Kent Rathbun (born William Kent Rathbun on April 17, 1961, in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

"William Kent Rathbun," ''The Dallas Morning News'' (article sidebar), December 22, 1996, High Profile section, page 4E.) is a four-time Beard Award-nominatedDotty Griffith. "Chefs Rathbun and Hage nominated for Beard award," ''The Dallas Morning News'', March 19, 2004, Guide section, page 9. American

chef A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...

and

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspe ...

. His restaurants included Abacus, in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, an upscale restaurant chosen as most popular in Dallas by the 2007 edition of the Zagat Survey;Kitty Crider. "Jasper's chef cool in large kitchen, made from scratch," ''Austin American-Statesman'', April 18, 2007, page E1. Jasper's, in the Texas cities of Dallas, Plano(closed), Richardson, The Woodlands, and

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

(closed); and Hickory (closed), his upscale burger and bbq concept in Plano. He also catered in Dallas/Ft Worth, Houston and Austin with his entity Kent Rathbun Catering. In February 2008 he and his brother, fellow chef Kevin Rathbun, appeared as contestants on ''

Iron Chef America ''Iron Chef America'' is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's ''Iron Chef'', and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed ''Iron Chef USA'' that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, wh ...

''.Brooke Hatchett. "Woodlands chef showcases skills on television - Jasper's owner Kent Rathbun competes on Food Network program Feb. 24," ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

'', February 21, 2008, This Week section, page 2. They beat Bobby Flay on the "elk" episode. The scene where Chef Kent carries the elk appeared on Iron Chef's Greatest Moments.

Career

Rathbun entered the food industry at age 14, washing dishes at a local

Sambo's Sambo's was an American restaurant chain, started in 1957 by Sam Battistone Sr. and Newell Bohnett in Santa Barbara, California. Though the name was taken from portions of the names of its two founders, the chain also associated with '' The Stor ...

, a job for which he had lied about his age, claiming to be one year older.Helen Bryant. "Kent Rathbun: Cooking and catering for Dallas' upper crust," ''The Dallas Morning News'', December 22, 1996, High Profile section, page 1E. By the end of his first day as a dishwasher, he had asked to help the night cook, who within three weeks recommended that Rathbun be promoted to the cooking station. At age 17, he was working as an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...

in the 5-star dining room of Kansas City's La Bonne Auberge restaurant, where his mother worked as a maitre d'. The fine dining experience changed his culinary tastes, causing him to come home determined to educate the experienced cooks in his household: "When I started learning how to work with fresh vegetables and snails and foie gras, that's when my taste just exploded. I told my mother, `I can't believe it. All those things you and Grandma have been cooking all these years - you've been overcookin' 'em.'" After running a

catering Catering is the business of providing food services at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major service ...

service for the

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the A ...

and serving as

sous chef A sous-chef is a chef who is second in command of a kitchen, ranking directly below the head chef in the Kitchen Brigade system developed by Auguste Escoffier. In large kitchens, sous-chefs are typically left in charge of managing members o ...

in Dallas' The Mansion on Turtle Creek, Rathbun decided in 1999 to open his own restaurant Abacus. Shortly thereafter, in 2003 he opened Jasper's in Plano. Both establishments were opened as smoke-free restaurants prior to Dallas' enacting a ban on public smoking, and Rathbun has been active in efforts to ban smoking in restaurants statewide.Terrence Stutz. "Poll fuels fight for smoking ban: Legislature: Sponsor of statewide measure says public support strong", ''The Dallas Morning News'', February 1, 2007, page 3A. Zagat rated Abacus highly in 2008 as well as in 2007, granting the restaurant a rating of 28 points (on a scale of 30) for its food and 27 for its decor and service — a rating range that the guide describes as denoting "extraordinary to perfection" — and quoting survey respondents who called Rathbun a "genius."Shelley Gallagher and Robert Seixas. ''Zagat: America's top restaurants 2008'', New York:Zagat Survey LLC, pages 4,80. Abacus has been awarded the Forbes Four-Star and the AAA Four Diamonds for over 14 years. Jasper's was awarded NRN Hot Concept Award and was named as having some of the top ribs in America by ''Bon Appetit''.

Personal life

Rathbun is currently married to fellow restaurateur Tracy Rathbun, co-owner of Dallas' Lovers Seafood and Shinsei restaurant with Lynne Fearing.Dotty Griffith. "Sensational Shinsei - Lynae Fearing and Tracy Rathbun star in their own show at this hip new spot" (review), ''The Dallas Morning News'', September 1, 2006, Guide section, page 8. The close ties among the four restaurateurs were highlighted in media coverage when chefs Tre Wilcox of Abacus and Casey Thompson of Shinsei were selected as contestants in the third season of the

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

program ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo in March 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chefs ...

''.Alan Peppard. "'Top Chef ' is all in the family," ''The Dallas Morning News'', May 14, 2007, GuideLive section, page 3E.Bill Addison. "Making every detail count - At Abacus, they all add up to a five-star experience," ''The Dallas Morning News'', September 14, 2007, Guide section, page 8.Robert Wilonsky
"Abacus and Shinsei Sending their Top Chefs to Bravo's Top Chef in June,"
UnFair Park: The ''

Dallas Observer ''Dallas Observer'' is a free digital and print publication based in Dallas, Texas. The ''Observer'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music, and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue circ ...

'' Blog, May 08, 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-27.

Notes

External links

Kent Rathbun of Abacus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rathbun, Kent 1961 births Living people Businesspeople from Kansas City, Missouri American chefs American male chefs American restaurateurs People from Dallas