"A Chef's Chef"

“KC is to food what Armani is to clothes…”

At 12 Karl-Christer Wallberg used to hang out in the kitchen at one of Stockholm’s finest restaurants where the uncle he idolized was the chef. By 15, while still in cooking school, he had his first restaurant job.  Today, when all the past winners of Swedish Chef of the Year gather for a dinner, it is Karl-Christer, known to most as simply “KC”, whom they have cooking for them.

Owner of one restaurant, partner in another, accepting only a limited number of special event catering requests each year, but enjoys the gratification and honor of experiencing unique international settings where he gets to rub elbows with other gourmands and discover yet new taste delights.  Truffles in Spain, a wine from Morocco, an herb above the Arctic Circle or a Tuscan harvest bounty.  Nothing could be more indulgent than a gastronomic expedition.

Cooking to KC is not just about producing amazing food and culinary delicacies.  For him, he wants contact with his guests.  If he could bring each into his kitchen or be invited to theirs, that would be his greatest reward.  He wants people to share the excitation, enjoyment and exhilaration of turning a shopping bag of ingredients into epicurean splendor.  But, to also recall those days of innocence and simple pleasures, when you got to lick the cookie dough from the spoon while grandma was baking.

And when he is not at the stove or creatively conceiving of his next special activity, KC’s other delight is in sharing his knowledge with the next generation by teaching at one of the world’s only multi-disciplinary university level culinary schools.  There he conducts several courses, but finds most meaningful his mentoring the seniors in their final project, where they undertake, over a three weekend period, developing, launching and managing their own “restaurant”.

For KC, dining is theatre.  It should be fun and entertaining.  From the mixing of ceasar salad at your tableside in a real dugout Parmigiano-Reggiano wheel to a virtual ballet of twelve chefs carrying out roasted whole sides of beef and doing all the slicing and dishing out for a chorus of waiters lined up putting the dinner plates on their trays and heading off to the tables of the 400 assembled guests.

As much an impresario as he is a chef, no evening with KC will ever be ordinary, but it will always be remembered and savored.