ottawa foodies

If you could watch a demo or take a class from a famous chef/cookbook author who would you pick? Who would your favorite Canadian food celebrity be??

It's probably bordering on the trite, but I'd love to take a class from Anthony Bourdain. Because he's far more badass than I'll ever be, and he's turned his badassedness into a career as a writer. It's a great combination.

Favourite Canadian food celebrity? Give me Christine Cushing or Laura Calder any day. Oooh, or maybe Bob Blumer. Does he count? I think he may have gotten US citizenship.

Fave Canadian Celebrity: Carlos Whatz-hiz-name from The Great Canadian Food Show - sexy!!!

Demo/Class: Maybe Gordon Ramsey. Not the "Hell's Kitchen" Ramsey - the "Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares" Ramsey. Or, while we're dreaming, how about legends Bocuse or Ducasse? Also, Homaru Cantu (Moto Restaurant) who is a master of molecular gastronomy which I'm dying to learn more about.

A few people come to mind.

At the very, top of my list: Thomas Keller. I would love to see him teach and talk about food in person.

Who else?

Daniel Boulud
Heston Blumenthal (I really enjoy his show In Search of Perfection and a one on one class would be fabulous!)

The Canadian chef I would most wish to lear from:

Probably, David Lee of Splendido in Toronto

cheers

It's tough to name one Canadian chef but probably Susur Lee, I love his approach and general attitude towards food.

Famous chef or cookbook author, I can't name just one but Charlie Trotter (I have a few of his books), and yes Jamie Oliver, he may be a bit rock star but he loves food and always tries to have fun with it.

Hmm... tough one! Mario Batali instantly comes to mind. Heston Blumenthal, Ferran Adria as well. I, too, would enjoy to cook with Anthony Bourdain. Maybe Ina Garten as well, just to dine in the Hamptons with Jeffrey & her ridiculous friends, ha! As far as Canadian goes, probably Susur Lee.

Cooking-wise, I'd definitely love to be shown a thing or two about good guts from Chris Cosentino.
Hanging-out-wise, Bourdain would be the best drinking/eating buddy ever.
Writing, I don't know if AA Gill would be fun to talk to, but I love his reviews, through and through.

Canadian: Susur Lee? Good lord. Please.
OBVIOUSLY it would be Martin Picard. Probably would be the best time ever. He embodies all that is good about food and drink. Honestly, even Bourdain has nothing on Picard.

Favourite Canadian Celeb chef: Mark McEwan. I also like Michael Smith's show Chef at Home.

Chef I'd like to get some lessons from: Hard to pick just one. I think I'd love to be in a class with Gordon Ramsay just to see what he's really like when he isn't in front of the camera.

Tedj: Oh, crap. Sign me up for Martin Picard as well. Au Pied du Cochon is a dream restaurant for me, right down to the meat-sweats half-way through the meal. I've gotta go back.

For a demo or a class, I'd take Thomas Keller for sure. Favourite Canadian is hands down Martin Picard. Like Momo said, I can't wait to go back. I just picked up his cookbook, and am drooling over it.

Good call re: Picard. Though, why *not* Susur, tedj?

Michael Bonacini... LOL I'm older than the rest of ya, and well this guy to me is just so sexy when he cooks, plus he obviously knows a thing or two about good food and he has a great personality, I think he'd be a hoot to take a cooking class with.

As for hanging out with, I'm with Food is Hot Carlo Rota would be a lot of fun, he has a lot of food knowledge, is a bit of a wine snob (and I love good wine) and he is a real story teller (especially now that he is a "Hollywood" actor). I think he'd be a fun guy to have dinner with.

I've been waiting for someone to suggest some people from even the more distant past like.... Graham Kerr, Stephen Yan and..... Bruno Gerusi!

cheers

@Chimichimi: I guess Susur has his place. I'm just more for the substance-over-form crowd (hence Picard), but I suppose Canada needs more Susur-types to compete with the rest of that world.

I thought of one more: Pasquale Carpino (en.wikipedia.org)
Man, I LOVED that theme song.

I love Martin Picard's food but Susur offer up a much more varied menu with many different influences, so in maintaining the format of the question I was thinking "Who would I love see in a food demo?", Susur won.

tedj - Pasquale! Now *that* is classic! R.I.P. to him, I'm sure he's singing drunken opera in his grave.