Mario Batali at Eataly New York's grand opening in 2010. Credit: Hoo-Me.com / MediaPunch/IPXHoo-Me.com / MediaPunch/MediaPunch/IPx
This week, the semi-finalists were announced for the James Beard Awards, considered the Oscars of the culinary world.
Both familiar names and a flock of newcomers made the list.
But some past winners, namely John Besh and Mario Batali, were nowhere to be found. That's because Besh and Batali have all but vanished from the culinary scene, driven out of public view by sexual harassment scandals that came to light in late 2017.
Their absence raises a question: when some of the biggest names in the restaurant world vanish, what happens next?
The situation has both drawbacks and benefits across the restaurant industry, say culinary experts.
Customers who dine at celebrity chefs' restaurants often go in the hopes that they'll be there, for a table visit, a selfie or an autograph. Without the marquee name, restaurant patrons can flee, and so can investors, they say.
But, celebrity chefs' departures also can creates opportunities for lesser-known chefs to receive attention, and gain business as a result.
Earlier this month, members of the Bastianich family and other partners in a holding company said they had bought out Batali's holdings in his restaurants.
He also was set to divest himself of a minority interest in Eataly, the group of Italian marketplaces that Batali helped bring to the United States in 2010.
The move follows several foiled attempts by Batali to stage something of a comeback. Not long after the initial sexual harassment charges surfaced in December, 2017, Batali sent fans a newsletter expressing contrition, and included a recipe for cinnamon rolls made from pizza dough.
The move sparked a social media outrage and inspired Geraldine DeRuiter, author of the Everywhereist blog, to write the essay, "I Made The Pizza Cinnamon Rolls From Mario Batali's Sexual Misconduct Apology Letter." This week, she was nominated for a Beard Award for long form writing.
In recent months, Batali has been spotted near his summer home in northern Michigan, as well as in New York City.
By contrast, Besh has rarely been seen in New Orleans since the Times-Picayune reported on sexual harassment in his restaurant organization in October, 2017.
He's said to have relocated elsewhere with his family, although he keeps in touch with former colleagues in the Crescent City.
Meanwhile, both his restaurant organization and his foundation have regrouped and changed their names.
For Besh and Batali's restaurants, the impact was unavoidable, because when it comes to attracting customers, a chef's high profile matters, says Kevin Pang, editor in chief of The Takeout.
"Here in Chicago, there are plenty of big-named chefs who can stroll across their dining rooms and a dozen cameras will suddenly appear," Pang says.
"Look at the Rick Baylesses and Stephanie Izards of the world. They're as big of a celebrity in Chicago as ever."
Pang says the economics of the restaurant business now demand that chefs constantly court the spotlight, whether they appear on programs such as Bravo's Top Chef, post on Instagram or host their own shows.
"That's all part of the game, and I don't see it going away any time soon," Pang says.
For his part, Besh was one of four major restaurant group owners in New Orleans, with the others being Emeril Legasse, Donald Link and the Brennan family.
With these bold-faced names, "everything they do, you have to report on it," says Todd A. Price, a restaurant critic for the Times-Picayune.
Within these major restaurant groups, some chefs have had trouble vying for the spotlight with their owners. "It's the big name that overshadows everybody. It's very hard to step outside and get attention," Price says.
Price noted that Alon Shaya, a James Beard Award winning chef who ran three restaurants for the former Besh organization, faced some criticism for naming one of them after himself, a move that subsequently backfired.
He lost the rights to the Shaya name in a lawsuit that took place in the wake of the Besh sexual harassment allegations.
But, says Price, "If he hadn't called it Shaya, he never would have gotten out of the shadow of Besh."
Shaya restaurant remains open, and Alon Shaya has since opened two other restaurants, Saba in New Orleans and Safta in Denver.
The absence of Besh and Batali, who was a frequent New Orleans visitor, actually has presented an opportunity for other types of restaurants, Price says.
"By offering up space for other stories to be told, people are getting attention earlier in their careers, and other smaller restaurants are getting attention," he says.
At the beginning of the year, Price counted 26 new restaurants and bars that were planned for New Orleans in 2019, and more have since been announced.
That might seem to suggest that banished chefs might someday find an audience, if they can appropriately make amends.
Even after the cinnamon roll reaction, Batali again tried to resurface, telegraphing his interest in becoming a philanthropist.
But a second round of sexual harassment allegations that aired on 60 Minutes last May sparked an investigation by the New York Police Department, and sent him back into the shadows.
Besh, by contrast, has made no such efforts to return, and Price says he can't imagine a scenario yet in which he is able to return to the New Orleans scene.
"I can't see any steps he's made in that direction," Price says. "I can't see what his comeback would be."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelinemaynard/2019/03/29/when-celebrity-chefs-vanish-what-happens-to-the-restaurant-world/ 2019-03-29 16:07:00Z
0 Comments:
Post a Comment