ReturnJody Adams
Rialto, the Charles Hotel, Cambridge, MA; 617-661-5050.
An F&W Best New Chef 1993
Favorite wine
When I think of starting a meal and I think of what I could drink all the way through the meal, it would be Veuve Cliquot.
Best dish to impress the kids
If I make my daughter something really disgusting, she's thrilled because her lunch is really healthy usually. She loves to go to school with a quail, because it's very cool.
Favorite late-night snack at home
A cup of ginger tea with toast or a beer with tortilla chips, depending on my mood.
Jeff Armstrong
Formerly of 17, Houston.
Favorite place to buy ingredients or equipment
Surfas in Los Angeles is my favorite. They have vinegars, cheeses, oils, spices, sugars and flours. You can buy anything from a stove to an olive pitter.
Favorite Web site
I like sautewednesday.com, because it gives links to all kinds of food-related articles and reviews and chats. I also like chowhound.com; it helps me find all the little ethnic restaurants I love.
Best ingredients to bring back from a trip
Spices, spices
I get garam masala from India—and Sichuan peppercorns from Australia, because you can't get those in the States anymore. We also bring back golden syrup from Australia and different dried-chile powders.
Dan Barber
Blue Hill, New York City; 212-539-1776. Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Pocantico Hills, NY.
An F&W Best New Chef 2002
Favorite sushi place
For sushi, my favorite is a great place in Hong Kong, Nadaman. It's the best sushi bar in the world and also one of the more expensive. You just sit there and look at the guy and it's $100.
Best dishes to impress the kids
My tradition is that I cook my niece and nephew their last meal before camp. My niece always wants lobster and peas. My nephew wants something different every year.
Favorite trattoria
I would say Lupa in New York City. It satisfies all the requirements: really great wine and a menu with staples and new specials all the time. The vibe is ever changing; the food is consistently awesome. You want to experience it again and again. The energy is incredible.
April Bloomfield
The Spotted Pig, New York City; 212-620-0393.
Favorite drink
My favorite is a gin and tonic
because I'm English.
Best shop for chefs
I like Broadway Panhandler. I love that shop; I could spend hours there looking at pots and pans.
Best food to pack in a lunch box
Probably a roasted ham sandwich or a classic English ham and cheese sandwich, on crusty whole-grain bread with salty butter from Vermont. And a homemade cookie and a bit of fruit or cake.
Nicolas Bour, Executive Chef, and Lein Schoe, Chef de Cuisine
Iris, Atlanta; 404-221-1300.
Best ingredient to bring back from a trip
Nicolas: I'm a mustard fanatic. When my customers tell me they're going to Paris I send them to Boutique Maille. They have over 20 different kinds of mustard is on tap.
Favorite pan
Both: A cast-iron skillet, because if you have a lot of experience cooking with it you can do something great. But it's not Teflon. Food will stick and burn in it if you use it incorrectly.
Favorite bistro
Both: Thomas Keller's Bouchon in Napa Valley. It's the ultimate bistro in the world.
Terrance Brennan
Artisanal, New York City; 212-725-8585. Picholine, New York City; 212-724-8585.
An F&W Best New Chef 1995
Trends
Cheese is here to stay; it's the new wine! Maybe it will replace dessert. Instead of having chocolate cake after a meal, we'll have cheese.
Favorite equipment
Mortar and pestle. I use it for all my simple sauces.
Favorite cocktail
I'll have a martini every once in a while, very wet, very well shaken. I don't like the taste of vodka. I like more vermouth. I love olives and olive juice.
David Burke
davidburke & donatella, New York City; 212-813-2121.
Favorite late-night snack
My favorite late night snack is cereal. It goes from Wheaties to Cap'n Crunch to Total. Cap'n Crunch is my weakness.
His Iron Chef ingredient?
My ingredient would be eggs or sea urchin. I think eggs.
Yannick Cam
Le Paradou, Washington, D.C.; 202-347-6780.
Favorite part of the pig
I was at a restaurant called CityZen in Washington, D.C., and Eric Ziebold prepared the snout of the pig and it was spectacular. It was cooked without the bones and rolled and poached, and then it was sliced and barely sautéed. And there was a piece of foie gras with it and a little flavor of hazelnut.
Favorite superfast leftover dish If there's a tail of salmon left over, I might sauté it with a little bit of basil and butter and some tomato.
Favorite cheese
I have two favorites. One is Taleggio, and I like to serve it with roasted pear. The other one is Rolling Forty, a Tasmanian cheese, really spectacular, kind of bluish. I serve it with dates. It's strong but not too strong, and a little buttery.
Favorite trattoria
It's kind of a little bistro, but they serve the best pizza: Two Amy's in Uptown Georgetown.
Scott Conant
L'Impero, New York City; 212-599-5045. Alto, New York City; 212-308-1099.
An F&W Best New Chef 2004
Favorite spirit
Patron silver tequila
did I answer that too quickly?
Favorite late-night snack
One is peanut butter—Skippy Super Chunky, like me. Also, popcorn made in extra-virgin olive oil.
Favorite book
The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand. You can't pursue anything with passion without having read it. It gives you another take on life.
Charles Dale
Rustique Bistro, Aspen; 970-920-2555. Range, Aspen; 970-925-2402.
An F&W Best New Chef 1995
Favorite kitchen shoe
Cole Haan's. It's not a kitchen shoe, but it has Nike Air suspension. I called around the country and bought about eight pairs so I never have to buy new ones again.
Favorite late-night snack
I like to make what I call the refrigerator quesadilla, with whatever is in the fridge. I made a Thai one for laughs, and it ended up on my bar menu—peanut butter, fish sauce, scallions and a bit of Thai chile.
