Work as hotel banquet chef fills his plate

Chef Tom Moskos took his first culinary classes right out of high school and never looked back.

After hospitality management courses at River Grove's Triton College, the Oak Park native took an apprenticeship at the Westin hotels in 1986 and graduated with a 96 percent score on his final compositions, one of the highest ever achieved.

Today Moskos wears the title of executive chef at the new Westin Lombard Yorktown Center where he is responsible for all banquet catering. He previously put in time at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers and as executive chef for the Westin O'Hare.

Moskos and his wife, Linda, have two children and live near Glen Ellyn.

What led you to become a chef? I started dabbling in cooking in my late teens. I was looking at other careers and I took some classes. I guess I was just really trying things out. From the moment I took my first class, and I just took off running.

Have you always worked in the Chicago area? Yes. A lot of whole chefs move around the country and the world. Everything I ever wanted is here in Chicago. Everything I ever needed was here. My roots are here.

What's your job like? I'm strictly responsible for banquets. We do a lot of corporate functions as small as 15 to 20 people and as many as 800 to 900 people. I don't do a ton of cooking; probably 50 percent of my time is cooking. A lot of my job is teaching upcoming chefs, creating menus, creating ideas.

Did you ever want to work in a restaurant rather than a hotel? Never. I had worked at some small hot dog stands and restaurants and I saw an opportunity for an apprenticeship at a hotel.

In the hotel, you have more advance notice as to what your day's going to be like. There's more complexity in a hotel -- you have to interact with the front-desk staff, sales, convention services. You may be doing a break for six or dinner for 800. I like that complexity.

What else do you like about your job? I like to be out in the room with the guests. Even when I'm cutting through the lobby, people will come up and say "Hi, chef." I like to be out there. That's what made me successful as a hotel chef.

Most chefs are pretty outgoing, Type A personalities. I'm no different.

What are some of the challenges? When people come to the hotel, they're not going to get "hotel" food. They're going to get restaurant-quality food. I've been successful at that.

It used to be in a hotel banquet you'd get the starch at 3 o'clock on the plate and the meat at 6 o'clock on the plate and the vegetable at 9 o'clock. For a restaurant-quality meal, you assemble a salad rather than just putting a handful of greens on the plate. Flavor is very important. It should jump out at people.

Some of the challenge is making every plate look the same consistently. It's important that we take the time to do it right. It's challenging but it's all about paying attention to detail, orchestrating my staff.

Did you create new menus for the new hotel? Yes. It was time consuming. But I knew what the market was. I knew what we had to compete against and I created from there.

A lot of it is driven by the customer. But a lot of the customers need guidance. Forty percent of my menus are customized for the customer.

Do you have a favorite ingredient? A product I like is skirt steak. It's a lesser-quality piece of meat than cuts like tenderloin. But creating something palatable from it is the challenge. I clean it in a way that makes it tender, and I'll roll it like a roulade. I've taken skirt steak, stuffed it with bread crumbs and rolled it.

What do you do in your spare time? I love the outdoors. I love to go camping and hiking. I love the forest preserves and the state parks. Maybe that's because I'm indoors in the kitchen with no view of the outside so much. The kitchens are very much removed from the rest of the hotel.

As a hobby, my wife and I show and breed dogs -- Greater Swiss Mountain dogs. It's a big dog -- 130 pounds. They're short-haired. It's a thick, heavy coat. They're really easy to care for. Earlier this summer, we actually helped to deliver a litter of puppies.

We have two champions.

Who does the cooking at home? We both cook. We share the cooking. If we're having a special occasion, that's when I'll get creative.

What do you like to cook at home? Something I love to do at home -- more than at work -- is brunch. You can do different types of French toast, different kinds of bacon.

At work, brunches are a huge production. While I'm doing a brunch at home, I can interact with my family while I'm doing it.

Tell us about this recipe: Spiced Nut Granola. It has an aroma and a taste that people can't stop eating. In the morning, it's wonderful with yogurt. We use it for breakfast, and as an amenity in the guest rooms. It kind of clumps together, but it's not dry -- it's not sticky a bit. It's a blend of spicy sweetness. I love to play with the alternative options, too.

Try this at home or at the Westin Lombard, 70 Yorktown Center, Lombard. (630) 719-8000.

Spiced Nut Granola

1½ cups shredded coconut (4 ounces)

1 cup walnuts, chopped (4 ounces)

¾ cup almonds, chopped (4 ounces)

1 cup cashews, chopped (4 ounces)

1 cup pecans, chopped (4 ounces)

¾ cup pumpkin-seed kernels, chopped (4 ounces)

½ cup sunflower-seed kernels (2 ounces)

¾ cup raisins (4 ounces)

¿ cup brown sugar

1 cup honey

4 cups old-fashioned oats (10 ounces)

4 cups bran flakes (10 ounces)

1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cloves

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the coconut in a shallow pan and roast until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Stir the coconut as it starts to brown.

In a medium bowl, mix the walnuts, almonds, cashews, pecans, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds; pour them in a separate shallow pan and roast 10-12 minutes. Stir the nuts as they start to brown. Reduce the oven temperature to 175 degrees.

In a large saucepan, heat the honey and brown sugar over medium heat until the mixture starts to boil, stirring with a wooden spoon the entire time. Remove from the heat.

Add all the coconut and nuts to the honey mixture. Stir in the oats, bran flakes, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves; mix until well-combined. If the mixture becomes too stiff before it is combined return it to medium heat and continuously stir until combined.

Place the mixture on a sheet pan and place in oven for 45 minutes to dry. Let cool completely and enjoy. Store airtight.

Makes about 3 quarts.

Variations: Dried fruit granola: Replace the roasted nuts with 4 ounces each of chopped dried apricots, apples, pineapple, fig and mango, stirring them into the liquid honey mixture with the other ingredients.

Bran granola: Replace the roasted nuts with 8 cups of corn flakes and 4 cups of All-Bran or similar cereal, stirring them into the liquid honey mixture with the other ingredients.

Chef Tom Moskos, The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center, Lombard