Saturday December 2, 2006
The Trump Card
BY SHOBA MANO
Celestial Steakhouse International
B-G-01, Jalan SS6/20,
Dataran Glomac, Pusat Bandar Kelana Jaya,
47301 Petaling Jaya
Email: csi-my@streamyx.com
Tel: 03–7880 6498 for reservations.
Opening hours from 11am to 10:30pm everyday except Tuesdays
A NEW restaurant in town is set to change the face of dining in Malaysia. Now you can have Donald Trump’s personal chef cook for you. And you don’t have to pay an exorbitant price for it.
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Gary May once cooked for Donald Trump and his family. |
Gary May, 45, CSI’s owner and master chef, was Donald and ex-wife Marla Trump’s personal chef from 1984 to 1986.
May attended prestigious culinary schools in America and completed a Masters Degree in Culinary Arts at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France.
He has won many culinary awards, including the Louisiana Abbeville International Gumbo Cook-off Top 100 Chefs, which he won four times from 1982 to 1985.
Gumbo is a rich Cajun stew thickened with okra or ground sassafras leaves and filled with vegetables, onions and meat or shellfish.
“The skills of a master chef are assessed by how well he prepares a meal with limited ingredients. This is why the competition limits the ingredients participants may use,” says May.
“My mum once told me she had nothing to cook when I dropped in unexpectedly. I used whatever she had in the refrigerator and came up with four–course dinner. She was amazed,” he recalls.
May stumbled upon this love for cooking at the tender age of 12.
“I used to help out at the restaurant my parents owned. Even after they sold it to an Italian, I would hang out there all the time.
“One day, I watched the chef prepare a wedding dinner. He made swan apples, ice carvings and palm trees with peppers and carrots and I instantly knew that was what I wanted to do with my life – cook for people.”
Born and raised in Gibbstown, New Jersey, May fell in with the wrong crowd during his teens and was involved in a number of criminal activities that eventually landed him in prison.
At the age of 19, May was sentenced to 20 years in prison for assaulting two police officers. While in prison, he found religion and decided to turn his life around.
May was released after serving only three-and-a-half years in prison. When he got out in 1982, he went to work at several different restaurants within Trump Plaza Casino and the Taj Mahal Casino both in Atlantic City, New Jersey, both are owned by billionaire Donald Trump.
May eventually got promoted as personal chef to Donald and Marla Trump.
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Chopped Sirloin Steak |
“Super rich families like the Trumps cannot just eat anywhere. That is why I travelled with them. They need to ensure their food is cooked by trusted staff.
“Donald Trump is very conscious about his health. So he eats healthy food. He does not have a favourite dish but he enjoyed the Tenderloin Medallion with fresh greens and balsamic vinaigrette.
“I remember Mr. Trump as a very intelligent man who could communicate to high-powered executives in a boardroom as easily as he could to ordinary staff. For instance, I remember him complaining about his financial woes to me saying he was going to lose all he owned and be forced to live on US$485,000 a month.”
Trump went on to tell May that the sum would not even cover the petrol for his vehicles. May confessed it was hard to feel sorry for someone who had as much as US$485,000 to live on. Trump then explained to him that it was all relative.
“Trump is so logical and he knows exactly what he wants. It is easy to cook for someone like this than for celebrities prone to mood swings,” says May. “The only thing I didn’t like was the travelling and lack of free time.”
May left in 1986 to work as chef on crew ships and oil rigs which also allowed him long vacations.
In 1992, he became general manager and executive chef at Montana Hanna restaurant, in Montana, owned by Jack Hanna, the wildlife conservationist.
May continued to work there after marrying his Malaysian wife three years ago. He came to Malaysia this year to open CSI.
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Italian Chicken Chop |
A meal costs, on average, RM15 a plate inclusive of unlimited salads and choice of dressings, free soup and home–made bread rolls.
Mexican dishes with Burrito are ingeniously served with Cajun Jambalaya rice as part of CSI’s unique blend. Jambalaya rice is a mixture of meat or seafood, vegetables and rice cooked in a single pot with Cajun spices. There is also Cajun Chicken Chop (RM12.50), Italian Chicken Chop (RM14.50), cooked with white wine and Beef Burgundy (RM14.25).
May also bakes all the fresh bread and pastries. “Customers may place orders for candies, chocolates and pastries,” he adds. “My greatest delight is seeing my diners satisfied.”
All the steaks on the menu are of the highest quality corn-fed prime beef. Most of the ingredients are imported from the USA.
Prices range from RM8.50 for sandwiches to RM135 for the most expensive dish on the menu – Surf and Turf, which is made of lobster tail and tenderloin.
When May was working at one of Trump’s restaurants, he received a US$200 tip from the diner for whom he had prepared Surf and Turf. I was told the diner had come into the restaurant to celebrate his wedding anniversary. I didn’t know who he was.
“I came out to meet the diner and was shocked to see the judge who had sentenced me to prison. I shook his hand and thanked him for giving me a chance to better myself.
“I must say the US$200 tip was the best compliment anyone had paid me,” laughs May.
CSI is offering a special Xmas menu. (see sidebar) the restaurant also hires recovered drug addicts and rehabilitated ex-prisoners as waiters and other staff as part of its commitment of service to society. W
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