SPOTLIGHT
that. But anybody can go out to dinner on this day and make a truly meaningful contribution so easily. It’s just a win-win situation. Why not do it? I just talked to one guy in Denver who said he and his friends go out to breakfast, lunch and dinner on Dining Out for Life Day. I thought that was cool…a little decadent, but cool!” Now that it’s only a matter of time before the event kicks off, where will Mr. Allen and company be dining? “I think we’re go- ing to hop on the train and go to Philadelphia which is where DOFL started. I expect that we’ll go to Chef Jose Garces’ restaurant. He’s one of the other chefs on Food Network—the newest one in fact. But we’ll probably bounce around to a few different places to get a sampling of Philly restaurants and try to cause as much trouble as we can. That ought to be really fun.” Someone as familiar with the finer end of cuisine as Al-
len surely has an ideal dream plan for the perfect restau- rant. “I’ve thought about it, I just don’t have any time to do it! Of course, owning and running a restaurant consumes your entire life. And now, my entire life is already being consumed by Food Network! These shows actually take a lot of work, and restaurants are very risky. One kind of restaurant that I’m very intrigued by is a ‘gastro pub’—as in gastronomical. You can make creative food but it doesn’t necessarily have to be as precious or the ingredi- ents don’t have to be as pricey. You can make a good bar business. They started in England. They have lots of them now here in the states—the most famous being The Spotted Pig in the West Village. It’s a place where Mario Vitale is an investor. Michael Stipe from R.E.M. and Jay-Z are investors. It’s always packed, the food is delicious. I’ve worked in a couple of bad restaurants. Although
I’ve never worked on the [cook’s] line. I really respect people who do that. I cook all the time but I don’t have to cook 200 orders and have people screaming at me. It’s a completely different animal. My fantasy is to go to culinary school in either Italy or France. If I could just get a six month window and take some classes for a while, I think that would be amazing. But I don’t see that time window coming up any time soon. I’m a very dedicated cook. I take classes here and there whenever I can. In this business there’s always more to learn. On Chopped and Iron Chef, I do have the great advantage of sitting next to Daniel Boulud—you pick up a lot! I can also contact these people if I have questions. Maybe I should go to Scott Conant’s restaurant and maybe learn how it’s done.”
DOFL hits the streets of San Diego on Thursday, April 29. For a complete list of participating San Diego restaurants, visit diningoutforlife.com/sandiego or contact Chelsea at 619.497.2920 ext. 247 or send an e-mail to
ccormier@thecentersd.org.
For Los Angeles, a complete list of participating restaurants is available at diningoutforlifeLA.org—or you can send an e-mail to
kcrabtree@projectangelfood.org.
54
RAGE monthly | APRIL 2010
“...all this ‘Defense of Marriage’ shit. Straight people
aren’t all that great at staying married.”
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