The Best TV Chef Ever

THE BEST TV CHEF EVER
Keith Floyd Dies at 65

by John Mariani

There never was and now never will be anyone to match Keith Floyd as a raconteur gourmand, the British TV chef and cookbook author who died this week at his home in Montfrin, France. His personable style of irreverent, make-it-up-as-you-go-along showmanship was in complete contrast to the over-produced, contrived glitz of most contemporary food shows in which loud, crass personalities with weird haircuts go around the world looking for the worst things to eat and the oddest people to eat them with.

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ALEX – A Restaurant of Shakespearean Proportions

There is nothing either good or bad, only thinking makes it so. – W. Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2

Calling the entrance to ALEX in the Wynn dramatic is like calling Hamlet a family drama. It is one of the most stunning restaurant entrances you will ever see, and the walk down the sweeping, curved staircase puts one in mind of making an announced entrance into the first class dining salon on a grand ocean liner of days gone by. All that’s missing are the flowing gowns and tuxedos. Sadly, these days you’re more likely to see golf shirts and mini-skirts (that rarely flatter the people who wear them).

That creeping California casualness does injustice to Alessandro “Alex” Stratta’s food (and Paolo Barbieri’s wines), but thankfully, both are so good — the play’s the thing* after all — you won’t be looking at all that sartorial blight once the food starts showing up.

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