liketocook
A Renaissance Chef
Filed in archive People Who Cook by karen on May 28, 2006
Chef Alfred Portale Gotham Bar and Grill


Here's a chef who is far from boring his diners. For one, his menu changes according to season. And then he is so innovative he can easily combine old classics with the newest trends.

That's Alfred Portale, chef and co-owner of New York's Gotham Bar and Grill. He is known for "the dramatic vertical structures he creates on each plate" aside from the quality of the food, of course. And yes, what did we say about fusing tradition with innovation?

Portale finds that diners are willing to be slightly more adventurous if the dish also incorporates flavors that invoke fond memories. "There's a whole science about how a person can experience behavior and attitude changes triggered by taste," he said.

"If you put pumpkin together with nutmeg or allspice, it brings back your mom's pumpkin pie. So maybe I'll make a pumpkin risotto, which is a bit daring, but add a bit of nutmeg and, subconsciously, you'll be satisfied."


Read the full article Chef figures out what diners want from The Sentinel.

By the way, Chef Portale won this year's James Beard Foundation's national "chef of the year" award. Before heading to culinary school he trained as a jewelry designer. Talk about being multi-talented!
Permalink: A Renaissance Chef
Tags: chef  food 
Trackback: http://publish.creative-weblogging.com/publish/mt-tb.pl/23061
img Addthis img Ask img Blinklist img del.icio.us img Digg img Fark img Facebook img Google img Lycos img Ma.gnolia Add this page to Mister Wong Mr Wong img Netscape img Netvousz img Newsvine img Reddit img StumbleUpon img Slashdot img Tailrank img Technorati img Wink img Yahoo

Vote for A Renaissance Chef:

  • Currently 9.33/10
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
Rating: 9.33 out of 3 vote(s) cast.
Subscribe
Share It
RSSrss
See all blog subscribe options
Google google
What is RSS?
Yahoo! yahoo
Addthis Subscribe using any feed reader!
Bloglines Bloglines
Newsletter

TwitterFollow us on Twitter!