{"id":175,"date":"2017-09-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/?p=175"},"modified":"2023-05-27T17:34:34","modified_gmt":"2023-05-27T17:34:34","slug":"roostx1chef-fabio-viviani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/roostx1chef-fabio-viviani\/","title":{"rendered":"Fabio Viviani"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Not many chefs can brag that they started their careers when they were only preteens.\u00a0Fabio Viviani<\/a>\u00a0worked nights at a bakery in Florence, Italy when he was only 11. Before his teenage years were spent, he managed to be mentored by celebrated Italian chef\u00a0Simone Mugnaini and parlayed those skills into running five restaurants in Florence, a Farm House and two nightclubs by the time he was 27. His bonafide skills and natural human magnetism led him to be a breakout star on Top Chef, where he was crowned \u201cFan Favorite.\u201d If you\u2019re still skeptical about Viviani\u2019s star power consider this: he\u2019s lent his name to a line of cookware, made by Italian manufacturer Bialetti no less. Here, Viviani reflects on ravioli, family and beating Bobby Flay (but not in the way you\u2019re thinking).<\/p>\n

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What is your idea of a perfect meal?<\/strong>
\nI would start with a small appetizer and pasta is a must. I\u2019m a steak guy and love having it with lobster too\u2013and of course wine. I prefer cabernet.\u00a0\"Fabio8\"<\/p>\n

What recipe still gives you goosebumps?<\/strong>
\nA really good ravioli recipe.<\/p>\n

What cooking personality, living or dead do you most admire?<\/strong>
\nJamie Oliver.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a style of cooking foreign to you that you wish you had down pat?<\/strong>
\nThai cooking\u2013I love Thai food but I don\u2019t know how to cook it.<\/p>\n

Which ingredients do you find yourself using the most?<\/strong>
\nOlive oil and garlic.<\/p>\n

What was your biggest culinary disaster?<\/strong>
\nWhen I was 20 years old, I dropped a wedding cake right before the cake cutting ceremony.<\/p>\n

Jiro Dreams of Sushi. What food do you dream of?<\/strong>
\nRavioli\u2013I love ravioli.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your most treasured kitchen tool?<\/strong>
\nA wooden spoon.<\/p>\n

If you weren\u2019t a chef, what other occupation could you see yourself excelling in?<\/strong>
\nVeterinarian.<\/p>\n

Mario Batali has clogs. What\u2019s your most marked characteristic?<\/strong>
\nIn the kitchen, I always wear my John Varvatos sneakers and G-Star jeans in the kitchen.<\/p>\n

What food do you hold in the lowest of regards?<\/strong>
\nCilantro.<\/p>\n

What is the quality you most like in a chef?<\/strong>
\nI admire chefs who have a lot of patience.<\/p>\n

What is the quality you most like in a diner?<\/strong>
\nPeople who are enthusiastic about the food they are eating makes them truly appreciate food.<\/p>\n

Chef Boyardee or Colonel Sanders?<\/strong>
\nI guess if I had to choose it\u2019ll be Chef Boyardee.<\/p>\n

Who or what inspires you?<\/strong>
\nMy family, my wife and newborn son.<\/p>\n

How do you take your coffee?<\/strong>
\nI gave up on coffee about three to four years ago. When I used to drink coffee, I had a lot of cream and sugar.<\/p>\n

What food trend drives you batty?<\/strong>
\nMolecular gastronomy.<\/p>\n

In-N-Out or Five Guys?<\/strong>
\nIn-N-Out when I\u2019m in L.A. and Five Guys when I\u2019m in Chicago.<\/p>\n

Could you \u201cbeat\u201d Bobby Flay?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m pretty sure in a boxing match I can beat Bobby Flay (I have 14 years of boxing experience), but in the kitchen I would need to try.<\/p>\n

Do you prescribe to any kitchen superstitions?<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t have any superstitions in particular but I don\u2019t like pants with loud prints and designs. I\u2019ve seen pants with chili peppers, rainbows or unicorns for example and it\u2019s distracting. Those pants are for seven year-olds, not chefs in the kitchen.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a childhood dish you loved that still sticks with you?<\/strong>
\nRavioli.<\/p>\n

Biggest cooking fear?<\/strong>
\nMy fear is that one of these days I\u2019ll eat a dish with cilantro in it and wouldn\u2019t know until after I ate it.<\/p>\n

What do you cook on your off days?<\/strong>
\nI like to go out to dinner on my days off. I\u2019m already cooking on all the other days!<\/p>\n

Go-to guilty pleasure food?<\/strong>
\nNutella and a Bombo Burger from Bombo Bar<\/p>\n

If you ate some poorly prepared blowfish sashimi and passed, what person or thing would you like to come back as<\/strong>?
\nI would come back as the person who served me the sashimi and jump off the Sears Tower. I\u2019m just kidding, but really\u2026 c\u2019mon!<\/p>\n

What is your catchphrase?<\/strong>
\n\u201cHi I\u2019m Fabio. You\u2019re Welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not many chefs can brag that they started their careers when they were only preteens.\u00a0Fabio Viviani\u00a0worked nights at a bakery in Florence, Italy when he was only 11. Before his teenage years were spent, he managed to be mentored by celebrated Italian chef\u00a0Simone Mugnaini and parlayed those skills into running five restaurants in Florence, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[156,143],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-roosts","category-the-daily-tout"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":797,"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions\/797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}