Celebrity Chefs

Anthony Bourdain and the Casa Nostra Chef

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Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain, the infamous traveling chef now on almost every lifestyle channel in existence- had quite a story to tell in one of his first bestselling books: “Kitchen Confidential“. Finally, after many trial and tribulations, he had found his sous-chef extraordinaire, Steven Tempel, for the Supper Club in New York, where Bourdain had just been made head chef. To say that Steven was eccentric was, according to Bourdain, putting it mildly…

Nevertheless, Bourdain reveals in the very frank and no nonsense book (as in how it really goes down in the restaurant business), Steven was somewhat of a genius. It turns out that Bourdain had recruited Steven from Casa Nostra Restaurant, in Northern California, where he had been working in the kitchen with “idiot savant” and “baking genius” Adam Real-Last-Name-Unknown!!

Kitchen Confidential is an excellent read and here at Celebrity Chefs we highly recommend it. As it turns out, the owner of Casa Nostra Restaurant (which was known for serving the best italian cuisine in town)- Joey Velardi, has recently opened up a branch in Manila, Philippines- where it is receiving rave reviews from the locals and in fact Bourdain recently visited for his show “No Reservations“.

Let’s hope Bourdain doesn’t steal the chef again 😉

Stoner Cuisine At Its Best

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Do chefs smoke pot? If celebrity Anthony Bourdain is to be believed – and he is highly credible – then, yes, many celebrity chefs depend on marijuana to keep going. According to the TV host, chef, and author, the long and often intense hours require chefs to blow off steam – and they do, one way or another. In his book, he chronicles how marijuana is often the “herb” of choice.

He says that even those people you would not imagine smoking weed actually do! The idea is that these chefs just need something to keep them calm and relaxed and get the job done. If other people smoke weed, why not them?

Of course, there is the issue that smoking weed and getting high in the kitchen can actually alter the results of their efforts. I am not sure that the results are as excellent as they normally are without the high that weed brings. In fact, many people question the practice not because of the illegal nature of the drug, but because the experience it brings might compromise the quality of the food. More so, can you imagine a frenetic kitchen preparing meals for hundreds of people with stoned chefs? It’s an accident waiting to happen.

Then again, despite what Anthony Bourdain says, we all know that there are kitchens whose staff do not need any chemical substances to function properly. Then again, if stoner cuisine is just as good as any other cuisine, who cares if the chefs get stoned?

Adios, El Bulli!

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Michelin stars are not easy to come by, and we all look at restaurants in a different light once they get these stars. IF they have 3 Michelin stars, that ups the game to a whole new level, doesn’t it? There isn’t any restaurateur in the entire world that would not want to earn those three stars, but chef Ferran Adria is one of the fortunate ones (and deserving as well) to have earned them.

His restaurant El Bulli has been hailed by many – professional and amateur foodies alike – to be the best in the world. I haven’t had the honor of dining there myself, but I would give an arm and a leg to do so. Unfortunately, the rumor is that the chef is closing El Bulli for good. Last month, he announced that he would be closing the restaurant for two years – 2012 and 2013. He did so at Madrid Fusion, a conference for Spanish chefs. Why he would want to do that, who knows.

More recently, chef Adria announced that the closure of El Bulli is going to be for good. He said that instead of running the restaurant, he would be running a culinary school – an advanced one at that. Apparently, he and his partner have been losing money (large amounts of it) steadily on the restaurant. Again, how this could have happened, I haven’t the slightest idea!

In any case, this closure is going to be a sad one for the hordes of foodies around the world – especially for those like me who have never had the chance to sample their fare.

Have You Seen Tyler Florence’s Fork?

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tyler-florence-fork6Yes, it is a fork, literally. Celebrity chef Tyler Florence has been operating a cookware store for about a year now in Mill Valley. Dubbed the Tyler Florence Shop (no mistaking who owns this store!), the shop has had a signature fork as its storefront symbol. There is nothing ordinary about this fixture – it weighs a hefty 50 pounds!

Early this month, the police received a report that the 50-pound fork was missing. This was on the 10th of June, although the employees already noticed that it was missing about two days prior to the report. (Well it would be kinda hard NOT to notice a missing fork that big, don’t you think?) Anyhow, they thought that it might have been a school prank so they didn’t think much of it in the beginning.

Now, the missing fork is causing quite a stir, with celebrity chef Tyler Florence himself appealing to people over Twitter. He even offered a reward to whoever finds it and returns it!

The celebrity chef, as much as he might be missing his fork, is not so dense as not to see the humor in the situation, though. Together with his wife, Tyler continues his search for his fork but also welcomes the laughter that it occasionally brings. Indeed, where else have you heard about such an online buzz about a missing fork?

So, if any of you have heard about or seen this fork, let the chef know. You’ll make him happy AND get a reward for it too!

Photo courtesy of Food Network

Jamie’s G20 Feast Critiqued

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jamie-oliver-picture-1This guy will never have his full share of controversy, will he? Jamie Oliver had the honor of serving the leaders of the world during the G20 summit in the UK, and this is what he had to offer them:

Starter: Organic Scottish salmon with samphire and sea kale, and a selection of vegetables from Sussex, Surrey, and Kent.

Main course: Slow-roasted shoulder of Elwy Valley lamb with Jersey Royals, wild mushrooms and mint sauce.

Dessert: Bakewell tart and custard.

Vegetarian option: Goat’s cheese starter followed by lovage and potato dumplings for the main course.

There are some things there that I am not familiar with, like samphire and lovage (ah, spank me!), but all in all, the menu looks fabulous to me. But no, some people are quite unsatisfied with the menu, saying that it is not representative of what British cuisine has to offer. Chef Yotam Ottolenghi, in particular said:

The first impression I get from this menu is that it’s extremely British and very politically inoffensive. I don’t think it’s terribly exciting, but then I don’t think it should be on an occasion like this, when Jamie is trying to satisfy so many people.

I would have liked to have seen a few subtle multicultural influences in the menu to reflect modern Britain. It’s a very northern European menu and it doesn’t represent the very strong south-east Asian influences that do exist here.

Some of the foreign guests might raise an eyebrow to the idea of mint sauce with lamb, but as long as Jamie keeps it fresh and doesn’t make it vinegary, like some of the shop varieties, people won’t find it offensive.

Who finds mint lamb offensive? Maybe vegetarians? Anyway, from what I heard, the dinner went off quite well.