QUICK, name five top female chefs in New York.
When The Post set out to identify the city’s leading female cooks, the chefs themselves couldn’t come up with more than a few names (even though we found a dozen).
“I didn’t even know there were 10,” says Lobster Club chef-owner Anne Rosenzweig.
With few exceptions, men are the rock stars of the galleys.
“We’ve always had the skill,” says Anita Lo of Annisa in Greenwich Village. “It’s a sexual thing. You get into the pastry ghetto or the garnish ghetto if you’re female.”
Sara Moulton, star of TV Food Network’s “Cooking Live,” says it’s easier for women on the West Coast. She came to New York from Boston several years ago.
“I had an interview with one of the top chefs, who shall remain nameless,” she says. “I thought it went well and he was charming. But a waiter friend of mine there overheard the chef later say he’d close his restaurant before he’d hire a woman.”
Some women say family obligations keep them from making it to the four-star level. “Four stars really means you’re always in the kitchen,” reasons Katy Sparks, the chef-owner of Quilty’s in SoHo. “Chefs like Jean-Georges or Daniel are constantly working.”
Lidia Bastianich, considered a pioneer among female chefs – and one of the most prolific – got started by buying a restaurant, hiring a male chef and then working beside him until she took the reins. She has received the James Beard “Best Chef Award” and has owned or co-owned seven restaurants since 1972.
Though now she leaves day-to-day cooking to other chefs, she’s writing a new cookbook (her third), opening a new restaurant (her eighth) and beginning a new season of her PBS show.
When her children were young, they joined her on her daily rounds. “I dragged them along. They played on tomato boxes, helped with the chores and even went to the wineries with me.”
Were the kids happy? Apparently. They’re now her partners.
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(MD+BO)Patricia Yeo(MD-BO) (1)
Training — Bolo and Mesa Grill
Cuisine — New Asian
Restaurant — AZ
Milestones — master’s in biochemistry, Princeton
Rating — 3 stars (New York Times)
(MD+BO)Mina Newman(MD-BO) (2)
Training — chef Claude Troisgras and Susan Weaver
Cuisine — contemporary American
Restaurant — Dylan Prime
Milestones — first executive chef of New York Steakhouse
No rating available
(MD+BO)Anne Rosenzweig(MD-BO) (3)
Training –New York restaurants
Cuisine — New American
Restaurant — Lobster Club
Milestones — first female three-star chef in New York
Zagat rating — 22
(MD+BO)Anita Lo(MD-BO) (4)
Training — family
Cuisine — eclectic Asian
Restaurant — Annisa
No rating available
(MD+BO)Amy Scherber(MD-BO) (5)
Training — New York Restaurant School
and Bouley
Cuisine — bakery
Restaurant — Amy’s Bread
Milestones — cookbook, “Amy’s Bread”
Zagat rating — 23
(MD+BO)Sue Torres(MD-BO) (6)
Training — Culinary Institute of America
Restaurant — Hell’s Kitchen
Milestones — executive chef, Rocking Horse Cafe Mexicano, at age 25
No rating available
(MD+BO)Lidia Bastianich(MD-BO) (7)
Training — in the kitchens of her restaurants
Cuisine — Italian
Restaurant(s) — Felidia, Becco and Esca in N.Y.C.; Lidia’s in Kansas City, Mo; opening Lidia’s in Pittsburgh in 2001
Milestones — 1999 James Beard Award “Best Chef in New York”; Host of PBS series, “Lidia’s Table”; three books
Zagat rating: 26 for Felidia
(MD+BO)Sara Moulton(MD-BO) (8)
Training — Four Seasons Hotels and Le Lancaster Hotel in Paris
Cuisine — contemporary American
Restaurant — Fifty Seven Fifty Seven at the Four Seasons Hotel
Milestones — 3 stars (New York Times); 1994 Hotel Chef of the Year, National Executive Chefs Association; 1999 Ivy award, Restaurants and Institutions magazine
Zagat rating: 23
(MD+BO)Katy Sparks (MD-BO) (9)
Training — family and Bobby Flay
Cuisine — New American
Restaurant — Quilty’s
Zagat rating: 24
(MD+BO)Zarela Martinez(MD-BO) (10)
Training –Beverly Hills caterer Lillian Haines
Cuisine — regional Mexican
Restaurant — Zarela
Milestones — two books (“The Food and Life of Oaxaca” and Food from my Heart”); PBS TV series
Zagat rating: 22
Not pictured above:
(MD+BO)Diane Forley(MD-BO)
Training — French restaurants
Cuisine — contemporary American
Restaurant — Verbena (Chef/Owner)
Milestones — one of the country’s top new restaurants, 1995 Esquire magazine; “Americas Hottest Young Chefs,” 1994, Wine Spectator
Zagat rating: 24
(MD+BO)Odette Fada(MD-BO)
Training — Instituto Professionale, Italy
Cuisine — Italian
Restaurant — San Domenico
Milestones — voted one of the best Italian restaurants, Food & Wine magazine
Zagat rating — 23
