Results tagged “ericripert”

Last Friday night, chef Eric Ripert took a couple hours off from working the pass at Le Bernardin to grab a bag of popcorn and settle into one of the seats at the IFC Film Center. Ripert screened the well-reviewed documentary Pressure Cooker (playing through Thursday), about a teacher named Wilma Stephenson and her culinary arts class at a Philly public high school called Frankford.

The word from Le Bernardin chef Eric Ripert’s people is that he’ll enter the television fray this fall, with the PBS version of his (currently) web-only Avec Eric. The website follows a man, a plan, a toaster oven format: here Ripert bangs out a traditional Raspberry Clafouti in his Cuisinart in just a few minutes. We interviewed the four-star chef last year and asked him about television appearances, which have been relatively rare. “I like to communicate,” he told us. “And to communicate on TV is very effective. I love being on television, but with boundaries.” Ripert will also appear on tonight’s episode of Top Chef where he sometimes serves as guest judge, with insouciance that’s become atypical of the usually frenzied chef-competition. And last month, Ripert announced that Le Bernardin will donate $1 to City Harvest for each customer who dines at the restaurant for the rest of 2009. Avec Eric, the show, debuts in the fall.

Eric Ripert really is that cool. The four-star chef—a sometime Top Chef judge, practicing Buddhist, and altogether nice person—announced this morning that throughout 2009, Le Bernardin will donate $1 to City Harvest for each customer who dines at the restaurant. City Harvest feeds more than 260,000 men, women, and children each week; the charity organization “rescues” more than 20 million pounds of food each year from various food service sectors. Chef Ripert also announced this morning that $1 will be donated to City Harvest for every copy sold of his new behind the scenes cookbook called On The Line (seen here), which we wrote about last month.

Here's our big bad roundup of all our favorite, New York-centric (or otherwise notable) food books published this year:

A picture of chef David Waltuck’s restaurant was on the cover of New York Magazine the week of December 31, 1979 with the headline ‘The Daring Young Man on Grand Street.’ Gael Greene wrote a review of the warmly lit restaurant Waltuck was frenetically running with his wife Karen, two waiters, and a lone potwasher inside a former bodega in SoHo. Chanterelle was two weeks-old. Waltuck was 24.

Earlier this year we talked to Robert Thurman (Uma's dad, and also the head of the Tibet House), who told us that his aim is "to preserve Tibetan culture" and "raise funds to support Tibetan cultural projects like art departments in schools." Tonight, along with an Honorary Chair Committee that includes Yoko Ono Lennon, Martin Scorsese and Sting, they'll be doing just that at the 6th Annual Tibet House US Benefit Auction at Christie’s. Proceeds will be going towards the Ghar Sita Mutu and Pema Ts’al schools in India and Nepal, as well as the Tibetan Community Cultural Center being built in Queens. Some of the items on the block include a safari vacation, an amulet made by a Newari Buddhist monk and blessed by Mata, and a Fantasy Dinner Party with 11 friends in your own home joined by composer Philip Glass (who will also perform). Oh and that dinner? It's cooked by none other than chef Eric Ripert.

While the Obamas have yet to discuss any culinary changes in the White House, some chefs have discussed what they would prepare for the inaugural dinner if called to task. The only New York chef asked was Eric Ripert, who also has a DC restaurant. He said that if he was in charge "he would highlight different regions of the country by offering prawns from Santa Barbara, Calif.; scallop chowder from Nantucket Bay and stuffed quail with Wisconsin cheddar grits. And for a comforting finish Ripert would end with an American favorite: peanut butter. Or rather, a peanut butter souffle."

In 1994, Eric Ripert became the executive chef of Le Bernardin after chef-owner Gilbert Le Coze died of a sudden heart attack. The following year, Ripert was only 29 years old when the restaurant was re-reviewed and kept its four-star rating from the New York Times. Le Bernardin has had a total of four four-star New York Times reviews since its New York opening in 1986, and has consistently been awarded a top rating of three Michelin stars since guide inspectors first set up shop here in 2005.

     

Have you ever dreamed that you could have a multi-course lunch at the home of an amazing chef, hang out in his kitchen while he prepares it and pick up some cooking tips and recipes along the way? It’s possible. One way is to befriend (or maybe even date) a chef. Another is through By Invitation Only events, open to platinum American Express card members. Chef Cyril Renaud of Fleur de Sel opened up his Brooklyn kitchen to some Platinum AmEx cardholders, many of whom had used their reward points to attend the event. If you've been saving your reward points for a rainy day, now's a great time to use them.

This month's Bon Appetit features this year's winners of the Bon Appetit awards, which honor leaders in the culinary field. The intimate awards ceremony took place at Del Posto earlier this week, where current and prior winners dined on a seasonal Italian tasting menu created specifically for the occasion. The awards presentations were held between courses, hosted by Ted Allen, who did his best to entertain the crowd.

A.J.: I think the word needs to get out there.Like it or not, it's out there, thanks to Daulerio’s thorough reportage, in which he quotes a chief of clinical gastroenterology at the University of Wisconsin, who explains that “escolar is laden with an overwhelming amount of wax esters.” So unless your partner has a serious Cleveland Steamer fetish you want to spice up for Valentine’s Day, consider yourself warned to stay the hell away from the stuff.

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week?

The folks at Lobstergram sent us one to try a while back. And what is a Lobstergram, you might ask? It's a package containing two live lobsters and all the basic acoutrements you'll need to cook and eat them -- you supply the pot (there's even an option to get the pot sent along as well). The box arrived one night when we got home from work, and we recruited a friend to help us with the process.

Got a tidbit for us? Send it to the feedbag.

Feed Your Mind is a new column that will focus on food-related books.

Octopus Garden is a specialty seafood market located along the far reaches of Avenue U in Bensonhurst. Operated by Vincent and Pina Cutrone, the unassuming corner storefront long been known to chefs like Eric Ripert of Le Bernadin as the go-to place for fresh octopus and sepia.

We tried to warn you. But now, Valentine's Day is upon us and you haven't gotten a reservation for dinner. It's okay. In fact, it's even better. We're of the opinion that a home-cooked meal is far more romantic than dinner out (plus, it's closer to where you want to end up at the end of the evening, if all goes well). So -- get thee to the grocery store, grab some candles and, if your local bodega isn't already picked clean, some flowers, and get cookin'.

Bruni three-stars L'Atelier Joel Robuchon. While "it hit the ground limping," he says, "it improved quickly and greatly, and your focus can now fall on its mostly exhilarating food." He also finds at L'Atelier a new contender for the city's best haute burger: made with Kobe beef, foie gras, caramelized peppers and brioche buns.

Gothamist's Star Chefs report is brought to us by Regina Varolli, a Manhattan-based freelance writer. Though most of her private clients are in DC, she lives here because the food is better, in general.

Gothamist has never had a taste for foie gras (although, some of us do) as we can't get past the fact that we're eating liver, but animal rights activists are trying to get the delicacy banned entirely. In an appeal to the state legislature, groups including the Humane Society asked the state's Department of Agriculture and Markets to label foie gras as an "adulterated" food, which is defined as food that is "diseased, contaminated, filthy, putrid or decomposed." This would give the agriculture commissioner the option of banning foie gras. The Times gets what could be the best quote regarding this issue from Eric Ripert, the executive chef and co-owner of Le Bernardin who sighs and then says:

We can criticize how foie gras is produced and be concerned about the health of the duck and blah, blah, blah, O.K., fine.

The James Beard Winners were announced last night and some of the New York City winners are: