Wolfgang Puck
Wolfgang Puck | |
|---|---|
| File:WP Spago credit Alex Berliner.jpg | |
| Born | July 8, 1949 |
| Education | Apprenticeship |
| Spouse(s) | Marie France (1976 - 1979) (divorced) Barbara Lazaroff (1984 - present) (filed for divorce) 2 children |
| Culinary career | |
| Cooking style | California, French, and Fusion |
Current restaurant(s)
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Television show(s)
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Wolfgang Johann Puck (born Wolfgang Johann Topfschnig on July 8, 1949) is an Austrian celebrity chef, restaurateur, and businessman based in Los Angeles. Wolfgang Puck restaurants, catering services, cookbooks and licensed products are run by three companies: Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, Wolfgang Puck Catering and Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc.
Biography
He was born to Maria Topfschnig and a butcher who abandoned her before their child's birth. Maria married Josef Puck in 1956, who adopted Wolfgang. The marriage produced a son and two daughters.
Puck learned cooking from his mother, who sometimes worked as a pastry chef. He trained as an apprentice under Raymond Thuilier at L'Oustau de Baumaniere in Provence, at Hotel de Paris in Monaco, and at Maxim's in Paris before moving to the United States in 1973 at age 24. After two years at La Tour in Indianapolis, Puck moved to Los Angeles to become chef and part owner at Ma Maison restaurant.
Following the 1981 publication of his first cookbook, “Modern French Cooking for the American Kitchen,” based on his Ma Maison recipes, Puck opened Spago on the Sunset Strip in 1982. His success enabled him to launch the Wolfgang Puck Companies which includes the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc. and Wolfgang Puck Catering. The Wolfgang Puck Companies encompass 15 fine dining restaurants, premium catering services, more than 80 Express operations, and kitchen and food merchandise. He is the official caterer for the Academy Awards Governors Ball, and has parlayed his celebrity into acting; his credits include Frasier, a recurring role as himself in Las Vegas and a cameo appearance in The Weather Man. He also appeared as himself on Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters, Cooking Class with Wolfgang Puck on The Food Network, and in an American Idol season finale episode where he introduced unusual foods to Kellie Pickler in comic relief segments.
Puck is active in philanthropic endeavors and charitable organizations, founding the Puck-Lazaroff Charitable Foundation in 1982. The foundation supports the annual American Wine & Food Festival which benefits Meals on Wheels and has raised more than $13 million since its inception. Puck has two sons, Cameron and Byron, with business partner and former wife, Barbara Lazaroff. Puck also has two sons, Oliver Wolfgang (born July 17, 2005) and Alexander Wolfgang (born December 20, 2006) by his Ethiopian-born wife and handbag designer Gelila Assefa. On July 7, 2007, Puck married Assefa on the Italian island of Capri.
His motto is Eat, Love, Live!™
Controversy
From 2002 - 2007 Puck was heavily criticized for his support of the veal and foie gras industries, but on March 22, 2007 he announced he would stop selling foie gras and crated veal, and that he was only going to use eggs and meat from animals raised under strict humane care standards.[1] These changes have been praised by the Humane Society of the United States.[2]
References
- "Wolfgang Puck: Biography"; WolfgangPuck.com (2005); retrieved January 30, 2006