Favorite part of the pig
Pork belly is the foie gras of pig. It has so many different textures, depending on how you cook it. I was just in New Zealand and selected the restaurants I ate at by which ones had pork belly. I found six in two months.
Wylie Dufresne
wd-50, New York City; 212-477-2900.
An F&W Best New Chef 2001
Favorite kitchen shoe
I wear Sears Diehard auto-mechanic shoes, steel toe.
Favorite late-night snack
American cheese—you can't go wrong with Land o' Lakes.
Favorite sound system
The iPod finds its way here—we connect it to a cheap boom box.
Trey Foshee
Georges at the Cove, La Jolla, CA; 858-454-4244.
An F&W Best New Chef 1998
Best trip
I just got back from my first trip to Spain. I used to be a Francophile, but now I'm a Spainophile.
Favorite sushi place
Nozawa in Studio City in L.A. Whatever Mr. Nozawa sends you is what you get. He's an old-school sushi chef. For him it's all about the rice and the quality of the fish—simple and pure.
Favorite cocktail
A margarita made with fresh juice, no sweet and sour mix, straight up, shaken or on the rocks with salt. Best enjoyed in the afternoon after a great surf.
Todd Gray
Equinox, Washington, D.C.; 202-331-8118.
Favorite trattoriaI worked in Italy there are so many great trattorias there. My favorite would be one in St. Vincent, Aosta, called Trattoria Nona. I remember it because I had the most unbelievable spinach gnocchi with gorgonzola and pistachios that I have ever eaten in my life.
Favorite new ingredient
I'll tell you what we like to do for preserved lemons. We mix the lemons with an unusual peppercorn called poivre long, long peppercorns. They're a half-inch-long peppercorn, and we mix them with preserved lemons and use them with fish and meat and in soups.
Favorite cheese
Something simple—seven-year-aged Gouda. I love to eat it in the summer with spicy fresh arugula with lemon and olive oil and a nice little wedge of extremely ripe watermelon.
Hubert Keller
Fleur de Lys, San Francisco; 415-673-7779.
An F&W Best New Chef 1988
Dream stove
La Cornue, which is built for the home but based on professional stoves. It's like having a Ferrari in your kitchen.
Dream vacation
Bora Bora in Tahiti. I celebrated my 45th birthday. One French baker lives on the island and delivers his baguettes by bike—it reminds me of France in that sense.
Favorite kitchen shoe
Always clogs made by Braggard. Once you wear them, they feel like a glove.
Jonathan Krinn
2941, Arlington, VA; 703-270-1500.
Favorite steak
Mishima tenderloin. I'm the only one using it in the U.S. I think Thomas Keller and Charlie Trotter are using the strip, but I'm the only one using the tenderloin. And why is it my favorite steak? Because it's the highest "marbling quotient." It's incredible. If you've ever had Japanese Kobe beef, this is "extra" Japanese Kobe beef. It comes from a special breed of cattle from the island of Mishima off the coast of Japan, and there's no crossbreeding involved, like in Japanese Kobe.
Favorite trattoria
The bar at Galileo in D.C. is really good. You get four-star cooking for ten bucks or less.
Favorite cheese
Camellia goat cheese from Northern California's Redwood Hill Farms is my favorite; I use it in a salad with vanilla hazelnut vinaigrette.
Johnny Monis
Komi, Washington, D.C.; 202-332-9200.
Favorite part of the pig
I am a big fan of the entire pig. I haven't met a part of the pig that I didn't like. We'll bring in whole pigs and do everything. Sausage out of the head, it's our version of headcheese. It's wonderful. You can serve it cured as a salami or sear it. You can use the feet, too.
Best quick hors d'oeuvres
A beautiful cheese plate with four or five different cheeses is the best. Nancy's Hudson Valley Camembert, Taleggio or Kefalotiri, and then we make a lot of our own crackers here at Komi, 3 to 5 types.
Cooking class he'd like to take
I'd definitely take a bread-baking class. There's just something so beautiful about putting together three ingredients that are so basic: flour, water, yeast
and making so many different products. It's really beautiful.
Carl Schroeder
Arterra, San Diego; 858-369-6032.
Favorite knife
Aritsugu. It's available in the Nishiki market in Kyoto, Japan. It holds its edge forever and you buy it from the man who made it.
Favorite sushi bar worldwide
Ka-un in Nagoya, Japan. It's the French Laundry of sushi bars.
Favorite new ingredients
Asian citrus powders. I use them to make flavored oils.
Best place for chef's ingredients
Chino Farms in Del Mar, California. Tom Chino is the Willy Wonka of produce.
Kerry Simon
Simon Kitchen and Bar, Las Vegas, 702-693-4440
Favorite late night snack
It's tough because I don't eat until late, then I'll have vegetable juice, yogurt-covered pretzels, yogurt-covered malt balls, popcorn, a grilled cheese sandwich
we could say Cheddar.
Favorite kitchen shoes
Duncan Quinn [British designer].
Best dish to impress the kids
Peanut butter, jelly and banana panini.
Favorite new ingredient
Sparklers—hair-thin red peppers from Japan. I call them chile threads. You can get them from DaVero, the olive oil producer.
Nori Sugi
Asiate, New York City; 212-805-8881.
Favorite late-night snack
Three-minute noodles—packaged ramen. I get them at a Japanese grocery in Soho. Miso and corn are my favorites.
Favorite cooking shortcut
Canned green curry paste.
Favorite collectibles
Spice racks and spice containers.
Julia Taras and Tasha Garcia
Little Giant, New York City; 212-226-5047.
Favorite late-night snack
Tasha: When I leave here, I'm usually craving veggies. I'll stop at the deli because it's New York and you can get vegetables at 2 a.m. I'll get brussels sprouts or spinach and just sauté them. It's kind of the only time I eat vegetables.
