Busy Batali always has something cooking

By Jonathan Levitt, Globe Correspondent  |  May 21, 2008

Even with restaurants around the country, an armful of books, more product endorsements than Michael Jordan, and plenty of goofy TV footage, Mario Batali is the rare celebrity chef who remains a chef's chef. His food is admired by many professionals and his restaurants receive consistently good reviews.

It's only been a decade since Batali, 48, opened his first place, Babbo, in a 19th-century coach house in New York's Greenwich Village, and the crowds started coming. The chef's sixth book, "Italian Grill," has just come out. To write it, Batali went to his country house in Northport, Mich., and spent a week testing recipes and cooking for a photographer. He spit-roasts duck until it's golden and crisp, wraps monkfish in prosciutto before setting it over the hot coals, and chars scallions to serve with an almond and parsley pesto. Wife Susi Cahn and sons Leo, 10, and Benno, 11 1/2, were on hand.

"My other books have been written for pro cooks," says Batali from his home in Greenwich Village, where he describes himself looking out the window at a cab driver getting into a fight with a guy in a Prius. "This is the food I really make for my family all summer long.

"[Northport] is my favorite place in the whole world and an antidote for my kids, who spend the rest of their time in New York City. Northport has a real American small town feel. We swim in the lake. We swim way out to the raft and splash each other and swim back."

Batali grew up in suburban Seattle. His father, Armandino, a former Boeing executive, is the grandson of Italian immigrants and now owner, with his wife, Marilyn, of Salumi Restaurant and Salumi Artisan Cured Meats in Seattle. In 1975 Armandino moved the family to Europe. Mario went to high school in Madrid and then studied business management and Spanish theater at Rutgers University. After graduation he enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu in London but quickly dropped out to cook his way around Europe and North America.

In photos throughout his books and on TV, Batali can be seen in shorts and orange clogs. He says he rarely wears pants. "I've made a career out of wearing shorts. Sweatpants are too post-'Sopranos.' Guys out on Long Island are doing it though."

The chef now owns 13 restaurants, some with Joe Bastianich and his mother, restaurateur and TV personality Lidia Bastianich. "I'm at the restaurants every night," says Batali. "First Otto because it's across the street from my building. Then I move around between Babbo, Casa Mono, and Del Posto." Babbo offers Italian classics with rock 'n' roll music, Casa Mono is traditional Spanish, and Del Posto is grand Italian with live piano.

Batali cruises around New York on Vespas. He says, "It costs me $6 a week in gas. I save hundreds of dollars a week in taxis. It's also the most relaxing and delightful thing. I have a couple of new ones and a black one from the 1950s from Vietnam. I miss riding when I'm away from the city."

He hangs out with all sorts of luminaries from outside the food world, including poet/novelist/gourmand Jim Harrison, for whom he recently hosted a surprise 70th birthday at the writer's home in Patagonia, Ariz. Also in his circle of friends is Michael Stipe of R.E.M. (Batali loves the band's new recording). He had the musician over for dinner recently. "I made spaghetti with ramps that we dug at my wife's parents' farm, garlic, red pepper flakes, and pecorino cheese. We also had a romaine lettuce salad with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and gorgonzola."

Sounds simple enough. Like anyone, there are times he doesn't feel like cooking anything. Then he does what everyone else in New York does. "I dial the numbers, man."