Interviews with Daniel Boulud
from Wine Spectator & Vanity Fair
Wine Talk: Daniel Boulud
Born on a farm near Lyon, France, Daniel Boulud, 51, has been cooking since he was 14, when he began an apprenticeship under Michelin two-star chef Gérard Nandron. He developed his culinary skills working for the likes of Georges Blanc, Roger Vergé and Michel Guérard. In 1993, Boulud opened his flagship New York restaurant, Daniel, recipient of a Wine Spectator Grand Award. Since then he has added a catering company and four more restaurants: Café Boulud and DB Bistro Moderne in New York; Café Boulud in Palm Beach, Fla.; and Daniel Boulud Brasserie in Las Vegas. He has authored numerous cookbooks and contributes time and money to nearly two dozen charity organizations. In 2007, Boulud will open a wine bar in New York with his wine director, Daniel Johnnes. Wine Spectator Online associate editor Laurie Woolever interviewed Boulud in his glass-walled office overlooking the perpetually busy kitchen at Daniel.
Wine Spectator: How did you become interested in wine?
Daniel Boulud: I have had the privilege to work in some of the best restaurants in the world, all of which have world-class wine cellars, so I always had this interest in wine. I communicate a lot with my sommeliers, and take wine trips with them when I can. I think [chefs] share the same passion with the vignerons. We share the same understanding about balance.
WS: How does Daniel's wine program relate to your food?
DB: At Daniel, the wine program is strongly French, maybe 50 percent French and 35 percent American and 15 percent others. I don't mind having some eclectic and interesting wines by the glass that are maybe a little edgy in their sugar content or acidity, or one that goes very well with one dish, but might not be a wine that we wish to sell by the bottle. We don't bother too much with the average vintage. That's why our wine list can get expensive. I see a lot of wine lists with lousy vintages of big names, so it looks like, "Oh, this wine is affordable."
WS: Do you have a favorite style of wine?
DB: I love Rhône wine very much—Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Hermitage and Cornas. I prefer white in the Northern Rhône and reds from the south.
WS: Do you have a personal wine cellar? What's in it?
DB: I have a cellar in the cellar [at Daniel], but I don't collect to speculate. If I buy, it's because I am going to drink it. I do have some vintage '55, because that was my birth year—La Mission and Jean Boillot. But I also have a mishmash, because people bring me wine, and I can't taste that in the middle of the afternoon, so I put it there. I also have a lot of Burgundy. Yesterday I pulled out a La Tâche '88. The pleasure is finding a bottle and saying, "I didn't know that was here."
WS: Is there a "dream wine" that you'd love to have?
DB: There is a group of 10 winemakers from the Rhône Valley, 10 of the best Châteauneuf-du-Pape winemakers. At the harvest, they each put in 50 to 100 bottles of their vieilles vignes and they blend those together, and one of the winemakers does the élevage. But it's not for sale, it's just for their personal consumption, so I haven't got my hands on it yet [laughing].
DANIEL BOULUD
Chef-owner of Daniel Boulud Brasserie at the Wynn Las Vegas and Daniel in New York, as well as the author of "Braise: A Journey Through International Cuisine"
By DANIEL BOULUD
Last book I bought:
"Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing the Customer Experience" by Jonathan Tisch
Book I'm reading:
Same as above.
Total number of books I own:
Thousands. Definitely more than I can count, including about 1,200 cookbooks.
Books that mean a lot to me:
"Gastronomie Pratique" by Ali-Bab, the pen name of Henri Babinski. It was first published in 1907 and had been out of print since the 1950s. It is one of my most prized cookbooks.
"Bright Lights, Big City" by Jay McInerney. I arrived in New York in the early ’80s and this book really captures that time.
Last film I saw:
"Capote," directed by Bennett Miller
Number of DVDs I own:
Hundreds, including lots of classic French movies.
Film that means a lot to me:
"Un homme et une femme," directed by Claude Lelouch
Last CD I bought:
"Homage -- the Age of the Diva," Renee Fleming. I bought it for my wife. We are both big fans of Renee’s.
Number of CDs I own:
A few hundred.
Song currently playing:
Whatever my daughter loaded on my iPod.
Song that means a lot to me:
"Going to California," Led Zeppelin
Favorite wine:
Chateau Latour 1990 or 1985.
Favorite charity:
Citymeals-on-Wheels. They deliver meals to homebound elderly. I have served on their board of directors for over ten years and host an annual gala for them each spring at Daniel.
Favorite vacation:
St Cezaire sur Siagne, a small village in the South of France, near the town of Grasse. I used to go there with my family when I was a kid.
Favorite vice:
The olive crackers we serve at the bar at Daniel. I grab one every time I walk through the bar.