Equipment they can't live without
Tasha: A peeler is the best $1.99 you can spend! And when we first opened, Julia bought the biggest whirring blender. We're such a small restaurant that I thought we'd never use it. But now I'm hooked, and I'm always the person to drag it out. Also, Kryovac, from the infomercials, is available at Wal-Mart and only costs about $100. We use it to freeze anything!
Favorite Web sites
Tasha: Google—we couldn't have built this restaurant without the Internet. DIYnet.com—they truly walk you through anything you have to do; sadly, I have learned how to snake toilets.
Julia: I have to go with iTunes.
Jacques Torres
Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven, New York City; 212-414-2462.Jacques Torres Chocolate, Brooklyn, NY; 718-875-9772.
Home stove
I have a KitchenAid 48-inch, with four burners, one griddle, one grill
I love it! It's the best thing for steaks, and for breakfast.
Favorite spirit
I like Grand Marnier. Being from the South, I like Pastis. But I don't drink much hard liquor.
Favorite equipment
That's like asking if I have a favorite finger! But I do like my Laguiole pocket knife. The handle is made of olive wood. I almost always have it in my pocket, to cut, carve or scrape something. And it's from the country I come from, so it's a little bit more than a knife.
Suzanne Tracht
Jar, Los Angeles; 323-655-6566.
An F&W Best New Chef 2002
Favorite knife
I think a knife is a very personal thing—how it feels in your hand, the weight, whether you prefer a metal handle as opposed to a wood or a rubber one. I definitely prefer the Japanese knives, like a 12-inch Misono of medium weight with a wooden handle.
Favorite sushi place
My kids and I love Noshi Sushi on Beverly Blvd. I love the hamachi and spicy tuna handroll.
Favorite spirit
Fernet Branca. I have two a day. It keeps you healthy.
Mark Vetri
Vetri, Philadelphia; 215-732-3487.
An F&W Best New Chef 1999
Favorite kitchen shoe
I bought my favorite pair at a gas station on the autostrada in Italy. They were around $25 and they're called Euro Routier. They're real leather, with steel toes. You can buy them at all the gas stations in Italy. They're awesome! And maybe they're $40 with the exchange rate.
Best place for a chef's night out
I go to Monk in Philly. They have 150 different beers, rabbit terrine and all those organ meats. And they're open late, which is perfect for me.
Best way to remove stains
Leave them alone. It shows character.
Allison Vines-Rushing
Formerly at Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar, New York City, 212-673-0338.
Favorite home stove
We had a Viking four-burner at the restaurant. That lasted for over a year— we tortured it! It was an incredible stove. It exceeded my expectations. It was made in America, in Mississippi. Anything made in the South we're a little partial to.
Best city for chef's night out
For late-night clubs and live music, New Orleans is incredible. The Maple Leaf has these amazing brass bands. We eat oysters at Acme beforehand; we love that.
Equipment she can't live without
A timer! Timers aren't common in restaurants. But we have to multitask so much. We're chefs, we're managing, we're answering phone calls
it's a godsend!
Andrew Weissman
Le Rêve, San Antonio; 210-212-2221.
Favorite cheap knife
I use a tiny serrated paring knife that's about $4 at a kitchen supply store. I love it because it's so utilitarian. It's great for anything from cleaning artichokes to scraping potatoes. It's a Victorinox, and the name on the blade is Microban. It's got a sanitary plastic handle and the blade is maybe 3 inches long. I tell all my guys when they start with me that it's a tool they have to have in their knife kits.
Favorite cheese
Humboldt Fog is my favorite for domestic cheese. In strawberry season I do a take on cheesecake—I take a plug of the cheese with a metal ring and press these balsamic strawberries that we braise in sugar and black pepper on top of the cheese. It looks like a baby cheesecake with strawberries on top.
Favorite salt
I love Maldon salt from England, whether just to season with or for added crunch. The textural beauty of it is great: the way it looks on seared foie gras or even on top of steak. I detect a different minerality in it than in other salts.
Favorite trattoria
Does Babbo constitute a trattoria? We love Babbo. But wait, I have one that trumps that, and it's not very well known, it's called Antica Trattoria. I love it. It's on Polk and Union [in San Francisco]. It's a tremendous place.
Ken Oringer
Clio, Boston, MA, 617-536-7200
Favorite cocktail
One we serve at Clio called Enter the Dragon, which I made up myself. It's lime juice from Southeast Asia, cayenne pepper, orange vodka and a couple of secret ingredients. It's sweet, sour and spicy, all in one drink.
Favorite knife
Masamoto's 14-inch sashimi knife. It feels like an extension of my hand.
Favorite sushi place
Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo. All the top fish from all over Japan and the world comes through there. They have a couple of tiny stalls, and you sit on a stool—no menu, no prices—and just get pretty much what the chef wants to give you. You're at the sushi chef's mercy.
Mark Ladner
Lupa, New York City; 212-982-5089. Otto, New York City; 212-995-9559.
What his Iron Chef ingredient would be
Water or radicchio.
Favorite wine
Dom Perignon '95, or most other bubbles.
Favorite trattoria in Italy
Checchino dal 1887 on via de Monte Teotaccio in Rome.
Michael Schlow
Radius, Boston; 617-426-1234.
An F&W Best New Chef 1996
Favorite sushi place
Shumi in Somerville, N.J. Masa in Manhattan is great, but this guy is just as good. He makes the best rice I've ever had. There's no hype to it, but it's great.
Favorite late-night snack
I am a sucker for Teddy all-natural super chunk peanut butter and orange marmalade sandwiches. Sometimes I skip the bread and eat the combo right off a spoon.
