Luxury Life & Style

INTERVIEW RENAISSANCE MAN MARIO BATALI TAKES ON L.A. ith many a top chef working his or her magic on the competitive culinary circuit, Mario Batali stands out in the crowd – and we’re not just talking about the orange clogs. A master chef, successful restauranteur, cookbook author and recognizable television personality – to name a few of his professional hats – it’s hard to believe that Mario’s life almost didn’t involve food. Raised in Seattle, he first set off to study Spanish theatre at Rutgers University. After graduation, he enrolled in London’s Le Cordon Bleu cooking school and nearly departed immediately due to a “lack of interest.” It was an apprenticeship with legendary chef Marco Pierre White and three years training in the Northern Italian Village of Borgo Capanne that ignited a passion for Italian cooking, the foundation of his future culinary legacy in the U.S. Mario, along with business partner Joe Bastianich, operates seven restaurants in New York City, including celebrated Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca and Del Posto. With Nancy Silverton he made a splash in the Los Angeles dining scene with the launches of Pizzeria Mozza and Osteria Mozza. In spring, he will open his first steakhouse, Carne Vino, at The Venetian in Las Vegas. Additionally, Mario has authored five cookbooks, including a recent collaboration with NASCAR, a “tailgaiting bible” for fans. A full-fledged media personality, Mario stars on the Food Network’s Iron Chef and shot an episode of Sundance Channel’s ICONOCLASTS with good friend and REM front man Michael Stipe. He’s currently filming a PBS series with friend Gwyneth Paltrow on W the food and culture of Spain. No stranger to the luxury market, Mario recently teamed up with Swiss watchmaker Ernst Benz to create a limited edition series of timepieces to benefit the Food Bank For New York City, the metro’s primary source for feeding the hungry and an organization he proudly serves on the board. When not traveling around his beloved Italy, Mario, his wife Susan Cahn and their two sons split their time between Greenwich Village and Northern Michigan. Food & Wine Editor Bonnie Graves caught up with Mario shortly after a recent trip abroad this fall: Bonnie Graves: Mario, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with us at Luxury Life & Style. Your recent restaurant openings in Los Angeles, and your partnership with our own Nancy Silverton, have generated a lot of buzz here in town. Can you tell us a little about your decision to work together with Nancy? Mario Batali: She is the queen of the delicious. It is was obvious from 3,000 miles away. BG: Now that both Pizzeria Mozza and the Osteria are in full-swing, tell us about your challenges opening in this market. Would you do anything differently? What are the best and worst parts of running a restaurant in Los Angeles? How do the opening months at Mozza compare to your opening Babbo in New York, for example? MB: Opening in L.A. was not much different from opening in New York. The products are all good. It is more that the correct and perfect staff is harder to find. That held true in L.A. BG: Let’s talk about those orange clogs. Why orange? MB: Orange is happy and my kids like it. My wife chose them and it stuck. BG: I remember fondly your cooking at Po restaurant on Cornelia Street back in the days before your empire really began. Can you talk a bit about how the rise of Food Network and your success on its programs and others like Iron Chef have impacted your career? MB: It has worked well for me, having provided a pulpit from which to preach the already written gospel of Italian food and culture. But even I am not silly enough to think that 10 million people care about me. However, 20 million people love spaghetti, and I am the guy most often connected to spaghetti. BG: Do you think that TV represents a short cut for a lot of aspiring chefs these days, or is it a way of recognizing great talent? MB: Its potential as a career opportunity is overestimated beyond even a myth. There may be 20 people in the world who actually have a program worth watching and it certainly does not replace real working kitchens, nor does fleeting success on TV mean you will not have to get your hands dirty. BG: What other chefs do you personally admire and why? What makes a good cook become a great chef? MB: A good cook is a great chef when he or she can manage more than the kitchen at hand – that is to say the sourcing and purchasing of the best ingredients, the development and maintenance of a great staff in the kitchen, in the dining room and in the back offices. I suggest the most minimal 32 Luxury Life & Style November/December 2007 Photo of Mario Batali courtesy of Melanie Dunea.

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