Q & A with Bob Iacovone, Executive Chef, Cuvee, New Orleans

Maribeth Maloney: You're quite the cuvée yourself! You blend master cooking skills with unparalleled wine expertise, holding both a degree from the prestigious Culinary Institute of America and a first-level Sommelier's Certificate from London's Court of Sommeliers. Do you subscribe to any food and wine pairing "rules" or is that passé?

Chef Bob Iacovone: The "red with meat and white with chicken and fish" rule is a good base point to stick with, but I tend to taste the wine first and then decide what food will go well with it.

MM: You began your culinary career at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach. Would that be categorized as a good, bad or ugly experience?

BI: It was a great experience because I learned a lot - I learned that corporate environments aren't for me. I don't do well with bosses, so having several of them standing over my shoulder wasn't any good. Too many bosses kill the dish.

MM: The irresistible lure of New Orleans beckoned you - first to the Windsor Court Hotel's famed Grill Room, then your heart found its home at Cuvée, where you opened the restaurant in 2000 as Chef de Cuisine before taking over as Executive Chef in 2003. Your contemporary Creole- Continental cooking has since catapulted you into the national spotlight with such kudos as Esquire magazine's "Chefs to Watch" and New Orleans magazine's "Best New Chef," not to mention a nod from Bon Appétit as one of the city's Top Six restaurants. Do you ever feel the need to pinch yourself?

Chef Iacovone will be at The White Elephant's "Chef & Shop" Series November 16-18 Cooking Demo is at 3 p.m. on Saturday Call 508.325.1320 for Reservations

BI: I consider myself extremely fortunate. I'm 36 years old and know many people my age who still don't know what they want for a career.

MM: Mercifully, Cuvée was left intact by Katrina, but you were left without a staff, fresh water, clean uniforms... You rallied nonetheless and were one of the first restaurants to reopen - wine served in paper cups, itinerant workers onboard and water supplied from pots boiling on the stove. Tell me about the mood in the dining room those first few weeks.

BI: It was like a party - people came in to escape for a couple hours from the hell that was outside. Cuvée is known as a fine dining restaurant, but when we reopened, we couldn't even wash dishes so we served everything on paper plates; we called it "the Cuvée Picnic."

MM: Some of the old, beloved New Orleans mainstays have yet to reopen due to lack of insurance and capital to rebuild. Cynics have said Katrina merely sped up predetermined destiny - the inevitable transition from authentic soul food to "foie gras with grits." What do you say?

BI: Most of the old nooks and crannies actually have reopened and it would be like losing a piece of history if they didn't - it would be tragic. I think the fine dining establishments have their roots in the techniques and ingredients of the old restaurants.

MM: As serious as your food is, your menu reflects your sense of whimsy: "Spaghetti and Meatball" - a sea scallop with caper berries, tomato brunois and spaghetti squash, and "Chicken with Waffles" - a playful riff on coq au vin blanc. What might Iacovoned "Fish & Chips" look like?

BI: How about potato wrapped cod with malt vinegar butter sauce?

MM: How about it indeed!

MM: I'm in need of a new, utterly useless kitchen gadget. Got any suggestions?

BI: A garlic press.

MM: Thanks. I'll keep it next to my egg separator.

MM: What's the best way to attack a bowl of crawfish?

BI: I like big, down-home crawfish boils where you cover the table with newspaper and dump out a bucket of boiled crawfish, andouille sausage, red bliss potatoes, corn on the cob and whole heads of garlic.

MM: But isn't there a specific eating process that involves ripping the crawdad's head off?

BI: Oh - twist, peel and suck!

MM: That's it!

MM: If it's true that only the good die young, when would you like to go?

BI: As far off as possible. MM: Is that because you're bad? BI: Yeah.

MM: I'll be the judge of that.

MM: How many sommeliers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

BI: Ha! I'm saying one. That way there'd be no arguing about how it's done, what color the bulb should be or what it reminds them of.

MM: Reminds them of as in "oaky, buttery, citrusy?"

BI: Exactly. When I was going for my Sommelier's Certificate, I once said a wine reminded me of dirty ashtrays.

MM: The fact that you know what dirty ashtrays taste like is marginally bad.

MM: Got any strong feelings about turducken?

BI: It makes a great Christmas gift for a family of 20.

MM: If ever there was a time to be a chef, it's now. Chefs are the new rock stars, minus the propensity to become human train wrecks. What's the downside to the celebritization of the culinary world?

BI: Some of the new television programs bother me - they aren't showing good examples of professional chefs. They have long hair flying all over the place, don't wear chef's jackets and take no sanitary measures while cooking. They're trying to glamorize chefs so much that they're not giving the profession the dignity it deserves.

MM: What's your favorite Thanksgiving side dish?

BI: Stuffing, stuffing, stuffing.

MM: What would your wife say is the hardest thing about living with you?

BI: The hours. I'm never home; she's extremely patient and supportive.

MM: I recently visited two of the best/scariest places to get a snapshot of who we Americans are: Vegas and Disneyland. We sure are fat. What can we do?

BI: I think chefs have an obligation to educate people a bit and have a few things on the menu that are heart healthy.

MM: Someone has an obligation to organize an en masse call to Jenny.

MM: If you could be any other chef for one day, who would you be?

BI: Joel Robuchon. He has restaurants all over the world and his high standards and the quality of the food are incredible.

MM: If you were a vegetable, what would you be and how would you like to be prepared?

BI: Sweet corn and I'd like to be in a nice, spicy crawfish boil.

MM: That way you could mock the crawdads during decapitation.

MM: Fill in the blanks: Bob Iacovone should never be left alone at a (blank) without a (blank).

BI: I should never be left alone at a farmer's market without a budget.

MM: Oh come on! That was a silver platter to serve up your badness on!

MM: If you had a restaurant on Nantucket, what would you name it?

BI: Any restaurant I open anywhere will be named "Julianna" after my wife for everything she's put up with.

MM: If you were bad, you'd call it "Bob!"

MM: What would the signature dish be?

BI: "A Taste of Northern & Southern Shellfish," the Northern being scallop-stuffed ravioli with butterpoached Maine lobster and truffled Parmigiano- Reggiano cream, and the Southern being shrimp-stuffed ravioli with lump crabmeat and sauce ettouffee.

MM: The crowd at The White Elephant will walk out the door saying something about you…what do you suppose it will be?

BI: I hope it's: "That was fun - let's invite him and his wife over for a home-cooked Nantucket dinner."

MM: Really?

BI: Totally. I've never been to Nantucket and I want to experience it with locals.

MM: Say no more - I think some crazy bad fun

can be arranged ... I