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(Photo: Patrick McMullan) |
The young chef-author of a new tell-all memoir about four-star restaurants is being accused of cooking his facts. The Seasoning of a Chef: My Journey From Diner to Ducasse and Beyond was written by Doug Psaltis, 31, and his twin brother Michael. Alain Ducasse’s spokesperson says that many of the book’s most colorful anecdotes never occurred: Ducasse never threw a chair during a meeting at the Essex House, and he was not unrecognized and locked out of Mix by staff. Jeffrey Chodorow’s name never appears, but he was quick to dismiss the chapters on Mix by noting that he got the number of seats in the restaurant wrong (there are “90, not 65”). And don’t get Anthony Bourdain started. “God knows, I’ve talked a lot of shit over the years about other chefs,” he says. But “Psaltis has done his subjects, his readers, and himself a disservice by painting himself as being without fault.” Chodorow says, “The sad fact is, the only reason that anyone was interested in this book is because of the opportunity Alain Ducasse gave him. I find the lack of respect shown to him and his organization, let alone to ours, unfortunate, but not that surprising, knowing Mr. Psaltis.” Michael Psaltis responds, “There are criticisms, but how could you paint a more loving portrait of a man? Doug considers Ducasse his mentor.”
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