Favorite Band-aid
We have blue ones called VisaBlue. They stick well—don't come off in water—and the cool blue color matches our aprons.
Sanford D'Amato
Sanford Restaurant, Milwaukee, WI; 414-276-9608. Coquette Cafe, Milwaukee, WI; 414-291-2655.
Most underrated ingredient
Rhubarb. I grew up with it and always had it in the backyard. People think of it as a weed, but I think it's the perfect bridge between sweet and savory. We make a simple, almondy, buttery rhubarb tart.
Favorite ingredient to bring back from a trip
I bring back olive oils. I love to try them wherever I go. I just got a new one from Provence, Mas des Bories. It has a little bit of a lemony quality and a really smooth, spiciness, and just the pure olive flavor is so good.
Best quick hors d'oeuvres
In the summer we spread bread with good olive oil, put it in the broiler, add a hint of salt and pepper, and put tomatoes on top.
Thomas John
Au Bon Pain, Executive Chef
An F&W Best New Chef 2002
Favorite wine
Cloudy Bay from New Zealand is undoubtedly the iconic Sauvignon Blanc.
Favorite bistro
Balthazar in Manhattan for the energy, and the freshness of the menu.
Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison
Bacchanalia, Atlanta, 404-365-0410. Floataway Cafe, Atlanta, 404-892-1414.
An F&W Best New Chef 1995
Most underrated ingredient
Clifford: Honey and maple syrup. I like them because they're natural sweeteners and not processed products. I hate artificial sweeteners.
Dream cooking class
Clifford: Annie wants to do one with Rick Bayless in Mexico, and I would love doing one with Lidia Bastianich in Italy.
Most inspiring cookbooks
Clifford: I like the books from the River Café girls [Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers]. The Joel Robuchon book with Patricia Wells. And the Michel Bras book—we had our best meal ever when we stayed with Michel. I've been looking at those books a lot.
Chris Bianco
Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix; 602-258-8300.
Favorite kitchen equipment
My little garlic mandolin is my favorite in the whole wide world. You can get it for $6 at Sur La Table or Williams-Sonoma. It definitely beats cutting garlic like the way they do in that scene from The Godfather where he's slicing it with a blade.
Best quick hors d'oeuvres
You can't beat a quick fettunta. Grill some optimum bread quickly and rub it with a beautiful piece of garlic and drizzle on a gorgeous, yummy extra virgin olive oil and then sprinkle with fleur de sel and wild oregano and eat it with some great salami or ham.
Favorite new ingredient
I'm an oregano freak and have been getting this wild native oregano from Sonora, Mexico. The Center for Sustainable Environments is a great source for stuff like this: environment.nau.edu.
Mark Tarbell
Tarbell's, Phoenix; 602-955-8100.
Favorite part of the pig
Bacon, because everything is better with bacon. If there was bacon ice cream, I'd eat it.
Favorite superfast leftover dish
I take a leftover enchilada, grind it up and make it spicy and use it on a frittata like a sauce.
Favorite steak
A NY strip because it has the greatest balance of flavor and texture.
Christopher Gross
Christopher's Fermier Brasserie, Phoenix; 602-522-2344.
Favorite sushi place
I'm an anti-sushi chef. I'm not a fan of wasabi and I don't think raw fish has a lot of flavor.
Favorite kitchen shoe
Piloti, which isn't a kitchen shoe, but a driving shoe. I race Formula One cars and bikes and years ago went to Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, and they had the shoes. They're made of leather and are real comfy.
Favorite part of the pig
I could eat myself sick on prosciutto.
Aaron Whitcomb
Table 6, Denver; 303-831-8800.
Favorite kitchen equipment
I use my large spoons all through service. Everybody in the kitchen knows not to mess with my spoons.
Favorite new ingredients
I've been playing with steel-cut oats, and grains like purple barley that pop like popcorn—they're pretty cool.
Most underrated ingredient
I love carrots. People don't pay attention to them. But if you juice or roast or braise them, they have so much flavor, and with a little coriander the taste just explodes.
Best quick hors d'oeuvres
Little cheese profiteroles. Once you know how, you can make a ton quickly. And you pretty much always have the ingredients in your kitchen—eggs, flour, water, cheese.
Aaron Sanchez
Paladar, New York City; 212-473-3535.
Favorite wine
I drink a lot of Spanish wine. Right now I'm loving Fabre Montmayou from Argentina. I drink their Merlot and Cabernet.
Favorite cocktail
A chilled martini with a twist at the Carlyle Hotel in New York. One of the great things about living in Manhattan is being able to get great cocktails—whiskey at the Oak Room, a martini at the Carlyle.
Favorite late night snack
When I leave my restaurant late on Fridays and Saturdays, there's a guy on the Lower East Side with a Korean-barbecue cart. He's there after 11. I grab the kimchi dog or a barbecue-chicken sandwich with Korean spices.
Favorite superfast leftover recipe
Tinga la pollo—like a shredded chicken hash with tomatoes, onion, garlic, chipotles. It's like a taco filling but you can use it in anything.
C. Barclay Dodge
Restaurant Mogador, Aspen; 970-429-1072.
Best ingredients to bring back from a trip
Spices, definitely. Especially things like vanilla and saffron, which are so expensive. In Vietnam I bought 15 pounds of black pepper direct from a farmer. It was unbelievable pepper.
Favorite salt
To finish a dish, Maldon.
Dream cooking class
The new molecular gastronomy maybe from Heston Blumenthal, the chef at The Fat Duck in England.
Bob Iacovone
Cuvée, New Orleans; 504-587-9001.
