Todd English
| Todd English | |
|---|---|
| Born | William Todd English August 29, 1960 Amarillo, Texas |
| Nationality | USA |
| Alma mater | Culinary Institute of America |
| Known for | celebrity chef, restauranteur, author |
William Todd English (born August 29, 1960) is a celebrity chef, restaurateur, author, entrepreneur, and television personality based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. He is best known for his restaurant, Olives, located in both Boston and Las Vegas, plus his TV cooking show, Food Trip with Todd English, on PBS.
His life and career received a chapter in Super Chef by Juliette Rossant who had written previously about English for Forbes magazine's Celebrity 100 list.[1]
Todd English also works as lead chef for Delta Air Lines (US).
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[edit] Early life and career
English was born in Amarillo, Texas, grew up in Sandy Springs, Georgia and later Branford, Connecticut.[2] He matriculated at Guilford College in North Carolina on a baseball scholarship, but quit and entered the Culinary Institute of America in 1978 and graduated in 1982.[3]
He worked under Jean-Jacques Rachou at New York’s La Cote Basque,[3] and then moved to Italy to work at several restaurants there.[4]
He returned to the United States at age 25 and served as the Executive Chef of the Italian restaurant Michela’s in Cambridge, Massachusetts for three years before opening the original Olives restaurant in 1989.[3]
[edit] Personal life
English has been married once, to Olivia Disch English, his classmate at the Culinary Institute of America,[3] but they divorced. They have three children: Oliver, Isabelle, and Simon.
He was engaged to Erica Wang, and a ceremony was planned however, the wedding was cancelled in 2009.[5][6][7]
[edit] Restaurants
[edit] Olives
English's first restaurant, Olives, opened in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston in April 1989. The restaurant's name is a tribute to his then-wife, Olivia. The food is "rustic Mediterranean," with a strong influence from Italian cuisine. The restaurant was named Best New Restaurant by Boston magazine, and has been honored as Best Food and Top Table by Gourmet magazine. Olives is known for two signature desserts - a molten chocolate cake and a vanilla bean soufflé - which must be ordered with the main meal. Olives has been cited by the Health Department for sanitation discrepancies and animal waste hazards.[8]
In May 2010 Olives was closed due to damage done by a grease fire.[9] This was the third time the Charlestown eatery was closed due to fire damage since 2001.[9][10]
In addition to the Boston restaurant, English holds a second Olives at the five-star Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas. He alternates between both Olives restaurants on a regular basis.
[edit] Figs
Figs is the name of two high-end pizzerias in the Boston area. Figs offers authentic, Neapolitan-style pizzas with very thin crusts, served on inverted sheet pans, as well as salads and pastas. Figs won the "Hot Concept" award from Nation's Restaurant News magazine.
[edit] Other restaurants
English's other restaurants include:
- Beso, a Latino-concept restaurant in partnership with actress Eva Longoria, with venues in Los Angeles and Las Vegasresort in Uncasville, Connecticut
- Kingfish, a seafood Marketplace in downtown Boston
- Bonfire, a steakhouse in Boston and New York
- Todd English, an alternative restaurant aboard the luxury RMS Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria
- BlueZoo, a restaurant at the Dolphin Hotel in Orlando, Florida
- Da Campo Osteria, in the Il Lugano Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, FL, featuring views of the intracoastal waterway
- Todd English P.U.B in the CityCenter resort complex in Las Vegas, NV.
- Wild Olives at The Shops at Boca Center in Boca Raton, FL
- Wild Olives Cafe at CityPlace in West Palm Beach, FL
- Plaza Food Hall at the Plaza Hotel in New York, NY
- Figs at 29 Fair in Nantucket, MA
- Tuscany at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut
- Ember Room in New York, NY
- "Ça Va" at the Intercontinental Hotel in Times Square New York, NY
[edit] Books
English has authored or co-authored three cookbooks: The Olives Table, The Figs Table, and The Olives Dessert Table, all published by Simon & Schuster.
[edit] References
- Rossant, Juliette (2004). Super chef: the making of the great modern restaurant empires. Free Press. pp. 89–140. ISBN 0743241711, 978-0743241717. http://books.google.com/books?id=j_5YcjnxE-MC&printsec=frontcover.
- ^ Rossant, Juliette (19 March 2001). "Todd English". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/53/2001/LIR.jhtml?passListId=53&passYear=2001&passListType=Person&uniqueId=KC2G&datatype=Person. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ Cf. Rossant (2004), p.91
- ^ a b c d Cf. Rossant (2004), p.95
- ^ "Great Chef Todd English", greatchefs.com
- ^ Landman, Beth (2009-10-11). "Inside Todd English's canceled wedding". New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/item_dCYVs3irQACM2TUAUTFJOI/0. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
- ^ Keith, Amy Elisa (2009-10-15). "Why Todd English Cancelled His Wedding". People Magazine. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20313005,00.html. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
- ^ Grace, Melissa, "'Top Chef' Todd English's ex-bride, Erica Wang, must take anger management classes and do community service if she wants assault charges dropped, a judge says.", The New York Daily News, Thursday, January 14, 2010
- ^ Traverso, Amy, "Reconsidering Todd English", Boston magazine, March 2009
- ^ a b Shanahan, Mark (May 29, 2010). "Olives plagued by another grease fire". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2010/05/29/olives_plagued_by_another_grease_fire/.
- ^ Shanahan, Mark; Goldstein, Meredith, "Licensing Board lights the fire under celebrity chef", The Boston Globe, July 1, 2011
[edit] Further reading
- Atkinson, Kim, "Being Todd English", Boston magazine, May 2006
