Hartford Business Journal

20 Hartford Business Journal • March 9, 2020 • www.HartfordBusiness.com he went over and said 'hi,' and they were so excited." Creative type In the kitchen, Anderson is a chef's chef. Late-afternoon on a recent Friday at Terreno, Anderson busied himself with the tedious task of caking pheasant breasts with a foie gras mousse, and rolling them into plastic wrap to poach later. Pans crackled and the smell of sauteing onions and grilled chicken and other assorted ingredients slowly saturated the 2,000-square-foot kitch- en, as line cooks, sous chefs and other employees to whom Anderson refers as co-workers picked up the prep work for the restaurant's 5 p.m. opening. In the breezy calm-before-the- storm atmosphere of a kitchen prior to a hopefully busy Friday night din- ner service, it'd be hard to single out Anderson as the top chef. He casually talked and joked with kitchen staffers who have worked under him anywhere from a decade to just a few weeks. Terreno's lead chef Alejandro Leiva, who's been with Anderson since 2012 (and who proclaimed he'll beat any chal- lenger in a cook- off ), said Ander- son fosters an environment in which a passion for cuisine and a desire to learn are the main on-the- job requirements. Conversations with staff, like 23-year-old sous chef Jetzel Cruz, reflect that. "It's about understanding food," Cruz said while he methodically chopped garlic cloves. "How much story you can tell with just a piece of meat." Anderson treats his menus like a musician might approach a concept album; each dish is its own intricate artwork that tracks with the others, which collectively add up to a unify- ing theme. With a bald head, red beard and sleeve tattoos on each arm, the 6-foot, 1-inch Anderson casts a figure like a bass player in a punk-rock band. That's part of the image that's made him popular, but Anderson said he gives little thought to it. "I don't purposely brand myself," said Anderson, a father of three, in- cluding two children from a previous marriage. "I just try to be authentic." Bottom of totem pole Tyler Bragg Anderson was born in 1977, in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Entrepreneurial as a kid, his first business enterprise was a snowcone stand when he was about 6 years old. "I was always hustling, selling food," Anderson said. "That's always what I did in life, whether it was working at a farmer's market, or with a smoothie stand." His restaurant career began at age 15, when he got a job as a food expe- diter at The Hungry Hunter in El Toro, Calif. At the bottom of the totem pole, he made sure steak plates had their baked-potato sides, kept the soup hot Continued on next page >> Debating Immigration See both sides. General John Kelly Former White House Chief of Staff Loretta Lynch Former U.S. Attorney General Jose Antonio Vargas Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist and Immigration Advocate Thursday, March 19, 2020 7:30pm 860.509.0909 | ctforum.org LIFETIME PATRONS: Aetna | Connecticut Public The Hartford Financial Services Group | Lincoln Financial Foundation The Rosalyn Group | Stanley Black & Decker | Travelers United Technologies Corporation Moderated by Political Journalist, Evan Osnos Live at The Bushnell HOSTED BY >> Executive Profile continued EXECUTIVE PROFILE Chef Tyler Anderson in the kitchen of Millwrights in Simsbury. HBJ PHOTO | BILL MORGAN

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