"Chefs" news and stories

Ever wondered what chefs and food critics eat when they're behind closed doors? Guess what? It ain't foie gras. Our friends over at The Daily Meal asked a slew of tastemakers -- such as Alton Brown and Ruth Reichl, April Bloomfield and Mario Batali -- about their secret food indulgences, and got some surprising answers. GQ's food guru Alan Richman has a soft spot for garlicky sausage, and gets his fix with Katz's Deli's knoblewurst. We won't ask which party he's going to after he loads up on garlic.

And what does the doyenne of Italian food, Lidia Bastianich, snack on when she has a sweet tooth? Nope, not a tiramisù. Lidia joneses for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Frankly, so do we.

Who's the chef who loves to nosh on Popeye's fried chicken?
Discover all the food vices at The Daily Meal.

Chef: David Myers

Restaurants: Comme Ça (Los Angeles, CA), Comme Ça at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (opening December 2010)

The Gift: Japanese knives and Hinoki wood cutting board. [Hinoki is a cypress that grows only in Japan.] People love the quality of the Japanese knives and the smell of the Hinoki wood on the cutting board. A perfect gift that ages well and everyone always seems to comment on!

Where to Find It: Available online (including Amazon.com and Broadway Panhandler).


Find out the other chefs' suggestions:
The First Day of Christmas: Carla Hall, The Second Day of Christmas: José Andrés, The Third Day of Christmas: Wolfgang Puck, The Fourth Day of Christmas: Lidia Bastianich, The Fifth Day of Christmas: Gail Simmons, The Sixth Day of Christmas: Alex Guarnaschell; The Seventh Day of Christmas: Candace Nelson;The Eighth Day of Christmas: Nigella Lawson; The Ninth Day of Christmas: Richard Sandoval; The Tenth Day of Christmas: Richard Blais

Hey, Stella!: You made it into the 2010 Fine Dining Hall of Fame from Nation's Restaurant News. Joining Stella -- Times-Picayune critic Brett Anderson's favorite upscale dining spot in New Orleans -- are Chicago's perennial winner-of-awards, Alinea (best restaurant in America, according to Gourmet, in 2006), with Grant Achatz (above) named Outstanding Chef of 2008 by the James Beard Foundation); Melisse, Josiah Citrin's seminal French dining room in Santa Monica; and Thomas Keller's New York Haute spot, Per Se.

Hey, Lidia, you got an award, too. Lidia Bastianich, that is -- host of TV's Lidia's Italy and owner of New York's Felidia restaurant, was honored as a Fine Dining Legend by the magazine.

Once again, longtime restaurateur Mildred Pierce walked away with nothing, making her the Susan Lucci of the resto biz.

On Monday we kicked off our 12 days of chef-inspired gift giving. Stay tuned every morning from now through December 24th for ideas from the pros on the best gifts for cooks. And see the links at the bottom of the post to catch up on days you've missed.

On the sixth day of Christmas, an ICE queen gave to me...

The Chef: Alex Guarnaschelli, chef-instructor at New York City's Institute of Culinary Education; host of Food Network's "Alex's Day Off" and recurring judge on "Chopped"

Restaurants: Butter and The Darby (both in NYC)

The Gift: I love old cookbooks and I think a classic can make a great gift. I love to get a favorite, like Dione Lucas' The Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook. To me, sharing recipes and food memories from childhood always makes a great gift.

Where to Find It: Used and new copies available on Amazon; Kitchen Arts & Letters and Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, both of which specialize in out-of-print cookbooks, can also help you locate a copy.

Find out the other chefs' suggestions:
The First Day of Christmas: Carla Hall ,The Second Day of Christmas: José Andrés, The Third Day of Christmas: Wolfgang Puck, The Fourth Day of Christmas: Lidia Bastianich, The Fifth Day of Christmas: Gail Simmons

Move over Portland, Seattle and Boston, you bastions of tree-hugging, earth-friendly eco-action. It's official. The greenest restaurant in America is in Omaha, Nebraska. That's right...Omaha.

The restaurant, The Grey Plume, was crowned by the Green Restaurant Association (GRA) after they broke two GRA records. It's the first restaurant in the country to meet the association's SustainaBuild standard, and has accumulated the most GRA points to-date of the nearly 315 restaurants participating in the certification program.

According to chef Clayton Chapman, those greening efforts included specifics like the installation of energy efficient lighting, construction of the bar, booths, doors, flooring and more from renewable or reclaimed wood; using compostable or recycled material in to-go packaging; integrating a full-scale recycling and composting program, and much more.

While some green-facility advocates say the greenest building is one that's already in existence, Chapman says the restaurant's initiatives were made possible because they're part of Omaha's new Midtown Crossing project.

"In order to do what we did, you have to start from scratch," says Chapman. "Our sustainability efforts were things we were going to do whether we were certified or not, but certification keeps everyone honest, and helped us implement all these green initiatives -- everything from sourcing things like soda to recycled drywall."