What to Say to a Superstar Chef

WHAT TO SAY TO A SUPERSTAR CHEF

The ripple effect to the recent news that Daniel Boulud will be converting Feenie’s into his own restaurant in Vancouver has been akin to someone dropping a boulder into a goldfish pond – quite a splash, not to mention a big surprise to all the indigenous fish. It even made the US gossip circuit via sites such as www.eater.com who quoted the Globe and Mail as quoted by CityFood. (Pushing New York into our number two city by readers stats position.)

Now the elbow jostling is to get an invitation to the press release/lunch “official company statement” event this Friday.

Mr. Boulud had originally wanted to cook this lunch himself, but that idea was cancelled due to practical concerns. Even so, his new fans are doubtlessly in for a pleasant impression. Our knowledge of Mr. Boulud through previous encounters with the New York celebrity chef is that he is one of the most charming and personable chefs you could hope to meet in a restaurant front of house, although a tough whip cracker on the other side of the swinging kitchen doors. Which is probably how it should be.

Those however with invitation in hand and a desire to make a good impression once in conversation with the man must be pondering what to say? Better not open with “Daniel is my favourite restaurant in New York” or “I’ve eaten your $150 burger.” He’s heard all that before and it’s likely to make him go into auto-response.

Try the dating approach and ask him how many cookbooks he owns (over 1,500) or about his favourite wine (Châteauneuf-du-Pape). Here’s a cheat sheet as supplied in an interview with Variety (The Knife: Daniel Boulud Answers Pushy Questions).

Or maybe crack open the old chestnut and ask “what a nice guy like him is doing in a place like this?”.