BATALI, Mario 1960-

PERSONAL: Born September 9, 1960, in Seattle, WA; son of Armandino (an engineer) and Marilyn (a nurse) Batali; married Susi Cahn; children: Benno, Leo. Education: Rutgers University, B.A., 1982.

ADDRESSES: Home—New York, NY. Offıce—c/o Babbo Ristorante Enoteca, 110 Waverly Place, New York, NY 10011.

CAREER: Chef, restaurant owner, and author. Po', New York, NY, chef/co-owner, 1993—; Babbo Ristorante Enoteca, New York, NY, chef/co-owner, 1998—; Lupa, New York, NY, chef/co-owner; Esca, New York, NY, chef/co-owner; Italian Wine Merchants, New York, NY, co-owner; The Food Network, New York, NY, television host of Molto Mario and Mario Eats Italy.

AWARDS, HONORS: D'Artagnan Cervena Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America, lifetime achievement award, 2001.

WRITINGS:

Simple Italian Food: Recipes from My Villages, photographs by Mark Ferri, Clarkson Potter (New York, NY), 1998.

Holiday Food: Family Recipes for the Festive Time of the Year, photographs by Quentin Bacon, Clarkson Potter (New York, NY), 2000.

The Babbo Cookbook, photographs by Christopher Hirscheimer, Clarkson Potter (New York, NY), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS: Although he studied finance and Spanish theatre in college, Mario Batali was drawn to a career as a chef and can trace his culinary inclinations back to his family. "The whole family experience was about food," Batali told a writer for People magazine. Batali began his culinary training at the Cordon Bleu school in London, England. Uninspired, he quickly dropped out for a more hands-on experience in a London French restaurant, where he trained for three years under the legendary Marco Pierre White. He returned to the United States in 1984 and began working at the Four Seasons hotel chain until 1989, when he made a daring move and quit his job to work in a family-run restaurant in Borgo Capanne, Italy, population one hundred. Batali received no wages but worked in exchange for lessons in traditional Italian cooking. "It was the most radical thing I ever did," he said in People. "And the best thing for my cooking style."

Eventually, Batali returned to the United States and worked for a year upgrading an Italian restaurant in New York City before opening his first restaurant, Po', to stellar reviews in 1993. In 1998 he opened his second restaurant, Babbo, which also received rave reviews from New York food critics. Batali went on to open two more restaurants and a wine shop. He also hosts popular cooking shows on television's Food Network. Batali's success and popularity, coupled with his love of authentic Italian cuisine, has led him to write several renowned cookbooks.

Batali's first book, Simple Italian Food: Recipes from My Villages, focuses on the use of pristine ingredients combined with the simple and sensible Italian cooking techniques he learned from his Italian teachers. The cookbook includes more than 200 recipes for pastas and numerous other Italian foods, from classic dishes like baked lasagne with asparagus and pesto to tuna carpaccio with cucumbers, sweet potatoes, and saffron vinaigrette. Writing in Publishers Weekly, a reviewer noted, "Batali's first cookbook will surely please those who want Italian easy and quick." Mark Knoblauch, writing in Booklist, commented, "Batali emphasizes the essentials of regional Italian cooking, carefully noting the similarities and differences as one travels from one ancient province to another." In a New York Times Book Review article, William Grimes called the book "immensely appealing and endlessly useful." He went on to note, "No tricks here, just brilliance."

In Holiday Food: Family Recipes for the Festive Time of the Year, Batali once again showcases simple Italian foods, focusing on four complete menus, including the "Feast of Seven Fishes," which is traditionally served in parts of Italy on Christmas Eve. The cookbook includes numerous baking recipes, from traditional Italian recipes to recipes from Batali's own family that he enjoyed as a child. The book includes a discussion by Batali of his own family's holiday meals, in which he notes that "any meals served at our house were mapped out at least a month in advance." In review of Holiday Food for Publishers Weekly, a reviewer noted, "If you want to enliven your Italian repertoire with authentic, celebratory dishes, this book is invaluable."

Batali's next book, The Babbo Cookbook, draws on the widespread fame of his flagship restaurant in New York City's Greenwich Village. Babbo is known as one of the country's most acclaimed Italian restaurants, and the cookbook includes 150 recipes, including Batali's signature dishes of mint love letters with spicy lamb sausage and beef cheek ravioli. The book also takes a look at what has made Babbo such a successful restaurant in a city full of premiere restaurants. Although a reviewer writing in Publishers Weekly noted that many of the recipes are "complex" and require "ingredients and equipment" that "will be difficult for lay people to acquire," the reviewer also commented that the "recipes are excellent—clearly written and easy to follow and carefully edited for the home cook."

As for his own cooking style, Batali said in People, "Every cook in Italy uses what grows around them. I use local American products, but with the same respect and simplicity Italians do. That's my shtick."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Art Culinaire, spring, 2001, "Mario Batali," p. 50.

Booklist, October 15, 1998, Mark Knoblauch, review of Simple Italian Food, p. 384; October 15, 2000, review of Holiday Food, p. 400.

Library Journal, October 15, 1998, review of SimpleItalian Food, p. 91; October 15, 2000, Judith Sutton, review of Holiday Food, p. 96; March 15, 2002, Judith Sutton, review of The Babbo Cookbook, p. 103.

New York Times, June 26, 1998, Ruth Reichl, "Babbo," (restaurant review), pp. B42, E44; September 18, 1998, Eric Asimov, "Babbo" (restaurant review), pp. B39, E42; November 10, 1999, Eric Asimov, "A Clamorous Trattoria, with Food to Match," pp. B16, F12; May 19, 2000, William Griems, "Diner's Journal: Esca," p. B41; December 27, 2000, Joyce Wadler, "A Taste of the Good Life, Served with Gusto," p. B2.

New York Times Book Review, December 6, 1998, William Grimes, review of Simple Italian Food, p. 20.

People, November 2, 1998, "Fresh Prince," a profile of Mario Batali, p. 85; November 27, 2000, Max Alexander, review of Holiday Food, p. 59.

Publishers Weekly, September 21, 1998, review of Simple Italian Food, p. 81; September 4, 2000, review of Mario Batali Holiday Food, p. 103; January 21, 2002, review of The Babbo Cookbook, p. 83.

Restaurants & Institutions, May 15, 2002, review of The Babbo Cookbook, p. 20.

Time, January 15, 2001, John Cloud, "Penne from Heaven," p. 120.*