The issue of female executive chefs - their rarity, their relative performance, how they’re received - keeps coming up on the blogosphere, no matter how anachronistic the controversy seems. The latest brouhaha was in New York, where restaurateur Keith McNally accused NYTimes Dining critic Frank Bruni of systematically giving bad reviews to restaurants helmed by female chefs (most bloggers came down on this claim as specious).
At any rate, it was nice to see an unneurotic (bordering on somnolescent) interview in NRN with Missy Robbins, executive chef at Spiaggia. Robbins comes off as a nice, pleasant chef working in a nice, pleasant kitchen, churning out nice, pleasant, top-quality Italian cuisine. On gender in the kitchen, Robbins had this to say:
Men and women definitely work differently. You have different skill sets. I worked in only one kitchen where I was the only woman, at my first job. I have close to 40 percent women here. Tony [Mantuano] has had a woman chef for years. I enjoy a balanced kitchen. It’s great to have those differences.
The issue of female executive chefs - their rarity, their relative performance, how they’re received - keeps coming up on the blogosphere, no matter how anachronistic the controversy seems. The latest brouhaha was in New York, where restaurateur Keith McNally accused NYTimes Dining critic Frank Bruni of systematically giving bad reviews to restaurants helmed by female chefs (most bloggers came down on this claim as specious).
At any rate, it was nice to see an unneurotic (bordering on somnolescent) interview in NRN with Missy Robbins, executive chef at Spiaggia. Robbins comes off as a nice, pleasant chef working in a nice, pleasant kitchen, churning out nice, pleasant, top-quality Italian cuisine. On gender in the kitchen, Robbins had this to say:
