TIME for Mario

By JULIETTE ROSSANT If TIME remains as powerful in this century as it did in the last, then Mario Batali has entered the big league by making a nine-page article in the April 10, 2006, issue of the magazine. Calling him "Super Mario" and "the Pied Piper of Pasta," TIME is impressed by his culinary skills, his TV hosting, and his new NASCAR affiliation (see our previous articles, starting with the latest). In short, they conclude, "Mario Batali knows what we really want to eat." Trailing him in Chicago, amidst cooking demonstrations, fan signings, and fregula soup that "rocked," TIME declares, "This is Mario Batali's moment," when he goes from being a person to a personality brand and compares him to Emeril Lagasse and Rachael Ray, both fellow chef stars on the Food Network. Superchefblog is just waiting for the moment when Mario completes the process of becoming a "super chef" by opening any of several restaurants this year: Mozza in Los Angeles or either of two restaurants in Las Vegas. These will give Mario the spread in restaurant geography he has been lacking to be considered a super chef -- unlike his partner Joe Bastianich's mother, Lidia Bastianich, who opened restaurants outside of New York as far as Kansas City some years ago. For TIME, Mario's brand is reaching a super level with his NASCAR association, though they had little comment on his own forthcoming cookbook Mario Tailgates NASCAR Style (see previous article) than for yet another knock-off of Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, this one to be entitled Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher (Alfred A. Knopf). TIME takes a long, pre-release (or promotional-sounding, or spoiler-length -- take your pick) look at this book, by former New Yorker editor and staff writer Bill Buford, who worked as a cook at Mario's Babbo and who makes Mario the "most memorable, entertaining character." TIME's final say is that "Food is fad--it's gone the second we swallow it" and so already predicts the day when Mario's restaurants will be passee: apparently, TIME has forgotten Wolfgang Puck's Spago restaurants. Wolf is the measure of all things super chef -- and in the growing super chef arena, what we may really be witnessing is Mario's knock-out to Todd English for the position of Wolf's top East Coast rival -- and also next-generation successor. Previous articles: Mario Tailgates NASCAR Style Mario Batali: 2 Brothers Mario Batali: Tailgates NASCAR Style Newsweek Cites Juliette Rossant on Mario Batali Juliette Rossant: Forbes Tastemakers - Mario Batali Mario Batali: Molto Italiano Newsweek Bets on Mario Batali's Basting Brush Anita Lo Defeats Mario Batali on Iron Chef America Iron Chef Pizza Wars: Batali vs. Puck Nancy Silverton & Mario Batali's Mozza Molto Mario Massacres Mahi Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, Mario Batali --> back to superchefblog