Fresh Picks with Chef Daniel Boulud

BY ADAM ERACE

Chef Daniel Boulud has helmed his New York flagship restaurant, Daniel, for 23 years, and opened 16 other restaurants around the world. So when it comes to matters of taste, you can rest assured that the Lyon-raised culinary legend has strong opinions. We sat down with the famed chef to discuss some of his favorite things, from cocktails to coffee.

If you had to choose one, what’s your favorite vegetable?
Mushrooms

Do you have a favorite spice?
Cumin

What’s your drink of choice?
Negroni

What’s your current favorite fruit?
Mango, right now

Any guilty-pleasure junk foods you can’t resist?
Black licorice

Favorite single ingredient to work with?
Onion—it’s a very versatile ingredient

What’s your favorite New York neighborhood?
Upper East Side

If you didn’t live in New York, where would you live?
Lyon

Any favorite cities to visit in the U.S.?
San Francisco, Los Angeles, Charleston, New Orleans, Chicago

What about in Europe?
Paris, Lyon, Florence, San Sebastian

And in Asia?
Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong

What’s your least favorite culinary fad?
The puree on the plate—when you drop it on the plate and do the swoosh

What’s your favorite season to cook in?
All of them—I like all of them

What’s the most difficult food to prepare well?
Seafood

Cake or pie?
Pie

Coffee or tea?
Coffee, black

Burgers or pizza?
Burgers

Pot au feu or cassoulet?
Pot au feu

What types of restaurants are you most drawn to?
Japanese restaurants and French brasseries

Which restaurant do you eat at most often, other than your own?
Le Bilboquet

Can you tell us which chefs you admire most?
Still Alain Ducasse. But in America, Thomas Keller. You have to have a French and an American.