Word: chefs
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Although a great peddler of excess, Batali first became famous for his restraint in the kitchen, his veneration of simple Italian traditions. After graduating from Rutgers University, where he majored in economics and Spanish theater, Batali worked in kitchens in Britain, California and Turkey, where he was a yacht chef. ("Very good gig. Paid well. Virtually no responsibility. You get some rich yuppie group of six from Chicago paying $60,000 for a week on a boat. They would tip you a thousand bucks at the end of the week if they were happy. Which was enough to live...
...relatively inexpensive--its six-course tasting menu was $29--and Batali was soon feeding downtown artists, actors and, crucially, reporters. He became the most charismatic of the young New York City chefs--fun, funny, a little crude. There was something brash about his willingness to serve a just-picked strawberry drizzled with sweet balsamic vinegar rather than do something more complex and chef-ish like extruding a berry-vinegar solution into a foam. Great California chefs like Jeremiah Tower (for whom Batali briefly worked) and Alice Waters launched the American culinary revolution in the 1970s by trumpeting fresh ingredients above...
Their six other restaurants are flourishing; Bastianich estimates that they collectively serve 2,000 people a night. Last year the James Beard Foundation named Batali its Outstanding Chef--the top award a U.S. cook can win. This year the foundation has nominated Molto Italiano, Batali's 2005 book, as best international cookbook and Del Posto as best new restaurant. The winners will be announced at a Manhattan gala on May 8, a few days after Batali returns from cooking chicken thighs and tortilla casserole for scores of NASCAR drivers, crewmen, and their families at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega...
...were seen as fine artists rather than mere craftsmen. His brand seemed to be quality, a refined ristorante simplicity. But as he hawks his line of pork sausages to NASCAR fans, one already senses the distress of his original aficionados. Do you order a $30 squab from the NASCAR chef? Cautionary tales lurk in every corner of the food world: remember Rocco DiSpirito of NBC's The Restaurant? Both the show and the eatery, Rocco's 22nd Street, are gone. Wolfgang Puck doubtless earns millions from ventures like his little plastic-wrapped, refrigerated sandwiches sold at the airport. But eating...
...Farbers come from cookware royalty--Sam's uncle S.W. Farber launched Farberware with a percolator in 1930--and their collaboration with Batali is unusual. Typically, a celebrity chef's logo will be stamped onto a conventional-looking cooking vessel, and it will stay on the market only a couple of seasons. (Emerilware is a notable exception.) By contrast, Sam Farber, 81, sees Batali's line becoming a stand-alone design company. Like the Good Grips line, which appeared in 1990, the Batali products--with their autumnal colors, arm-breaking size and flattened wooden handles (a simple innovation that lends comfort...