One of London's top celebrity chefs has gone belly up leaving his suppliers scrambling for money. The Telegraph gives us the tale of Tom Aikens, shown at right with wife, Amber Nuttall. Aikens is one of London's handsome and tempermental Michelin starred chefs. His Chelsea restaurant, Tom Aikens, has won 22 awards since opening in 2003. But last week it was announced that the companies running the restaurants had been placed into administration and now a whole host of suppliers, reportedly 160 businesses, are waiting to get paid.
The Telegraph reports you can still book a table and Aikens and his chefs are still cooking. Tom's Kitchen and the Tom Aikens restaurant were acquired by TA Holdco Ltd, allowing Aikens and his business to continue. Some suppliers are continuing to supply the restaurant in the hopes they will be able to get at least some money out of the situation. Others are angry that the business continued to buy from them as it slid into trouble. Some suppliers have had to lay off workers as a result of the money loss. The status of Aikens's personal wealth is not known at this time.
Celebrity chef Tyler Florence is opening his first restaurant. San Francisco boutique hotel company Personality Hotels has signed a deal with the Food Network chef to open a restaurant in Hotel Vertigo (currently the York Hotel). The 97-room York Hotel is currently undergoing a $5 million renovation and will be renamed Hotel Vertigo this summer, after Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 classic thriller staring James Stewart and Kim Novak (Novak's character lived in the York Hotel during the last half of the film). Florence's restaurant will also open this summer.
There are many people in the world who fly frequently and as such are often subject to airline food, despite it's nasty reputation of being nothing but reheated cardboard. Some airlines, however, are seeking to change that in a major way for their first class passengers -- even to the extent for some of having a chef on board (Gulf Airlines) and serving exotic gourmet dishes.
Think about it....who really has a second kitchen? A full second kitchen? They're rare indeed, but the new trend in luxury housing is to start changing that.
People with money to spend want kitchens for both themselves and for their personal chefs and caterers, and they don't want to be bumping around together in the same space. But it's not just about whether or not you can afford it, as the building has to be approved and depending on the rules and regulations in the area an additional full kitchen may or may not be allowed. But in the areas where it does work houses generally run in the $5 million range and higher when they include 2 kitchens.
Tasting menu's don't come cheap, but the range of flavors and the chance to experience more of the chef's repertoire is worth it for many. Some of the best restaurants in the world have gone to serving nothing but tasting menus, Charlie Trotter's in Chicago for example, and others simply offer them as a luxury for those who can afford it and want something a little different. So where to go if you're really looking to drop some cash and enjoy the great tastes of the best tasting menus? Well the single most expensive tasting menu in the world belongs to L'Arpege in Paris and runs $466, with the second and third most expensive also going to restaurants in Paris: Alain Ducasse Plaza Athenee ($437), and Guy Savoy ($402). Masa, in NYC, comes in at 4th with their tasting menu priced at $400 for 25 courses.
When you think of a picnic you probably picture simple food like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a basket of fruit in a park somewhere, but that's not what comes to mind when you ask some of the world's top chefs. From locations as normal as a park in Brooklyn to as fun as a hot air balloon miles above the world, and food tastes covering everything from fried chicken to oysters, you can find it all on this list of top chef's dream picnics.
What's your dream picnic? Reading this list I don't think I could choose!
Now here's a concept that takes the idea of "a unique dining experience" to a whole new level, literally. Created from an idea by Belgian chef Quentin Jadoul, Dinner in the Sky is one of those things that is exactly what it sounds like: it's a large dining table that seats about 20 people and gets hoisted high up into the sky on a crane --there's even room in the middle for the waiters to come along! And surprisingly, even though it's based in Belgium the table is mobile and travels around Europe for different events and occasions, and the menu can be adjusted to accommodate tastes for pretty much anything.
For somewhere around $20,000 you can have your own "Dinner in the Sky" party, just pray for good weather and hold onto your napkin!
Cooking competitions are very popular these days but the Bocuse d'Or is in a class by itself. It is part of the International Hotel Catering and Food Trade Exhibition in Lyons France taking place now through January 24 which also includes the World Pastry Cup. The contest, which is on January 23, is judged by 24 chefs and 24 chefs have the opportunity to compete on three different themes in a timed contest. In addition to the accolades of the crowd, the winner receives a Blancpain hand-engraved Léman GMT Alarm watch worth 14,000 euros. Other events include the International Cheese Competition, which has already crowned a winner, France and the cheeses of Rodolphe le Meunier.
Chef Charlie Palmer already owns a hotel in Healdsburg, a city in the northern California wine country, but he is planning to take his celebrity chef status to a new level in Las Vegas by opening a hotel/condo complex that will bear his name. This venture is a step apart from other chefs, who have contented themselves with lending their names (and occasionally their actual cooking) to restaurants in hotel-casinos up to this point. Palmer's project will be built on the site of the casino known as the "Golden Palm." Instead of the 6-story building that now sits there, Palmer's complex will be 33-stories high, have 400 hotel/condo units and three restaurants on site, including a sushi bar. In total, construction should cost $400 million and Palmers expects it to be completed by 2008.
Palmer's new digs will not have a casino on the premises, but with one celebrity chef carving a new and glamorous niche in Vegas, how long can it be before other chefs follow suit and expand upon the idea? Ducasse Towers? Emeril's Kicked Up Casino?
The Chefs Remote Thermometer works in much the same way as a baby monitor, allowing you to keep track of what is happening in another room without having to be there. The transmitter base has a meat thermometer attached to it. The receiver has a range of 100-ft. and receives remote temperature updates from the thermometer. An audible alert lets you know when your meat reaches the appropriated level of doneness, with preset levels from rare to well done and custom levels that you can set yourself. This frees up the chef to work on the rest of the meal or watch the big game on TV while the main course is cooking without having to get up and check on it. The thermometer works both indoors and outdoors. Price: $49.95.
Celebrities are putting their artistic skill to good
use for charity. They are decorating jockey
silks - the brightly colored shirts and caps worn by jockeys during horse races - that are being auctioned online to
raise money for the Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, England. The silks will be displayed to the public at
the World Museum Liverpool until April 30th, as the winners of the auction are not to be announced until May
12th.
Richard Branson and Yoko Ono, contributing one of John Lennon's designs, are among the participating
celebs. The silk illustrated here was designed by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey. The rest of the silks can be viewed online, where bids will also be taken.
One of London's top celebrity chefs has gone belly up leaving his suppliers scrambling for money. The Telegraph gives us the tale of Tom Aikens, shown at right with wife, Amber Nuttall. Aikens is one of London's handsome and tempermental Michelin starred chefs. His Chelsea restaurant, Tom Aikens, has won 22 awards since opening in 2003. But last week it was announced that the companies running the restaurants had been placed into administration and now a whole host of suppliers, reportedly 160 businesses, are waiting to get paid.
When you think of a picnic you probably picture simple food like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a basket of fruit in a park somewhere, but that's not what comes to mind when you ask some of the world's top chefs. From locations as normal as a park in Brooklyn to as fun as a hot air balloon miles above the world, and food tastes covering everything from fried chicken to oysters, you can find it all on this list of 
Chef Charlie Palmer already owns a hotel in Healdsburg, a city in the northern California wine country, but he is planning to take his celebrity chef status to a new level in Las Vegas by 
