Word: overton
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...chef at Spago with the earnest good looks of an Eagle Scout, has reluctantly removed the salty little fish from his pasta puttanesca, traditionally made with tomatoes, anchovies, olives, capers and dried red chilis, and sets plates of rigatoni cloaked in the sauce onto a black-marble counter. David Overton, Cheesecake's founder, CEO and ultimate tasting authority, picks up one of the half a dozen forks arrayed for this tasting session and takes a bite. He is wondering about the anchovies. "Karl wanted to put them in," he says. "But some people are allergic to fish." And Overton doesn...
...first Cheesecake Factory was little more than a simple café when it opened in Beverly Hills, Calif., in 1978 as a place to feature the cheesecakes that Overton's parents made in their nearby bakery. "I just set out to help my parents," he says. Overton had no training in food and no "culinary influence" other than hours spent hanging out in San Francisco cafés. So he stuffed the sandwiches with sprouts, served espresso drinks nine years before Starbucks did and kept himself open to new ideas. In California in the 1980s, they were everywhere. Early on, he added...
That effort has evolved into the Cheesecake Factory's epic epicurean tasting trips. Twice a year, Overton and his team of R&D chefs visit the best restaurants in New York City, London, Singapore and other cities. A recent New York itinerary included Mario Batali's Del Posto, Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto's Morimoto and Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Spice Market. A weeklong trip might include three lunches and dinners every day, during which they often taste every item on the menu--plus snacks...
...Falstaffian proportions and equally wide-ranging tastes, Overton wants his food to be both popular and populist. "The stuffiness of waiters? That's got to go," he says. Not everyone can afford the $30 miso-glazed black cod made famous by Nobu, but the Cheesecake Factory's best-selling miso salmon is only $18 and three times the size. "Why should that memorable food experience be limited?" asks Bob Okura, the Cheesecake Factory's corporate executive chef. Critics call the portions a gimmick; health policy experts call them a dangerous contribution to obesity; the Cheesecake Factory sees value, encouraging customers...
...needs to give his customer-service representatives some lessons in "friendly." One day, after being an AOL subscriber for a couple of years, I was suddenly denied access. My inquiry into the reason for it met with rudeness. Later, AOL wanted me to reactivate my account. Sorry! CHARLES A. OVERTON Lexington...