Romancing the Stove - or The Way We Worked?

By JULIETTE ROSSANT [See subsequent article "Who Pays For Wolfgang Puck's Wedding to Gelila Assefa?" for an update as of July 10, 2007.] [For a subsequent article on Barbara Lazaroff, see Requiem for Granita of September 22, 2005] A fun article is running in this month's W Magazine called "Romancing the Stove" in which author Catherine Hong discusses life as the wife, fiancee, or significant other of a "successful" chef. We even get a she-he match-up: Margaret Williams Geoffrey Zakarian Caryl Chinn * Todd English Stephanie March Bobby Flay At first, the article discusses the harrowing, glamorous "hardships" of being the significant other of a successful chef. However, the article cannot hide the fact that some chefs are "perennial bachelors" or "kitchen Casanovas" or have been caught in extramarital affairs. Marriage and business partnerships came up often in Super Chef, and of the six chefs profiled, only two have stayed married to the same person (Charlie Palmer and Mary Sue Milliken), while the other four have all divorced (Wolfgang Puck, Todd English, Susan Feniger, and Tom Colicchio -- in Tom's case, he was previously unmarried but had a child from a long-term relationship). In fact, during the writing of Super Chef (and discussed in the book), two marriages were in the process of falling apart. Then-wife Olivia English was divorcing Todd English in a messy legal affair: Olivia was completely (and understandably) unavailable for interview. Meanwhile, Barbara Lazaroff filed for divorce from Wolfgang Puck, a public, legal action that was picked up around the country (e.g., see "Lazaroff seeks divorce from Puck" by the Associated Press). Both Olivia and Barbara have kept quiet throughout -- more like Jennifer Aniston than any other Hollywood split (e.g., "Bennifer"). What separates chefs' wives from many other celebrity wives is the fact that they are also so often business partners; likewise, Jennifer Aniston is co-owner of Plan B production company with ex-husband Brad Pitt. Super Chef reported at some length on the interests of each wife, particularly as divorce affected the business empires of the super chefs profiled. Certainly, we don't see the nasty gossip from the chefs "First Wives' Club," so prevalent among other divorced celebrity couples. (NB: the W Magazine article was factually incorrect: Barbara Lazaroff was Wolfgang Puck's second wife -- see Super Chef, pp. 10, 17.) The men (chefs) do not seem to fear subsequent notoriety. Todd was sighted with Caryl Chinn while separated from Olivia (see Super Chef pp. 117-118, ). While it is unclear whether Wolf and Barbara's divorce is finalized (only one online reference in Jewish Woman Magazine in 2004), Wolf has appeared with girlfriend Gelila Assefa (click here to see a video of her on Black Life in Japan). They have a baby due (click here to read a Variety about pending July 2005 birth), and Wolf wrote in his latest cookbook, "To Gelila, whose love is my secret ingredient" (see Wolfgang Puck Makes It Easy, p. v). Part of the problem for chef couples is the pressure of long hours, which doesn't ease up with success. Add in the usual spice of celebrity life like admirers and long periods away from home (particularly when spouses are home taking care of children) -- and the Industry extras of often high female wait staff ratios and frat boy comraderie of the kitchen, and you have a recipe for... "less than exemplary behavior." Of course, this is not an exclusively American problem. French chefs such as Paul Bocuse have at times been nearly as famous for their mistresses as their cuisine. Americans are scandalized by such behavior: the French aren't. Regardless of the reasons why, it seems clear that many chef relationships are doomed, and that the sequel to "Romancing the Stove" is very like to be "The Way We Worked." * Superchefblog apologizes that we were unable to find any images online of Caryl Chinn; instead, we have used an image of supermodel Heidi Klum, who was photographed with Todd around the time they both appeared in People's "50 Most Beautiful People 2001" issue. Previous articles: Bobby Flay: Married and Motivated Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, celebrities, divorce, Gelila Assefa, Wolfgang Puck, Todd English, Caryl Chinn --> back to superchefblog