buon appetito
Top Chef fan favorite Fabio chats up crowds at H-E-B, promotes cookware & makesmeatballs
Chef Fabio Viviani offer two crowded cooking demonstrations at the Bunker HillH-E-B Friday.Photo by Tyler Rudick
Focusing on simplicity and ease in the kitchen, he made his own version of pastaand meatballs for the audience.Photo by Tyler Rudick
In addition to promoting a line of Italian cookware, Viviani was also signingcopies of his cookbook.Photo by Tyler Rudick
Celebrity fact: For a number of years, Viviani worked as a private chef forWilliam Shatner.Photo by Tyler Rudick
Known best for his time on the fifth season of Top Chef, Fabio Viviani entertained crowds with two cooking demonstrations at the Bunker Hill H-E-B on Friday as he wrapped up a week-long Texas promotional tour for Bialetti — the Italian cookware company behind those classic octagonal Moka coffee pots.
Life has treated Chef Viviani well since his days as a reality TV star; he's secured a number of culinary endorsements for companies like San Pellegrino, Bertolli, and Dominos Pizza while making time to write his first cookbook, Café Firenze: Mangia e Bevi.
Viviani began cooking at the ripe age of 12, while working in his family’s bakery in Italy. After finishing culinary school in Florence, he decided to bring his Tuscan cooking style to the U.S., opening a series of restaurants that currently includes two southern California eateries, Café Firenze and Osteria Firenze.
But it was Top Chef that brought the 33-year-old chef into the realm of culinary celebrity, a notoriety that brought scores of fans to see him at work in H-E-B's Cooking Connection demo kitchen.
"Actually, I feel like Texas is kind of like an old-fashioned version of Italy," Viviani said. "There's so much hospitality and so many welcoming people here."
Before his 1 p.m. presentation, Viviani sat down for a quick conversation with CultureMap in — get this — the H-E-B green room.
"For these demonstrations, I'm hoping to teach people how to prepare delicious food quickly and easily," he said, chuckling as he made sure not to miss an opportunity to mention of Bialetti's "Taste of Italy" cookware.
When asked if he would be preparing Mexican-inspired dishes for his Texas tour, he said he's just concentrating on food from his own Italian background, leaving the Tex-Mex to the state's experts.
"Actually, I feel like Texas is kind of like an old-fashioned version of Italy," he said. "There's so much hospitality and so many welcoming people here."
Getting onto the subject of Top Chef, however, there was clearly an elephant in the green room.
Houston, of course, passed up the opportunity in 2011 to play host city for Top Chef Texas after hearing the enormous price tag that came with the honor. San Antonio shelled out a reported $200,000 for the exposure. The state of Texas itself reportedly paid producers an additional $400,000 for the publicity.
"I know that Top Chef really showcases its cities," he said, noting that show producers work closely with city officials to select filming locations. "Honestly, though, I'm not too sure about things on the production side."
