Thanks to ravioli, Will Hickman is the new chef de cuisine at Erling Jensen: The Restaurant.
“My first real experience with cooking was raviolis,” says Hickman.
He added all the right ingredients — garlic, thyme, and other spices — to make the sauce. But he just threw everything into the pasta water instead of tomato sauce. “It just stunk up the house,” he says. But Hickman, who was 7 at the time, continued to cook.
Since working with Jensen, he says, “I’m more versed in French, but Italian and Cajun Creole are close to my roots.”
Growing up, Hickman “loved drawing and creating things. That’s sort of what drove me to the restaurant business. I really enjoy the passion, the heat, the pressure, but at the same time creating something beautiful.”
Working as manager and kitchen prep at Pickwick’s The Historic Botel, which was owned by his dad, the late Darrell Hickman, was his first job at 14.
Newby’s, his next restaurant job, “wasn’t as much of a culinary challenge as it was a physical challenge. It was you making a few orders here and there, and you’re performing barback and bartender duties. On the unfortunate occasion, you’re the bouncer as well.”
On his off time, he cooked for his friends. “I was teaching myself to cook at the time. I hadn’t gone to culinary school yet. I was doing it to better myself. I was actually passionate about it because it made me happy.”
He studied at the old L’Ecole Culinaire. “It was useful because I got to network with people like Rick Farmer and Ben Smith. And I got to learn from them.”
Hickman worked at Flight Restaurant and Wine Bar, where he moved from garde manger to fish and grill. He later landed a job as garde manger at Erling Jensen’s, but, he says, “I thought I was totally out of my league and I was shittin’ kittens. I was nervous. I didn’t think that I could do it.”
He worked with Justin Young, owner of Raven & Lily, when Young was at Erling’s. “He is one of my mentors. I seriously respect him because he pushes you so hard.”
Jensen, who forced him to grow as a cook, is “above and beyond a mentor.” He taught him: “It’s always better to be prepared and be ready before somebody asks for something. The customer, the person who’s working next to you, your boss, the dishwasher … As long as you are mentally prepared or physically prepared, for that matter, you can give them something better than they’re expecting.”
Hickman left Erling’s, where he had risen to chef de cuisine, and moved to Boston, where he worked at Bar Boulud, owned by noted chef Daniel Boulud. Hickman said, “I will work for you for free. Just teach me stuff and we’ll go from there.”
He learned one of Boulud’s recipes for Edible Fireworks. “You take calcium carbonate and dump the different solutions into it table-side, and it flavors whatever you’re doing. And it shoots out sparks.”
After returning to Memphis, he was cooking at a country club when Jensen called him and said, “Are you still on the market?” Hickman said, “Absolutely. You need me and I’m coming.”
Jensen “takes care of his family, but also the people who work with him. That’s why it becomes a family. Because we see the people we work with more than we see our actual families. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the restaurant business.”
Hickman already has ideas as chef de cuisine. “I’m looking at expanding the seafood menu. Right now, we have only two things we’re offering.”
He also feels there is a “lack of authentic French. … Meaning, there’s no sweetbreads. And the foie gras should be different. Now that we’ve turned into fall, bourguignon. That’s a really great dish.” And, later, they might even do Edible Fireworks, he says.
Hickman is happy to be back working with Jensen. “I’m ecstatic. It actually feels normal again.”
Erling Jensen: The Restaurant is at 1044 S. Yates Road; (901) 763-3700.
Becky Githinji 
Lorna Field 