Jonathan Waxman - The Barbuto Cookbook

BY MARCUS SAMUELSSON

When I came to New York in the 1990s as a young cook, Food Network was just starting, and the next generation after Jacques Ppin was emerging. There were new celebrity chefs, and Jonathan Waxman was the coolest of them all. He was cooking for John McEnroe, and all these famous people. He was cooking asparagus, chicken, dump-lings, duck, the best food highs you can think of. He was the chef with the blue Ferrari. And were still chasing that blue Ferrari.

Jonathan is the embodiment of an American chef. He comes from an artistic backgroundhe didnt start out only in food, as the European chefs do. He brings a mix of California and New York, and Europe, too. He is an amazing friend and father. And when I think about Jonathan as an American chef, I think how he brings rock and roll with a touch of jazz to his food.

Theres a kindness and warmth around him. You can have a conversation about anything at all, and it will eventually come around to food. You can ask Jonathan about what it was like when California Cuisine emerged, what the food at Michaels was like in the late seventies and early eighties, cooking that still informs American cuisine today. And Jonathan can tell you all about it, because he was init. He was one of the first to look at California Cuisine in the same way we view the food of Paris, and he is comfortable in both those worlds.

You can talk to Jonathan about London, where he has worked extensively with wines. When I opened there a number of years ago, the first person I asked for advice was Jonathan. He connected me to incredible people, and he set me up to feel comfortable in London.

Jonathan can talk with Thomas Keller or Ruth Reichl with equal ease. When you go to an event with him, everyone comes up to hug him. You learn a lot by how people are greeted. Whether its Nancy Silverton or Jess Shadbolt, Clare de Boer, and Annie Shi, the young British chefs who have opened King in New York City; or Justin Smillie from Upland; they all greet Jonathan as a close friend.

Another thing I love about Jonathan is his love for his family. To be a chef is to be away a lot. We talk about that on the road. He talks about his kids, his family. Its so hard to do what we do, while its also a privilege. I love when Jonathan tells me about his kids, because I know how hard he works and how much he misses dinners with them. And I cant tell you how many restaurant kids Jonathan hasthose he has raised in the industry. Ask Bobby Flay or Aarn Snchez who comes to mind when they think about their mentor. Its Jonathan. The blue Ferrari seems small compared with all that.

I see Jonathan Waxman and I envision an incredible picnic, with dozens of chefs and food lovers, people who speak the language of food, gathered together. Thats what he created in Barbuto. No borders, not New York, or Paris, or Rome, just great food and the people who are drawn to it.

Its the restaurant where we all want to sit and eat gnocchi with asparagus and peas, and roasted chicken. Its got comfort and finesse, warmth, and obvious compassionand Im not only talking about the chef. You see it in the dishwashers and the servers, the cooks on the line, the people who are so vital to this industry. And many of them have been at Barbuto since the beginning. Just think for a moment about Luis Ruiz, who started as a dishwasher at Jonathans restaurant Washington Park twenty years ago and is a trusted lead cook at Barbuto today.

Jonathan exemplifies what it means to be a chef, just as Barbuto embodies what the word restaurant means: to restore the body and the community. Its a place where we come to see one another, to walk table to table. I recall those last days at the original location; there was so much warmth and familiarity. Theres no passport. Race, sexuality, religion dont matter. Its just about people. My restaurant, the Red Rooster in Harlem, is an uptown version of that for me. Thats why I started in this business. To be able to walk around and sit and talk to people. To find old friends and also to learn something new.