Favorite new ingredients
Peppadews. They are a sweet and spicy South African pepper. We do a Serrano wrapped goat cheese stuffed peppadew. It hits every note salty, sweet, spicy.
Most underrated ingredient
Lobster roe or coral. It's great for sauces. When it's raw, it's green, then it becomes bright red when you cook it, like lobster.
Best ingredients to bring back from a trip
From Istanbul, Iranian saffron. Sea salt from the southwest corner of Mexico, Zihuatanejo.
Bruce Sherman
North Pond, Chicago; 773-477-5845.
Favorite superfast leftover recipes
Leftover baked potatoes or sweet potatoes, cubed, then tossed and browned for 5 minutes in duck fat with thyme, butter, salt and pepper.
Best dishes to impress the kids
We do a couscous salad with Parmesan, mint and bell peppers that's a big hit. And the kids like to see flames, so anything flambéed goes over well.
Who he would most want to cook for
My mother. She died 20 years ago, before I cooked seriously.
Donald Link
Herbsaint, New Orleans; 504-524-4114.
Favorite kitchen equipment
French steel pan. It seems to cook in a way other pans can't. It lends itself to roasting in the oven. It gives food a different texture.
Most underrated ingredients
Bluefish and mackerel. They're inexpensive and have a lot of flavor. But they have to be really fresh. We cure and smoke bluefish and make fritters.
Home Stove
I do most of my cooking on the grill at home (the Cajun microwave [a wooden roasting box]), including my Thanksgiving turkey.
George W. Brown, Jr.
GEORGE Restaurant, Dallas 214-366-9100
Favorite kitchen shoe
Definitely Birkenstock. I don't have a lot of choice, because I'm a size 15. When I go into a store I usually say, bring me whatever you have in a 15. They'll bring out one pair in purple and one in black, and I usually take the black.
Favorite part of the pig
The hock. Right now we do a braised confit of Berkshire pork hock. It's a really tasty and tender piece of meat.
Best cooking short cut
Soak unpeeled garlic cloves in warm water and the husks come right off.
Greg Higgins
Higgins, Portland; 503-222-9070.
Favorite kitchen equipment
I'm a big fan of my mortar and pestle. I have a huge old antique one at home, maybe about 300 years old. It's marble, set in chestnut. It's not mobile, unfortunately. It's the original food processor.
Favorite superfast leftover dish
We really like to do risotto cakes. Take leftover risotto, roll it in breadcrumbs and crisp it in a sauté pan.
Most underrated ingredient
The most lowly and underappreciated of all is parsley. People are usually surprised by how flavorful it is when it's not just a sprig on a plate.
Favorite cheese
The cheese I couldn't live without at home is Parmigiano-Reggiano. I was a cheesemaker for 3 years, and I just love it.
Best ingredients to bring back from a trip
We've rented a house in Crete for the last few years. We just bike, cook and hang out. I love the honey there—also the great olive oil and seeds.
John Besh
Besh Steakhouse at Harrah's, New Orleans; 504-533-6111.
Restaurant August, New Orleans; 504-299-9777.
An F&W Best New Chef 1999
Best quick hors d'oeuvres
Horseradish-and-Parmesan-crusted Louisiana oysters.
Favorite peppercorn
I'm an avid fan of traditional black peppercorns like your grandmother had in her pantry.
Dream cooking class
I would definitely take a pastry class. I would like to have Michel Richard at Citronelle in Washington, D.C., teach me.
Kazuto Matsusaka
Beacon, Los Angeles; 310-838-7500.
Favorite late-night snack
Lately, it's cold soba noodles with shredded chicken. Any kind of noodle dish is a late-night favorite.
Favorite artisan
Freehand in Los Angeles for ceramics. They have really interesting stuff. We do a lot of our Christmas shopping there.
Best place for a chef's night out
These days it's a Japanese place in L.A., Nanbankan. They cook everything for you right there on charcoal grills. It's just fantastic.
Kevin Rathbun
Rathbun's, Atlanta; 404-524-8280.
Favorite kitchen shoe
Red Wing, because I wear a size 17. I've been wearing them since I was 14. I don't know what all the hype is about clogs; I've never been able to get them in my size.
Music he plays at his restaurant
My father was a jazz musician, so I'm big on traditional jazz. I get guests from 18 to 90 years old, and everyone can relate. I tried the Buddha Bar music when we first opened and the 70-year-olds didn't like it
Favorite new ingredient
Sumac—dust it on chicken or fish, or add it to a lamb dish. It's got a great lemony flavor.
Best thing to buy at WalMart
A small salad spinner for microgreens.
Lance Dean Velasquez
Bendean, Berkeley 510-526-3700
Home stove
I have a little old four-burner gas stove. But I know a store in Berkeley that sells old refurbished Wedgewoods, and I would love to go in that direction instead of getting a big new shiny range. People who know how to cook should be able to cook on anything. People who want people to think they can cook like big shiny stoves.
Favorite quick fix
Scrambled eggs with mayo. I got this from my mother. Sometimes I use tortilla chips as a fork.
Best dishes to impress the kids
I recently asked my 8 year old son to tell me his three favorite foods. He asked, "Can I give you four?" and told me "(1) gnocchi, (2) Zachary's pizza, (3) Hamburgers, and (4) some salads with croutons."
Michael Symon
Lolita, Cleveland; 216-771-5652.
An F&W Best New Chef 1998
Favorite superfast leftover recipe
I like to stuff grape leaves with leftover rice.
Favorite quick fix
Toasted peanut butter and banana.
Best things to buy at a big box store
Calphalon does a wonderful job at Target—good mid-range pans and kitchen tools.
Paul Wade
Montagna, Aspen; 970-920-6313.
Favorite superfast leftover dish
Pulled pork using last night's roast.
