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MANILA, Philippines - Who is the American chef known for his regional American style of cooking and achieved fame for his The Frog and the Redneck restaurant?
Early in his career, he became disillusioned with cooking because of what he perceived as the mediocrity of the food he was taught to make in private clubs and beverage restaurants.
Luck was with him, as he spent the next six years learning from two of the greatest chefs in America — Jean Louis Palladkin and Guenter Seeger. These chefs were, at that time, the only Michelin-rated chefs in the country and both were in Washington DC.
In 1987, he opened Windows on Urbanna Creek in Urbanna, VA. From this weather-worn, unassuming building with panoramic views of the Rappahannock River, he discovered the region’s indigenous treasures. The soft shell crabs he “shed” in floats outside the restaurant, shiitake mushrooms grown in the deep woods a few minutes away, and gracious blowfish known locally as sugartoads, became his passion.
After building a national reputation for his regional American style of cooking, he opened The Frog and the Redneck in Richmond, Virginia, where he earned two James Beard nominations and appeared in two shows with Julia Child.
The restaurant was a tribute to both his mentor Palladin and to what the French have contributed to American cuisine. The bistro feel of the restaurant was achieved through the use of eye-level bejeweled mirrors, a long dining bar, and an open view of the rotisserie in the kitchen. The walls of the restaurant were covered with cartoons featuring vignettes of the relationship between the Frog and the Redneck and other culinary scenes. The cartoons and the caricature were drawn by one of the East Coast’s more colorful and talented characters, Happy the Artist.
After closing The Frog and the Redneck in 2001, he launched a consulting business, bringing fame and customers back to established restaurants and helping launch the new ones.
In time, he was lured to the suburbs of Chicago to be the signature chef at a restaurant in a stunning boutique hotel, the Hotel Artista in Naperville.
The Sugartoad restaurant at the Arista is a casual fine dining spot featuring Jimmy’s simple but spectacular regional American cooking. Or as Zagat said, “it’s worth driving a hundred miles ... to see the amazing things he does with registered products.”
Today, he is a frequent contributor to several major publications that include Fine Cooking magazine and Restaurant Hospitality. He speaks often and passionately about the world of cooking and dining. His favorite speech is called “Product, Passion, and Salt.” Although there is no script, he speaks with the confidence of someone who loves what he does.
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Last week’s question: Who is the American artist and sculptor famous for his public art works like the monumental US presidents’ heads at Mount Rushmore and the famous carving on Stone Mountain?
Answer: Gutzon Borglum
Winner: Pamela Calderon of Project 8, QC
