Our Heroes Will Always Be Chefs by Cindie Flannigan

Many years ago, we were hired to do the demo food for a chef who was appearing on The Ellen Degeneres Show. I didn't know who the chef was, his name meant nothing to me. All I knew was that he was a French chef with a restaurant in New York that had been voted the best restaurant of the year.

Based on my experience with French chefs at culinary school, I expected a short, rude, oily, cigarette-smelling, ass-pinching letch. Imagine my surprise when in walks tall, wonderful-smelling, charming, nice, and drop-dead gorgeous Eric Ripert.

He let me chop parsley with his knife, which was old, beat up, and sharpened to a T. Of course I cut myself. Did I care? Are you kidding? It was a badge of honor. I only wish it had left a scar. This is the only time I've been giddy or starstruck.

We worked with him again the next time he was on The Ellen Degeneres Show, and I was just as giddy. He didn't want to wait in the green room so he hung out in the prep kitchen with us. He and Denise traded stories and I tried not to giggle too much.

I had forgotten all of this until last Friday when Jenny and I brought food to a photo shoot for a new cooking reality show. Hubert Keller was there.

Hubert is Jenny's Eric. She was over the moon to be in the same room as him. When he wandered by to see what we were doing, I introduced both of us (I'm not sure if Jenny was actually able to speak) and asked If I could get a photo of them together. Chef Hubert was charming and nice and quite handsome, too.




Jenny was so excited! It reminded me of my Chef Ripert experience.

Getting to meet and work with our heroes is undoubtedly one of the highlights of this job!