Chef Dane Baldwin is the definition of hands-on. At 10 a.m. he’s hard at work in the kitchen of his much lauded Milwaukee restaurant the Diplomat — mixing bread, deboning birds for the restaurant’s famed knife-and-fork chicken, and generally prepping for the evening’s service. He’s also using that time to help his employees grow in one of the country’s best training grounds for new chefs.
Since its 2017 debut, the Diplomat has become a star in the Midwestern dining scene, with Baldwin earning the Best Chef: Midwest title from the James Beard Awards in 2022. Here, dishes like tempura soft shell crab served over bok choy salad draw both crowds of diners and raves from the critics. And, perhaps not surprisingly, those accolades have helped attract new chefs to the restaurant, who want to learn from Baldwin’s distinct approach to cooking.
Chef Ben Martin started at the restaurant when he was just 18 years old, working his way up from the salad station to one of its most important jobs: delicately deboning and pounding flat the knife-and-fork chicken. The chicken dish begins with those intricately prepared birds, which have been soaked in a “simple” brine that involves tea, citrus, buttermilk, and herbs. The chicken is flattened and seared until crisp, and served with sunchokes, Swiss chard, and Yukon gold potatoes. “Ben became the best grill cook we’ve ever had, and now he’s handling one of our most nuanced stations,” Baldwin says. “He’s earned every stripe he’s got.”
For Baldwin, mentoring new chefs has to be a two-way street. “The best part about coaching is coaching someone who wants to be coached. That has to be number one,” he says. “Someone like Ben, who sought out employment here, and he’s seen a ton of growth.”
At The Diplomat, Baldwin’s wife and co-owner Anna Baldwin has been game to learn new skills. Even though she doesn’t have formal pastry chef experience, she’s the mind behind the restaurant’s lemon posset dessert, which is served with rhubarb compote and crumbled shortbread cookies. “When you own a restaurant with your husband, you learn to do a little bit of everything,” she says.
Watch the latest episode of Mise en Place to see Baldwin and his team make all these mouthwatering dishes — and showcase the role that mentorship plays in their kitchen — from start to finish.
