Saturday, May 14, 2016

Buh-Bye Christopher Kimball




                                                           FOOD NEWS




Christopher Kimball, the bow-tied cooking guru who started the popular Cook’s Illustrated magazine and created a foodie media empire, is leaving the Brookline company amid a management shake-up, raising questions about the future of a venture so closely tied to its star founder.

News that changes were afoot at the company first became public in September, when the board named a new chief executive, David Nussbaum, a one-time reporter turned online media and e-commerce executive. The board has been negotiating with Kimball since then on a future role for him at the company, but talks fell apart in recent weeks, according to people briefed on the conversations.

While Kimball “will remain a minority owner of the company, he will no longer play a role” at America’s Test Kitchen, Nussbaum wrote in a letter to employees Monday.
Kimball, 64, may be planning to start a new venture, according to people who know him. He declined to comment. Kimball’s wife, Melissa Baldino, a TV producer at the company, also is expected to leave, according to two people with knowledge of the situation [Full]



I'm an avid fan of ATK and its twin sister Cook's Country.  Record every episode and reference them when I'm preparing to make it.  I do own up to date copies of ATC's cook books, but found that there are often important steps found on the televised making left out of the book instruction.

I'm also an avid fan of the restaurant rescue venue, like Kitchen Nightmares and Restaurant: ImpossibleIf I had more gumption,  I believe I could make a nice living doing the same thing.  I would select perhaps a dozen recipes from ATC and teach the staff to make all of them precisely. As long as the place is clean, the staff attentive, nothing matters more than food reputation. Followed precisely, every client would offer an exquisite menu, done to perfection.

Anyway, I'm not sure that me and Christopher Kimball could ever be friends; he's an old, smug, hippy and I'm sure he voted for Obama. But still .... I'll miss him.

4 comments:

Sonoboy said...

Interesting suspenders. I've taken to notice the many variants out there since I recently started donning them most every day.

Anonymous said...

Kimball is a decidedly odd duck, but he owns and operates a 308 and deer hunts with it. So he has that going for him, which is good.

Sir H the Comet

Skoonj said...

I've always liked Restaurant Impossible, and Chef Robert Irvine is a rather muscular host. My wife doesn't like the show, oddly, though she's a cook at a restaurant at Caesar's Palace. She doesn't like the confrontational aspects of the show.

I guess they explained at one point, but I don't know whether Irvine served in the British or American armed forces, though he seems to have an affinity for working with them.

Unknown said...

I used to love to watch Restaurant Stakeout, but then I heard that it was faked. It seemed real enough to me.

I've worked in any number of restaurants (starting when I was about 16 and worked as a "pickle boy" at The Old Homestead), and could tell you some great stories.

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