Black Cat exec chef Eric Skokan on cooking for kids, the demise of burrata and his Niwot farm

Lori Midson

This is part one of Lori Midson's interview with Eric Skokan, exec chef/owner of Black Cat in Boulder. Part two of that interview will run in this space tomorrow.

In the exhibition kitchen, the Black Cat crew is breaking down ducks in a comfortable silence. There is no music, no pandemonium and very little chatter -- just the familiar thuds and jangles of knives and an occasional grunt: kitchenspeak for affirmation. Eric Skokan, Black Cat's owner and exec chef, is squatting at the bar, a glass of red wine, untouched, sitting on the counter, when the front door swings open and a man marches in and hands him a monumental wad of cash. It's been a profitable morning at the Boulder farmers' market, where Skokan has a stall and hustles organic produce from his farm in Niwot.

Born in San Diego and raised in Virginia, Skokan, who just turned forty, worked his way through college while doing time in restaurants, starting at a Bennigan's. "I loved the energy level of a busy restaurant right from the start," says Skokan. "A busy restaurant is addictive, and it's the only industry that can keep pace with a kid's brain."

His first job in a professional kitchen was at a joint called Tippy's Taco House, in Centerfield, Virginia, where he smashed avocados. "I was the 'guacamole guy,' and at the time, I thought it was the coolest job in the world," jokes Skokan, who went on to become the chef and innkeeper of a boutique hotel before taking a year off to apprentice in the kitchen of the Silver Thatch Inn, where, he says, he cooked with "the best chef in town."

He bounced around the line, doing stints in several more kitchens around the Virginia countryside -- and along the way realized that if he ever wanted to make a name for himself, he'd need to move on. "I muscled through a lot of jobs and I had boundless energy and enthusiasm, but I learned how to be the chef of restaurants without really being taught, and I knew that going to a bigger city would be beneficial," explains Skokan.