Wilfried

I could make people happy by listening to the mix I was making. Now I can make them happy through the taste of what I’m cooking.

There was this guy who I used to work with and his son came to visit France. We became very good friends and he invited me to San Francisco. He said bring some vinyl with you. So, we went to a small bar in San Francisco called Butter. I didn’t speak a single word of English. My friend said, “Hey Wil is a DJ from France—can he play?” I played three tracks and everyone was on the bar jumping!

What do you like about DJing?

To make people dance. To see people react to my music. To be able to move a whole room is really cool. Two days before New Years Eve 2001 I came to America with with a bag of vinyl, a bag of clothes, and a French-English dictionary. And that’s it! I was called DJ Wil back in France, but when I got here they handed me the flyer and said your new name is Frenchy Le Freak. I said, “Cool!” But had no idea what that meant.

I came to America with with a bag of vinyl, a bag of clothes, and a French-English dictionary.

I started to become more and more popular and through the party I started to meet a lot of chefs—they would would come out after shifts. I was DJing in Las Vegas and my friend said I have someone that wants to meet you. He was this cool-looking older guy and he said, “If I wasn’t a chef, I’d want to be a DJ.” And I told him, “If I wasn’t a DJ I wanted to be a chef! You know what, you teach me how to cook and I’ll teach you how to DJ.”

I saw his card and it said Fleur de Lys. And I said, “Do you know someone at Fleur de Lys?” He said, “I’m the owner, Hubert Keller. So cool!” I gave him my card and he said, “Oh! You’re Frenchy Le Freak. So cool!”

So on Tuesdays, I was learning how to cook at Fleur de Lys and on Sundays I was teaching him how to DJ.

Are there some parallels between DJing and Cooking?

I could make people happy by listening to the mix I was making. Now I feel like I can make them happy through the taste of what I’m cooking. Mixing music together, when I’m cooking I’m mixing certain ingredients in the same way. One is with the ear and one is with the mouth.

When I’m DJing I like to bring new music to the people. When I’m cooking, it’s the same thing — I read a lot of recipes, but I always twist them. Something new, something different, my own.

Now that you’re a father, how does that change your outlook on work?

Now that I’m looking after my daughters, nightlife is getting pretty hard. I’m getting older and it’s hard to recover. I still love DJing, but now to be able to do my two passions—cooking and DJing, I love it! What I love most about Josephine is that I can watch my baby and I can cook at the same time. I just love it to be able to stay at home, cooking from my house, making an income, and raising my children.

Have you made friends with any of your customers?

Oh my god, yeah! When my second baby was born, tons of customers brought me gifts for her. Some customers have brought me truffle salt. Last night, someone brought me a bottle of wine because she was a little bit late. I know almost all of my customers by name when they come. It’s like a family.

It sounds similar to how you found community when you first moved to the states

I have exactly the same feeling. When I started in San Francisco, nobody knew me. I started from scratch, didn’t speak a word. And now with Josephine, I started from scratch. Now I have friends and over 250 reviews. Every time I see a great review, I want to create even more dishes. It makes me feel accomplished. I’m getting recognized for another passion!

My grandpa always told me, if you have the passion for something, you will be good. And that’s it.

See what’s cooking in your neighborhood at josephine.com.