Cat Cora storms out of Alinea: looks like a chef with too strong a sense of entitlement.

Old saying we used to use in the kitchen:
“Lose your head, and your ass goes right with it.”

Kind of a he said - she said, but Cat’s coming across as the much more questionable here. It’s an aside but from what I see of her, she’s pretty weak within the Iron Chef realm.

Btw, I just happened to have started watching “Chef’s Table” on Netflix. It isn’t great, and some of the segments are definitely better than others, but the episode on Achatz was really interesting. He is quite the culinary mind.

Yeah and in that episode Achatz casts some shade on Charlie Trotter, who is mentioned by Cat Cora in her social media response. Maybe a deeper issue at work, but it sounds like her assistant messed up or didn’t communicate the date of the reservation, and she tried to play the star power card.

She or her assistant screwed up.

Alinea has (literal) receipts…

There were issues there

I vote with Alinea on this.

An F-bombing tantrum? Please, narcs, daytime Ambien?

Cora into rehab story this fall.

There were more than issues with Trotter … for many of the young chefs who went through his kitchen.

I really recommend Achatz’ autobiography Life on the Line.

Charlie was a bit of a jerk in high school. he and his “gang” known as “the danger boys” would come to my sister’s keg parties (it was the ‘70’s) and do mean things like kick our pug and climb the side of our house.

Charlie was a brilliant chef, he really created fine dining in Chicago. That being said he was difficult to work for/with.(putting it nicely)
A long time ago you could make a donation to his charity and work 1 night in the kitchen of his restaurant… which I did. I was able to witness him interact with his team 1st hand.

George

Cat was just trying to start a conversation.

Weak sauce. TKO Kokonas.

I did this several times. Fascinating and humbling, even as an accomplished cook. My detailed knifework was atrocious.

My thumb lasted about 30 min. Cut the hell out of it. Wore finger condoms the rest of the night. [wow.gif]

I did get to work the hot line with Guiseppi when he was sous. champagne.gif

George

Start a conversation? That is funny. Her publicist is trying to dilute her tantrum.

Did a dinner years ago with her when there used to be a chefs on tour series in WA to promote their books. Not impressed with her, or her food.

Who is she anyway ? What restaurant brought her to fame for her to be considered a celebrity chef ?

There is a Cat Cora named restaurant in one of the SFO terminals. Does that help? I researched this once before and recall being somewhat unimpressed with her resume. In general it seems the American iron chefs were (in general) a departure from the credibility of the asian show. (Morimoto, etc)

I thought there used to be some restaurant but I just knew her from TV. I have eaten two times at her restaurant in Houston airport. Terrible!!!

Jason

From her website -

Cat has opened more than 18 restaurants across the United States and globally, highlighting her platform on health, wellness and sustainability.

Cat Cora’s Kitchen, located in numerous airport locations throughout the U.S., Cat Cora’s Taproom located in the Detroit Metro Airport, Ocean by Cat Cora, an award-winning restaurant in Singapore, Kouzzina by Cat Cora at Disney World, CCQ at Macy’s, Postino in San Francisco’s East Bay, Mesa Burger which can be found in Santa Barbara, and Olilo by Cat Cora and Wicked Eats by Cat Cora have over 500 pop-ups across the country.

She worked at Postino in Lafayette, CA, until about 15 years ago. I know a few people who worked with her. They said she could be difficult. Imagine that, a difficult chef.