My friend Amy is a real culinary bada$$.

Amy is a great chef with endless creativity who performs exceptionally well under pressure: we’re talking about a woman who’s more than held her own on the line in some of the top restaurant kitchens and a woman who still completed a catering job after cracking a rib the day of said job. Yep. Real hard-core.

She’s also an entertaining writer – I’ve been following her blog for upwards of three years now.

I um, “borrowed” these photos for this post, but I suggest you stop leering at my friend in her white chef hat. If you haven’t figured it out yet, she’s really good with a knife: she may be looking blissfully at that lobster, but those particular crustaceans in her hands are now doing like Luca Brasi and sleeping with the fishes. She’s extremely efficient at dispatching Nephropidae: she ‘s been doing it for quite a while and after finessing her knife skills with Hung Huynh down in Sin City, I hear it’s amazing to watch her work through homards or anything else she needs for her mise en place.

Anyway, Amy isn’t a one-trick fish pony. Earlier career in drama and teaching, interest in the wines of Bourgogne (my pal Karl would have a blast speaking with her about this), and a Giants fan (NL always good). After some time working in a local establishment and some catering, she underwent formal training at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris (Julia Child’s culinary alma mater) after landing in the City of Lights. 

Unlike Child, who never worked in a restaurant after her time at LCB, Amy (who doesn’t warble like Child) went on to the flagship Restaurant Guy Savoy on rue Troyon (3 Michelin stars since 2002 and one of the best tasting menus available in Paris for only 345€) and then Le Bernardin in New York (3 Michelin stars since 2006). She cooked some amazing stuff, from cervelles for family meal, to poulet de Bresse servi dans une vessie, to Savoy’s La Chasse seasonal specialties, to Yukon Gold wedge fries.

Okay, so that last one is a little understated but she was rebooting a dish mid-service.

LB is the reason I’m writing this post, as she’s wrapped up her stint at Ripert’s eatery on New Year’s Eve 2009 and is now gearing up for her next great adventure. I’m really excited for her.

What her next big thing is still a big mystery, but personally I’m rooting for her to open her own place and get Michelin stars of her own. She’s got the talent (which I believe Savoy himself has already spotted and recognized), drive and loads of creativity (poke through her posted recipes) to more than keep pace with the culinary elite. And if she does I can bombard her with inane food ideas (e.g. “textures of black” – it’s still in development) and of course go visit her place to be amazed.

If you want to see some of Amy’s recent restaurant handiwork, John Sconzo had dinner at Le Bernardin last year; you can see her work in his tasting menu progression. If you want to be entertained, read her blog. http://msglaze.typepad.com - it’s time well-spent.

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