STIRRING THE POT: FLORENCE FABRICANT & ANDREW CARMELLINI

Florence Fabricant, a food and wine writer for the New York Times, contributes the weekly Front Burner and Off the Menu columns, is a member of the wine panel and writes the pairings column for the wine tastings. She frequently writes features that appear in the Food section and also covers food and travel elsewhere in the Times. She has written 13 cookbooks. This spring, her latest, The Ladies Village Improvement Society Cookbook: Eating and Entertaining in East Hampton" to celebrate the 125th anniversary of LVIS was published by Rizzoli. Other books include Wine with Food, based on the New York Times pairings columns and written with Eric Asimov and The City Harvest Cookbook, both published by Rizzoli. She actually began her career as a food writer in East Hampton, contributing the column In Season to the East Hampton Star. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Smith College, she has an M.A. in French from New York University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She holds L’Ordre National du Mérite from the French government, is on the Board of Trustees of Guild Hall in East Hampton, N.Y., and is a member of Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. (New York, NY). She and her husband, Richard, a retired lawyer, live in Manhattan and East Hampton, N.Y. They have two children and two grandchildren. 

Andrew Carmellini's cooking is soulful and flavorful, rustic and refined. It's a personal style that reflects his American roots and Italian heritage, his work in some of the world's best fine-dining restaurants, and his travels abroad.

Born and raised in Seven Hills, OH, Andrew started working in restaurants at age fourteen and would eventually become part of a generation of chefs who began their cooking careers in the heyday of era-defining institutions such as San Domenico and L’Arpège in Europe followed by Lespinasse and Le Cirque in New York. Then in 1998, Andrew became the opening Chef de Cuisine of Café Boulud. During his tenure, he was awarded twice by the James Beard Foundation and named one of Food & Wine Magazine’s “Best New Chefs,” among many other accolades. Members of his kitchen brigade would also go on to become some of today’s brightest culinary talents, leaving Andrew’s own set of prints on the era that followed.

Outside of culinary circles, Andrew is known as a hit-maker synthesizing pertinent culinary culture with urban social dining scenes. His restaurants are often credited with cracking the code between fine cooking and fun dining. They currently include many restaurants, a live music and performance venue, a retail and wholesale bakery, three cocktail bars, a beer hall, two fast-casual concepts, and six hotel food and beverage programs across four states. No two are alike.

andrewcarmellini.com.

Photo: Nicholas Karlin