Celebrity Chefs

The Celebrity Chefs Inspire Men To Cook

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Emeril.jpgIn the busy world we live in, eating has been done on the run. A lot of people admit that they don’t have the time or have never learned to cook for themselves. This situation is why many fast food chains so successful.

Enter the celebrity chefs. These masters of the kitchen are inspiring a whole new generation of cooks and no, they are not all women. In fact Food Network says that their demographics are 50% percent male for all their shows.

Many guys say that Emeril Lagasse, Mario Batali and Bobby Flay have helped them develop their taste for gourmet food. The best part is that they can cook it for themselves at home. In fact the Food Network has more male chefs than female ones, just as the male professional chefs outnumber the female chefs.

As Rachael Ray puts it, pop culture and TV has made cooking cool and manly. She says, “You see a lot more men on TV with food, good food.”

Irregardless whichever sex we are, those of us who aren’t that great in the kitchen are thankful to have some truly great chefs to learn from.

Originally posted on October 21, 2010 @ 12:57 pm

Jamie Oliver Set To Conquer Hong Kong

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jamies_italian_250x300Jamie Oliver has gone a long way, and is now one of the most popular celebrity chefs all over the world. He is not one to sit on his laurels, though. Although he has had much success with regards to cookbooks and TV shows, he wants to expand his reach. The news is that he is going to Asia to introduce his line of Italian restaurants. He will be starting in Hong Kong.

Jamie is no stranger to the restaurant business. He has, in fact, a chain of restaurants well established in the UK. Hong Kong and Singapore are the target countries, with six restaurants in total. Dubbed Jamie’s Italian, the restaurant line’s strength is in its quality of food and fair prices. In fact, the press release for the line says “At Jamie’s restaurants, you will often find a blue-collar worker, a student, and the chairman of a blue-chip company side by side having a meal.”

I am not sure about what is “fair,” though. From what I hear, you would have to shell out about HK$300 for an average 3-course meal. That is not something that a blue-collar worker or a student can pay (unless he’s got rich parents)! What do you think – would you pay this much for a meal at Jamie’s Italian?

In any case, the restaurants are not going to be ready for business till next year. If you really want to eat at Jamie’s Italian, I guess you better start saving now.

 

Originally posted on August 31, 2009 @ 1:41 am

Celebrity Chef Charged With Assault

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DavidBurke_PortraitCelebrity chefs may be the best cooks on earth but that does not mean that they are the most behaved as well. Being celebrities, they are also not exempt from problems and rumors and all that kind of stuff. Usually it is Jamie Oliver who is in this kind of pickle. This time, though, it is David Burke that is the target.

The name not familiar? David Burke is the owner of several restaurants, one of which is David Burke Townhouse in New York. Burke has also appeared in some shows like Iron Chef America.

Anyhow, chauffeur Thomas Heiser, 28 years old, has filed a lawsuit against the chef. In a Fort Lee Municipal Court, he claimed that the chef punched him in the face when he asked for a day off because it was his wife’s birthday. According to a UPI report Heiser explained:

“He called me a piece of (expletive), (expletive), lazy mother (expletive), which wasn’t unusual. “He said, ‘Give me the keys. You walk home.'”

More than being merely punched in the face, Heiser also says that Burke slammed his head on a car trunk.

So what has the chef got to say about this? Burke says that he did insult the chauffeur but he that he never did lay a hand on him.

Now who to believe? I don’t know. We don’t have that information. But we do know that if the chef is convicted, he will be facing up to six months in jail.

Originally posted on July 31, 2009 @ 1:00 am

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.

Originally posted on February 16, 2010 @ 11:57 am

Mario Batali Becomes Advocate For Meatless Monday

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In some parts of the world, Fridays are considered to be a “meatless” day. That is, some people do not eat pork, beef, or any other animal flesh (except for fish and other seafood). I think this is because Friday is traditionally believed to be the day that Jesus Christ died. I could be wrong about the reason, but in any case, I am sure about this: Iron Chef Mario Batali has joined a cause. The Meatless Monday cause.

What’s it about? The initiative is being carried out by The Monday Campaigns, together with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The main goal is to cut back on the consumption of meat by 15% by not consuming meat on Mondays.

Now why would they want to do that? The answer is simple: eating less meat can be good for your health. Eating less meat also contributes to the efforts to save the planet.

The idea is noble, and the implementation quite simple – theoretically. For meat lovers, it might not be as easy.

Anyhow, famed celebrity chef Mario Batali, who is known for his love of meat, has decided to join the cause. It might seem ironic at first, since he has this awesome way with all sorts of meat. However, the chef himself justifies his commitment to Meatless Mondays:

“The fact is, most people in the U.S. eat way more meat than is good for them or the planet, Asking everyone to go vegetarian or vegan isn’t a realistic or attainable goal. But we can focus on a more plant-based diet. That’s why I’m such a big believer in the Meatless Monday movement!”

So how’s the chef going to go about it? All of his restaurants – all 14 of them – will be serving at least two vegetarian options every Monday. Pretty cool, although it would have been more radical if he had decided not to serve meat at all on Mondays, right?

Originally posted on May 9, 2010 @ 3:33 pm