PASADENA, Calif. _ The most rigorous training chef Timothy Hollingsworth endured didn't happen in the kitchen. It happened in the field with his contractor father.
"He taught me the importance of the attention to detail," says Hollingsworth.
"And I would work on a lot of things and be his wingman, his assistant, for many, many years _ from the sixth grade on. If I saw him working, and I saw that the socket wasn't going to fit, I had the right size socket in my hand. If I daydreamed I got into trouble," he laughs.
The oldest son of five kids, Hollingsworth grew up in Placerville, Calif. His mom stayed home and cared for the family, brewing up evening meals like chicken and dumplings and Sunday pot roast, he remembers.
He was still in high school when he took on the job as a dishwasher at the fanciest restaurant in town. His brother-in-law worked there, helping him land the job. And Hollingsworth was blissfully unaware that the menial task would launch a lifetime of culinary expertise. "It happened to be my birthday. It was Jan. 30, 1998, when I started. That was my first day in the kitchen," he says.
"I liked it, I enjoyed doing it, but I had about six months left of high school and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, so I was looking into colleges, into the military, was looking into the armed forces. And as I was doing that, I continued to cook and make money.
"As a dishwasher I liked the idea of having your station and being able to finish it before the next round of dishes came in, and they're getting piled up, and the gratification of clearing it all up. I appreciated that it may not be the most glorious job, but I actually enjoyed that part of it. And I had a good work ethic from my father, so I quickly moved up and was making salads and what not."
Cuisine aficionados realize Hollingsworth's "what not" turned into a sizzling career, redolent with countless culinary awards, nearly 12 years at the famous eatery French Laundry, ownership of three upscale restaurants in Los Angeles and a vaunted position on the Netflix series "The Final Table."
Deciding whether to take part in the TV show took some deliberation, says Hollingsworth, 38. "They called me and asked me if I wanted to do it. I said, 'Tell me about the show.' I wanted to hear more and more about the show because there were a few key things that really were intriguing _ one of them was Netflix and how global they are," he says.
"Another, that it's 24 chefs from around the world competing with each other, so it's not just an American thing. And they were really hung up on the fact that this show is a positive show about cooking. 'We're not going to throw any curveballs to try to sabotage you. It's really to showcase your abilities and talents.'"
Showcasing his talents as a chef took years, recalls Hollingsworth.
He was 19 when he initiated his very first plane ride to New York with a mission in mind. "I flew to New York to a restaurant called Le Cirque and took a train to Hyde Park and spent a week at the Culinary Institute, took a train back down to the restaurant at the Essex House, and then came back to California and realized this was something I want to do forever. And I'm going to work for the best."
He was determined to study with either famous French chef Alain Ducasse or Thomas Keller, the renowned American chef from the French Laundry.
But landing the gig was no cakewalk. Hollingsworth called Keller's restaurant and scheduled a reservation. "I made sure he was going to be there, and said I want to turn in my resume. So I went to dinner there, and I turned in my resume. He gave me his card and said, 'Give me a call or whatever.' I'm sure he's done that to a lot of people. And I called and I called and I called and I called and I called, and finally he said, 'OK, come in and try out.'
"So I came in and tried out. And then I called and I called and I called. And I finally received a letter in the mail saying I'd been hired. It took three months."
The toil and the discipline were worth it for Hollingsworth, who thinks many of the current crop of hopefuls lacks what he calls "the fundamentals."
"That's the whole celebrity aspect of things, the rock-star vision of what chefs are," he shrugs. "Yes, I'm on a television show, there's this global competition and whatnot, but I spent years and years and years training and cooking and practicing with the knife and taking things home and studying cookbooks and fluting mushrooms and making dishes at home and practicing how to do things, making pasta at home _ just to get better."
The discipline his father had taught him prevailed. But at first his dad was not pleased with Timothy's career choice. "Eventually he understood it when I did the (competition) Bocuse d'Or in 2009. He came in and saw me practice. I think that was the first time he really understood what I was doing. There's a lot of similarities between what he does and what I do _ working with your hands, it's a trade, it's something you have to learn by doing."
'TWILIGHT ZONE' RETURNS
Once more we can count on the SyFy Channel to ring in the new year with a "Twilight Zone" marathon beginning at 11 p.m. Dec. 30 and running through 6 a.m. Jan. 2. Each episode was a small morality play decked out in modern times. They were stories that could be taken on several levels _ from the simple roundelay of a tale to a shattering subtext with deeper meaning _ all in the context of science fiction.
"The Twilight Zone," which beamed up long before "Star Trek," "The Outer Limits" or "The X-Files," became one of the most popular series ever on TV and marked Rod Serling as one of the first creators to bring timeless writing to the television medium.
There were 156 episodes of "The Twilight Zone." Serling wrote 92 of them.
CBS OFFERS INSPIRATIONAL SPECIAL
Who says TV never does anything beneficial? CBS will be presenting its annual "A Home for the Holidays" special on Friday, in which it reiterates inspirational stories about children who have been adopted from foster care. LL Cool J will be hosting the special, which features Gwen Stefani, Train and Lukas Graham performing. Highlights from the Grove Mall's annual tree-lighting ceremony will shimmer along with updates on three of the families that have been featured on the show before.
'RUNAWAYS STILL ON THE LAM
"Marvel's Runaways" returns for Season 2 on Hulu Friday. The mystic tale is about teens who must flee their homes to escape their evil parents. Now on their own, they're scrambling for shelter and sustenance and harboring the suspicion there may be a mole among them. The show stars Rhenzy Feliz as teen leader Alex Wilder.
He says he auditioned for the part and had to wait a month to find out if he'd landed the role. He began to let his hair grow, just in case. "That was the first time I'd tested for a series ever," he says. "So I did the audition and it felt pretty good. An actor _ you get in your head all the time _ so for me it was tough those next couple weeks waiting, waiting, waiting. That's the toughest part for me, the waiting. I get a call. (Executive producer) Jeph Loeb in my ear, he says, 'Three words are going to change your life.' I said, 'What is it?' He says, 'Welcome to Marvel.'"
