Rick Bayless to prepare next State Dinner at the WH 5/19

[housewolf]

FOR the Obama administration’s second state dinner, the White House has once again turned the cooking over to a guest chef. Rick Bayless has been asked to prepare the elegantly balanced, many layered Mexican food for which he has become famous at the dinner on May 19 that will honor President Felipe Calderón of Mexico.

In November, the chef Marcus Samuelsson was put in charge of the state dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India.

Mr. Bayless was rumored to be the first choice for White House chef after the election because the Obamas spent many date nights in Chicago enjoying the tasting menu at his restaurant Topolobampo.

More...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/dining/12dinner.html?src=twt&twt=nytimesdining

[kurtzapril4]

1. Bayless fined for meat violations...

Chef Rick Bayless was none too happy to receive a recent visit from state health inspectors. According to ChicagoBusiness.com, Bayless’s Chicago restaurants – Frontera Grill, Topolobampo and Xoco – were all inspected for meat products not certified by the state of Illinois, after a recent article in the Chicago Reader that Bayless was one of a handful of local restaurants utilizing items from “an underground charcuterie”.

Unfortunately for the chef, it turns out the article was correct, with inspectors finding 80 pounds of bacon lacking state-certified inspection marks within the restaurant kitchens, as well as items approved by the state of Wisconsin. With state law requiring that all meat products be certified by the Illinois Department of Agriculture, Bayless will receive a fine for the violation, ranging from $500 to $5000.


Ooops!

[Warpy]

2. Not dangerous, just not bureaucratic.

Somehow, I think he'll afford the fine without any trouble.

I doubt he was using the alternative butcher because it was cheaper.

[mtnester]

3. Agreed, it was probably because it was better..n/t