Michael Carlson facts for kids

Michael Carlson (born June 5, 1974) is a talented chef and restaurant owner from Chicago, Illinois. He started his cooking journey by working with famous chefs like Paul Bartolotta, Valentino Marcattilii, and Heston Blumenthal. Carlson often says he learned the most from American chef Grant Achatz.

In 2005, Carlson opened his own restaurant called Schwa in Chicago. Both he and Schwa quickly became very popular with food critics. Carlson is known for his relaxed approach to cooking. He creates simple dishes using ingredients that might seem unusual. While some people see him as a quiet person, his co-workers describe him as kind and generous. He lives in Logan Square with his girlfriend, Rachel Brown, and their daughter, Lily.

Early Life and Cooking Journey

Michael Carlson was born on June 5, 1974, in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in the Chicago suburbs of Glen Ellyn and Lombard. His mom was a dental hygienist. Michael describes his childhood as "normal."

Carlson isn't sure when he first became interested in food. However, his mom thinks it started when he watched the famous chef Julia Child on TV as a young boy. He remembers his first taste of fancy cooking at age 12. He had duck with blueberries at a hotel restaurant in Quebec. He got his first professional cooking experience working at a local bar while in college.

In 1998, after college, Carlson joined the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago (CHIC). He also got a chef's job at Spiaggia with Paul Bartolotta. He left CHIC after one semester because he felt he wasn't learning much. But Bartolotta saw his potential. He helped Carlson go to Italy to study with Valentino Marcattilii at San Domenico. In Italy, Carlson worked in more than fifteen different restaurants. He says this experience changed his career. "It was the first time I really thought about food," he explained.

After returning to the United States, Carlson was the first chef hired by Grant Achatz at Trio. Carlson worked at Trio for about 18 months. Then he moved to England to train with Heston Blumenthal at The Fat Duck. Carlson later said Achatz was the best chef he ever worked for. He felt he learned more from Achatz than in four years elsewhere. He loved working at Trio so much that he even went in on his days off.

Opening Schwa Restaurant

Carlson came back to Chicago. He was offered a job as a sous-chef (a chef who works under the head chef) at Achatz's new restaurant, Alinea. He planned to take the job. But before Alinea opened, he met an old friend. This friend owned a small restaurant called Lovitt and was planning to close it. Carlson loved the space. He worked at Lovitt for several months before it closed, learning how to run a restaurant.

Lovitt closed in the fall of 2005. Carlson was able to buy the restaurant's kitchen equipment for a great price. With help from his father, Carlson opened Schwa in Lovitt's old spot. Schwa quickly became famous with food critics across the country. By May 2006, Chicago magazine praised Carlson's fast success. They said, "We love his food – and his genuine sense of surprise at Schwa’s success." At the end of 2006, Citysearch named Schwa one of the "Top 10 New Restaurants."

Schwa is known for its "unstressed," fancy food in a relaxed setting.

Cooking for Top Chefs

In October 2007, Carlson was asked to cook for many of the world's best chefs. This was part of Charlie Trotter's 20th anniversary party. At first, Carlson said no. But then he thought, "how often do you get to cook for those cats?" The event was only eleven days away. Carlson was not ready for such a big party of famous chefs. He worked very hard, buying more plates and getting almost no sleep. "You couldn’t imagine the anxiety," Carlson explained.

On the big day, more than a dozen world-famous chefs were there. These included Ferran Adria, Heston Blumenthal, Thomas Keller, and Pierre Hermé. The evening featured a detailed 14-course meal that lasted four hours. Carlson later called it "as high a pinnacle as you could ever have. It will never get better than that." He said it was "the most important night of [his] career." He refused to be paid for his cooking.

The famous guests loved the food. Blumenthal said he "ate everything on [his] plate" and loved the passion. Adria added that the staff was "young and brilliant." Herme enjoyed "all the different flavors and textures." Trotter himself called Carlson brilliant. Mike Sheerin said, "It was really an amazing dinner."

This event was very stressful for Carlson. After everyone left, he called his father and said, "I don’t know if I have anything else in me now." The next morning, he closed Schwa. He disappeared from public life for a few months.

Returning to Schwa

After a few months of rest, Carlson felt ready to cook again. He reopened Schwa in February 2008. He promised to find a better balance between work and family. This was to avoid getting tired out again. He hired another chef and made the menu less difficult to prepare. He also paid more attention to the dining room. Customers quickly returned, and critics praised him again. One person wrote, "Forget Ratatouille. This is an Oscar-worthy redemption story."

