MARIO BATALI

"Batali was an impressively dedicated drinker--he mentioned in passing that, on trips to Itale made with his Babbo co-owner Joe Bastianich, the two of them had been known to put away a case of wine during an evening meal"

"One of my last images of Batali at three in the morning--a stoutly red ponytail swinging rhythmically behind him, an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth, his red converse high-tops pounding the floor--playing air guitar to Neil Young's 'Southern Man.'"

"He was caught growing marijuana on the roof of his father's apartment building (the first incident of what would become a theme--Batali was later expelled from his dorm in college, suspected of dealing, and, later still, there was some trouble in Tijuana that actually landed him in jail). The marijuana association evokes a memory of the first meals Batali remembers preparing, late-night panini with caramelized locally grown onions, a local cow's-milk Spanish cheese, and paper-thin slices of chorizo: 'The best stoner munch you can imagine; me and my younger brother Dana were just classic stoner kids--we were so happy.'"

"The life at Stuff Yer Face was fast (twenty-five years later, he still claims he has the record for most pizzas made in an hour), sexy ("The most booooootiful waitresses in town"), and very buzzy ("I don't want to come off as a big druggy, but when a guy comes into the kitchen with a pizza pan turned upside down, covered with lines of coke, how can you say no?").

"Andy Nusser, a computer designer at the time, met Mario at a late-night druggy party (Batali drinking tequila from a goatskin boda bag, the liquor splattering all over his face). Someone had brought foie gras, but didn't know how to serve it, and, rising to the challenge that a good cook should be able to make a meal with whatever is to hand, Mario prepared a sweet, vinegar-like reduction of Orange Nehi soda and Starburst fruit candies. ('First you remove each Starburst fruit gum fom its wax-paper wrapper and put the candies in a saucepan, where, over a low heat, you melt them slowly until you have a bright-colored syrup, and then, separately, you cook the soda, until it's reduced by half.')"