Pastry Chef Oriol Balaguer
Cuisine and Restaurant 
arizing, chistopher felder pastri chef, christopher felder chef, estudios sobre chocolate, famous pastry chef known today, jun tanaka, pastry chef, world famous dessert chefs, world's famous pastry chef
Pastry Chef of Estudio de Chocolate y Pastelería, Oriol Balaguer. Hailing from a country whose name has been on every gourmet and wine connoisseur’s lip, Oriol Balaguer, pastry chef extraordinaire. Balaguer’s studious exterior belies his wild ability to create unusual and exciting desserts that have taken the pastry world by storm. As a pastry chef has represented his country at the World Pastry Cup in Lyon, France and has a book on pastry, La Cochina de los Postres, to his name. The pastry tome has seen a third translation into English (it was first translated into French) for a worldwide audience and has been put on the same footing as The Patisserie of Pierre Hermé and Au Coeur des Saveurs by Frederic Bau.
“Since young, I’ve had the conviction that I would be a pastry chef,” says pastry chef Balaguer who headed the pastry section of Talaia restaurant, an exciting dining establishment in Barcelona. “Fifteen years ago, culinary matters were not mentioned much, but nowadays every kid wants to be a famous chef or a famous pastry chef. And every chef de cuisine wants a good pastry chef beside him.” One of his most famous, if not the most famous dessert is called the seven textures of chocolate. It first burst upon the world’s consciousness in 1994 and is still very popular today. In fact, if imitation is the best form of flattery, then the many other versions that have surfaced, even in Paris, are a testament to his superb talent. In fact, it has been named Best Dessert in the World! “Every chef hopes to create a classic in his lifetime,” says pastry chef Balaguer. “I hope this is the one for me.” Not surprisingly, chocolate is his favourite ingredient to work with. His quenelle of creamed chocolate in olive oil, with its different viscosities and the contrast between bitter chocolate and fruity olive oil, is something to-die-for. Salt however, comes in a close second on his list of favorites. “Even in pastry, salt enhances every ingredient. My favorite is Maldon,” the pastry chef says.
Citing Jordi Butrón who is the pastry chef with the first dessert restaurant in the world, Christopher Felder who is the pastry chef at The Crillon Paris and the Adriá brothers as peers he especially admires, pastry chef Balaguer would eventually like to see his name on dessert lists as an indication that his desserts are remembered and worth remembering. “How a dessert looks is important, because people are more inclined to try something if it looks good,” Balaguer points out. “More and more people are appreciating dessert.” Pastry chef Balaguer opened his own showroom and ‘factory’, Estudio de Chocolate y Pastelería, sort of like a painter’s studio where people can order pastry items based on displays or brochures, and see pastry chefs at work. Some chefs will create more than one classic in their career, and we’re certain pastry chef Balaguer will be one such chef.
Best Chef of WD-50 Wylie Dufresne
If you bump into this casually-attired thirty-something on the streets of Manhattan, his ponytail and groovy sideburns screaming for attention might lead you to mistake him for a rock singer wannabe. How wrong can one be? This man, Wylie Dufresne, is but the most talked-about chef in New York, the man who spearheaded Clinton 71 Fresh Food and WD-50 (both made waves when they opened in the Lower East Side to phenomenal reviews). Just how huge a phenomenon was it? Let’s just say that with his restaurants, Dufresne has changed the outlook of an entire neighborhood, turning what used to be an unpopular side of town to the hottest location, teeming with the rich and famous arriving in their stretch limos.
It all started with a summer vacation job making pizzas in Providence (but cooking is probably in Dufresne’s blood anyway, since his father, Dewey, is also a restaurateur). He fell in love with the adrenalin rush he got working in the kitchen and enjoyed seeing how people reacted to his food. This love eventually brought him to the kitchen of legendary chef, Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s eponymous New York establishment, Jean-Georges where he was sous chef, and then to Vongertichten’s swish Las Vegas steakhouse, Prime where he was chef, before he took up the reins at Clinton 71 Fresh Food (his father was one of its original partners). Now, he stands at the head of WD-50, another father-and-son venture in which Vongerichten is also a partner.
But what catapulted him to super-star status is not just the fact that he’s a Jean-Georges protege. Dufresne’s cooking, which he chooses to simply describe as American, is all about balance, carefully composing each plate with complementary flavors and textures. And beyond that, it’s all in the man’s style, simple, intense and very adventurous. When WD-50 opened to the anxious anticipation of all who have had a taste of Clinton 71 (which has since changed hands), critics, gourmands and just about everyone else went wild with praises when they were presented with creations such as foie gras terrine topped with marinated anchovies and a sprinkling of bitter chocolate. “Food with a nerve”, some have called it.
WD-50
50 Clinton Street, New York
NY 10002
Food and Wine of Tuscany
Cuisine and Restaurant a good tuscan wine with eel, buying unbottled win? in tuscany, mai tanka wine, tuscan food and wine, tuscan food and wine photo images
Tuscan cuisine is basically simple. The most famous dish is Florentine steak (histecca alia Fiorentina), ideally derived from the Chianina breed of cattle, which grazes in the Val di Chiana, visible from the front porch. And with the steak come beans, just plain white beans, which might be made into a creamy soup with parsley and a hint of garlic, cooked al fiasco (in an old wine flask) with oil and sage, or prepared all’uccelletto (with tomato).
Even the names of Tuscan dishes are simple. In the area between Arezzo anil Grosseto there is a soup deceptively known as acaua cotta (cooked water), which is actually a delicious confection of mushrooms (for which the Tuscan forests are great), tomato, Parmesan, eggs and stale bread. Of course, there are wonderful restaurants, with more elaborate (but no less exquisite) cuisine. At La Chiusa, in Montefollonico, not far from Pienza, thè menu is vast and choice, the service, impeccable and stylish. Of the restaurants along the coast, II Patriarca in Viareggio has magnificent fish and, in the spring, a rare specialty, le cée, baby eels the size of kitchen matches, done in a half-dozen imaginative ways.
You can eat full-grown eels from the Arno at II Principe, in Giovi, north of Arezzo. And the list could go on. Most of the experience suggests that it is very hard to eat a really bad meal in Tuscany. Driving to Pisa on the autostrada, reached the turnoff for Alto Pascio just at lunch-time, Tuscan restaurants all over Italy and even in foreign countries are always staffed by waiters from Alto Pascio. In Italy, eating also means drinking, and in Tuscany, drinking usually means Chianti. There are all sorts of Chianti, some good, some less good, some great. But there are also other fine Tuscan wines, like the full-bodied Brunello from Montalcino and the rightly named Vino Nobile of Montepulciano, where during the summer music festivals, all the wine makers have stands or shops where you can sample and buy.
The most familiar white wines of Italy come from the Veneto and Friuli areas, but there are some fine white Chiantis. Galestro is a recent creation of a Chianti consortium, and it has become deservedly popular, unbottled white wines you can buy from humble wine shops.