Wolfgang Puck
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| Image:0322 wolfgang puck.jpg Wolfgang Puck in 2007 |
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| Born | July 8, 1949 (age 57) Sankt Veit an der Glan, Austria |
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| Cooking style | California, French, and Fusion |
| Education | Apprenticeship |
| Restaurants | Spago Hollywood; Spago Beverly Hills; Spago Tokyo; Spago Las Vegas; Spago Palo Alto; Spago Maui; Cut Beverly Hills; Chinois (Santa Monica, CA); Postrio Restaurant (San Francisco and Las Vegas); Granita (Malibu, CA); Trattoria del Lupo (Las Vegas); Wolfgang Puck Cafes (numerous) |
| TV Show(s) | Iron Chef America, Las Vegas, Frasier |
Wolfgang Johann Puck (born Wolfgang Johann Topfschnig on July 8, 1949) is an Austrian-American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and businessman based in Los Angeles. He owns a selection of restaurants, ranging from the upscale Spago, Cut, Chinois, and Postrio restaurants to the casual Wolfgang Puck Café and Wolfgang Puck Express chains.
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[edit] 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. Instead of going to culinary school, 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. In 1973, Puck worked in New York City, at La Tour in Indianapolis, Indiana, as well as being a cook for Indiana National Bank in the mid 70's. then moved to Los Angeles in 1975, where he established himself by turning around the failing Ma Maison by promoting California cuisine.
His success enabled him to launch an empire that currently includes Spago, a string of restaurants (six in Tokyo alone), cookbooks, a line of kitchen equipment and appliances sold on HSN, and food products. He caters the official Academy Awards events, 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 has two sons, Cameron and Byron, with business partner and estranged 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 fiancée, handbag designer Gelila Assefa. [1] His motto is: "Live, love, eat!"
[edit] Controversy
From 2002 to 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.[2] These changes have been praised by the Humane Society of the United States.[3]
On February 27th, 2007 it was learned that one of his cooks for a Sports Illustrated event was infected with Hepatitis A and may have spread the virus to hundreds of attendees, Public health officials are urging that all attendees get an immune globulin shot by February 28th, 2007. [4]
[edit] References
- "Wolfgang Puck: Biography"; WolfgangPuck.com (2005); retrieved January 30, 2006
[edit] External links
- Wolfgang Puck at the Internet Movie Database
- Wolfgang Puck Worldwide: http://wolfgangpuck.com
- Wolfgang Puck Soups: http://wolfgangpucksoup.com
