Mario Batali

Celebrity Chef speaker Mario Batali is perhaps one of the most renowned and valued chefs working in America today. He is a chef, restaurateur, award-winning author, and television personality. Working beside his business partner Joe Bastianich, the pair has produced a very successful restaurant and culinary empire in New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Singapore. Studying the golden age of Spanish theater at Rutgers University, he went on to train at Le Cordon Bleu in London. Here, he immediately had a “lack of interest” and after a short time, withdrew from the program. Soon after, Mario had three years of intense culinary training at the Northern Italian village of Borgo Capanne under London’s legendary chef Marco Pierre White. After this apprenticeship, Mario was able to return to the U.S. with crucial skills and knowledge to open up his own Italian restaurants.

His first restaurant, Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca, is an award-winning Greenwich Village dining establishment. Opening in June 1998, Mario used conventional Italian values with intelligent culinary adventure. From the opening of the restaurant, Babbo was honored as The Best New Restaurant of 1998 by The James Beard Foundation, and was given three stars by Ruth Reichl at The New York Times. Six year later, after a re-review by Frank Bruni, Babbo’s restaurant maintained the three-star status and its high quality status of New York City’s finest restaurants.

Mario Batali also is the chef and owner of Lupa Osteria Romana, which is a Roman-style trattoria which opened in 1999, and Esca, a southern Italian seafood trattoria which was opened in the Theater District in April 2000. In January 2003, Otto Enoteca Pizzeria opened in Washington Square Park. Casa Mono, a Spanish-style tavern featuring a selection of wine and traditional entrees and Bar Jamon, a tapas bar with Spanish cheeses, hams and small plate dishes were both opened in December 2003. In December of 2005, Joe Bastianich, Lidia Bastianich and Mario Batali set out to open a modern Italian restaurant with a lavish yet relaxing setting. Del Posto opened up in New York City’s meatpacking district in December. Joining forces with Nancy Silverton, Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza were the first west coast ventures of Mario, which opened up in Los Angeles. Del Posto received a four-star review from the New York Times in 2010. The restaurants feature a mozzarella bar, where fresh mozzarella is made all day. In 2010 they opened up the first take-out location, Mozza2Go and Scuola di Pizza. Mario opened up his first overseas restaurants at the Marina Bay Sands Resort Casino in Singapore-Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza. Both restaurants are almost the exact replica of the restaurants in California, which offer local seafood and vegetables and a vibrant wine bar. Most recently, Mario and Joe Bastianich opened Babbo Pizzeria e Enoteca, in 2015 in the Seaport area of Boston.

The next business venture that Mario Batali and his business partner, Joe, undertook was to open B&B Ristorante in Las Vegas and Otto Enoteca Pizzeria in the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino which were opened in 2007. In 2008, another restaurant opened next to the Venetian, Carnevino Italian Steakhouse in the Palazzo Hotel. In that same year, Mario and Joe opened the Terry Lodge in Port Chester, NY. The name of the restaurant, Terry Lodge, means a “meeting or dwelling place.” Terry Lodge also added a to-go menu which offers pizza, antipasti, salads and a dessert. This was also the first restaurant that Mario ventured out of New York City.

Eataly was opened next in a 50,000 square foot marketplace. Located in the heart of New York City, Eataly offers the food enthusiast a place to shop for gourmet foods, to taste and relish in the seasonal foods of Italy. The market offers meats and cheeses, fresh produce, fresh meats and seafood, handmade pasta, wine, beer, books, housewares and decadent desserts.  Eataly also has baked goods and coffees, and just added five small new restaurants along with a rooftop alpine beer trattoria. Eataly now offers a delivery service for their groceries.

Mario Batali has many impressive accolades including, Man of the Year in the chef category by GQ Magazine in 1999. In 2002 the James Beard Foundation awarded him with the Best Chef: New York City, and in 2005 Outstanding Chef of the Year by the James Beard Foundation. In 2001, Mario won the prestigious lifetime achievement award, the D’Artagnan Cervena Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America.

Celebrity Chef speaker Mario Batali has authored seven books:  Simple Italian Food, Mario Batali Holiday Food; The Babbo Cookbook; and Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes; Mario Tailgates NASCAR Style; Mario Batali – Italian Grilling; and Spain…A Culinary Road Trip. Spain…A Culinary Road Trip was co-authored by Gwyneth Paltrow and a companion cookbook to the PBS prime time series, Spain…On the Road Again. Mario’s eighth cookbook, Molto Gusto, hit shelves in the spring of 2010 and the cookbook is based on the distinguished dishes of Otto Enoteca Pizzeria. To bring the favorite Italian dishes to your kitchen, Mario incorporated over 100 recipes in Molto Gusto, which includes antipasti, pizza, pasta and gelato.

Celebrity Chef speaker Mario Batali is a TV regular on The Food Network, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Early Show, MARTHA, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and The Daily Show with Jon Steward and Charlie Rose. Ciao America, Molto Mario and Iron Chef America are the three shows that Mario hosted on The Food Network. On PBS, Mario accompanied co-stars Mark Bittman, Gwyneth Paltrow and Claudia Bassols for a series that aired in 2008 called Spain…On the Road Again. The series followed the cast as they traveled and ate their way through Spain.

On a mission to help feed, protect and educate children, Mario founded the Mario Batali Foundation. To learn more on this organization, visit www.mariobatalifoundation.org. Mario also gives his time to About the Kids, for the Kids and the Food Bank of New York City. He is available for product endorsements, personal appearances, and product promotion.

APPEARANCES: The Food Network, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Early Show, MARTHA, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and The Daily Show with Jon Steward and Charlie Rose, PBS, Emeril Live, Live with Regis and Kelly, Martha, SNL, Today Show

BOOKS: Simple Italian Food, Mario Batali Holiday Food; The Babbo Cookbook; and Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes; Mario Tailgates NASCAR Style; Mario Batali – Italian Grilling; and Spain…A Culinary Road Trip, Molto Gusto

TO WORK WITH MARIO BATALI: Celebrity Speaker Mario Batali can be hired for endorsements and events in roles such as public speaker, autograph signings, SMT’S, and public relation campaigns.