Kermit Sullivan

A LIFE WELL FED Chef Kermit Sullivan’s full circle moment came in the form of a well-prepared tasting menu for Colavita Olive Oil Company. His passion delights and appetites have led him from his beloved Mother’s table to become one of Restaurant Associates’ finest chefs. Growing up with a strong Mother,six sisters and one brother on New York’s lower eastside, Chef Sullivan was surrounded by loving people and loving foods. There was always something on the stove or in the oven, and every meal was prepared with meticulous care. It could be salmon croquettes with dill sauce made in mid-summer; a cool cucumber and tomato salad accompanied by a tall glass of homemade lemonade with a drizzle of Fox u-bet strawberry syrup; delicious flap jacks and apple compote on a weekend morning; or a hot pot of stewed chicken legs served with crumbled soda biscuit and smothered in onion gravy for a cold winter supper. Chef Sullivan’s youthful palate developed as he moved from his Mother’s table to the international foods served up throughout New York’s diverse neighborhood eateries and iconic street fairs. After finishing school at Seward Park High, an ambivalent young man headed to Baltimore, Maryland’s Morgan State University where after two years of moderate success, he took a part-time job at United Parcel Service. Eleven years would pass before he finally made a decision to turn his life-long passion into a career. After a short stint as a prep cook at Mariner’s Seafood Restaurant in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, he headed back to New York to receive formal training at the French Culinary Institute. He quickly realized that while classroom learning was instructive, hands-on learning would be defining. THE TASTES OF THE WORLD Sullivan’s culinary curiosity and ambition begged him to seek those places in the world where the foods that he had both learned about and loved were begun. He spent two weeks at Le Marais in Paris, dining at famous eateries such as Au Pied De Cochon, Allard in St Michel and Miravile. He learned about simple fresh cooking while traveling extensively in Italy, such as the impeccably fresh fish on the Amalifi coast, home-made sausage in Sicily, Rosotto Ai Seppie in Venice and terrior in Basilicata. With a full understanding of French and Italian cuisine under his belt, he returned to New York to begin his career in earnest. His search for cultural authenticity continues however, and it has since taken him to Shanghai, Guilin and Hong Kong. During the down