Winston's John Castro blends simple, decadent

"Restaurants are a subculture. You have to be a little crazy to do this as long as I have," John Castro laughs about his career as a chef. Now executive chef at Winston's Restaurant at Sullivan University, he's also a teacher and mentor to many of the culinary interns at the restaurant. He says it's refreshing and engaging to watch students grow under his teaching style, which is a mix of analytical and abstract. He also takes pleasure in watching the industry evolve, especially in Louisville.

Although he describes Winston's menu as globally influenced and sustainably sourced, and says it's a blend of simple and decadent, he believes good food doesn't have to be over the top.

"Sometimes I use three or five ingredients and call it a day. If you use great products, you don't have to do a lot to them," he says. "Cooking with restraint is something that needs to be learned. It's more about the method and the seasoning. If you mess up either of those, it changes the structure of the food itself. It's exciting to taste freshness and quality."

His advice should boost the confidence of those who timidly venture into the kitchen as well as cooks who want to ratchet up their level of expertise. First, don't expect the food to be perfect and look like an 8-by-10 glossy photograph. There's a good chance that won't happen. Second, expect to tweak what you're cooking as you're cooking. Chefs do it, and so should you. Finally, eliminate kinks or unpleasant surprises by doing a trial run of a recipe before you serve it to guests. That's from a chef who has experienced his share of kinks along the way.

Castro is proud of making it into the top ranks of his profession but isn't entirely comfortable with the tendency for staff, diners and, sometimes, media to address him as "Chef" instead of by his name.

"That's kind of alarming to me," he says. "Sometimes people will say my name, and I don't even hear it because I'm so tuned into the title. I keep threatening to write a book called 'My Name Is Not Chef.' "

Whether he's Joe, Mr. Castro or Chef, he's constantly toying with new projects.

"The other day I was joking about learning to weld. You just never know with me," he says. "I spend hours in the kitchen full of hard surfaces, which sometimes gets to me. When that happens, I go outside, look at the grass and mow it off. That's my relief."

He has quite a tidy lawn.