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Indulge yourself
The many flavors of chef Todd English
by Theresa Regli
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 Todd English is a chef with an empire.
It started barely a decade ago a small restaurant in Charlestown, Massachusetts, called Olives. There a young chef English piqued the interest of cod-and-chips New Englanders with innovative combinations of layered flavors -- from a sirloin steak topped with roasted vidalia onions and melted Roquefort cheese to a saffron risotto with spicy chorizo sausage, cilantro, and freshly-grated Parmesan -- garnering descriptions such as "indulgent, bold, and inventive". While English was also masterfully preparing simple Italian fare, those dishes didn't start the buzz. It was his more daring inventions that put him on the culinary map.
Within a few years, Olives moved to a bigger location, where a large open kitchen allowed diners to watch -- or in many cases, ogle -- the tall, hawk-like English, brooding pensively over his sensual creations. English was hot, his food was hot, and before long Olives became Boston's most popular restaurant. It wasn't uncommon (and still isn't) to find patrons waiting up to three hours for a table.
Since that fateful time in the early '90s, English has co-written two cookbooks, The Olives Table and The Figs Table, and opened seven more restaurants: four pizzerias called Figs, all in the Boston area; Onda and a second Olives, both in Las Vegas; and Miramar, in Westport, Connecticut. He's been asked to develop a menu for a first-class hotel restaurant in Israel, has another Olives slated to open in Washington, DC, in early October, and he also recently debuted a line of his own fresh pasta, sauces and olive oil. Also in the works ia a dessert cookbook, which he's working on with his pastry chef, Paige Retus.
English is revered as a master chef partly because of his unique blend of conventional cooking techniques and unconventional, "what-the-heck-was-he-thinking" ingredient combinations. But he has gained notoriety also because he knows how to put sex on a plate. His food is rich, stimulating, sensual and supremely satisfying, seducing patrons toward a no-turning-back precipice of indulgence. You can't help but give in. The next day, you may feel you went a bit too far, but you can't resist. You'll go back for more, again and again.
English says unorthodox mélanges of ingredients such as those he employs are defining the new era of food in America. Europeans may balk over such "culinary heresy," but no matter. Todd English is conquering the world, and his empire is here to stay.
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Meet Todd English, and see him skin a four-foot-long halibut in this cool video clip.
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Todd English
;)
