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Harold Dieterle Talks First Job, Fave Drink
The 'Top Chef' Season 1 winner also reveals he doesn't cook much at home.
Top Chef star Harold Dieterle has certainly achieved quite a few culinary dreams since winning the very first season back in 2005. He's the chef-owner of three New York City restaurants and working on his first cookbook.
But what about Harold's first job in the kitchen? In a new interview with New York magazine, he reveals he may have gone about securing it through dishonest means.
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"I was a dishwasher at a marina called the Gull in Babylon when I was 14," he admits. "I lied about my age. It was off the books and five dollars an hour. At the time I was like, "Holy s---, this is great. Oh, and I can try to get a staff drink at the end too? This is awesome."
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Unfortunately, for his wife of three years Meredith Davies, Harold doesn't don his kitchen whites too often at their home. He estimates that he cooks about "once a month"—and mostly in the cooler months. "When we stay home more. I make simple stuff," he explains. "I like to do roasted chicken."
While he's not a big cook in his own kitchen, he's definitely one to enjoy a night-cap from time to time. His poison? Gin and soda.
"It started out as Captain Morgan and Coke with lime," he says. "Then that became too sweet, so then it became a gin and tonic, and that became too sweet and was keeping me up at nights, and now it's just gin and soda. Soon it's gonna be just gin."
