[Photograph: Courtesy Alex Guarnaschelli. Beets photograph: Vicky Wasik]
This week's guest on Special Sauce, Alex Guarnaschelli, is constantly juggling the roles of TV chef (she's a regular judge on Chopped), working chef (at the two Butter locations in Manhattan), and mom (to one beautiful daughter). When you're faced with all those demands, it probably doesn't hurt to be whip-smart and funny as hell, which Alex most definitely is. What more could a podcast host ask for?
In this episode, Alex describes the club-like atmosphere that thrives at Butter, where she's served as executive chef since 2003. "Some nights I could not believe... things like, Jay [Jay Z] is on Table Two, Leo is on Three, and Britney is on Four," Alex says. "There were no last names because there was no need." Food cost was also not an issue: "Why did you buy $3,000 worth of caviar? I had to do it. It was for Beyoncé."
The late, great Prince (who needed no last name, period) was also a regular, and Alex tells us that Prince loved her food so much, he told her she was "part of the new power generation." Is there a cooler club that anyone could belong to? I don't think so. But the road to cooking for Prince was a long and hard one. Alex first spent seven years working with famed chef Guy Savoy in France, where she wasn't given the warmest welcome. "On my first day, my immediate boss said to me: 'I don't know what's worse, that you're a girl or you're an American."
This is a Special Sauce like no other, and you won't want to miss it. It will change the way you think about Prince, Leo, and Vincent (Van Gogh, for those of us who need a last name).
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