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Welcome to the liveblog of the BlogHer Food '10 panel "Lunch: Innovator Interview: Dominique Crenn."
Here's the description:
In addition to being a recent winner of Iron Chef America and a Michelin-starred chef, we are fortunate that Dominique Crenn is the Executive Chef of Luce, the premier restaurant at the Hotel Intercontinental, our conference venue. Carolyn Jung of FoodGal.com will interview Dominique during this Innovator Interview.
LISA STONE: Hey Everybody, We're about to get started with the interview. I am really honored to introduce the lunch panel. We have two excellent experts to speak to you all.
Many of us who used to read the Mercury News know Carolyn Jung, who now writes Foodgal. And we have Dominique Crenn, who is a michelin-rated chef, and many of us know her as a chef who won Iron Chef America.
Carolyn will invite us into their conversation. Thank you both so much for being here.
CAROLYN: I am so happy to be here because I get to share the stage with one of my favorite chefs. We're 99% female (men call out, laughter), and this woman is a role model among all of us. She grew up in France and always wanted to cook. When she went to cooking schools in France, she was told: You're never going to make it. You're a woman. She came to America, to California, and now she's a star. It shows what perseverance can do!
Dominique is on both Twitter http://twitter.com/dominiquecrenn and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/dominique.crenn, and I wanted to ask you, Dominique, how do you use social media professionally? How has it helped your career?
DOMINIQUE: I wanted to share what I am doing with my work. In the course of a few months my Facebook fan page has gone up to several thousand people. I love to hear what other people think about what I do, my work. I meet a lot of great people on there and they send me email, and I've sent a few back, it just helps me stay connected.
CAROLYN: What [kind of information] do you put out there?
DOMINIQUE: The things i'm working on, things I want to share with the world, things that matter. I don't write about taking a shower!
CAROLYN: Do you most of your chef colleagues use Twitter or Facebook?
DOMINIQUE: I think most of them do that. It's a great tool for us. We work in an industry where we work with our hands, so it's a great tool for us. Yesterday on Facebook I got some comments from people here who were looking forward to seeing me, and I am [looking forward to meeting them], too. I have a lot of friends [on Facebook], too.
CAROLYN: How do you feel about bloggers coming into your restaurant and taking photos of every dish they eat, whether with an iPhone or DSLR, etc.? From your perspective as a chef, building a restaurant, trying to create an atmosphere in a restaurant, how do you feel about it?
DOMINIQUE: I think it's great. It's a way to communicate your work. I'm okay with it. I think evereyone is entitled to their opinion. We all work for something. I think people should come with an open mind. I ask that people have an open mind to new expereinces. I dont judge...I like fact, I have my own opinions. People's opinions are interesting. I like to hear them.
CAROLYN: Have you ever come across a post or message that is either hurtful or inaccurate? Have you taken any actions to correct it, or let it slide?
DOMINIQUE: If somebody was upset, I'm inclined to want to know why. I like to make something better for them. I read once that a girl had a problem with the reservations system, wanted an open table at LUce. We work for 15 hours/day, we really want to create something, it's not just a job, it's a way of life. Nothing is perfect. Life is about evolution.
If something is not pleasing, I want to know so I can [evaluate whether a change needs to be made]. Life is about learning about each other.
CAROLYN: How do you feel about "everyone as a critic", with sites like Yelp and other reviews that are posted online by people who aren't necessarily professional restaurant reviewers? Has it made your life harder or easier?
(laughter)
DOMINIQUE: This is interesting. My godfather was a restuarant critic in France. He told me that he goes there [to the restaurant], he looks at the craft of the chef and
