"The study of computer science was fun, but the actual day to day didn't suit me well," MacLeod said.
Today, MacLeod, who did in fact major in computer science, can be found in the kitchen of Carpenter & Main, a French restaurant in Norwich, Vt., where he became the owner and chef on April 17. A group of Dartmouth alumni fund the restaurant.
"I can't say that when I was five I loved to cook, but I did learn to make biscuits at a very young age, and I loved being in the kitchen with my grandmother," MacLeod said. "I was certainly not cooking in the basement at a fraternity house."
While at Dartmouth, MacLeod was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity, worked at the Hanover Recreation Department as a coach and referee and spent much of his time at the former Kiewit Computing Services building. During his last term at the College, MacLeod had an "apprenticeship" at D'Artagnan, a French restaurant in Lyme, N.H. where he was trained by a chef who MacLeod said "beat a lot of good technique" into him.
After college, MacLeod attended what he labeled "the bootstrap school of cooking." He traveled to San Francisco to work at another French restaurant and then returned to the east coast to work at Simon Pearce in Quechee, Vt., and the Peninsula Grill in Charleston, S.C. He also ran the kitchen at the Keswick Hall hotel near Charlottesville, Va. and owned the Lowbrow Restaurant in White River Junction, Vt. before arriving at Carpenter & Main.
"Holding my own small restaurant is what I've always wanted to do," MacLeod said. "For me it couldn't be any more fun. It's exhausting, but fun."
MacLeod, who specializes in French cuisine, does not have a favorite recipe to prepare, but does enjoy the demands of his position and the responses from satisfied customers.
"I get a pretty good adrenaline rush out of actually cooking on the line. It's busy, it's stressful," MacLeod said. "If the food is good, people love to tell you about it. In other jobs, you don't get that immediate gratification."
Although MacLeod did not follow his initial goal of a career in technology, his CS major has been useful for him in the restaurant business. MacLeod explained that the duties of a chef not only consist of cooking but also of accounting and completing paperwork, which are tasks where knowledge of computers can be useful. MacLeod finds that the thought processes behind working with technology and food can be synonymous.
"A [computer] program is a series of steps to reach an ultimate goal. A recipe is basically the same," he said.
As a graduate of the College whose major has no direct correspondence to his career, MacLeod also commented on the benefits of a liberal arts education. He stated that students often focus too much on job specialization when selecting their majors and stressed that receiving a broad education is the most important aspect of college.
"The Dartmouth education is a life education. You shouldn't have to focus on what it is you are doing," MacLeod said. "Being happy in your job is more important than making money at it."
