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Wolfgang J. Puck
|
| Born |
January 8, 1949
Sankt Veit an der Glan, Austria |
| Cooking style |
California, French, and Fusion |
| Education |
Apprenticeship |
| Restaurants |
Spago Hollywood; Spago Beverly Hills; Spago Tokyo; Spago Chicago; Spago Las Vegas; Spago Palo Alto; Spago Maui; Chinois (Santa Monica, CA); Postrio Restaurant (San Francisco and Las Vegas); Granita (Malibu, CA); Trattoria del Lupo (Las Vegas); Wolfgang Puck Cafes (multiple) |
| TV Show(s) |
Iron Chef America |
|
Wolfgang Johann Puck (born Wolfgang Johann Topfschnig on January 8, 1949) is an Austrian-American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and businessman based in Los Angeles, California. Many of his restaurants are called Spago.
[edit] Biography
He was born to Maria Topfschnig and a butcher who abandoned her before their child's birth. Maria married Josef Puck in 1956, who adopted Wolfgang. The marriage produced a son and two daughters.
Puck learned cooking from his mother, who sometimes worked as a pastry chef. Instead of going to culinary school, he trained as an apprentice under Raymound Toulier at L'Oustau de Baumaniere in Provence, at Hotel de Paris in Monaco, and at Maxim's in Paris. In 1973, Puck worked in New York City, at La Tour in Indianapolis, Indiana, then moved to Los Angeles in 1975, where he established himself by turning around the failing Ma Maison by promoting California cuisine.
His success enabled him to launch an empire that currently includes Spago, a string of restaurants (six in Tokyo alone), cookbooks, a line of kitchen equipment and appliances sold on HSN, and food products. He caters the official Academy Awards events, and has parlayed his celebrity into acting; his credits include Frasier and Las Vegas and a cameo appearance in The Weather Man, a comedy film starring Nicolas Cage and Michael Caine. He also appeared as himself on Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters, and Cooking Class with Wolfgang Puck on The Food Network.
Puck has two sons, Cameron and Byron, with business partner and estranged wife Barbara Lazaroff. Puck has another son Oliver Wolfgang (born July 17, 2005) by his fiancée Gelila Assefa. Assefa is expecting their second child together, a boy, due in December 2006. [1] His motto is: "Live, love, eat!"
[edit] Controversy
Puck has been criticised by animal rights groups for his support of the veal and foie gras industries.
[edit] References
