An expansive restaurant empire, a talk show, and a children's foundation aren't enough to keep Mario Batali busy; the chef also released his ninth cookbook, Molto Batali: Simple Family Meals From My Home to Yours, in the past week. Yet surprisingly, when we caught up with him, what we discovered was an underlying theme to his life philosophy: that of simplicity. Whether it's the return of the Read more

It's hard to keep a restaurant that's been open over a decade perennially packed, but Craig Stoll makes it look easy. The chef-owner's flagship restaurant, Delfina, has been open for 13 years, yet remains one of San Francisco's top dining destinations. Stoll and his wife, Annie, have a new Roman restaurant, Locanda, as well as two locations of the absurdly popular Pizzeria Delfina, which was Read more

Although she didn't win Top Chef Masters, San Francisco's Traci Des Jardins came pretty close to being the first female Master. After she shared a day of her life with us, she took a quick minute to chat about the Top Chef experience. Here's what she had to say: On not winning Masters: At that point, Floyd, Mary, and I were ready for the show to be over. We were each playing for charity and each Read more

At the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, I sat down for a quiet chat with one of my favorite food personalities, chef and restaurateur Michael Chiarello. The chef looked laid-back, but debonair in a yellow sweater and formfitting black pants. We talked about his participation on the fourth season of The Next Iron Chef and his other upcoming projects, which include an iconic restaurant and Read more

Chef Mario Batali is on the hunt for a new assistant! Not just any assistant, but a media production coordinator to be exact, and he's letting Monster conduct a vast and extensive search for the perfect candidate. Prospective coordinators can apply for the job from now until June 13; Batali hopes to have the person up and running with his team around July 25. This morning I spoke with the Read more

If you watch any amount of food television, there's a good chance you've heard of Curtis Stone. From Take Home Chef to The Biggest Loser, there's nowhere this attractive Aussie hasn't been. Currently, he's busy being host of Top Chef Masters and a judge on America's Next Great Restaurant. We took time to get to know the chef, who's busy as the new face of Great Grains. Over the phone, Stone — Read more

The 10th annual South Beach Wine & Food Festival wasn't just an opportunity to catch Rachael Ray cooking in person and chow down on exotic ingredients. It was also a great time to get to know our favorite chefs firsthand. I was floored by restaurateur and Food Network chef Scott Conant. Not only is the Chopped judge and host of 24 Hour Restaurant Battle a wisecracking barrel of laughs, but Read more

From Top Chef Masters to opening his first US restaurant, Curtis Stone and I had no shortage of items to discuss in our recent interview. But I also managed to squeeze in a few questions from YumSugar readers, who chimed in over Twitter and Facebook with questions for the chef about his day-to-day cooking conventions, and what he puts together for a quick and dirty meal. The chef and new face Read more

Photo: Camilla Salem Recently, we had the chance to spend some quality time with Italian charmer Fabio Viviani. After homemade pasta and cappuccinos for breakfast, and a series of hilarious one-liners, we grabbed a table at Casa Tua in Miami, and got to dishing. Even though he'd been out until 4 a.m. the night before, he had plenty to say about reality TV, the world of vegan cuisine, and his Read more