YEARS: 1998, 1991
Winning the Outstanding Chef Award is a lifetime achievement for most chefs, but for Puck, it was an honor that came twice. Not only was the Austrian honored as the first recipient of the award, after a meal he prepared for the newly formed James Beard Foundation inspired a series of dinners to highlight promising and talented chefs, but his continued commitment to innovation, service and taste would earn him another award seven years later.
Like many who reach the top of their field, Puck was never discouraged from his dream of becoming a chef. Despite the fact that his father thought cooking wasn’t a man’s job, and despite being fired from his first job in a kitchen at age 14 after only a month, Puck persevered. (He snuck back into that kitchen and, with the help of a kind-hearted colleague, lived in the root cellar and peeled potatoes unbeknownst to the chef.)
In some ways, Puck birthed the celebrity chef movement, as his Los Angeles restaurant Spago quickly became the place to be seen, and Puck, with his exuberant personality and endearing accent, became the person to see. At the time, the restaurant was a novelty; for high-end diners used to formal French dining rooms, the patio furniture and open kitchen, featuring a wood-burning pizza oven as well as the locally sourced ingredients, caused a buzz. And the food — crisp, gourmet pizzas that featured flavors such as smoked salmon, goat cheese, shrimp and fresh sausage made from lambs raised in nearby Sonoma, California, drew hungry and curious diners from around the country, and soon from around the world.
Now a household name, thanks to on-the-go versions of his signature pies at airports and in the frozen food aisle, as well as two dozen restaurants, cookbooks and television shows, Puck didn’t stop after introducing the world to the healthy and regionally sourced cooking that is so often taken for granted today. Introducing Asian flavors in his latest restaurants, he still continues to explore the world of taste and flavor, and always will.
WHAT I EAT WHEN NOBODY IS LOOKING: “Ice cream and chocolate chip cookies — all the time.”