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Chef With Abundant Shores and Rich FusionsProfile: One Chef at a TimeBy Marty Martindale
Just this last year its Real Intercontinental, located in Escazu, a suburb of San Jose, the capital city, staffed its kitchen with a top-notch Executive Chef. Where would an outstanding chef for this hotel come from? Try Bretagne, France (English pronunciation Brittany.) This little French peninsula in the northwest juts out into the Atlantic Ocean and is bordered by the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay. It is known as “Country of the Sea,” For years, the Breton people have fished the seas of European as far north as Newfoundland’s Grand Banks. Like Again, like Costa Rica her soils are also rich yielding heirloom artichokes, cauliflower, carrots and asparagus. Add to this food scene the Bretons’ fondness for fine breads, crepes and special hams, sausages and pates sold in their quaint charcuteries, and you’ll find a potential for a great cuisine. Now, introduce a chef from Bretagne, France, and its food heritage and let this chef weave delicious menus in Costa Rica, which is already rich with its own bananas, cattle, cocoa, coffee, rice, hearts of palm and sugarcane. Then, accent these with exotic guavas, maranons, mora berries and more than one variety of papaya.
The hotel has three kitchens located around its lush, campus-like grounds. Deep in chef’s largest kitchen, with his clipboard-lined walls and almost life-sized plaster replicas of French chefs, he’s comfortable. It’s his operations central. He’s computerized, and the room’s organized confusion reflects a great deal of activity. There’s also pressure, pressure to present memorable banquets for 600 people, cocktails for up to 1,000 in any combination of 20 function rooms. The cuisine must be equal to their expectations, and he’d like to exceed it. “We also have two restaurants,” he explains, “a fine dining room and a formal restaurant. Today we are catering a large wedding.”
Chef Eric divides his dishes into three categories: Chef’s Healthy, Special and Spicy. Evidence of Bausson’s Bretagne foods-from-the-sea background show up in many ways: Smoked Swordfish, Shrimp and Smoked Salmon in a
Sandwich Highlight of chef’s Mushroom Menu of the Month featured: Portobello Mushrooms and Sea Bass Carpaccio Your order, please? You can contact Marty Martindale at mm@FoodSiteoftheDay.com. |
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TM
Imagine a wonderful little country the size of the
state of West Virginia in the eastern U.S. Now, give this country an
Atlantic and a Pacific coastline, and all the seas have to offer. This
example is also an accurate geographic picture of the little country of
Costa Rica, Central America’s special jewel with the highest standard of
living in all of Central America. 
Enter Erick Bausson. At 40, he’s very much the trim,
affable, quick-minded, intent master of his kitchen. Married, he and his
wife have three sons and maintain a home in Costa Rica. His previous
positions have been in Venezuela and Guatemala. “I have worked in Latin
America eight years, Bausson volunteers. “I love the system in Central
America. Here, there is a lot of freedom. In America, there is less. I like
it, I like it very much here.” 
“I do have a chef for all the departments. We do fusion
with French, Asian, Italian, Arabian and more, because our guests want it. I
like the kitchen. With fine dining the kitchen is special and different. The
kitchen is French. We have 14 cooks, with a total kitchen staff of 70. I
like to have a French chef for the pastry and one for the fine dining.” He
laughs, “I am French.” 
Bausson’s kitchen staff is a hard-working group of
people who seem to like what they are doing. It’s clearly a team effort,
abuzz with concentration, and the pace is intense. “Here,” he explains, the
people know the kitchen and I am the professor, the teacher. I like that.”
The male workers in Chef’s kitchen have a soccer team,
and they play weekly. “We are good! My people work hard, they are happy
working, but we also need to play together. We pack food to eat there. The
Latin people need to be happy together.” he explains. Female workers do not
play on the team. The notion makes him laugh. 
Jorge Moran is Bausson’s Food & Beverage Manager,
joining the Real six months ago. Moran comes to the Intercontinental after
six years with Four Seasons and opening another property in the north of
Mexico. He has also worked in Switzerland and Thailand. “Now I am in Costa
Rica, and I like it,” he confides.