When I began in the food industry, it had more to do with paintbrushes and less to do with pots and pans. The local apple orchard was a popular one and they hired high school students to work their frenzy of a fall festival from August to November every year. Seasonal hires would work tirelessly every weekend from morning to night, entertaining whiny kids, enduring country music cover bands, and staving off nausea from the rampant smell of french fries and horse droppings, all while trying to stay warm as …

Much to my glee, I was able to snag a few tickets to the recent Tony Bourdain talk here in Portland. Featured at Keller Auditorium, and sponsored by the Seattle Theatre Group, Bourdain took the stage last Friday, all by his lonesome, and it was quite the entertaining experience.
I didn’t know what to expect, other than the fast-talking, smart-ass Bourdain we’ve all come to know and love. The crowd went wild when he made his way to the podium, dressed in his usual jeans, jacket, and boots. He was noticeably …

Posted by Jennifer Heigl

Hot on the trail of my celebrity chef weekend extravaganza at the 2009 Vegas Uncork’d festival, SmartMoney.com has a great list of  Ten Things Celebrity Chefs Won’t Tell You.
While I’ll be the first to tell you how fun it is to get to know ‘celeb’ chefs, it’s long been a complaint of mine that most ‘celeb chefs’ really aren’t chefs at all. Sure, they’re nice and friendly, and they’re familiar with the kitchen to a certain extent, but most fans would be surprised at how few really …

Don’t call it a recession?  After a year of squeezing by the elephant on the way to the bathroom, we can officially state we are in a recession.
For those cloaked in denial, the truth is behind the pushcarts.  The NY Times shed some harsh light onto the slimming job market that has impacted several industries over the last few months.  In this particular case, it was out of work cooks and chefs who were desperate for employment and willing to take a part-time job at a hot dog stand.
Note the …

Amidst the clinking champagne glasses and photo ops of Sunday night’s James Beard Awards, WSJ took the opportunity to gather a few thoughts on how chefs are adjusting to soaring food costs.
Chef Michael Psilakis of Anthos, which was nominated for Best New Restaurant, offered:

“The key is to find multiple uses and to use every last thing that there is.  It’s really a test of a true chef to take something that may not be the best part of an animal and make something beautiful with it. 

While chef Masaharu Marimoto emphasized energy conservation …

During our trip to Las Vegas a few years back, my husband and I had to make a stop at Nobu Las Vegas for dinner. While my semi-claustrophobic husband was unamused by the packed house, I was happy with my five inches of personal space and warm sake. The food? Marvelous. The vibe? Close and comfortable. And the beautiful tea cups – modern green china without handle, emblazoned with a gold Nobu logo. It was everything I had imagined it would be.
But has Nobu, helmed by celebrity chef and restaurateur …

Juliette Rossant of Superchefblog.com posted this week about the recent bruhaha surrounding celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay. Apparently, Ramsay is making a huff about restaurants that utilize non-local produce, relying mainly on foodstuffs carted in from all over the world. In fact, he suggested that restaurants should be fined for their national and international ingredients.
In this article from the UK’s Telegraph, Ramsay comments:

“Chefs should be fined if they haven’t got ingredients in season on their menu,” he said. “I don’t want to see asparagus in the middle of December, I don’t …

The restaurant industry is heavy on ego and for a few of us who discuss the current events there is sometimes the compelling notion that flexing our muscles against our subjects will bring civility to the land.
Yesterday was a variant of that day.  With a saturation that would make Chang’s pork buns consider a sauna bath, the blogs were sweating of Gael Greene, Tom Dobrowski and New York’s favorite temperamental chef, David Chang himself.
Following a week of ongoing “did he or didn’t he cancel his reservation?” at the recently borderline-infamous, Momofuku Ko, …

Image courtesy of Odbitki
The nature of a recipe is predisposed to fluidity.  What one chef creates another may come along and change.  There are times when change is for better.  There are times when change is for worse.
In search of Rome’s best carbonara last month, restaurant and wine reviewer, Gambero Rosso, found two chefs with superior executions. 
The irony, however: neither chef was Italian.
The runner up was Indian and the winner was Tunisian.  Nabil Hadj Hassen, who migrated to Italy at seventeen, prepared the noteworthy carbonara dish at Antico Forno …

Today Food and Wine Magazine celebrated its 20th anniversary of calling out America’s most promising culinary talent.
What does it mean to make this exclusive list and how much bearing does it have on the culinary world?  Twenty years ago culinary icons Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud were among the names to grace the list.  Other notables such as, Daniel Bouley, Terrence Brennan, Nobu Matsuhisa and Dave Chang have followed over the years.

2008’s roll call includes two women chefs and a chef of a vegetarian restaurant. 
Oh, and the lists have their share of …