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Wanted: White House Chef
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
Wanted: White House Chef
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| From left: Art Smith, Rick Bayless, Daniel Young |
| seriouseats.com |
Serious Eats founder Ed Levine posted this piece on possible contenders for the job of White House Chef under the new Obama administration, after the New York Daily News suggested three candidates.
They are former Oprah chef Art Smith, authentic Mexican chef and food oracle Rick Bayless, and NBA star Carmelo Anthony's personal chef, Daniel Young.
I don't know if any of the three are seriously in contention for the job (the reporting was not exactly definitive), but if they are, I think Art Smith would be the odds-on favorite. In any case, the story got me thinking about who could or should get the job.
Levine lays out his criteria for a White House Chef — healthy cooking; points for being a Chicago local; and embodiment of culinary change. No more menus-as-usual for this administration.
After commenters blew up the post with their suggestions (heavy on celeb chefs/personalities like Charlie Trotter, Alice Waters and Anthony Bourdain), the Chicago Tribune picked up the "blogosphere buzz" to analyze the unsurpassed pre-inauguration excitement and speculation regarding the President-elect, to the point where people care about who's going to scramble the man's egg whites.
Tribune critic Phil Vettel shoots down the celebrity chef angle straightaway, 86ing guys like Trotter and Bayless.
I got a phone call from a restaurant critic in D.C., wondering whether Charlie Trotter might be the guy. Which made me laugh. Trotter runs a culinary empire that is totally beholden to his personality and presence; ship Charlie to Washington, and Armitage Avenue might fade away. Besides, Trotter couldn't afford the pay cut.
Ouch, cold reality. Vettel rings up Tony Mantuano of Chicago's Spiaggia, where the Obamas have dined occasionally, to see if he would consider the opportunity to feed the leader of the free world.
"I don't think so," he said. "It'd be like being the chef of a giant hotel. You have to make peanut butter and jelly for the kids, plus private dinners, room service — unless you're a big corporate hotel guy, I'm not sure you'd want it." We'll take that as a no.
Having thus narrowed the field, Vettel puts his money on Smith, concurring with Levine's pick.
Art Smith, one-time personal chef to Oprah Winfrey, is an intriguing rumor for a number of reasons. One, the Oprah-Obama connection; Smith already has the Oprah imprimatur. Two, Smith opened a restaurant — Art and Soul — in the Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel in D.C. on Sept. 22; he'll be shuttling between Chicago and Washington anyway. Three, when I called Smith and suggested he was in the running, he was gracious and apologetic but said, "I can't comment on that."
Aha! The telltale confidentiality agreement of top secret culinary headhunting! The U.S. foodie constituency anxiously awaits the announcement of the lucky chef who will plate after-school snacks for Malia and Sasha before directing a state dinner.
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