In 2009, Trotter again asked Carlson to host an evening for world-famous chefs. This time, Trotter insisted on paying him. Carlson handled the evening without any problems. Carlson still works long hours, sometimes with his family nearby. But he says he wouldn't change anything. He calls cooking a "dream job." He is not interested in becoming a celebrity chef. He also doesn't plan to leave Chicago. He was asked to appear on Iron Chef America, but he said no.

Carlson's Cooking Style

The Chicago Sun-Times calls Carlson's cooking style "New American." But Carlson prefers to call it "unstressed food." He says, "What's most important is that everyone ... has an incredible time." One of his favorite things to do is make ingredients that people usually don't like taste delicious. He is known for combining ingredients in surprising ways. For example, he might pair oysters with oatmeal and raisins.

Despite these wild dishes, Carlson is perhaps best known for his simple, modern versions of classic Italian dishes. His quail egg ravioli is considered his most famous dish. The one thing that connects all of Carlson's dishes is fat. "Fat carries flavor really well," he explains.

Carlson's most famous dish – Quail Egg Ravioli

Carlson does not serve bread at his restaurant. He once said he didn't believe in it. He likes to mix fancy ingredients like brioche and quail eggs with a relaxed atmosphere. Carlson says his favorite ingredients are "pork bellies, lardo and large amounts of fat." He often serves purées with most dishes.

Carlson's cooking methods have been called "avant-garde" (very new and experimental), "innovative," and "high-tech chemistry." He sometimes uses the sous-vide method of cooking. He is known for using unusual tools like emulsifying gels, gelling agents, foams, and liquid nitrogen. Carlson says Achatz and Blumenthal are his biggest influences. But he also credits Bertolotta and Marcattilii for his Italian-style dishes. He adds that Alinea is his "favorite restaurant for sure."

Carlson doesn't like to stay still in his cooking. His girlfriend Rachel Brown says, "He thinks what he did last year isn't good enough for this year." Schwa is famous for dishes that disappear from the menu. "If he's bored with something, no matter how many people love it and demand it, he's done with it," says Brown. On the other hand, Carlson is happy just being a chef. He has turned down offers to invest in his restaurant or move to a bigger place. "Nah, I'm happy," he says. Carlson is a perfectionist when it comes to food. He has only missed one night of work at Schwa in his career.

Food critics generally love Carlson's work. Phil Vettel, a food critic for the Chicago Tribune, says Carlson is "creative with his ingredients, artistic in his presentations and utterly fearless with flavor pairings." Another critic called him a "culinary maverick" (someone who does things differently). BlackBook Magazine has called Carlson a "culinary genius" and "one of Chicago's best chefs." Frommer's says "Carlson's sensory imagination sometimes rises to the level of sheer poetry." Grant Achatz, Carlson's mentor, sums him up: "This guy can cook. He was one of the most talented and dedicated chefs that I have ever worked with."

In 2006, Food & Wine magazine named Carlson one of the year's top new chefs. They noted he "ingeniously combines a classic Italian cooking sensibility with avant-garde techniques." Also in 2006, Chicago magazine named him "Best Chef." In 2007, he won the Jean Banchet Award for rising chef of the year.

Carlson was also nominated for top chef honors in the 2010 Jean Banchet Awards.

Personality and Life Outside Work

While some people find Michael Carlson charming, outsiders sometimes see him as a quiet person. They might think he is not good at communicating. Mobil Travel Guide describes him as "the enfant terrible of the Chicago dining world" (meaning a young, rebellious person). Friends note that Carlson is not very good with technology. He rarely answers his cell phone or emails.

However, Carlson's co-workers really like him. They see him as a brilliant but slightly wild chef with a kind heart. Fellow Chicago chef and friend Stephanie Izard says, "You want to jump into his mind for a day. But you're also afraid you'll run away screaming... He sees things in different ways than anybody else. He's mind-churningly brilliant." Carlson's sous-chef Gaetano Nardulli describes him as "the nicest, most generous person I've met." Schwa chef Jonathan Ory says Carlson is a little crazy, but adds "what makes him nuts is that he's striving to be perfect." Carlson once told a young chef who couldn't afford to eat at Schwa, "for you we have a discount price of zero, man."

Carlson is known for his very casual way of talking. He often ends sentences with "man." GQ magazine called him "the last hipster dude." If he wasn't a chef, Carlson says he would be "the world-famous poker player with the cowboy hat and sunglasses sitting in the corner."

Carlson and his girlfriend Rachel Brown live in a three-bedroom apartment in Logan Square. They met through Brown's roommate, who worked for Carlson. They have a daughter named Lily and a Siberian husky dog named Furious George. Carlson spends two hours playing with Lily every morning before he goes to work. He says those hours are the best part of his day.

Carlson says his best friend is Nathan Klingbail. Klingbail used to work for Carlson and is now a sous-chef at Alinea. Klingbail is also Lily's godfather.