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Imaginative chef having fun with his mini empire
By Pamela Parseghian
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Title: chef-partner of David Burke Town-house, New York; David Burke at Bloom-ingdale’s, including Burke Bar Café and Burke in the Box, New York; Fishtail by David Burke, New York; David Burke’s Primehouse in The James Chicago Hotel, Chicago; Fromagerie, Rumson, N.J.; David Burke Las Vegas in the Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas; Burke in the Box and David Burke Prime at Foxwoods Resort Casino, Ledyard, Conn.
Birth date: Feb. 27, 1962
Hometown: Hazlet, N.J.
Education: Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, N.Y.
Career highlights:
winning Meilleurs Ouvriers de France at age 26; opening first restaurant; buying Fromagerie, where he started as a prep cook; opening in Las Vegas; finishing first cookbook; cooking with Jean-Louis Palladin
Personal: unmarried, three children
Last Great Meal Out: Hôtel Crillon, Paris |
When it comes to cooking, chef David Burke says he’s a “showoff.” But in Burke’s dining rooms his innovative dishes steal the show.
The chef’s “angry lobster” with hot pepper sauce and claws facing up toward diners, for example, evokes a punk’s dramatic spiky hair. Burke displays pieces of shell-on lobster on a metal flower arranger that traditionally holds stems in place.
Besides asking diners to sit up and take notice of his food, Burke intends to make guests smile with humorous dishes. So it should come as no surprise that the puckish chef enjoys laughing himself.
In fact, Burke often cracks himself up when sharing a funny story.
“I can’t finish telling a joke without laughing,” he says with a laugh.
“For a very long time David was having fun with food, and everyone could share in the delight,” says restaurant reviewer Bob Lape of “Dining Diary” on CBS radio in New York. “He has a sense of whimsy with a capital ‘W.’ He’s a humorist, and he’s an artist. More importantly, there’s taste there.”
Drew Nieporent of Myriad Restaurant Group in New York agrees. |
