Robert Hall

RIVER VALLEY and OZARK AREA — Robert Hall laid out his ingredients on the kitchen counter and asked of his guests, “How about a little shrimp?”

The meal he had planned was one he said he “throws together on the fly” - rosemary shrimp, sautéed French beans, sliced red bell pepper, and gnocchi with pesto.

Hall, the executive chef and culinary program coordinator at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, said the meal was not only quick, but classical.

“You can peel the shrimp, put it in a casserole dish and microwave it, but that isn’t classical preparation,” he said as he sharpened his knife. “I like a searing, hot skillet. All the seasoning goes in the pan first, then the shrimp.

“Classical technique is defined as those methods that chefs learn in culinary school or in an apprenticeship,” Hall said. “I was an apprentice. I learned the proper way to hold a knife, the proper way to cook chicken or steak. All those techniques are handed down from one chef to another.”

Hall accepted his position as executive chef a little more than a year ago,but he said he “has been in food” almost his entire life. The Searcy native credited his mother with inspiring him to become a “foodie.”

“Mom was a full-time nursing student,” he said, “and Dad was an engineer with IBM. Because of Mom’s class load and Dad’s workload, the cooking fell to my younger sister. Her repertoire was fish sticks and macaroni and cheese.”

Hall said he grew tired of his sister’ limited offerings.

“I can’t do the same food over and over, and I don’t do leftovers. She would make a big batch of macaroni and cheese, and we would have leftovers, and then she would make a fresh batch.

“One Saturday, I told my mom I was tired and wanted brownies. She said, ‘Go read the directions on the box, then start with No. 1.’ So I did. She came into the kitchen and found me and the counter and the floor covered with chocolate. My hands were in the bowl and I was mixing as best I could. I was following the first direction - ‘Mix by hand.’

“A f t e r t h a t , I s t a r t e d spending time with Mom in the kitchen instead of spending it under the hood of a car with Dad.”

Hall graduated from Searcy High School in 1988 and studied music at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. After his first year, he left UCA to serve as a missionary in Brazil for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On returning home, he found work at A Place to Eat in Conway.

“It was entry-level,” Hall said of his first foray into the food industry. “I worked in the dish pit [washing dishes], and I did bulk banquet prep. The chef there noticed I had an aptitude and suggested I get some formal training.”

Hall eventually did his apprenticeship under chef Isaac Roberts at the Excelsior Hotel in downtown Little Rock.

“A chef is looking for someone who can do something after only being shown once,” Hall said. “Cooking in a restaurant is fast-paced and multifaceted; you can’t be the kind of person who has to be micromanaged. I need to tell you something once, and then trust you to do it right. If you do it and you are spot-on, that’s somebody I’m going to sponsor or suggest go to culinary school.”

Food was not Hall’s only passion during his college years. He earned his degree in percussion performance and has played drums for a wide variety of bands.

“I went to school for music,” he said. “I started cooking just as a way to pay for school. I stuck with food because when I cook, I know what is in it. I like it more; I know what I’m putting in my mouth. When somebody else makes it, I don’t know. I don’t eat at the church potluck. I don’t know if you cooked the chicken all the way through or if you bought it two weeks ago.”

He and his wife, Sara, married in 1992. Their second child, Kaitlyn, was born hearing-impaired and was a candidate for a cochlear implant. The family relocated to Utah so Kaitlyn could have the implant.

“I finished my degree from UCA at Brigham Young University,” Hall said. “Our second daughter, Ashley, was born in Provo, Utah, also hearing-impaired. We stayed in Utah, and I got a job at Sundance Resort, which is owned by Robert Redford.”

In St. George, Utah, Hall started his own catering business and opened a restaurant, Dixieland Jazz.

“We had live music and served classic American food - pasta dishes and burgers with a twist,” he said.

The restaurant closed, and Hall became the food-service director at a rehabilitation center. After 9/11, Hall decided he wanted to go into the military as a chaplain. He pursued a master’s degree in religious education from BYU, and while there worked on campus in food service.

“That was my first time working in a mass-feeding environment,” Hall said. “My father died, and we came back to Arkansas. The day after we arrived, I saw an opening listed for line cooks at UCA. I thought that would be fine, and I was a line cook for about six months.”

He became the executive pastry chef “simply because I could write ‘happy birthday’ on a cake,” he said.

Hall eventually became the executive chef at UCA, a position he held until May 2011, when he was hired by the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute.

While at UCA, he had the opportunity to serve as a chef during the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

“It was Aramark’s 14th Olympics to cater,” he said of the food service company that employed him at UCA. “The application process was open to certain management levels. I applied and spent three months in China at the International Broadcast Center.”

In Beijing, Hall cooked for camera crews, producers, editors and anchors covering the games. He was among 40 chefs from around the world, 28 of whom were American.

“The amount of food coming in and out on a daily basis was staggering,” Hall said. “My job was to help teach Western cooking techniques to Chinese culinary students who had never grilled a steak. In return, I learned how to really use a wok.”

Ha l l was hire d by t he Rockefeller Institute as a culinary program instructor and coordinator.

“It is essentially a community-outreach program,” he said. “Last November, the executive chef departed, and I was tasked with trying to find a replacement.”

Hall not only became the executive chef but is also the institute’s culinary program director. In addition to teaching classes, he manages the kitchen, writes the menus and is responsible for all areas of food service.

“The traditional role of the executive chef is more administrative,” Hall said. “My role is very hands-on. I establish the standard - this is how I want the food to look and taste. I let the staff run with that. I’m also responsible for food and labor costs, inventory and food purchasing.”

He said presentation is important.

“Food’s gotta look good. People eat first with their eyes. Ninety percent of the time, if it looks good, it is good. It has to be a work of art,” he said.

When asked whether there is one particular recipe or dish he does better than any other, he replied, “Food.”

“I am preparing for the certified master chef exam,” he said. “That is the highest level of certification a professional chef can achieve. You literally are a master of food. At that level, there is no specialty. You can’t have a favorite.”

He focused on the dish at hand - the rosemary shrimp.

“You’ve got to turn off that safety switch in your brain that says, ‘Sharp. Blade. Hurt. Bad,’” he said, asked about the amount of practice it takes to safely handle sharp knives. “You need to know how to properly hold a knife, how to execute a few basic cuts and properly dice something. And you have to learn how to handle different knives - each one has a purpose.”

The pans sizzled, and the aroma of shrimp filled the culinary lab.

“Smell that rosemary,” Hall said. “That’s the cat’s meow, right there.”

Staff writer Daniel A. Marsh can be reached at (501) 399-3688 or dmarsh@arkansasonline.com.

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getting to know Robert Hall

Birth date: May 5, 1970

Birthplace: Little Rock

Biggest influence: My parents

Hobbies: I love music, photography and art

Something I still want to accomplish in life: My aspiration is to have $1 million all at one time.