martin Garcia, Wendy Roskin, Mikey Stern, John-Carlos Kuramoto and Olivier Rousselle.
When Bruell was at Michael's, he used to help Yamaguchi with business-class homework, he said. The chef would go on to open Roy's in Honolulu. Peel and Nancy Silverton would open Campanile and La Brea Bakery.
"My cooking style has changed and progressed and is still relevant," Bruell said. "Every one of those people who are going to be at this thing - same thing. We're not stuck in 1980. We're still doing relevant food."
Bruell looks back fondly at the launching pad that would propel him back to Cleveland.
“It feels like yesterday,” he said. “I don’t feel much older in my mind.”