Young chef

I sat in my studio of the day (a 40ft potting shed lit by a bank of windows down one entire side), waiting for Laura to finish preparing cucumbers in the kitchen where she works at the Garrison Institute. She walked in and stood in front of me. "Where do you want me?"

"There, by that pile of bricks. Stand there, just the way you are standing now."

Ryan again

As his café (it will be his in the middle of January) is the best in Cobble Hill for oatmeal, coffee and lightening polite service, we are swept there by a current of past memories. And you only have to glimpse him and something about his appearance causes you to grope for your camera. Last week it was the red and black hat.

Chef who would

We revisited Prospect Heights and failed with the chef at Bristen's Eatery. Adamant about not having her picture taken. People either say yes or they say, "No thank you I'd rather not, or, wagging their finger, they say, "No pictures." There is no persuading them. Money would do it, I suppose. I've never tried.

Go up the road to Breukelen Café. Have a coffee and Caroline nips outside to make friends with a woman and her spaniel. Five minutes later I follow. Never mind the spaniel, the owner is special. "I'm not shy, go ahead." she says. By coincidence she is a chef. Cooks at the attractive place next door, Dutch Boy Burger.

Chef in black cap

The sous chef at Naidre's in Carroll Gardens. He was on his break and enjoying the world outside, exchanging the din of the kitchen for the roar of the streets. Trained in Louisiana in classical French cooking with a touch of Cajun, New York City was for him, and here he is.

Chef Depp

Cheeky and good. Brooklyn is full of good young chefs who work at places you want to go to because the food is perfectly all right and the people are fun. The Building on Bond in Boerum Hill is designed, built and managed by the owner who decorated it with metal furniture out of factories, vintage books, scales and bottles.

Also you can set up your office at an eight foot long table. Electric current to recharge ailing laptop batteries is available from an old pull down reel affixed to the ceiling. Charming staff. And what were those two woman sitting opposite each other smiling about, as they stared into their machines and typed for half-an-hour, laughing, but not saying a word?