Mario Batali

Born	September 9 1960 (1960--) (age 47) Yakima, WA
Cooking style	Italian
Education	Rutgers University Le Cordon Bleu
Restaurants	Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca, Lupa Osteria Romana, Italian Wine Merchant (shop), Esca, Otto Enoteca Pizzeria, Casa Mono, Bar Jamon, Bistro du Vent, Del Posto, (all located in New York City)
TV Show(s)	Molto Mario; Ciao America with Mario Batali; Iron Chef America; Mario, Full Boil

Mario Batali (b. September 9, 1960) is an Italian-American chef, restaurateur, TV host and writer.

Personal History

Batali attended Rutgers University where he double majored in Spanish Theater and Economics, graduating in 1982. He currently lives in New York with his wife Susi Cahn (daughter of Miles and Lillian Cahn, founders of Coach Leather) and two sons, Leo and Benno. His father is Armandino Batali, owner of Salumi in Seattle.

Batali often wears a pair of orange Calzuro brand clogs, although these days he tends to be seen wearing Crocs brand. They have become one of his trademarks, with a pair appearing on the back cover of his 2005 cookbook, Molto Italiano and he himself can be seen wearing them in the front cover of his 2006 book Mario Tailgates NASCAR Style. He is currently seen sporting orange Crocs in an ad campaign for his brand new restaurant "B&B" at The Venetian in Las Vegas, NV.

Batali is also one of the principal subjects of Bill Buford's 2006 book, Heat.

Professional career

During university Batali started working as a dishwasher at Stuff Yer Face restaurant in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He quickly moved up from dishwasher to pizzaman. Batali went on to spend time as an assistant in the kitchen at the Six Bells public house in the Kings Road, Chelsea under Marco Pierre White,^[1]followed by Le Cordon Bleu in London and three years as a chef's apprentice in Northern Italy. In 1993 he opened Po with Steven Crane, but sold his interest in the restaurant in September 2000.

In 1998, with his business partner, Joe Bastianich (son of Lidia Bastianich), he went on to own the recent Michelin star winning Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca. They have since opened seven additional restaurants^[2], Lupa (1999), Esca (2000), Otto Enoteca Pizzeria (2003), Casa Mono (2004), Bar Jamon (2004), Del Posto (2005), and B&B Ristorante (2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada) and a shop named Italian Wine Merchants (1999).

Vic Firth, known for his production of quality drumsticks, has also teamed up with Batali to create custom kitchen tools. Specifically he has designed a line of wooden rolling pins, pepper grinders and salt grinders.^[3]

On September 5, 2007, the New York Post reported that Batali's contract with the Food Network would not be renewed, and that he would no longer be featured on its Iron Chef America series. The article further reported that Batali had decided not to make any further appearances on Iron Chef America because the network had cancelled his show, Molto Mario, which had been airing on Food Network since 1997^[4]. A Food Network spokesperson confirmed to ABC News that Molto Mario, would no longer be aired, but said that "Mario Batali is still part of the Food Network family. Sometimes family members go off and do other things. We completely blessed his decision to go to PBS...He is still going to appear on Iron Chef America."^[5] No new episodes of Molto Mario have been filmed since 2004, but the network continued airing re-runs over the ensuing three years.

Batali will be starting another show for PBS with Gwyneth Paltrow featuring Spanish cuisine, which will be filmed starting in October 2007 and into 2008.^[6]. This will be the first of a series of shows that will be developed for PBS over the next several years. Batali is also in negotiations with Travel Channel to develop a series on Italian cuisine and culture with filming tentatively scheduled to begin June 2008.

Television career

• Molto Mario [1]
• Mediterranean Mario
• Mario Eats Italy [2]
• Ciao America [3]
• Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters
• Iron Chef America: The Series
• ICA:All-Star Special
• Mario, FULL BOIL (Special) [4]
• GladWare container commercials
• Emeril Live (guest appearance)
• Chefography (guest appearance)
• Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (guest appearance)[5]

Awards

• Michelin Guide to New York City; One Star
• Three Stars from The New York Times for Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca
• "Best New Restaurant of 1998" from the James Beard Foundation for Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca
• "Man of the Year" in GQ's chef category in 1999
• D'Artagnan Cervena Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America in 2001
• "Best Chef: New York City" from the James Beard Foundation in 2002
• "All-Clad Cookware Outstanding Chef Award" from the James Beard Foundation in 2005 (national award)

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

References

External links

• Mario Batali's official site
• Biography on Food Network's site
• Interview on Star Chefs
• Babbo Ristorante
• Lupa Osteria Romana
• Otto Pizzeria
• Del Posto
• Italian Wine Merchants
• Mario Batali's Blog at HuffPost
• Super Mario! Time Magazine article, April 2, 2006
• Batali the Home Boy: Mario Batali's new kid-friendly kitchen
• Food Bank For New York City Board Member
• Mario Batali -- Photos by Mathieu Bourgois.

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