Ever since turning on the Food Channel at age 11, Palisadian Jackson (Jake) Kalb, 16, has been a committed chef. Kalb tuned into the popular how-to cable program Food Channel for a year and cooked dinners for his family before creating a catering business with his friend and classmate P.J. Fielding at Brentwood School. The catering company served several small dinners before Kalb moved onto cooking in a restaurant, starting in the summer of 2004 after 7th grade. Kalb, now a sophomore has been working at M’lisse Restaurant in Santa Monica since he was 13. An acquaintance of Kalb’s offered to introduce the young chef to Josiah Citrin, owner of M’lisse in Santa Monica, the Zagat’s Guide’s top American-French restaurant in Los Angeles. Kalb met Citrin, and began working at M’lisse ‘five seconds later,’ according to Kalb. He continued to work at M’lisse that summer, and has been doing so for over three years. Kalb works every Saturday from 3 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., and on busy nights and holidays. ‘I just help out with whatever needs helping,’ he says. Dinner preparations start at 3 p.m., but the first diners arrive about 5:45 p.m. Kalb works in the kitchen from the moment the first guests arrive until clean up is complete, usually after midnight. Working at M’lisse has been a tough commitment for Kalb, since it means sacrificing time every Saturday. However, he says that he enjoys his time there. ‘I learned a lot about the restaurant business,’ says Kalb, who would love to own a restaurant in his future. ‘M’lisse is such a good experience because they teach me how to pay attention to detail so closely. For example, we pull the stems off the spinach leaves because they can be fibrous, and we take the skin off of peas because they can be unpleasant to the palate. No other place I know of cares so much for its food.’ Kalb describes the kitchen during busy hours as ‘controlled chaos,’ but he feels comfortable working in the kitchen. When he first came to M’lisse, he worked on preparations for dinner. He moved around the kitchen, doing an assortment of jobs, including the pastries, and currently cooks and arranges many of the dishes, particularly the fish dishes. ‘He’s great’ a hard worker, really dedicated,’ says Chef Citrin about Kalb, who is the first and only young chef to work with Citrin. While Kalb does not get paid, he has benefited from the job. ‘I mess up all the time,’ he admits, ‘but every time I mess up, I know not to do it again.’ Working at M’lisse is demanding, but Kalb is up to the challenge. In addition to cooking, Kalb is also a drummer, and has been taking lessons for six years. M’lisse is located at Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica, and was founded by Citrin in 1999. Since then, the restaurant has won several awards, including: Zagat’s #1 American-French Restaurant for Food in Los Angeles for the last five years, Zagat’s #1 Wine List in Los Angeles for the last two years, and a Mobile Travel Guide 4-Star Restaurant since 2001. Kalb plans on working at M’lisse through high school and the summers between grades.
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