Mario Francesco Batali (born September 19, 1960) is an American chef, writer, restaurateur, and media personality. Batali co-owns restaurants in New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Boston, Singapore, Westport, Connecticut and New Haven, Connecticut.
Video Mario Batali
Early life
Batali was born in Seattle, Washington on September 19, 1960, to Marilyn LaFramboise and Armandino Batali. Batali attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and worked as a cook at the Italian restaurant Stuff Yer Face. In 1994, he married Susi Cahn. He is son-in-law to Miles and Lillian Cahn, founders of Coach Inc.
Maps Mario Batali
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, (since 1995, known as "The Clift", under changed ownership.) He appeared in the Food Network show Molto Mario which aired from 1996 to 2004, where his career rose to its expectations.
In 1998, Batali, Joe Bastianich and Lidia Bastianich formed the B&B Hospitality Group, also known as Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group. The flagship restaurant for B&B is Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca in New York City which has a Michelin star. Since 2008 their restaurant Del Posto has held a Wine Spectator "Grand Award" for the quality of its wines. Batali also cofunded the popular food market/store Eataly.
Batali was a co-host of the ABC daytime talk show The Chew when it premiered in 2011.
In 2012, a lawsuit was settled by Batali (and B&B) with 117 members of the restaurant staff, who alleged that the Batali organization had skimmed a percentage of the tip pools in his restaurants over a period of years.
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)." 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."Batali was the subject of a 2007 book titled "Heat" by Bill Buford which detailed his philosophy to various aspects of social activism as well as cooking and life.
Batali served as an ambassador and 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. As of December 2017, Batali released in response to the sexual misconduct allegations, he would step down from his role with this organization.
In 2008, Batali and his wife Susi Cahn founded the Mario Batali Foundation, funding various children's educational programs and pediatric disease research.
He supports the practice of Transcendental Meditation through the David Lynch Foundation.
Sexual misconduct controversy
On December 11, 2017, four women accused Batali of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct, and by the following day, eight women had come forward.
Batali took a leave of absence from his position at the management company Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group. Producers of ABC's The Chew asked him to step aside temporarily, while his fellow co-hosts publicly addressed the allegations on air, and he was fired from the show on December 14, 2017.
Food Network halted plans to release episodes of his television show Molto Mario after the allegations. Target announced that it pulled Batali's pasta sauces and cookbooks out of sales, partially in response to a petition launched with 7,000 signatures.
Television and movie credits
Awards
- 1998 - "Best New Restaurant of 1998" from the James Beard Foundation for "Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca"
- 1999- "Man of the Year" in GQ's chef category
- 2001- D'Artagnan Cervena Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America
- 2002 - "Best Chef: New York City" from the James Beard Foundation
- 2004- Three Stars from The New York Times for "Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca" from Ruth Reichl.
- 2005- "All-Clad Cookware Outstanding Chef Award" from the James Beard Foundation (national award)
- 2008 - One Michelin star, Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca, Michelin Guide
- 2008 - "Best Restaurateur" for Joe Bastianich/Mario Batali for Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca from the James Beard Foundation.
- Culinary Hall of Fame Induction.
Bibliography
- Mario Batali Simple Italian Food: Recipes from My Two Villages (1998), ISBN 0-609-60300-0
- Mario Batali Holiday Food : Family Recipes for the Most Festive Time of the Year (2000), ISBN 0-609-60774-X
- Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy (contributor) (2002), ISBN 0-609-60848-7
- The Babbo Cookbook (2002), ISBN 0-609-60775-8
- The Artist's Palate (foreword) (2003), ISBN 0-7894-7768-8
- Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes to Cook at Home (2005), ISBN 0-06-073492-2
- Mario Tailgates NASCAR Style (2006), ISBN 0-89204-846-8
- Spain...A Culinary Road Trip (2008), written with Gwyneth Paltrow, and Julia Turshen. ISBN 978-0-06-156093-4
- Italian Grill (2008), written with Judith Sutton. ISBN 978-0-06-145097-6
- Molto Gusto: Easy Italian Cooking (2010), written with Mark Ladner. ISBN 978-0-06-192432-3
- Molto Batali: Simple Family Meals from My Home to Yours (2011), ISBN 978-0-06-209556-5
- America - Farm to Table: Simple, Delicious Recipes Celebrating Local Farmers written with Jim Webster
- Mediterranean Summer, A Season on France's Côte d/Azur and Italy's Costa Bella (2007), written by David Shalleck and Erol Munuz ISBN 978-0-7679-2048-3 Contributor Foreword by Mario Batali
- Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany (2007), written by Bill Buford ISBN 978-1400034475(Batali is the subject of the book)
See also
- List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards
References
External links
- Official website
- Biography on Food Network's site
- Mario Batali at the Chef and Restaurant Database
- Mario Batali on IMDb
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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