{"id":1992,"date":"2015-08-01T15:29:52","date_gmt":"2015-08-01T22:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=1992"},"modified":"2015-08-01T15:29:52","modified_gmt":"2015-08-01T22:29:52","slug":"celebrity-chef-mario-batali-makes-michigan-a-second-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/library\/1992\/celebrity-chef-mario-batali-makes-michigan-a-second-home","title":{"rendered":"Celebrity Chef Mario Batali Makes Michigan a Second Home!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chef<\/a>

Chef Mario Batali presents a cooking exhibition at the Aspen Food and Wine Festival (Photo Credit: Michael Patrick Shiels)<\/p><\/div>\n

Celebrity Chef Mario Batali appears on ABC TV\u2019s \u201cThe Chew,\u201d but he can be spotted in Michigan each summer since he spends each July and August in a fish camp he bought north of Traverse City over a decade ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am in Michigan because I love it. It is a fantastic place. It\u2019s not the hullabaloo of New York. As an evangelist for Northern Michigan, I tell people, \u2018Listen, if you want to wait in line and you want to be where everyone is, don\u2019t come to Michigan,\u2019\u201d Batali told me. \u201cBut if you want to go to a place where they are unique, independent thinking, really smart people living in one of the most beautiful, unheralded, amazing, places around the world, come visit me in Northern Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Batali, easily recognizable with his ponytail, vest and trademark orange Croc shoes, frequents area restaurants, including Grand Traverse Pie Company. I asked him if waiters and chefs get nervous when they see the star parks himself at one of their tables?<\/p>\n

\u201cI am probably the easiest restaurant customer because my favorite thing to eat is anything someone else makes, so I am already predisposed to having a good time. As a general rule when I walk into a restaurant it\u2019s not because I want them to prove anything to me, it\u2019s because I am dying to see what they\u2019re doing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

What etiquette does he prefer and advise, though, when other patrons or locals spot a celebrity in their midst?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best thing to do is to introduce yourself and say hello. A lot of people come up and say, \u2018uh, I am not normally like this, but can I take a picture?\u2019 without even introducing themselves or saying \u2018hello.\u2019 Or, they come up and want a \u2018selfie\u2019 and say \u2018let me take a picture,\u2019\u201d Batali revealed. \u201cIf they\u2019d just say \u2018hi I\u2019m Wilma Flintstone from Bedrock and I\u2019d love to say \u201chello\u201d to you,\u2019 I\u2019d say, \u2018of course I\u2019d love to meet you.\u2019 Come on over!\u201d<\/p>\n

But when, Chef Batali? \u201cIf we\u2019re in the middle of a good conversation most people can tell when it\u2019s a not good time to come and interrupt, so they wait for a natural break. When the food is in front of us it\u2019s better to wait a few minutes, but when I am rolling in or rolling out I\u2019ve got plenty of time to say hello to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Batali loves to play golf in Michigan, but when he does cook, he incorporates Michigan cherries in his dishes. \u201cThey\u2019re a natural \u2018superfood\u2019 and they\u2019re delicious. When you get a local, fresh-picked cherry it says so much to you and tastes so great; you should only have them when they\u2019re in season. Really good cooking is about where the ingredient is from, when it \u2018sings\u2019 its\u2019 best, and when it\u2019s not affected too much by the cook themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at\u00a0<\/em>InviteYourself@aol.com<\/a>\u00a0or via TravelTattler.com\u00a0His talk show can be heard and seen weekday mornings in\u00a0Lansing\u00a0on 92.1 FM and Fox 47 TV.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Celebrity Chef Mario Batali appears on ABC TV\u2019s \u201cThe Chew,\u201d but he can be spotted in Michigan each summer since… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":1993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3665],"tags":[597860,998684,1980,998747,2243,2834,6522,980598],"class_list":["post-1992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-library","tag-vacation","tag-dinner","tag-summer","tag-cherries","tag-cherry","tag-michigan","tag-mario-batali","tag-restaurant"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2015\/08\/cybershott10-021.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1994,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992\/revisions\/1994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}