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INTERVIEW: "Top Chef" Michael Voltaggio At The Festival Of Books

Tanaya Ghosh |
April 28, 2012 | 12:25 a.m. PDT

Food Editor

Michael Voltaggio demonstrates how to make gnocchi and mushroom chicharrones (Tanaya Ghosh / Neon Tommy)
Michael Voltaggio demonstrates how to make gnocchi and mushroom chicharrones (Tanaya Ghosh / Neon Tommy)
This past weekend, we caught up with Michael Voltaggio after his live cooking demo in front of an eager audience.

The celebrated Bravo's "Top Chef" season six winner kicked off two days of Cooking Stage festivities at the L.A. Times Festival of Books on the USC campus this past weekend.

Here's what the owner of Ink had to say about his love of "wierd" ice cream flavors and how he deals with foods he didn't like as a kid:

TG: How did you know you wanted to become a chef?

MV: I've been doing it since I was 14 years old. It's the only thing I've ever done, so I think I just got into it and never got out of it. So I just ended up being a chef, and I stayed with it and found it as my creative vice. I would go to school and I played a lot of sports in high school and stuff like that, and I found that the favorite part of my day was the job that I had at night. So I found myself spending more time there and ultimately developing a career out of it.

As far as training goes, you also did an apprenticeship. What was that like?

It was great, I got on the job experience, and at the same time an education, so I got to step into my career and get the basics in the education at the same time. So when you get into an internship, I mean lots of people go to school first and then get into an internship after, and I got to sort of skip the whole school thing. But I had to work a lot harder than a lot of guys that were there. The people who were there had gone through school and training and stuff like that.

Is there an ingredient you don't really like to cook with?

I don't know that I have an ingredient that I don't like (thinks). Um, I couldn't think of one. I mean, one way I challenge myself is to take things that I don't necessarily love and try to make them in a way that I love them, or like them at least. So if people do usually like it then they'll love it if I do it. Does that make sense? Like I hated vegetables growing up as a kid, so I stared focusing on vegetable cookery. So broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, things like that, and then I found that if I made them in a way that I actually enjoyed it, then people who do like those things would love it even more.

What would be your last meal?

(Thinks)... Hmm I don't know...

What's your favorite simple dish that anyone can make?

I mean, I love sandwiches. Anything, really. Anything between bread with cheese melted. Um, I actually love junk food. I eat a lot of ice cream. I would say that my last thing to eat would probably be ice cream.

What flavor of ice cream?

Umm I don't know. Favorite ice cream flavor... Yeah, I like all the weird Ben & Jerry's combinations of ice cream, the ones that have all the chunks of stuff in it.

Have you tried any of the ice cream food trucks, like Coolhaus?

Yeah, their stuff is good. I love the concept of it but um yeah, I mean I love ice cream and ice cream sandwiches all that stuff and I think the product that they have is great.

Michael Voltaggio discusses his love of junk food. (Judy Wang / Neon Tommy)
Michael Voltaggio discusses his love of junk food. (Judy Wang / Neon Tommy)
How do you feel about food trucks?

I think they definitely changed the way food is looked at. What it did was it helped reach a whole new demographic of diner. It took food that was only accessible in restaurants and brought it to the streets. Roy Choi, obviously the king of Kogi, he's a good friend of mine, he actually said that in an interview once. He just started out making tacos, and he went out into the street and started giving them to people so they could see what it was all about. So I think it helps our business because more people are becoming conscious of food through the food trucks and want more food.

Gail Simmons just mentioned you on stage during her cooking demo, reminding everyone that you are a "Top Chef" winner. You have a book out with your brother, Bryan, called "Volt ink." What was it like competing against him on the show?

It was cool, I mean it was nice to have somebody that I knew to go through the experience with, but at the end it, you know, it kind of sucked because it was just both of us....

I know you both have your own restaurants right now. Any plans to work together in the future?

I'm not going to say we'll never open a restaurant together, but as far as brick-and-mortar businesses are concerned, the level we're at now, where we're in out kitchens working, there's really only room for one chef in the kitchen. We support each other from a distance and we help each other out, but as far as his restaurant is his restaurant and my restaurant is my restaurant, we're kind of keeping it that way for now, I think that'd be great. Sharing the work with somebody else that you trust and respect.

What's something surprising we'd find on your iPod?

Something surprising... Tom Waits, maybe? But then, the next song could be The Roots, and the next song could be Farside, and the next song could be, you know, something heavier, more rock n' roll. I mean, it's everything.

If you weren't a chef, what would you be doing?

I don't know, I mean I don't think it's an option for me. That's what I am. There's nothing else I'd really be doing because I'd never done anything else.

What's your take on molecular gastronomy?

I think technology improves everything. To say that we don't use technology to improve the way we cook or eat would be sort of hypocritical to this society that we live in. Because we use technology for everything and as technology advances, everything else advances with it. So obviously food is very much a part of our lives, and I think technology only improves it. So molecular gastronomy, it's not what we do, it's that we use technology to improve or change the way we cook.

Favorite drink?

Scotch.

When you're not cooking, what do you do?

I rest and I eat in other restaurants.

Favorite restaurant?

I have too many. I can't do that, my friends are all chefs so I can't single one out. But I love what's happening in Los Angeles right now with food for sure. I think L.A. is one of the most exciting food cities in the whole country right now.

Voltaggio did a demo earlier in the day, creating many items such as egg yolk gnocchi. No ice cream this time, but you never know what his next demo may hold!

You can reach Tanaya Ghosh here or follow her on Twitter here.

For complete coverage of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, click here



 

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