Almond-Crusted Portobello Mushroom

Recipe by Katherine Humphus, Executive Chef, BO-beau kitchen+bar

Author

By Pamela Hunt-Cloyd

Publish Date

April 25, 2012

Katherine Humphus

To be honest, I kind of fell into cooking. I was a hostess at the Prado in Balboa Park and I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. I asked the chef at the time if there were any openings in the kitchen and he said, “Not really.” I told him I wanted to work in the kitchen and he said, “I don’t know. Do you have any experience?” I told him I didn’t. But he found me a spot in the kitchen anyway.

I loved every second of it. I came home and would report that I made 200 fruit pies. It seemed so foreign and exciting to me. I worked at the Prado for a couple of years and was promoted a few times. A chef told me to go to culinary school. He said I should pick New York or Paris and I said, “I’ll just go to Paris.”

My mom and grandmother were huge cooks and I loved eating all their goodies. Sometime in school I decided I wanted to be vegan for some reason, and I had to cook all my own food. Maybe that’s when I really got into cooking, although the vegan thing was short-lived.

In terms of putting the “Katherine” stamp on French cuisine, I just try to make it more approachable for people because a lot of the time, it’s just too weird. I try to use more common ingredients and explain things on a menu. Sometimes French words scare people off. I like to make it more fun and use opposite flavors. If I make something sweet, I’ll pair it with something tangy. I like to create food wars on my plate.

I love going out to places that are comfortable. Something comfort-foodie that isn’t too loud, like the hole-in-the-wall sushi place next door. If I’m cooking for someone it’s usually some sort of grilled steak. I don’t have a grill at the restaurant so at home I grill as much as possible. I’m mostly not fancy. There has to be an occasion for me to go crazy in the kitchen.