Favorite new ingredient
Villa Manodori Balsamico. It's new to me, handmade by an Italian chef, Massimo Bottura.
Best ingredients to bring back from a trip
Tasmanian honey and wine from Sydney, small boutique Shirazes.
Favorite salt
My favorite is probably Celtic cave-smoked salt. I like Peruvian pink and sea salts from Japan. Maldon salt for everyday.
Dream cooking class
Wedding-cake making. It's an old-school art form that I never learned.
Robert Gadsby
Noe, Los Angeles; 213-356-4100.
Noe, Houston; 713-871-8177.
Favorite spirit
Stone's ginger wine. You can only purchase it in England. I always bring back six bottles.
Favorite new ingredient
Shiro Shoyu—white soy. It doesn't change the color of anything. It's a salt alternative. It's incredible for dressings. It works with anything.
Who he most wants to cook for
Winston Churchill, because he's my hero, and I think he would enjoy the food. The chef who had the biggest impact on me is Gray Kunz. I would love to cook for him.
Stuart Brioza
Rubicon, San Francisco; 415-434-4100.
Favorite brand of chocolate
I'm not sure I want to tell you. My all-time favorite is a type from Sicily, untempered, with a granitelike texture, called Antica Dolceria Bonajuto. It's like everything that goes into chocolate is just thrown together and formed into a bar. They make several great flavors. My all-time favorite is cinnamon.
Favorite quick snack
Grilled cheese. We usually have good cheese on hand, from Gouda to Gruyere. I'm really quite fond of the cheeses from California's Cowgirl Creamery.
Favorite new ingredient
I mostly come up with new ways to use old ingredients, like steelhead roe. We cure our own and do a seviche with Meyer lemon, horseradish oil and celery. Also pumpkin seeds—I'm intrigued by them.
Scott Dolich
Park Kitchen, Portland, OR 503-223-7275
Best place for chef equipment
There is a little restaurant supply store in a warehouse behind my restaurant. It's great for parts for everything. It's called Johnson Restaurant Supply and it's owned by Jim and Jeff Johnson, two of the most knowledgeable people on the face of the planet when it comes to restaurant equipment.
Favorite cheese
My favorite cheeses are all American right now—Fleur-du-Teche from Los Angeles is a great one. Redmondo from Juniper Grove in Redmond, Oregon, is fantastic as an all-purpose grated cheese. It's similar in texture to a Parmesan.
Best quick hors d'oeuvres
Can't beat asparagus, grilled with a simple vinaigrette. We do a red onion and pistachio vinaigrette. It takes a grand total of about 15 minutes.
Tim Goodell
Aubergine, Newport Beach, CA; 949-723-4150. Troquet, Costa Mesa, CA; 714-708-6865.
An F&W Best New Chef 2000
Home stove
What I'd really like to have is an old O'Keefe & Merritt 6 burner. I like vintage stoves.
Favorite cocktail
Van Winkle Special Reserve bourbon on the rocks—has to be 12-year select.
Music he plays at his restaurant
We make all our own CDs. Right now it's a mix of Renee Olstead, Queen Latifah, Michael Buble, to name a few.
Tadashi Ono
Matsuri, New York 212-243-6400
Favorite knives
Minamoto Sadasuki. There is a knife man that comes to New York from Japan occasionally and goes around to all the Japanese restaurants. They're like custom made—I order the length, width, handle, etc.
Favorite sushi place
Ichimura in New York.
Favorite collectible
I make my own pottery and use some of it in the restaurant. I also like ceramic artists Jeff Shapiro and Uko Morita in New York.
Carrie Nahabedian
Nahabedian, Chicago; 312-321-6242
Most underrated ingredient
Salt. Too many people just use regular salt at home. Everyone should upgrade to fleur de sel for finishing, or definitely use some sort of coarse ground salt. I'm not saying you need to upgrade to Hawaiian salt, but salt shouldn't just be thought of as something to fill the shaker with once a year.
Favorite new ingredients
I went to New Zealand recently so I've been trying a lot of smoked Manuka sea salt from the Marlborough Sounds. We're using it to accent pork cheeks right now. I also love different varieties of olive oils. We use a Sicilian winter extra-virgin olive oil and I'm also trying some olive oils from French vineyards.
Favorite kitchen equipment
I love the handheld blender the most because it finishes a sauce really quickly and gives it that extra volume. I also like my Kitchen Aid mixer, both for at home and at work. It's so versatile. For example, I use it to make small batches of short dough for cookies.
Rick Tramonto
Tru, Chicago; 312-202-0001.
An F&W Best New Chef 1994
Favorite knife
My favorite cheap knife is my Japanese Global knife, which is about $100. It's a great everyday knife: It holds a nice edge and it's durable in the kitchen. But my pride-and-joy knife is by Nenox. It's a custom-carved snakewood-handled knife that Laurent Gras told me about that I got for about $2,000.
Favorite cheese
I'm a huge fan of Parmesan. I use it everywhere. I use it like salt. I love especially love it aged two to three years. And I love Red Cow Reggiano.
Dream cooking class
I've never taken a formal cooking class. I never even finished high school. But one of my heroes is Pierre Gagnaire, so I'd love to attend any class he teaches. I'd love to learn his philosophy on marrying ingredients or composing flavors, or any class he teaches on fish.
Ethan Stowell
Union, 1400 First Ave., Seattle; 206-838-8000
Favorite cheap knife
I have a cheap Chinese cleaver from Viet Wah in the International district. You can chop up chicken bones and duck carcasses with it, and they're only $8.
Favorite bistro
For lunch, I love going to Salumi, owned by Mario Batali's dad, Armandino, who's an awesome guy. They make great cured meats all in house. I love the tongue sandwich.
