Photos: Hernan F. Rodriguez
Celeb chefs and 700 food fans gathered at The Water Club in Atlantic City this weekend for the second-annual Savor Borgata event. Wolfgang Puck worked his station for over four hours straight, serving up pad Thai, grilled shrimp, steak and scallop skewers, and Chinese chicken salad. When the Buzz asked the super chef if he was a gambling man, he responded that he used to be but since opening restaurants, he rarely gambles: “Opening a restaurant is a gamble in itself because of the investment of time and money. But unlike blackjack, if people sit at our table at least they get something for their money!” Puck also responded to rumors of opening an NYC spot, “It hasn’t happened yet, because I am very difficult, but it may finally happen.”
Bobby Flay took some time between assembling surf ‘n’ turf skewers to tell the Buzz about his recent visit to the White House to film an episode of Iron Chef America. “No matter what your politics are, I just found the Obamas so impressive as people. And the White House seemed to be a house in every sense of the word. The first lady can go from being as professional as she could possibly be as first lady, then spin on her heels and become mom two seconds later. The President made me feel so comfortable, he made me feel like I knew him 30 seconds into it.” When Olympic gold medalist Peggy Fleming came by to introduce herself, Flay was so awestruck he asked the Buzz to take a picture of him with the famous figure skater-turned-winemaker (her label Fleming-Jenkins provided wine for the event).
Geoffrey Zakarian, who is the culinary consultant for the hotel, served beef tartare with mostarda and pickled chanterelles. The chef said even though he’s not by nature a gambling man, his biggest gamble in life was leaving business school for cooking school. He confided to the Buzz about being a Chopped judge, saying, “There is certainly a lot of nonsense in reality TV because everyone wants to be a star, and everyone wants to think they are a chef. But in the real world, in a restaurant, we have to find competent people who understand what's on TV is not real. You can cook in 30 minutes but can you run a kitchen day after day? Can you make your money back to investors? The people who can't cut it get ground to the dust very quickly.” Zakarian also confirmed that his new NYC spot, The Lamb’s Club, his “luxury bar and grill” in Midtown’s Chatwal Hotel, is on target for a spring opening.
Other chefs in the house: Fornelletto's Stephen Kalt, who said that his recent opening in Atlantic City foreshadows a return to NYC; izakaya’s Michael Schulson; and SeaBlue’s Michael Mina.
– Kathleen Squires