Marisa D'Vari interviews Daniel Bruce, Executive Chef at the Boston Harbor Hotel

    
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      I've interviewed Daniel Bruce several times during my tenure in Boston, beginning in 1995 when Boston was just making headway on the city's culinary map and the Boston Harbor Hotel was one of a handful of venues known for fine dining.

     In 1996, I invited Dan to be on my show with the then-chef of the Four Seasons Hotel, and both chefs joked about being in the kitchen at 8:00 on a busy Saturday night and having diners deliver a recipe of exactly how they'd like their sauce prepared.

     Then, in other episodes over the years, we chatted about Dan's ability to forage a meal from the wilderness (his father had been a trapper) and finally, in this informal clip outside the studio, how Dan tastes wines to pair with the cuisine he features during the Boston Harbor Wine Festival.

     As the years went on, Bruce's star has grown. He has been selected as Chef of the Year for Boston by "Chefs in America" and, in both 1992 and 2001, he was honored as one of the "Best Hotel Chefs in America" at the James Beard House. Additionally, Bruce is an honorary member of Chevalier du Tastevin and has been recognized by Boston Magazine as the city's Best Hotel Chef.

     On a side note, Bruce has a long list of sous chefs who worked by his side now making strong inroads in the Manhattan Culinary scene. When researching an article on museum lunch cafes, I happened to visit Café Opaline at the Dahesh museum of art with a friend. For some reason, the subject of Boston came up and it turns out the chef, Tim Sullivan, worked with Dan Bruce at the Boston Harbor.

Small world …