
Chef Gifts 2011
Black Friday and Cyber Monday whizzed past like a flash. You’ve barely wrapped up Thanksgiving service and now you’re heading into holiday party season. We get it. It’s not that you don’t care about your staff. But you barely have time to catch a breath this time of year, let alone hunt for gifts for the people who most deserve them (your staff not least among them). So we did the legwork for you and went straight to the source. We asked mixologists, chefs, pastry chefs, and somms across the country what was on their wish list this year. And with our annual gift guide, we cover all the bases, from off-beat gifts for under $15 to the stuff of dreams (and winning lottery tickets) for the harried chef, pastry chef, somm, or mixologist in your life to use behind the line, behind the bar, or at home (if and when they finally get the day off). Oh, and to the hopeful mixologist who told us he wanted “an all-expenses paid trip to Oaxaca and a customs agent that was sympathetic to mezcal enthusiasts,” we didn’t put that on the list, but we hear you, man.
(We’ve heard the Chef Picks app by StarChefs.com, Off the Beaten Path Edition is a great holiday gift too. Just sayin.)
Chef and Pastry Chef Gifts
PRICE TAG: $495 for Foodways Texas members
WHOSE WISH LIST: 2011 Houston Rising Star Chef Randy Evans of Haven – Houston, TX
PRICE TAG: $15.98 to $35.99
WHOSE WISH LIST: Chef and Restaurateur Renee Erickson of Boat Street Cafe, Boat Street Pickles, and The Walrus and the Carpenter – Seattle, WA
HOLIDAY WISH: For “my new chicken coop to be finished.”
PRICE TAG: $66.99
WHOSE WISH LIST: Chef and Restaurateur Renee Erickson of Boat Street Cafe, Boat Street Pickles, and The Walrus and the Carpenter – Seattle, WA
HOLIDAY WISH: “To buy Adrian Camut Calvados here in Washington, now that we have the new liquor law ... rather than hauling it home from France.”
PRICE TAG: $30.00 Canadian
WHOSE WISH LIST: Pastry Chef Michael Laiskonis of Le Bernardin – New York, NY
PRICE TAG: $139.00
WHOSE WISH LIST: Pastry Chef Michael Laiskonis of Le Bernardin – New York, NY
PRICE TAG: $17.95
WHOSE WISH LIST: Pastry Chef Johnny Iuzzini of Jean Georges – New York, NY
PRICE TAG: $129.95
WHOSE WISH LIST: Pastry Chef Johnny Iuzzini of Jean Georges – New York, NY
PRICE TAG: $540.00
WHOSE WISH LIST: Pastry Chef Johnny Iuzzini of Jean Georges – New York, NY
Mixo Gifts
PRICE TAG: $52.95
WHOSE WISH LIST: 2011 Houston Rising Star Mixologist Bobby Heugel of Anvil Bar & Refuge – Houston, TX
PRICE TAG: $649.99
WHOSE WISH LIST: 2011 New York Rising Star Mixologist Leo Robitschek of Eleven Madison Park – New York, NY
HOLIDAY WISH: “To take great cocktail and food shots.”
PRICE TAG: $11.49 for pack of 10
WHOSE WISH LIST: 2011 Houston Rising Star Mixologist Bobby Heugel of Anvil Bar & Refuge – Houston, TX
PRICE TAG: $799.95
WHOSE WISH LIST: 2011 New York Rising Star Mixologist Leo Robitschek of Eleven Madison Park – New York, NY
Somm Gifts
PRICE TAG: $455.99
WHOSE WISH LIST: 2011 Chicago Rising Star Sommelier Rachael Lowe of Sixteen at the Trump International Hotel & Tower – Chicago, IL
PRICE TAG: $193.19
WHOSE WISH LIST: 2011 Chicago Rising Star Sommelier Rachael Lowe of Sixteen at the Trump International Hotel & Tower – Chicago, IL
PRICE TAG: $99.97
WHOSE WISH LIST: Sommelier Kerin Auth of Tinto Fino – New York, NY
PRICE TAG: $225
WHOSE WISH LIST: Sommelier Alexander LaPratt of db Bistro Moderne – New York, NY
PRICE TAG: $299.95
WHOSE WISH LIST: Sommelier Alexander LaPratt of db Bistro Moderne – New York, NY