Coping with losing Michelin star: how chef Rogier van Dam wants to help Lastage get back to 'the star'

Text: Hans van de Meeberg | Source: The Entrepreneur

Joy and sadness were close together last year for Rogier van Dam, chef of Lastage and co-owner of restaurant Lazuur in Amsterdam Noord. In a fortnight, his one restaurant won an award-quality accolade and his other restaurant lost its star with Michelin. Now the entrepreneur and his team are getting ready to recapture the Michelin star.

We meet owner and chef Rogier van Dam in his restaurant Lastage on a completely broken Geldersekade. ''All pipes, from gas to water, are now being replaced on our side of the quay,'' Van Dam explains in conversation with The Entrepreneur. "They have been working here for two months now and the end is not yet in sight. It will take about six months in total."

To date, he is lucky to have only one cancellation. ,,The quay is now a big sandpit, we have hung up a Lastage flag at the beginning to indicate that we are accessible. And should we still get a lot of cancellations, we can always rename our restaurant from Lastage in Laplage (The beach in French, red)," he says, laughing.

In addition to owning restaurant Lastage, Van Dam is also co-owner of Restaurant Lazure in an old working-class neighbourhood in North, both with his wife Elise. "Completely unexpectedly for us, Lazuur was awarded a Bib Gourmand at Michelin in early April last year," he says.

"Lazuur has been open since summer 2019, the chef Sherif Kalil is co-owner and runs a French cuisine with a Portuguese touch there. It was an incredibly cool moment. We were all super happy. After all, Lazuur had quite a difficult time, they are not in the hip part of Noord, but on a square in the working-class neighbourhood of Nieuwendam."

The crowning has had immediate positive effects on the business of the restaurant. ,,If you look in the Michelin app, there is only one red Bib icon on the north side of 't IJ and that is our restaurant Lazuur. So we are becoming a bit of a destination rather than a business for residents of Amsterdam North. We already notice it with guests from Friesland and Groningen who have already come a few times especially for our cuisine."

On Sunday evening in April last year, the day before the Monday of the announcement of the new Michelin stars, the guide's chief inspector called van Dam. ''I was shocked when he announced himself. We hadn't counted on a second star, I thought quickly, so that had to mean losing our star." Van Dam has had the star with Lastage since November 2011, which happened a year after opening, making it one of the fastest ever awards in the Dutch restaurant world.

You try to remember when the inspector came and whether anything went wrong at that time. That can't be retrieved, of course, but is good for processing

,,We really didn't see it coming. I naturally wanted to know the 'why' but he wouldn't go into that at the time. In the end, I only got to call him two months later. The loss really depressed me for almost three months. And so did my young team with little kitchen experience, who felt partly to blame for losing the star. Together with the team we talked a lot about it, about our service but also about the dishes on the menu."

''Surely the first thing you do is to look for the mistake, for the reason. You try to remember when the inspector came and whether something went wrong at that time. Of course, that cannot be retrieved but is good for processing. Ultimately, I am the chief and it is my responsibility I have always told the team. In the whole process of coping I found the hardest part was having to talk about it every time, no matter how well intentioned, brought back the pain. But that is thankfully over now."

After those three months, van Dam flipped the switch. ,,The conversation about the reason for loss did not actually bring much new information. Werner Loens, the now-resigned Michelin chief inspector, indicated that the quality was no longer as it was before corona. We were and are an a-typical Michelin-starred restaurant, relatively small, without white gloves and linen. With an artisanal cuisine of seasonal produce. But I do see something in his comments."

''The start-up after corona was very difficult. My sous chef decided to start his own restaurant and left almost at the same time as our maître sommelier who chose another job after five years. The two most important people in our small team. You don't replace them easily and especially not during the period of 'staff madness' right after corona. As a result, we had to start with a new talented but young and inexperienced kitchen team. So that in the kitchen you almost have to start all over again. In the first seven months after corona, we were severely understaffed in the kitchen and therefore only open three days a week'.

In terms of operations, Van Dam did not make any major changes, just dotting the i's and crossing the t's. ,,By attracting more staff, we could finally open in steps from 3 days to 5 days now. We are still looking for an experienced maître, call it my partner in crime at the front. So that we can take the next step there too."

With his new team, Van Dam has picked up the gauntlet and is working steadily towards constantly improving the quality of the restaurant. ,,The most important thing is that we have a healthy business. The strange thing is that we are running very well and guests still know how to find us. Many regulars but also many guests who come specially to Lastage, most of whom don't even know that we have lost 'the star'. But for us that does count."

Of course, we hope the star returns to Geldersekade soon

''Now that we have the kitchen complete and settled in, we will start building on increasing quality from now on. We will do this by sparring with each other, regularly eating with the team at colleagues' houses and analysing. But also by friendly colleagues and journalists giving honest feedback on our plates. We have been open for almost 14 years and want to get back to the old level as soon as possible. In doing so, we are happy with all the positive attention we receive. But of course we hope that the star will return to Geldersekade soon. This year or the next because we also realise that Michelin doesn't do that just like that."