Favorite cookbook
All my cookbooks—I have about 600 of them. I spend an hour a day reading the newspaper and cookbooks. I've been reading Thomas Keller's Bouchon a lot recently. Gordon Ramsay's and Eric Ripert's cookbooks are also great.
Favorite Web site
I don't do much surfing but I like Egullet.com. I don't make any postings but it's a good gauge to see what people are saying about our restaurant (I listen to the problems they have and decide if they're valid—if they are, then I'll try to fix it) as well as other restaurants.
Daisley Gordon
Campagne, Seattle; 206-728-2800.
Favorite trattoria
La Spiga, which serves cuisine from the Emilia Romagna region. It's really authentic; they make handmade pastas and crackers that are really tasty. The restaurant was built in Italy, and then all the equipment and decor was shipped over to Seattle. I have no idea how they did it—they moved the Sphinx.
Favorite movie
I went to Guy Savoy in Paris, and when I left, Savoy gave me a video called Four Seasons for a Party, put out by Canal Plus in 1999. The camera follows Savoy around to his favorite purveyors (like Chateau d'Yquem, the guy who grows the wheat for his bread, his oyster guy, the guy who grows his pumpkins), and at the end they have a huge party, cooking all the ingredients and opening two Chateau d'Yquem bottles that are 100 years old. You can just eat the video. It's also just so exciting to see kitchen shots of people making food.
Favorite Web site
My favorite is Pierre Gagnaire's Web site, because he has a section called 24 Heures Chez Nous, which has still photos of the kitchen 24 hours a day
Chris Hastings
Hot and Hot Fish Club, Birmingham, AL; 205-933-5474.
Best ingredients to bring back from a trip
I was just in the Bahamas on a Boy Scout trip with my son, and we harvested about 10 conchs. We cracked them open, and I took out the meat, iced it down and brought it back home. I've made conch salad, and conch with peas and rice. I can't get it in the States.
Favorite part of the pig
I've been known to eat a pig's ear sandwich or two but that's not really my favorite. I really like the shank of the pig. We do a braised pig shank that'll bring a tear to your eye. The shoulder of the pig is also hard to beat. My third choice is whole head, which we use to make what's known as "South meat" around here, or we use it to make a really great soup or terrines.
Best quick hors d'oeuvres
Down south we like to fry. I love to make shrimp and corn fritters. They're warm and yummy and have corn and pepper, and very little flour, and very little egg white to bind it.
Ludovic Lefebvre
Bastide, Los Angeles; 323-651-5950.
Favorite late night snack
I love to eat Cheerios with milk. I love them morning and night—whenever I'm hungry.
Best shop for chefs
Definitely Le Sanctuaire in Santa Monica, California. The owner, Jing Tio, is very passionate about what he's doing. I met him three years ago when I was walking down the street and just found the store. It's where I get all my tools, gadgets and unusual spices. Jing comes to Bastide two times a week, and we do experiments together—we play with new gadgets, new spices.
Favorite newest ingredient
On TV, I saw people eating chicken and drinking soda, so now I'm making a Chicken Pepsi Cola with fresh corn, Cornflakes and popcorn. I marinate chicken with soda for 48 hours, braise it, and serve it with a foam made out of Coke. I also love cooking with candy. I'm using Strawberry cream gummy candy and Pop Rocks in soups. In France, we have so much good candy, and I still love it, so I say, why not?
Gabriel Frasca
Spire, Boston; 617-772-0202.
Favorite part of the pig
How can I choose this one? I have to go with jowls. I love great guanciale, which is like cheek bacon but even fattier.
Favorite food friendly grape varietal
I'm obsessed with Grüner Veltliner and Riesling. And I can always make a case for Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. But my food is lighter and brighter so Grüner or Riesling pairs best.
Favorite food character in a movie or book
The chef in Jonathan Franzen's novel The Corrections was pretty fantastic. Her restaurant sounded like a place you wanted to eat. She basically had the restaurant dream: A sugar daddy came along and built her a restaurant.
Anton Schulte
La Petite Grocery, New Orleans; 504-891-3377.
Favorite bistro
We go to La Crêpe Nanou here in town. It's a busy little bistro that does a lot of crêpe dishes but that's not why we go. We go for basic steamed mussels with herbs. I usually bypass the fries that come with it and get bread to mop the sauce up. It's good, basic stuff. We're at the restaurant six nights a week and it's one of the few places that's open on Sunday, our day off.
Favorite new ingredient
King trumpet mushrooms which also go by King Oyster mushrooms and Eringi mushrooms. They have a very interesting shape—they're large, like a pineapple juice can, and the cap is the same size as the stem. I use almost the entire mushroom.
Michael Kramer
McCrady's, Charleston, SC; 843-577-0025.
Favorite steak
Lately I've been really keen on flatiron steak. It's just packed with flavor. We get ours from Painted Hill co-op out of Oregon. It's great on the grill and easy to cook.
Best place for chefs equipment
I get my knives from Korin in New York City. A housewife can go to Korin and get the most amazing stuff.
Dream cooking class
That's hard because I teach them. A day with Alain Ducasse, working with truffles.
Andrea Curto-Randazzo
Talula, Miami; 305-672-0778.
An F&W Best New Chef 2000
Favorite dish made with leftovers
Leftover mashed potatoes turned into croquettes. I learned that from my grandmother. Mix with parmesan and basil. Right now, we're a little croquette-crazy in Miami.
Best place for chef's ingredients
For specialty ingredients, there's a company based in Miami called Culinaire Specialty Foods. If they don't have something, they'll get it for you.
