Chef Shots: Joe Isidori

CIA, 1999

"CIA was the single best experience of my life—the best thing I ever did for my career. It's exremely grueling. I never failed a class, but the fish-butchery portion of fish class was just intense. It was probably the most intense because I had an instructor that was just crazy. His name was Corky—Chef Corky—and he was an ex-drill sergeant, as the legend goes. And this guy would just sit there and just scream and yell and throw things at you. It was awesome. 'Gimme one goddam salmon now!' 'Yes, chef! Yes, chef!' It was great. It really sets you up for the real world. CIA is 100 percent boot camp."