Hot chef, meme sensation ‘Salt Bae’ to open restos in London, New York

If you’re well versed on the latest trends that the internet and social media has to offer, chances are you’ve stumbled upon a video of a suave-looking man expertly filleting and sprinkling salt on a slab of meat.

After his clip was shared on Instagram, the internet quickly dubbed him as the eccentric and sensual chef “Salt Bae”, but in real life, Turkish restaurant owner Nusret Gökçe is just a simple man with a burning passion for cooking meat.

The viral pony-tailed chef, who co-owns the global Nusr-et chain of grill houses, has since become one of the most popular memes of 2017—with his clip reaching 8 million views and even gaining 2.5 million followers on Instagram.

His magnificent salt-sprinkling pose has been imitated online in several spoof videos, while his likeness was even printed on T-shirts worn by celebrities like pop star Rihanna.

Gökçe’s sudden popularity has even reached a global scale and was immortalized in graffiti in Melbourne.

Banking on his recent name recognition, “Salt Bae” will reportedly expand his business and open branches in London and New York over the next few months, according to Business Insider.

Despite not knowing any foreign language apart from native tongue, the proud father of nine is optimistic that he’ll be able to “communicate with people through meat.”

The internet sensation also said he’s amazed of his sudden fame and even shared the story behind the salt meme.

“That move at the end [salting] came automatically,” he was quoted as saying in the report. “I did not do that to show off. It is just my signature. You can think of it [as] a kind of final touch for a painting. It was a final touch to the meat; I was blessing the meat.”

Gökçe added that his videos online were mostly shot by his staff, in an effort to promote his restaurants.

Although most people would see him as ”uncouth,” Gökçe is incredibly modest and shared that he came from humble beginnings.

“I am the son of a mine worker. My father and mother [are not literate],” Gökçe shared. “I cannot go to school due to financial difficulties. I started [working for] a butcher as an apprentice when I was 14. Meat has become a passion for me.” Khristian Ibarrola

source: technology.inquirer.net

Chef Anne-Sophie Pic sets out to conquer New York

NEW YORK - Anne-Sophie Pic, one of top five women chefs in the world, is gearing up to take the fickle, competitive world of New York gastronomy by storm in opening a new restaurant next year.

Named best female chef in 2011 at the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards run by British magazine Restaurant and the only three-star woman chef in France, Pic spoke exclusively to AFP in an interview during a busy stay in New York overseeing her new project.

On the ground floor of a gleaming glass tower at 510 Madison Avenue she will open a MetCafe and on the second floor, a New York branch of "Dame de Pic" which opened in Paris two years ago.

"It will be a gastronomic restaurant with 50 covers, between a chic bistro and a three-star restaurant," the 45-year-old told AFP in the empty space, bathed in light with high ceilings.

"It pleases me a lot. It's new, everything has to be built, it's the magnificent side of the project," she said in jeans, sneakers and a white shirt, her hair swept back in a neat little bun.

Rents for this kind of space in this neighborhood start at around $50,000 a month and the venture is not without risk in a city, with thousands of restaurants where fashions come and go.

Some great French chefs have come a cropper. Only last week was celebrity French chef Daniel Boulud downgraded, losing the third star he won in 2010 from the prestigious Michelin guide.

Polite, modest and respectful, Pic lets out a laugh.

"I am not coming into conquered territory! I'm aware that New York is a magical place, but difficult. My approach in coming here is to be humble," she said.

She speaks English, she knows the city and stayed several months when she was a student. She likes the pace, the "good energy" and likes to visit with her husband, Davis Sinapian, Pic CEO.

They are a couple who complement each other well: she does the food and he runs the business, which includes five restaurants, and employs 200 people.

Another 100 staff will be added in New York.

The crown jewels in their empire is Maison Pic, the family-run restaurant that Pic inherited after her father died, a three-star triumph in the southeastern French town of Valence.

There is the one-star Dame de Pic in Paris and a two-star restaurant in Lausanne.

Sincere approach

"I find that the trends in New York are very close to French trends," Pic says, talking about passion for all things organic and growing interest in vegetables in America's largest city.

"It corresponds to the evolution of my cuisine, I don't feel like it's a complete shift, even if I have a lot of things to learn."

"What's important for me is to do things that I love, bring pleasure to people, to be in this sincerely," she said.

She says her life is in Valence, where she is investing three million euros ($3.8 million) in a new, totally glass kitchen and a 60-square-meter (646-square-foot) laboratory kitchen.

A team will take care of the day to day running of the New York restaurant and she will stick to creating the menu.

She will come "as often as necessary to ensure that the standard is consistent, as I do in the three other restaurants."

She comes from a family of celebrated chefs. Grandfather Andre won three Michelin stars for Maison Pic in 1934 and father Jacques was made a three-star chef in 1973.

She took over Maison Pic in 1998 after it was downgraded to two stars and won back the third star in 2007.

With no formal training, she was nevertheless schooled in flavor by her father but only worked with him a few months before he died.

"The hardest thing is to build something yourself, to find your own path," she told AFP.

Today she says she is more comfortable than when she was 30 even if she still frets over the process of creation.

A self-taught perfectionist, she uses a lot of Japanese techniques and claims "the spirit of French cuisine is her DNA."

In a very male-dominated world, she also stays true to herself.

"I am very demanding in the kitchen, a little 'maternalist' but I try to stay who I am. I think it's important to tell women that when it comes to cuisine, stay women."

She is famous, a chef and a mother. But in what order, she doesn't hesitate for a second.

"I am a woman and a mother before being a chef," she says. — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com