My Date with Hubert

I enjoy food and cooking and I love the show Top Chef. This cooking competition show is not only intriguing to watch but has educated me on many fine dining styles as well as different chefs. In watching Top Chef masters and seeing chef Hubert Kellar take second, I decided it would be really cool to dine in his restaurant, as he has one in the city- Fleur de Lys. But it's super expensive- the type of place you have to save up for. Lucky us, Hubert decided to just open up another one of his restaurants in the Macy's Union Square building- another Burger Bar location. The concept of the restaurant is that it's a hamburger joint, but taken to that fine dining level. They have various kinds of meats like Kobe Beef, and Buffalo as well as meats from local ranches, and then various kinds of sides and toppings.


One Friday in November, Warren and I ate at the Burger Bar with our good friends Matt and Lacy Rasmussen. I ordered the Kobe Beef burger with caramelized onions and a red wine shallot reduction. Warren went with a more traditional bacon cheese style burger. The food was great, and the view was amazing (we were sitting right by the window and could see all of Union Square lit up at night),

but what made the night was our celebrity siting! Let me back up by saying that when we were walking to be seated, Warren jokingly asked me if he thought Chef Kellar would be there that night. I scoffed, telling Warren that a man like Hubert was probably too busy or too important to actually be at his restaurant. He probably hired people to do that kind of thing. Not too long after we were seated, Warren suddenly leans over and says "Told you." I turned my head, and there was the chef! I was totally star struck. I felt like such a geek because the average person may or may not have recognized him, but I was a totally Top Chef fan and therefore held the man in great regard. I wanted to run up to him and congratulate him on his excellent showings in the competitions and talk with him about Tom and Padma. But as much as I wanted to geek out, I couldn't allow myself to be "that" lady. Confining myself to my seat, I made due with little internal squeals as he preceded to walk past our table multiple times that evening. Once, he had to pause in front of our table and as he glanced around, I caught his eye. I smiled, and he smiled back, thus confirming my inner assumption that if he knew me in real life we would be friends and he would teach me all of his amazing skills. It was probably my biggest celebrity moment to date.


Thanks to Warren, Matt and Lacy who put up with all of my pointing and geeking that night.

Matt Ras- always too cool for pictures :)

Lacy and I were practicing our best "bring our food now or you're messing with this" faces