Stephen Starr The Man Behind The Restaurants

 A good restauranteur is hard to find. A very good one is a unicorn. Yet Stephen Starr is that culinary unicorn. He is the man who brought back the classic eatery Pastis and turned Philadelphia into a foodie must stop. He is the driving force behind where and what America eats.

New contributor Christine Speer Lejeune wrote about this amazing force in yesterday's New York Times Wednesday Food section. Stephen Star is responsible for some of the best and most popular eateries, in New York City, his home town of Philly and Nashville. He is reviving the scandal stained Babbo in Manhattan, a restaurant that was once Mario Battali's before Battali's sex scandal ruined his career and business.He has  done some wonders with reviving the legendary place Pastis and is now expanding to to Nashville. In one year alone he has amassed around four hundred million in revenues,a pretty amazing feat in this depressed economy however he is responsible for a whopping forty-three restaurants.He has a true instinct for what diners want and he attracts a huge array of fans. The Bidens were just at his Philadelphia trattoria Borrmini,, Mick Jagger and Oprah were fans of his Asian fusion eatery Buddakan. He has worked with such chefs as Kevin McNally to name a few.

Surprisingly enough Mr.  Starr didn't start out in the food or hospitality business.He started spinning records for local radions in his native Philadelphia. (in fact he runs his eateries like record companies and often used musical and album restaurants along with dressing laid back record producer in his black tee shirt and jeans) . At twenty-one he changed course when a former girlfriend dumped him for being broke. He resolved not to be broke again and started a succession of  show business ventures in the Philadelphia area. However  a lightbulb went off when he visited New York City's Global 33 a martini bar. He loved the feel and the crowd, a bar filled of sexy, young good looking people. He could brink that to Philly. He opened up the Continemtal Martini Bar in 1996 around the time when the martini culture movie "Swingers came out." The place was an instant hit. It was the jolt that set the foodie scene there afire. He opened up the pricey yet successful Buddakan which brought celebrities toa city mostly known for scrapple and cheese steaks along with Colonial history. Even Robert Di Niro visited. Now Starr is all over his city  and Manhattan.

Stephen Star is bringing fun dining and good food to two of the East Coast's most important cities. He has brought Asian  at Buddakan food to the forefront and revived classic restaurants. It's will be amazing when he expands to other cities like Nashville.

California Eating

 California is on everyone's radar, thanks to one of its' most famous inhabitants Vice President Kamala Harris. Everyone outside the Golden State is curious not only about her but also the cuisine this state has. Like the East Coast, California has been not only on top of the foods trends but creating them as well.

There are really two Californias, since the state is so big.Its' top two cities, San Francisco and Los Angeles have been known for their restaurants for decades. San Francisco , where Madame Vice President hales from, has Fisherman's Wharf where locals and tourists can sample a variety of different seafood and fish. Los Angeles has the celebrity studded Spago and Musso's and Frank. Of course San Francisco has given the works one of its' greatest inventions sourdough bread.This came about during the famed Gold Rush of 1849, although variations of ti have been around since ancient Egypt. Yet the city embraced it and by 1853 there was a whopping fifty-three bakeries selling the tasty bread. The most famed bakery is Boudin's , founded in 1849 by Isidore Boudin of Burgundy France.So Cal has the equally famed In N Out Burger. This well loved chain was created in 1948, in Baldwin Park, a Los Angeles suburb. Founders Esther and Harry Snyder created one of the first drive throughs in the country. Nowadays diners, like then, can chow down on the three kinds of burger, such as the Double Double, two patties and two slices of cheese on a bun along with the famed Neopolitan shake.

Californian cuisine is also influenced by the variety of different cultures that have been there for centuries. The south has been heavily influenced by Mexican cuisine. Burritos and tacos were part of the diet long before  they reached other parts of the US, This gave way to the fast food chains, Del Taco and Taco Bell. Baja California, cuisine, inspired from the Baja Peninsula, directly south of the state, also is a big influence. It emphasizes fresh ingredients cooked into tacos and tortilla. California also has a big Central American population and there are pupuserias, serving the crepe like roll made from corn meal or  rice flour. Asians, from Chinese to Vietnamese , Japanese to Filipino are also contributors to the state's diverse cookbook. Sushi is big all over California even giving birth to the famed California roll. This is also part of the state's fusion cuisine. Chef Wolfgang Puck, owner and founder of Spago's is the father of this. He popularized such dishes as Chinese chicken salad and influenced younger chefs to come up with such dishes as taco pizza. Of course there is a fresh food movement too, created by famed Napa Valley chef  Alice Waters. She emphasized  just picked produce in everything from appetizers to desserts.

We have our first dynamic female vice president from a dynamic  food rich state. California has a cornucopia of various flavors to serve us and the world. It's truly a golden state to foodies and gourmets alike.

Rethinking Traditional Cuisines

One of the hallmarks of a good and creative chef is taking traditional recipes and giving them a new spin. Being this  daring means thinking outside the box. Chef Ann Kim has done this and with interesting results. Doing such has made her an up and coming bright star on the American culinary scene.

She was the subject of an extensive article in yesterday's New York Times section, written by Brett Anderson, restaurant critic and food writer. Chef Kim is a rebel of sorts, one with an interesting back story. Her family came from  South Korea and went to Columbia University. She didn't go the expected route of business, law, or medicine but chose acting instead. This did not go over well with her parents who disowned her for the choice. It did take off with Chef Kim landing parts in the most respected theater companies including Minneapolis' famed Guthrie Theater. Those paid off her student loans but left her feeling unfulfilled. Being Asian left her with limited and pigeon holed roles. Luckily she turned to  cooking . She referenced that turn of career in an emotional acceptance speech  when she won the James Beard award. Her first restaurant, eatery was Pizzeria Lola, a nod to her growing up  as one of the few Asians in a predominantly white suburb. This has fusion pies, with tomato sauce mixing with kim chi in her Lady Zaza pie and barbecue Korean beef ribs paired with arugula and scallions in another . Diners can finish with all American classics such as soft serve ice cream she and her sisters loved during their trips to McDonald's and chocolate chip cookies and milk.Her other pizzerias are Yong Joni and Hello, the last featuring New York slice and sandwich in Edina,  Minnesota

Now she is opening up Sooki and Mimi's , named for her maternal grandmother and her "adopted" American grandmother, mother of her white Minnesotan uncle. Mimi or Thelma Lange also sponsored the Kim family when they came from Korea in 1977. Her grandmother continued all the traditions including the culinary ones of making kimchi and gochujang, Korean chili paste. Mimi wanted Ms. Kim and her sister to do the opposite - assimilate. She took them to the orchestra and Children's Theater, along with reading books in their suburban town of Apple Valley. One would think the restaurant would be another fusion pizzeria No!!!! Chef Kim is opening up a taqueria inspired eatery thanks to her trip to Valle de Guadalup, Mexico. She tasted handmade heirloom blue corn tortillas that moved her to tears. The restaurant doesn't have a Latino sounding name , for fear of pigeonholing it and the menu will never be exclusively south of the border. She promises a dish with gravlax and lefse, Norwegian potato bread - a nod to the heavily Scandinavian population and possibly even churros - undoubtedly with a twist.

Chef Ann Kim's thinking outside the box has made her the country's most innovative chefs. Her new restaurant will surely be a hit. The dishes will be a marriage and salute to all sorts of different cuisines, from traditional to fusion.