Famous Chefs

What do Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay, and Wolfgang Puck have in common? They are well-known chefs who have taken their love for cooking from the kitchen and into our hearts via their own television food programs and a variety of how-to cookbooks. More than that, their passion for cooking has allowed them to open the doors of award winning restaurants, where their fans-turned-patrons get to sample their culinary delights.

Emeril Lagasse

Thanks to television stations like Food Network, the popularity of chefs has catapulted to an all time high. One such chef who is riding the wave of success these days is Massachusetts native, Emeril Lagasse.

He is the effervescent chef popularly known for his television programs “Emeril Live” and “The Essence of Emeril” and usually peppers his cooking methods with the catchphrases “take it up a notch”, “Bam!” when he’s adding something spicy to his meals, and the smooth “oh yeah baby” when he drips sauce over a dish. Behind the scenes, Emeril has more than enough going on in his life.

In his free time he juggles as the ownership of nine restaurants in New Orleans, Atlanta, Miami, Las Vegas – all of which show off his Cajun and Creole cooking styles. With several awards and accolades under his belt (all for being the best chef and owner of three and four diamond restaurants), Emeril still finds the time to write best-selling cookbooks and produce a line of kitchen appliances and utensils under his name.

Wolfgang Puck

Wolfgang Puck can easily be referred to as a ‘chef extraordinaire’. Born and reared in Austria, his distinctive Austrian accent can be heard advising viewers on his television show to “live, love, eat”. Puck’s name is synonymous with the world renowned Beverly Hills’ Spago and the Wolfgang Puck Express restaurants.

Puck, who also has restaurants in Japan and two in Tokyo, may also be called ‘a chef to the celebrities’, as he has catered for a long list of Academy Award parties. In addition to penning several cookbooks, he also has a line of household kitchen equipment and grocery items. Few chefs have their fingers in so many pies!

Bobby Flay

Bobby Flay’s cooking forte is American south western food, which incorporates ingredients like chilies, beans, and avocados. His illustrious cooking career began at age 17 when he cooked at Joe Allen’s New York City Restaurant. Allen was so impressed by Flay’s skills in the kitchen that he paid for his tuition to French Culinary Institute. He received the outstanding graduate award at the school but soon realized that French cooking wasn’t for him.

He went on to work as an executive chef at Miracle Grill, which later prompted him to open his own Mesa Grill restaurant in New York City. Today, Flay is a popular TV host and is the owner/ co-owner and chef of several award winning restaurants. He has also written several cookbooks with Boy Meets Grill being the most popular of the set and voted Rising Star Chef in 1993 by the James Beard Foundation.

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