David Burke
davidburke & donatella, New York NY
Fromagerie, Rumson NJ
David Burke Las Vegas, at The Venetian
David Burke at Bloomingdale’s
David Burke’s Primehouse in the James Chicago Hotel
as taped at
Park Avenue Cafe’
New York, NY
http://www.davidburke.com
Ingenious is the word for David Burke, one of today´s most outstanding chefs, blurring the lines between chef, executive, and artist.
Burke worked in restaurants during his teenaged years and graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. He furthered his experience in restaurants in Burgundy and southwest France, and was the personal chef of a shipping tycoon in Norway. He served under such well-known chefs as Pierre Troisgros and Georges Blanc. He also studied pastry arts under the legendary Gaston Lenotre. Returning to the U.S., he spent three years as sous chef under Waldy Malouf at La Cremaillere. Burke was only 26 when he won both the French Meilleurs Ouvriers de France Diplome d´Honneur, and Japan´s Nippon Award of Excellence.
Later, Burke served for a time as sous-chef under Charles Palmer at Brooklyn´s seminal River Café, also the launching spot for Larry Forgione, then returned later to become executive chef. In 1991 Burke was named Chef of the Year by his peers in Chefs of America.
In 1992, Burke developed a menu of hearty American food for the Park Avenue Café, which he opened with Alan Stillman of Smith & Wollensky. So confident and relaxed was he that the restaurant had a glassed-in table (No. 88) in the middle of the kitchen, from which diners can watch the preparation of his dishes. Burke was one of the first chefs to use flavored oils such as basil oil, curry oil, and lemongrass oil. Spice mixes also intrigued him, and he correctly predicted that Americans would gradually use more and more diverse spices such as cumin and cardamom. Great Chefs taped him when he was the executive chef of New York´s Park Avenue Café.
In 1996 Burke took on the position of Vice President of Culinary Development for the Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group. During his twelve years there he pioneered the Swordfish Chop, the Crackling Pork Shank, and Gourmet Pops (gourmetpops.com). Teaming with Donatella Arpaia in 1993, he and Arpaia opened davidburke & donatella. He runs the kitchen; Donatella handles the front of house operations. He describes his cuisine as ‚“David Burke unplugged.‚”
Among his newest ventures are David Burke at Bloomingdale´s, David Burke´s Primehouse in Chicago, David Burke Las Vegas at the Venetian, and his dream restaurant, the Fromagerie in Rumson, New Jersey ‚Äì he started working there as a teenager and always has dreamed of owning it. Now it is The David Burke Fromagerie. Burke is also deeply involved in ‚“culinology,‚” combining traditional culinary arts with food science. He is a board member of the Research Chefs Association, advisor for J. Manheimer, Inc. (one of the country´s oldest flavor developers), and consultant to well-known companies like Aramark. Among Burke´s innovative takes are flavor-transfer spice sheets and Flavorsprays ‚Äì eliminate the fat, keep the flavor.
The honors have continued ‚Äì nomination as James Beard Foundation ‚“Best Chef, New York City,‚” the CIA´s Escoffier Award, even ‚“Best Culinary Prankster‚” from Time Out New York.
David Burke lectures regularly, giving cooking demonstrations worldwide, and has written two cookbooks, Cooking with David Burke (1995), and David Burke´s New American Classics (2007), published by Alfred A. Knopf.
