Lights, camera, cooking! New crop of celeb chefs act out to gain fame

Nation's Restaurant News, March 22, 2004 by Erica Duecy

However, some industry veterans think the media attention given to celebrity chefs is too much.

"Students going into school are being disillusioned into what this craft is all about," says Rick Moonen, chef-partner at New York's rm. "You have to apprentice and put in your time in any craft. You can't expect to go to school, work a couple of years and then be head chef with your name splashed all over the place, then franchise your restaurant out, write several books, have your own television show and tour the world as an expert. That's not how it works."

Pepin agrees. "The media attention impacts students in a negative way," he says. "They want to go into the business to become famous. But we [culinary instructors] tell them they should expect to work 14-hour days, to sweat in the kitchen and to get varicose veins by the time they're 40. Most will make a good living, but few will have the success of a Wolfgang Puck or Todd English."

Despite the increasing number of chefs focusing on opportunities outside of the kitchen, the craft of the culinary arts and quality of cuisine available at restaurants in the United States are not likely to suffer, observers say. To the contrary, the rise of the celebrity chef and the country's growing interest in the culinary arts has led to a heightened awareness and demand for good food and cooking.

Still, there are many chefs who say they are uninterested in pursuing celebrity. "The best example of what a chef can be is the guy who stays in the kitchen and really makes his food remarkable," says Michael Romano, chef of New York's noted Union Square Cafe. "I like the feeling of being steward in one establishment."

Soltner, chef-owner of New York's Lut6ce for 34 years and now an instructor at the French Culinary Institute, says he wouldn't have done things any differently. "Nothing could distract me from the restaurant," Soltner says. "My philosophy is that you have to be in your restaurant. I thought that I owed it to my customers to be there.

"All of the press and the glory [that chefs receive] these days goes a little overboard," Soltner continues. "And that is a change that is not good. I would like to give this message to star chefs--we make and sell soups. We are soup merchants."

The new 'food network': teaching chefs to deal with the media

Steve Dolinsky is a veteran food reporter who now runs a media training company for culinary professionals, called Culinary Communications 101. His food and lifestyle reports air on ABC 7 in Chicago, and he is a radio food correspondent for that city's WBEZ-FM. Dolinsky has won several awards from the James Beard Foundation for television and radio reporting. As a media trainer, he has worked with Wolfgang Puck Cafe in Orlando, Fla., and the Peninsula Hotel in Chicago, among other clients.

How important is it for restaurants and chefs to work with the media?

Part of this business, in terms of marketing yourself, is media. It's getting out in front of people and promoting yourself. If you can get in front of a television camera, do your cooking segment and get people excited about your restaurant, it can really increase the visibility of your restaurant. It's free advertising.