Five people who I'd like to see answer this survey:
My daughter, Chef Thomas Keller, Chef Wylie Dufresne, Chef Jacques Pepin, Jay McInerney
Source:
Originally printed in Wine Spectator magazine, March 31, 2007 issue
Variety.com interview
Wine Talk: Daniel BouludBorn on a farm near Lyon, France, Daniel Boulud, 51, has been cooking since he was 14, when he began an apprenticeship under Michelin two-star chef Gérard Nandron. He developed his culinary skills working for the likes of Georges Blanc, Roger Vergé and Michel Guérard. In 1993, Boulud opened his flagship New York restaurant, Daniel, recipient of a Wine Spectator Grand Award. Since then he has added a catering company and four more restaurants: Café Boulud and DB Bistro Moderne in New York; Café Boulud in Palm Beach, Fla.; and Daniel Boulud Brasserie in Las Vegas. He has authored numerous cookbooks and contributes time and money to nearly two dozen charity organizations. In 2007, Boulud will open a wine bar in New York with his wine director, Daniel Johnnes. Wine Spectator Online associate editor Laurie Woolever interviewed Boulud in his glass-walled office overlooking the perpetually busy kitchen at Daniel.
Wine Spectator: How did you become interested in wine?
Daniel Boulud: I have had the privilege to work in some of the best restaurants in the world, all of which have world-class wine cellars, so I always had this interest in wine. I communicate a lot with my sommeliers, and take wine trips with them when I can. I think [chefs] share the same passion with the vignerons. We share the same understanding about balance.
WS: How does Daniel's wine program relate to your food?
DB: At Daniel, the wine program is strongly French, maybe 50 percent French and 35 percent American and 15 percent others. I don't mind having some eclectic and interesting wines by the glass that are maybe a little edgy in their sugar content or acidity, or one that goes very well with one dish, but might not be a wine that we wish to sell by the bottle. We don't bother too much with the average vintage. That's why our wine list can get expensive. I see a lot of wine lists with lousy vintages of big names, so it looks like, "Oh, this wine is affordable."
WS: Do you have a favorite style of wine?
DB: I love Rhône wine very much—Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Hermitage and Cornas. I prefer white in the Northern Rhône and reds from the south.
WS: Do you have a personal wine cellar? What's in it?
DB: I have a cellar in the cellar [at Daniel], but I don't collect to speculate. If I buy, it's because I am going to drink it. I do have some vintage '55, because that was my birth year—La Mission and Jean Boillot. But I also have a mishmash, because people bring me wine, and I can't taste that in the middle of the afternoon, so I put it there. I also have a lot of Burgundy. Yesterday I pulled out a La Tâche '88. The pleasure is finding a bottle and saying, "I didn't know that was here."
WS: Is there a "dream wine" that you'd love to have?
DB: There is a group of 10 winemakers from the Rhône Valley, 10 of the best Châteauneuf-du-Pape winemakers. At the harvest, they each put in 50 to 100 bottles of their vieilles vignes and they blend those together, and one of the winemakers does the élevage. But it's not for sale, it's just for their personal consumption, so I haven't got my hands on it yet [laughing].
DANIEL BOULUD
Chef-owner of Daniel Boulud Brasserie at the Wynn Las Vegas and Daniel in New York, as well as the author of "Braise: A Journey Through International Cuisine"
By DANIEL BOULUD
Last book I bought:
"Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing the Customer Experience" by Jonathan Tisch
Book I'm reading:
Same as above.
Total number of books I own:
Thousands. Definitely more than I can count, including about 1,200 cookbooks.
Books that mean a lot to me:
"Gastronomie Pratique" by Ali-Bab, the pen name of Henri Babinski. It was first published in 1907 and had been out of print since the 1950s. It is one of my most prized cookbooks.
"Bright Lights, Big City" by Jay McInerney. I arrived in New York in the early ’80s and this book really captures that time.
Last film I saw:
"Capote," directed by Bennett Miller
Number of DVDs I own:
Hundreds, including lots of classic French movies.
Film that means a lot to me:
"Un homme et une femme," directed by Claude Lelouch
Last CD I bought:
"Homage -- the Age of the Diva," Renee Fleming. I bought it for my wife. We are both big fans of Renee’s.
Number of CDs I own:
A few hundred.
Song currently playing:
Whatever my daughter loaded on my iPod.
Song that means a lot to me:
"Going to California," Led Zeppelin
Favorite wine:
Chateau Latour 1990 or 1985.
Favorite charity:
Citymeals-on-Wheels. They deliver meals to homebound elderly. I have served on their board of directors for over ten years and host an annual gala for them each spring at Daniel.
Favorite vacation:
St Cezaire sur Siagne, a small village in the South of France, near the town of Grasse. I used to go there with my family when I was a kid.
Favorite vice:
The olive crackers we serve at the bar at Daniel. I grab one every time I walk through the bar.
Five people who I'd like to see answer this survey:
My daughter, Chef Thomas Keller, Chef Wylie Dufresne, Chef Jacques Pepin, Jay McInerney
Source:
Originally printed in Wine Spectator magazine, March 31, 2007 issue
Variety.com interview
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