Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson Will Not Be Ordering The Eel Tonight

“I was so scared of snakes, and we had to kill eel at culinary school, in France. I don’t think I’d ever even seen an eel, and I had no idea what I was in for. And I was like, ‘I can’t do this.’ And you know how they do it, right? You nail their face to a board, and then they skin them.

“I was like, ‘First of all, I’m scared of snakes. I’m not touching this thing, nor am I going to nail its face to anything.’ I said, ‘You can fail me on this one.’ And they failed me.”

Q: Have you ever been served eel by a chef, when you were supposed to eat it?

“I’m sure I have, especially at those Japanese restaurants where they glaze the shit out of it and salamander it and it turns into, like, eel jerky, with sweet stuff on it. Still not going to eat it.”

Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson is the chef and owner of Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, Colorado, and Pizzeria Locale, in Denver, Boulder, and Kansas City.

We interviewed him during his stint as guest chef at Chefs Club NY.

Watch Lachlan tell us about his super stinky Tale From The Kitchen

Watch Lachlan’s extended interview with Cristina Cote

Interview and photo by Laurie Ulster