Duke junior Bryan Zupon is a hypermodern chef. Z Kitchen, the private dining club he runs, operates only a couple of nights a week (at most) and serves food based on the latest trend in cooking.

Hypermodernists like Bryan are part mad scientist and part culinary trailblazer, using additives like agar to create gel-like textures, and nitrous oxide to whip up mushroom or beet foams, and tweaking standard pairings in unexpected ways (a bubble of mozzarella infused with tomato "air" or a Caesar salad of parmesan-crusted romaine and brioche "twinkie" croutons). Another hypermodern hallmark is pairing foods that seldom meet on a plate.

"When people first hear about hypermodern food, they think it's a joke, and a bad joke at that," Bryan says. "For me, it's about introducing people to the most elemental aspects of food, taking food that is familiar but focusing on simple, clean flavors that are delicious. And I think that once people try it, they understand what I'm trying to do."

Bryan operates Z Kitchen out of the apartment he shares with two roommates. A glimpse into the kitchen pantry and prep area reveals an unconventional set-up: two water baths — similar to what you might find in a pharmaceutical laboratory — take up counter space along with a vacuum sealer he uses to create sous vide pouches. There's also an induction cook top, a device resembling a modernized hot plate that can heat, and cool, pots or pans in a fraction of the time that it takes an electric or gas burner. Because the cook top itself doesn't get hot, but instead transfers the heat directly to the pan, the induction method is energy-efficient and results in fewer burned fingers or hands.

Bryan's fascination with food can be traced to his childhood. Bypassing Happy Meals for haute cuisine, his parents always encouraged culinary exploration. His mother, Shizuko Kitagawa, frequently prepared Bryan's school lunches in the traditional Japanese obento style. Instead of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Bryan's elementary-school fare was more likely to include delicate, star-shaped omelets and whimsically carved vegetable pieces. A few years ago, his parents remodeled the kitchen in their New Jersey home to accommodate his culinary exploits.

Some kids beg their parents for Xboxes and cars. Bryan asked for a six-burner Viking gas range.

Z Kitchen is open only on weekends by advance reservation. The rest of Bryan's time is spent juggling an economics class in financial investments, a sociology course on the global economy, an international comparative studies class on the Caribbean in the eighteenth century, and intermediate Latin. In addition to generating food columns for The Chronicle, he serves as a liaison between students and dining services as co-chair of the Duke Student Dining Advisory Committee.