Favorite new ingredient
Whole grain violet mustard, the Percheron Frères brand. It's made with grape must. You can use it in vinaigrettes, on lamb dishes, as an accompaniment to a cheese platter.
Michael Mina
Michael Mina Restaurants at the St. Francis Westin, San Francisco; 415-397-9222. Bellagio, Las Vegas; 877-234-6358.
Next vacation
I've never done truffle season in Italy so I'm going to make Todd English take me this year. And I have two little boys so I'm probably going to take them to Hawaii—something that just has to do with playing.
Favorite new ingredients
I've been using some of the Australian fish lately, like barrumundi. It's also really neat to see what's going on with potatoes. Heirloom, fingerling, Yukon gold—they taste so different from each other but have the same comforting texture. I'm currently working with eight different types of potatoes.
Favorite trattoria
That's a tough one in San Francisco. For pizza, I like to go to Tommaso's. It's the first brick-oven place in the city and is really good. It's really small and underground (you go down the stairs). You always see celebrities. It's like those Old World secret Italian places. I know I'm getting kind of boring, but I like their pepperoni. Their clam, pesto and garlic pizza are good too.
Laurent Gras
An F&W Best New Chef 2002
Favorite unexpected kitchen equipment
When I was traveling in Japan, I discovered the bonito shaver, which allows you to shave bonito [tuna] in very fine strips to infuse stocks with smoky and fishy flavor. I also use it to shave truffles and any kind of hard cheese, like Manchego and Parmesan.
Favorite new ingredient
I'm very into spices these days, like mixed spices with Asian, Spanish and African flavors. Like Meyer lemon powder, flavored fleur de sel (such as lemon, seaweed, mint and Sichuan pepper), Indonesian peppercorn and bergamot. I love to buy spices from a place in Paris called Goumanyat owned by the Thiercelin family.
Favorite sushi place
Masa Takayama, at Masa in New York City, is a fabulous chef. He's one of the best chefs I've ever seen working in front of me. What he's serving—all the sushi, foie gras shabu shabu, kobe beef on grill—is extraordinary. You can't go once a month, because it's a $1,000 expense.
Paul Kahan
Blackbird, Chicago; 312-715-0708.
An F&W Best New Chef 1999
Best shop for equipment
There's a place called Northwestern Cutlery in my neighborhood that's great for any kind of kitchen gear. All the butchers bring their knives to get them sharpened there.
Favorite late-night snack
My wife and I are really crazy about cheese. We have a friend with a cheese shop called The Cheese Stands Alone, which always has great stuff. Recently, we've been eating Red Hawk cheese from Cowgirl Creamery. We also love cheese condiments, like watermelon mustardo from Italy (candied watermelon rinds with mustard oil so it's real spicy).
Favorite new ingredients
It's whatever is coming out of the ground. I'll probably experiment with borage and lovage and chamomile (in other ways besides tea). I'm a naturalistic experimenter.
Favorite spirit
I like Patron silver tequila because it's really clean. I just love the taste. It's a little smoky and peaty, with no weird aftertaste. It almost reminds me of Scotch from Islay. It's a good after-shift drink to wind down.
Melissa Perello
Fifth Floor, San Francisco; 415-348-1555.
An F&W Best New Chef 2004
Next vacation
I've always wanted to go to India. I love Indian food and think their culture is amazing. I would probably try to stay off the main path and see smaller towns and villages.
Favorite new ingredients
I've always used a lot of fennel pollen. I'll crust meats and fish with it and sear them. It's good for gamy meats, like venison and lamb, because it serves as a good distraction. I also mix it with tuna tartare. In desserts, I've been doing an upside down fennel cake dusted with fennel pollen. I've also just started cooking with lemon myrtle. It's like lemon verbena, but more like lemons and less like citronella. It's also not quite as pungent as verbena.
Tom Valenti
Ouest, New York; 212-580-8700.
An F&W Best New Chef 1990
Favorite food-friendly grape varietal
I've been on a Pinot Blanc kick this year. I think that my first exposure to it was at Jean-Georges Vongerichten's 66. I had a Paul Blanck Pinot Blanc with a screw top. I was a little taken aback by the screw top, but when I tried it, I thought, Hey, this is pretty darn good. It was my first screw top. No, actually, my first screw top wine was when I was 15, but we're not going to talk about that.
Favorite kitchen shoe
Let me just take a look. I'm wearing them now: Dansko clogs. I can't use orange because that color's already been taken by Mario Batali, and I don't want to upstage him. So usually it's black.
Favorite part of the pig
I love it all. There's no part of the pig that I don't love. I start at the snout and end at the tail.
Graham Elliott Bowles
Avenues at the Peninsula Chicago, Chicago; 312-573-6754.
An F&W Best New Chef 2004
Favorite part of the pig
Of course I think the belly is awesome. We love shearing our own bacon. We do braised pork belly as well. Three or four years ago, no one was using pork belly, and it was around a dollar a pound, but now it's getting trendier, so it's more expensive.
Favorite cheap knife
I was taught that the best knife a chef can have is the cheapest one he can keep sharp. Northwestern Cutlery has a great selection. I use a Forschner regular chef's multipurpose knife.
Favorite bistro
In Chicago I love going to Bijon after work. I get the iceberg wedge with blue cheese and crumbled bacon, and they have a great smoked salmon on country bread with whole grain mustard and capers. It's simple food and tasty. I also love Balthazar in New York, but I haven't memorized the menu. The feeling there is just so great—it's so rocking. A lot of restaurants model themselves after Balthazar.
Thien Ngo
Fork, Philadelphia; 215-625-9425.
Favorite cheese
Very, very ripe camembert. I eat it plain with a baguette.
Favorite salt
Vietnamese rock salt.
Favorite part of the pig
The head.
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