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'Food & Wine' Announces Best New Chefs in America

Aired April 03, 2002 - 10:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: "Food and Wine" has announced the magazine's best new chefs in America for 2002. Who's hot in the kitchen? Dana Cowin from "Food and Wine" magazine joins us from New York.

Dana, good morning.

DANA COWIN, "FOOD AND WINE": Good morning.

KAGAN: what a fun thing to have to figure out. What makes a chef new and what makes a chef best?

COWIN: Well, what makes a chef best and new is that they have only been an executive chef in charge of all the ideas behind the menu for five years, and they have really tremendous creativity, and they're cooking food that we would die to eat five nights a week.

KAGAN: Sounds delicious. Let's look at a couple of examples. One is Grant Achatz.

COWIN: It's actually Achatz. Everybody mispronounces this poor guy's name.

KAGAN: They won't soon. They will know him like Wolfgang Puck before you know it. He's from Trio in Chicago.

COWIN: He's from Evanston, Illinois, outside Chicago, and he's 27. He's the youngest best new chef this year.

KAGAN: He's only 27?

COWIN: Yes, and he's Trained with Thomas Calver at the French Laundry (ph), probably America's greatest restaurant, and he has that incredible touch. He made an amazing lobster with rosemary vapor. Did I have that vaporized food? No. But it sure sounded good to us.

KAGAN: Sounds very tasty. There is another one, Thomas John from Mantra in Boston, Massachusetts, sounds like he has an Indian influence.

COWIN: He does. He actually is from India. He cooked all over India, and then came to the United States, created this extraordinary restaurant, where he combines French and Indian influences to the best results. Halibut with south Indian spices. I don't know, just makes me hungry. He's also a delightful guy to boot, and he's 36, so he's sort of at the top end.

KAGAN: I was intrigued to see that not all the best chefs and new chef have to be in a big city. One is not too far from here, in Athens, Georgia, home of the University of Georgia. You think of that as a college town, not necessarily where you're going to find some great grub.

COWIN: That's true. Hugh Acheson, at Five and Ten in Athens, Georgia is just brilliant with updating Southern foods. I mean, you think of catfish, and it seems like, oh, you can't do much with that. But Hugh can work wonders with catfish, with a little bit of lemon sauce and tomato chutney. He's incredibly inventive, and tucked away in Athens, Georgia.

KAGAN: Now too far, about an hour and change from us at CNN. Do the chefs have to make food that's fattening?

COWIN: It's a good question. Deborah Knight in Scottsdale, Arizona, she actually got her training at Miravogh (ph), which is a fantastic, well-known spa, so she can create incredible dishes with very low fat, and very delicious ingredients, so I think Deborah is a winner on that score, because usually you think of these great new chefs, and it's voigra (ph) everything.

KAGAN: And you don't look like you have that problem. So somewhere along the way, you must have either shown some great control or found non-fattening chefs.

COWIN: No control, all genetic.

KAGAN: What about price? Are these all expensive restaurants.

COWIN: They're not. They do range, though. There's a chef who's at the Ritz-Carlton in McLean, Virginia.

KAGAN: You are not going to tell me that that is a budget traveler's dream.

COWIN: Well, I'm going to tell you that this guy does the most amazing food for the best value. Is it pricey? Perhaps, but the value is extraordinary, but someone like Mark Sullivan at Woodside Pub in Woodside, California. He's another best new chef. His prices are very reasonable. You can get anything from, like, the perfect hamburger, not necessarily best new chef food, but to -- an extraordinary duck for a reasonable price. So we don't judge on price; we judge on food.

KAGAN: On the good stuff.

That will good new for Stanford students, because Woodside is right up the street from campus there. I think everybody was together last night for the award presentation, is that right?

COWIN: There were 900 of us having a great time together, yes, and We announced these 11 best new chefs to the world, and there's the last one, Susan Tract, getting her award. She's at Jar in Los Angeles.

KAGAN: And then everybody gathers again in June, and then these chefs will actually cook and show their stuff.

COWIN: Exactly. They get to cook together for probably a once in a lifetime event at the "Food & Wine" magazine (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Aspen.

KAGAN: Well, that would be a fun class to go to. And if you folks are interested in finding out more about chefs perhaps in the area, just check out the magazine, I guess.

COWIN: Absolutely. We'll be publishing the results in the July issue, and it's up on Web site now.

KAGAN: We will look for it. Dana Cowin, "Food & Wine" magazine. Thanks for stopping by and making us feel so hungry at this hour in the morning.

COWIN: Thank you.

KAGAN: Appreciate it.

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