Chat with Grant Achatz, Class of 1994, is Newest in Series
Grant Achatz, the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Chef of the Year for 2008 and The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) Alumnus of the Year for 2009, talks about his meteoric rise in the restaurant world in the newest "Insight from the Inside" podcast. "Insight from the Inside" is a series of chats with CIA graduates who have exciting jobs in the food world.
During the 13-minute podcast, the 1994 CIA graduate shares highlights of his career, starting as a pre-teen in his parents' Michigan diner, to his fear of Hollandaise sauce before enrolling at the CIA, to becoming chef and owner of Alinea, the Chicago restaurant named Best Restaurant in America by Gourmet magazine.
Chef Achatz, 35, credits his CIA education with laying the groundwork for his later success. "You can't push boundaries without having a foundation," he said. "Unless you have an intimate knowledge of all the working parts, you can't pull them apart and put them back together a different way. The CIA was critical in building that foundation and that fundamental understanding of food."
After graduating from the CIA, Achatz continued to learn from the best. He trained under Charlie Trotter in Chicago and Thomas Keller at French Laundry in Yountville, CA. Before setting out on his own, he also spent a week with Chef Ferran Adrià at Spain's elBulli, generally considered to be the best restaurant in the world.
Achatz has won James Beard Foundation awards for Rising Star Chef (2003), Best Chef: Great Lakes (2007), and Outstanding Chef (2008). Food & Wine named him one of the Best New Chefs in America in 2002. Alinea has been selected as one of the World's 50 Best Restaurants by England's Restaurant magazine for the last two years.
In March, Grant Achatz received the CIA's Augie™ Award as Alumnus of the Year.
"Insight from the Inside" has featured CIA graduates John Besh, Cat Cora, Dan Coudreaut, Steve Ells, Duff Goldman, Johnny Iuzzini, Sara Moulton, Charlie Palmer, Michael Symon, and Top Chef winners Ilan Hall and Hung Huynh. To hear the interview with Chef Achatz or receive future podcasts, visit www.ciachef.edu/podcasts.
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