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Daniel Boulud on DBGB in DC and His New Cookbook

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Continuing Eater Lounge coverage from the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. Right now: chef Daniel Boulud:

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[Photo: Eater.com]

What are you up to in Aspen? Well, we are cooking tomorrow night for the Best New Chefs 25th Anniversary Party party on the sundeck on the Little Nell, which is up the mountain. There are some parties, and I'll do some radio, and some panels.

Congratulations are in order... Yes, thank you. In a week.

You're getting married in upstate New York? Yes, near Chester, New York.

I know you've announced Vegas DBGB expansion, we've also been hearing rumors about DC, is that happening? It's unofficially official. It'll take some finalization, but it has been on the horizon.

Where is it going to be? Downtown DC. It should be fun. I started in America in DC, and I'm upset that it took me 30 years to go back. I'm looking forward to it very much. It's exciting, I love DC, I've always loved DC. I just wanted to come to New York, and I got physically, happily stuck in New York.

daniel-cookbook.jpgAnd you have a cookbook coming out this Fall? At the end of the year. It's part of the celebration of 20th anniversary of Daniel. So we have a wonderful cookbook published by Grand Central, and the title of the book is Daniel: My French Cuisine.

With Bill Buford? It's a collaboration, with some essays inside. Plus also the recipes of restaurant Daniel today, and also home recipes. So I think it's gonna be a book to please everyone.

It sounds like kind of an epic project, is it gonna be really big? 400 pages.

And you are doing a whisky, right? It came out in the Spring. It was with Dalmore, we developed a scotch, and I think it was a very interesting thing to do. Because you know it's about recipe, it's about taste, it's about complexity, it's about affinity. I think there's subtleties in all the different scotches. The age, the way they are aged, the type of barrel, and the process of the blend, the assemblage as they call it. I'm very happy with the result.

Have you been wanting to do that for a long time? Yeah, but you don't know if you can do it until someone approaches you, and says, "What do you think about the idea?"

When people approach you for those kinds of things, what makes you decide to do it or not do it? I don't do it for a business purpose, more than for, I think, an interesting collaboration. Creating a product together I feel and attached and personalized to it. You know, if I stick my name to a vodka, it's obvious that it's not about subtleties... It could be a beautiful product, but it's not gonna be the same complexity, and the same process of creativity. The scotch for me was about creating a recipe that was personal to my taste. I like it.

· All Daniel Boulud Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Aspen Coverage on Eater [-E-]

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