He's Smaller in Person

So my hubby works for a fucking rad company. Not only does this company have free lunch every day, but they occasionally bring in guest chefs. In the past they've had Martin Yan (as in Yan Can Cook) and Bruce Aidells (bring on the sausages). Today was different.

I've been there for lunch before. It's good. I've never made a special trip for a guest chef, though, until today.

Today it was...

IRON CHEF BATALI!!!! Allez Cuisine!

That's right, Molto Mario himself, he of Babbo and Lupa fame came to sign books at Jon's company today.

It was this that caused me to bolt out of my first grade class today, hop in the car and make the godforsaken trip down to the South Pole, I mean *Bay*, despite the fact that I had to be in meetings in Berkeley and rehearsal in the Creek later in the day. I was gonna get me some red haired lovin' if it killed me.

I arrived with perfect timing, and Jon and I waited only about five minutes. We were informed that only "badged staffers" could get a signed book. We were trying to get two, so we could get one for K & B. But after dude told us we couldn't, we dutifully put one back figuring that K & B would understand. After all, they are in Paris without us right now.

Anyway...

We get to the front and I'm on the verge of tears because I'm so happy. I hate celebrity chefs in general, I think they are mostly full of crap and usually, once they become super famous, their food turns to crap, too. Exhibit A: Emeril. Exhibit B: Todd English. Exhibit C: Bobby Flay (who, by the way, is also a dick. How that dude managed to land Stephanie March as a wife, I'll never know. That guy is just an arrogant fuckhead). But not Mario Batali...

Not only is his food still great despite his many TV shows, but he also manages to keep it real. I'm always so impressed with how fucking cool and down to earth he seems on TV. And guess what? He was like that today, too.

Once we finally got to the front, and I blabbered on like the idiot I am, he was super gracious. He couldn't understand why we didn't have two books. When we explained that I did not work there, he scoffed, grabbed another book, obliged Jon's request to make that one out to K & B, made some chit chat, thanked us for our compliments and smiled, smiled, smiled. LOVE HIM.

When one of Jon's coworkers asked when he was opening a restaurant in SF, he replied "Never. San Francisco closes to early. Everyone's in bed by 10:15." Amen, brother. It's harder to find an open restaurant after 10:00 p.m. in this city than it is to find your mama's panties after a night with the bowling team. WHY CAN'T YOU BITCHES STAY OPEN????

Did I mention that I just got home from rehearsal and have to be BACK in the Creek for rehearsal at 9:00 AM tomorrow and I'm fucking hungry right now and NOTHING IS OPEN and NOTHING WILL BE OPEN before I leave tomorrow? Guess it's yogurt and crackers for me.

Anyway, it was totally worth the drive. He rocks.

xoxo
Joy

"To eat is a necessity. To eat intelligently is an art."
--La Rochefoucauld