Mario Batali

Mario Batali

Mario Batali on May 5, 2005
Born Mario Francesco Batali[1]
(1960-09-19) September 19, 1960
Seattle, Washington, United States
Education Rutgers University
Le Cordon Bleu
Spouse(s) Susi Cahn
Children 2
Website www.mariobatali.com
Culinary career
Cooking style Italian

Mario Francesco Batali (born September 19, 1960)[2] is an American chef, writer, restaurateur, and media personality. In addition to his classical culinary training, he is an expert on the history and culture of Italian cuisine, including regional and local variations. Batali co-owns restaurants in New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Boston, Singapore, Hong Kong,[3] Westport, Connecticut and New Haven, Connecticut.[4] Batali's signature clothing style includes a fleece vest, shorts and orange Crocs.[5] He is also known as "Molto Mario".

Family background and personal life

Mario was raised in Seattle, Washington, by Marilyn Batali and Armandino Batali,[6] who worked for Boeing most of Mario’s childhood. He spent his high school years studying in Madrid, Spain, before attending Rutgers University for Spanish Theater and Business Management. During his college years, he worked for a stromboli restaurant and bar near the Rutgers campus called Stuff Yer Face in New Brunswick, New Jersey. After graduating, he attended Le Cordon Bleu in London for a few short months before taking an apprenticeship with revered Chef Marco Pierre White in London at the Six Bells pub. Over the next three years, he underwent a culinary transformation that prepared him to leap into New York’s Italian cuisine with his own unique signature.

Currently, Batali lives in Greenwich Village with his wife Susi Cahn, of Coach Dairy Goat Farm, and his two sons Leo and Benno. Cahn's parents (and Batali's in-laws), Miles and Lillian Cahn, were the co-founders of Coach, Inc.[7] He keeps a summer home on Grand Traverse Bay in tiny Northport, Michigan.

Professional career

At 29, Batali was a sous chef at the Four Seasons Biltmore after previously working as a sous chef for the then Four Seasons Clift Hotel San Francisco,[8] (since 1995, known as "The Clift", under changed ownership.[9]) In the early 1990s Mario began working at the Italian restaurant Rocco’s before opening Pó in New York City in 1993 with incredible success. The New York buzz for his restaurants translated into the Food Network show Molto Mario [10] which aired from 1996 to 2004 where Mario’s career took off.

In more recent years, a lawsuit was filed in which Mario settled with his restaurant staff[11] who alleged successfully that the Batali organization had skimmed a percentage of the tip pools in his restaurants over a period of years.

Mario teamed up with Joe Bastianich to form B&B Hospitality Group. Together they opened Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca in New York City which quickly gained the coveted three stars award from the New York Times, the first Italian restaurant to do so in 40 years. Together they opened seven more restaurants in New York: Lupa, Esca, Casa Mono, Bar Jamon, Otto, Del Posto, and Eataly (an Italian marketplace). In 2010, Del Posto received a four-star review from the New York Times. It is one of only six restaurants in New York with the award. Since 2008, Del Posto has been a recipient of the Wine Spectator Grand Award.[12] Their culinary empire has expanded to 10 restaurants in New York, four restaurants in Las Vegas, two restaurants in Los Angeles, two restaurants in Singapore, one Italian market in Chicago, and two restaurants in Hong Kong. In 2015, they opened Babbo Pizzeria e Enoteca in the Seaport area of Boston.

Social activism

Batali is a critic of hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, a method of natural gas extraction. He has signed onto the cause of Chefs for the Marcellus, whose mission is to "protect [New York's] regional foodshed from the dangers of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas (fracking)."[13][14] In May 2013, Batali co-wrote an opinion article with chef Bill Telepan for the New York Daily News, in which the two wrote that "Fracking ... could do serious damage to [New York's] agricultural industry and hurt businesses, like ours, that rely on safe, healthy, locally sourced foods."[15]

Batali is on the board of directors for The Lunchbox Fund, a non-profit organization which provides a daily meal to students of township schools in Soweto, South Africa. He supports the practice of Transcendental Meditation through the David Lynch Foundation.[16]

Philanthropy

The Mario Batali Foundation was founded in 2008 to ensure that all children are well read, well fed, and well cared for.

Mario aids the Lunchbox Fund which was founded as a nonprofit to ensure that orphaned and vulnerable school children in the rural areas of South Africa are given at least one meal a day.

He is also involved with the Food Bank for New York City which was founded to provide meals and support to the most vulnerable in New York City through soup kitchens, food pantries, classrooms, afternoon programs, and more.

Television credits

Awards

Bibliography

Restaurants owned or operated by Batali and Bastianich Hospitality Group

See also

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ "Batali, Mario". Current Biography Yearbook 2011. Ipswich, MA: H.W. Wilson. 2011. pp. 54–57. ISBN 9780824211219.
  3. ↑ "Restaurants". Mario Batali. Archived from the original on 20 December 2010. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
  4. ↑ Inzitari, Vanessa. "Check Out Mario Batali's Westport Restaurant". The Westport Daily Voice. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  5. ↑ Mario Batali: Hello, Hong Kong! China, here we come CNNGo. By Zoe Li. 13 April 2012.
  6. ↑ Roger Downey (2002-12-25). "A Batali Family Christmas - Page 1 - Food - Seattle". Seattle Weekly. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
  7. ↑ Adams, Rachel (2017-02-11). "Miles Cahn, Co-Founder of Coach Handbags, Dies at 95". New York Times. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  8. ↑ Coren. "CNN Transcripts Interview with Mario Batali". CNN. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
  9. ↑ "Clift Hotel's debt sold". SFGate. February 21, 1995. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
  10. ↑ Keil, Braden (2007-09-05). "Food Net Chef Mario Flames Out". New York Post. Retrieved 2007-09-17.
  11. ↑ http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/03/08/148234113/celebrity-chef-mario-batali-settles-lawsuit-with-his-waitstaff
  12. ↑ "Del Posto". Wine Spectator. 2015-01-01. Retrieved 2015-08-19.
  13. ↑ "Chefs for the Marcellus: Look Who's Signed On". Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  14. ↑ "Chefs for the Marcellus: About Us". Archived from the original on 26 May 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  15. ↑ Batali; Telepan. "Fracking vs. food: N.Y.'s choice". New York Daily News. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  16. ↑ Schneier, Matthew. "The Transcendentalists". Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  17. ↑ "Chef Mario Batali - Show Molto Mario - Show List A to Z - TV". Food Network. Retrieved 2010-09-21.
  18. ↑ Food Network
  19. ↑ Chef Mario Batali - Ciao America With Mario Batali - Show List A To Z - TV - Food Network
  20. ↑ "Healthy Recipe Collections, Party Ideas, Quick & Easy Recipes". Food Network. Retrieved 2010-09-21.
  21. ↑ "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations: New Jersey". TV.com. Retrieved 2010-09-21.
  22. ↑ Michelin Guide New York City 2000000 Archived 2011-09-17 at the Wayback Machine.
  23. ↑ Culinary Hall of Fame Induction
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