About

About this blog
This blog, mainly written by me, chef Gui Alinat, reflects the atypical culinary path I followed since I left my native Provence. The site was born from a desire to write relevant, unique content revolving around gastronomy, as well as sharing as much consistent knowledge as possible. I’m a classically trained chef, but blogging sort of evolved naturally, as it reflects my skills in photography, writing, the internet technology and culinary knowledge. 

• ask the chef
  Readers can email me and get answers to specific, technical cooking questions. What is the quickest way to peel garlic? Techniques for a perfect Beef Wellington? Your salmon always end up dry or your souffle’ just don’t rise? Here is the place to ask.            
  
• design
  The idea for this catergory comes from my experience catering high-end events, and watching my chefs plate food. I would insist (sometimes to their discontent) on a certain presentation, and demonstrate a plate the way i wanted it. Some chefs could reproduce it closely enough, but most wouldn’t. Culinary arts design is about getting it; Some have it and some don’t. It’s also about obeying rules, just like in architecture for instance. It’s about learning the foundations of what looks visually stunning.
  While there are many websites, blogs and books covering the art of designing a home interior, a painting, or a photography, there is little information about composing a kick-ass plate worthy of a 3-michelin star restaurant. In other words, dinner is ready, what do you do with your food?          
  
• itinerant cookbook project
  I got this idea when I came accross the website wheresgeorge.com, which tracks dollar bills as they get exchanged and travel accross the country and the world. We released 10 cookbooks to 10 local home chefs. We encouraged them to make a recipe and pass the book along to a friend, wherever that friend lives, who will in turn do the same to keep the project going. We ask every generation of home chef to email us before making the recipe, and after. We then track the cookbooks with Google maps as they travel accross the planet.
  
• log
  As we scan the web for relevant news and information about various subjects we think will interest you, we post articles & columns here for your reading pleasure.
  
• story
  I was born, raised, and trained as a chef in Provence. My first contact with America, I experienced it through my craft. Cooking privately for wealthy suburbanites is a rich and powerful experience. A few nightmares here and there, but overwhelmingly a great American dream. Through this blog, I tell readers what I saw and heard, cooking for interesting people, sometimes a tad less so, movers and shakers, and other local personalities. It also relates 8 years of crispy anecdotes and reflects on cultural differences between two countries, the US and France, that love as much as they hate each other. Many of the names have been changed in these posts, for the purpose of shielding myself from the ire of potential high-profile lawyers, many of them I cooked for and watch partying anyway, sometimes with, hum, unconcerned attitude. 

 
Chef who?
It’s Chef Gui. Rhymes with me. Or with oui. And do me a favor, don’t pronounce a long u sound between the /g/ (as in go) and the /i/ (as in hit). It’s more like the plural of goose: geese. But I’ve heard it all. From Chef Gooey to Chef Jee, Chef Guy and my personal favorite, Chef Gucci.

 
Meet the chef
Born, raised and classically trained in Provence, I’m a chef, food writer and catering business owner. I traveled extensively, working in restaurants around the world from France to England, from Spain to South America, to finally settle in Florida.

Catering to a very high-end clientele, I started cooking in private homes in 2001, with not much more than a set of German knives, a few coolers and a 1983 Volvo without air-conditioning. Despite awkward looks in the direction of the driveway, my clients have appreciated my food more than my choice of car. As a result, my business has quickly grown to a full-size catering company, serving over 1800 high-end private dinner parties and serving about 28,000 people. With an exclusive client base, and media recognition, our team has become a recognized landmark in the Tampa Bay culinary scene.

I am also a published writer and have written many columns for the award-winning food section of the St. Petersburg Times, one of the largest independent newspapers in the US. My first book will be published in January 2010 and is called The Chef’s Repertoire.

 My culinary style can be best described as authentic continental gourmet cuisine with slight influences from Provence and elsewhere. Rustic yet elegant, my food is said to embody simplicity of taste, authentic ingredients and sharp presentations. I also focus on sound nutrition and a very natural way of cooking and eating.