Few people have had an impact on the United States culinary scene like Jeremiah Tower. Yet, for nearly 20 years, he disappeared from the scene and few people seemed to know what had happened to him before he took up the challenge to become chef of New York legendary restaurant Tavern on the Green. Having accepted to take part in a documentary about his journey, Jeremiah was in the middle of filming when he accepted what many considered to be an an impossible task. Why would he do something like this particularly having been away from the cooking scene for so long. What did he want to prove? Did he do it to add a dramatic effect to the film? In an interview with Food and Wine Gazette, Jeremiah says that when he accepted to return back to cook at Tavern on the Green he believed that he could turn it around and was close to achieving this. “I thought that the filming was over when I accepted the challenge. I looked at the owners, the staff and thought that while the challenge was … [Read more...]
‘Jeremiah Tower had to let go for the documentary to work’- Lydia Tenaglia (film director)
Jeremiah Tower’s impact on the gastronomic world, particularly in the United States has been huge for those in the know. But for many, he was just a forgotten figure and most people interested in the food scene today would probably never have heard of the name before. This is because until 2014 he was mostly forgotten because he was on what many viewed as a self-imposed exile. So it must not have been an easy task for Director Lydia Tenaglia and executive producer Anthony Bourdain to get the US chef to reveal his story from his childhood to the years at the legendary Chez Panisse and then Stars while also depicting what happened since he left Stars. When I interviewed director Lydia Tenaglia on her documentary film Jeremiah Tower, the Last Magnificent which will be released in cinemas this week in New York and LA on 21 April after its success at the Tribeca film festival last year, I was curious to how she had managed to convince someone who had disappeared from the limelight to … [Read more...]
Rasmus Kofoed: You need to look for what is not obvious
Michelin inspectors have arrived at a restaurant in the Danish capital Copenhagen. Usually they would get away with anonymity but this time, Rasmus Kofoed and his team know that the persons dining at table are from the Michelin guide. How they realised is a story that has yet to be told but on that day, somehow, the staff at Geranium, the three Michelin star restaurant in Copenhagen knew they were serving Michelin inspectors. The tension must have been palpable. Not knowing that you are being inspected may keep you on tenterhooks every day but there is probably no feeling more intense for a chef to know that he is being tested on the spot particularly when so much is at stake. They serve razor clams and when the plate returns back to the kitchen, the chef and cooks realise that the edible clam shell has been left intact. So they ask the service team to send another set of razor clams to tell them that the shells are edible. Rasmus Kofoed tells Food and Wine Gazette in an … [Read more...]
Interview with Fulvio Pierangelini: ‘It is time to relearn everything’
Among food lovers of a certain age, Fulvio Pierangelini needs no introduction. Only a few years ago, he was considered to be one of the most influential if not the most influential Italian chef of the 2000s. He has left a very important impact on the food world and has advocated collaboration and exchange between chefs for at least 10 years at a time when this was unheard of. So when Fulvio says that it is time for us to relearn everything about food we should sit and listen and also reflect on the state of the food and wine world today. "In history, there was a time when the rich were fat and the poor were thin. Today, the opposite is the case and we need to ask ourselves why this is the case and whether this is good because clearly we have a problem," he says. "We have reached a stage where we need to relearn everything. We need to have more respect for ingredients, all ingredients. People may feel sorry for a lobster or a lamb but ultimately we need to remember that even a … [Read more...]
‘Balance is what I look for when making a praline’ – Tom Vanthemsche, The Cacao Tree
Tom Vanthemsche always dreamt of being a chocolate and ice cream maker. With The Cacao Tree by Tom, his boutique shop in Rhode St Genese, just outside Brussels, he has fulfilled his dream. He works with fresh ingredients particularly those which are in season and he prides himself of using fresh farmer’s milk which he picks up himself and 60% fruit in his sorbets which is highly unusual. "Some think our sorbets are ice-cream because they are very creamy. This is because of the percentage of fruit we use." Tom told Food and Wine Gazette in an interview that he prefers to use fresh products rather than unusual spices or ingredients that might shock but don’t necessarily work. “For me, finding the right balance between sugar and acidity is crucial. I will add a bit of texture to the chocolate, make it creamy but what I am looking for is balance. For me that is fundamental.” He is constantly on the look out for new chocolate. “When I set to create a new praline, I will taste the … [Read more...]
Albert Adrià and the new Enigma restaurant: ‘An enigma for me, for my staff and for my clients’
Mention the surname Adrià to any food lover and they will immediately think of el Bulli, the iconic restaurant of Ferran Adrià near the town of Roses, in Catalonia, Spain. In that same restaurant, his brother Albert was working magic in the pastry section. Together they helped put Spanish cuisine on the world gastronomy map creating what is probably the most famous restaurant in the world. At its peak, it had 400 requests for every table in the restaurant which opened for only six months per year. They shocked the culinary world when they decided to close the restaurant in 2011 but as Albert says, "we had to kill the monster before it killed us". That restaurant, which defined molecular gastronomy and influenced most of the leading chefs in the world today closed its doors in 2011 and was running at a loss each year. The roles today have changed. Albert, is the face of el Barri, their restaurant empire in Barcelona that has opened a number of highly successful including the … [Read more...]
Ichiyo Terauchi: From Japan to New Zealand with focus and determination
In the last in a series of interviews with new New Zealanders involved in the wine scene in New Zealand, Isabel Gilbert Palmer interviews Ichiyo Terauchi, sales and marketing executive of Te Mata Estate, New Zealand's oldest wineries Ichiyo, you are the last person I have chosen to interview in my series about new New Zealanders living and working in the Wine Industry in Hawkes Bay but you are working in a different but important area and are passionate member of the New Guard Group there. What is your interest and involvement in the industry? I am in Sales and Marketing Executive for Te Mata Estate. Its a family owned winery which was established in 1896 where the three original vineyards planted then are still in use and one of New Zealand's oldest like Mission Estate. What led you to come here? I first came to New Zealand when I was 17 years old on a school exchange program to learn English because I was fascinated by it as a language. At the time we could chose to study … [Read more...]
Q&A with Christophe Hardiquest (Bon Bon)
Christophe Hardiquest, chef of Brussels 2 Michelin star restaurant Bon Bon will this week be hosting 19 chefs from across Europe from Albert Adria to Fulvio Pierangelini, Davide Scabin to Enrico Crippa, Mauro Colagreco to Magnus Ek. Following our extensive interview which you can read here, this is a question and answer interview from our series where we get to know a bit more about the chefs we interview. Who would you consider to be your mentors? Alain Passard. He is a good friend of mine. I would describe him as a genius of simplicity. I love his power. He works with contrast. I really like him and his personality. I also like Pierre Gagnaire. He is a real artist, a crazy artist. His career is crazy. When you read his book and where he is coming from, you can understand his story. Your best meal ever? Alain Passard. With several simple things. Who are the new chefs to watch in Belgium I would mention three young chefs from the Flemish part of Belgium. Tim … [Read more...]
‘A chef is an artist with sensibility’ – Christophe Hardiquest
When Christophe Hardiquest moved his restaurant from Uccle to Woluwe Saint Pierre in Brussels six years ago, little did he know the difficulty he would face in the first few months to replicate the cuisine that clients were accustomed to at his old restaurant. That story still gives him goosebumps though he has benefitted from that experience. Today, six years later, the Belgian chef is embarking on a new approach to his cuisine with the aim of restoring the identity of Brussels cuisine, of rebuilding the tastes and flavours that are synonymous with the Belgian capital city, while reinventing them as you would expect from the chef of a high-end restaurant. “I started to think that we had lost our identity but it is now coming back. I do not want to offer a Parisian cuisine in Brussels just because we are close to Paris. I don’t want to do this anymore,” Christophe told Food and Wine Gazette in an interview. Like many others, Christophe realised that the more you travel and the … [Read more...]
Vladimir Mukhin (White Rabbit): The future of gastronomy is glocalisation
Vladimir Mukhin, Russian chef of White Rabbit, the Moscow restaurant that has taken the gastronomic world by storm over the past years is on a mission to make Russian tastes known globally. Born to a family of chefs, he jokes that he was born in the kitchen. Both his mother and father were chefs and so was his grandmother. His grandfather was a teacher in a culinary school and the Russian chef recalls how he started to cook with his grandfather from 5pm to 7pm after school. Mukhin is on a mission to showcase the best of Russian traditions. "The national culture for chefs is the future of gastronomy. We will be going towards what I call glocalisation," he says. "The cooking techniques may be global but we need to find the best recipes and the best tastes of Russia and share it," he says. That is not easy for a young chef born in 1983. "The taste of the Soviet Union in the 1980s was mayonnaise. The people of the Soviet Union only remember this one taste and it killed Russian … [Read more...]