Austria: Gault&Millau 2024 ambassador revealed

wolfgang puck

Wolfgang Puck is the Gault&Millau 2024 ambassador

 

In journalism, the term international celebrity should be used with caution. However, if someone has a star dedicated on the legendary Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, you can use it with a clear conscience. Perhaps even more significant was an appearance in the cult series ‘The Simpsons’, which he was allowed to complete alongside Reese Witherspoon. We’re talking about Wolfgang Puck, a living legend in the world of gastronomy. Born in Carinthia, it operates over 100 restaurants worldwide and employs more than 5,000 people. However, he became a worldwide celebrity thanks to his presence at the Oscars, where he was responsible for the culinary arts at the Governor’s Ball for decades.

It’s not just Wolfgang Puck’s exceptional career, but also his services to Austrian cuisine, for which he has been awarded the title of Gault & Millau ambassador. Martina and Karl Hohenlohe, the editors of Gault&Millau Austria, presented the 73-year-old with the corresponding certificate on 25 May 2023 at the Palais Coburg in Vienna.

“In many of its restaurants around the world, Austrian cuisine is respected. Almost everywhere you can find high-quality Wiener Schnitzel, in some places even Carinthian cheese noodles. Even though Wolfgang Puck celebrated his great successes in the United States, he never forgot his roots.” Martina and Karl Hohenlohe

Gault&Millau has been with Wolfgang Puck for half his life. He remembers well the visit of founder Christian Millau in the 1980s: “We were booked in at the Spago in Los Angeles, and suddenly Millau was standing there with three other people. We didn’t recognise him and he waited almost an hour for a free table. Nevertheless, he was very enthusiastic and wrote us an excellent review. Gault&Millau was the the most interesting food magazine for chefs at that time. There was nothing like it in the United States, let alone cooking for television shows like today. Thanks to Gault & Millau, we learned what Troisgros and the other great chefs of France were doing.

Michael Häupl, a friend of Puck’s for decades and former mayor of Vienna, delivered the laudatory speech in the ballroom of the Palais Coburg: “It’s fascinating to see what a world career the boy from Carinthia has had and, above all, how he has done it. Making money is important, but Wolfgang’s motivation is different: he wants to bring joy to people. It illustrates how to motivate and inspire positively. A visit to his restaurants is like a party, and a meal at Wolfgang Puck is always associated with a good mood. The only thing I’d like to see is that in addition to the restaurant at the airport, there’s also a puck tavern in town. Sorry, restaurant I mean. Give us a puck restaurant!

Famous guests such as Sacher Elisabeth Gürtler, AUA patron Annette Mann and cabaret artist Florian Scheuba applauded the world-famous chef. His family also celebrated with him at the Palais Coburg, including his son Byron, who has just completed a traineeship at the Steirereck.

 

Wolfgang Puck thanked laudator Michael Häupl and Gault&Millau editors Martina and Karl Hohenlohe :

“This award is very special to me, especially when I can celebrate it with so many great people. It’s a memory I’ll never forget.”

 

The festive menu was put together by host Silvio Nickol and his colleague Benjamin Parth from Ischgl. Creations such as Silvio Nickol’s duck liver with medlar, peanuts and illanka, and Benjamin Parth’s signature dish, Arctic char with Galtür gentian, delighted the guests. Champagne from Laurent Perrier and wines from Kurt Feiler-Artinger, Willi Bründlmayer, Josef Fritz, Georg Prieler and Franz Hirtzberger accompanied the festive evening at the highest level. A surprising novelty was that the menu was accompanied by a cup of tea prepared by Meßmer.

 

 

Glass culture

The elegant setting is enhanced by the high-quality glass culture of the Josephinenhütte. Over the last three years, Kurt Josef Zalto’s JOSEPHINE collection has revolutionised the world of wine. Joséphine is a hand-blown glass that stands out not only visually, but above all sensorially. Its unique folded construction helps to optimally develop the aromas in the glass, allowing the wine to develop much more intensely and quickly. At the same time, the glass is so thin that you almost feel like you’re holding the wine in your hand. All Joséphine glasses are handmade using traditional glassware to ensure that each piece is of the highest quality. At the end of the evening, we met up for a cup of Nespresso coffee and a glass or two of wine at the bar.

About Wolfgang Puck

Wolfgang Puck was born on 8 July 1949 in St. Veit an der Glan. After completing a chef’s degree, he moved to France, where he perfected his skills at Maxim’s in Paris, the Hôtel de Paris in Monaco and L’Oustau de Baumanière in Provence, among others. In the early 1970s, he moved to the United States with no financial training and realised the American dream – from simple chef at “La Tour” in Indianapolis to millionaire.

The core of his success turned out to be his first restaurant, the legendary Spago in Hollywood. The celebrity guests loved the Californian cuisine with elements of Alpine cooking, as well as Wolfgang Puck’s hosting skills. What followed was a perfect career and the building of an empire, which required not only an excellent network and a sense of making the right decisions, but above all a lot of hard work. Today, Wolfgang Puck manages over 100 restaurants worldwide and employs over 5,000 people.

Last year, he demonstrated how the Puck system works with the launch of his first restaurant in Austria at Vienna airport. With his core team, he developed a concept that took account of local particularities, sent out a powerful team under the direction of his brother Klaus Puck and built a team able to put his ideas into reality. Wolfgang Puck compares his company to world-renowned brands such as Hermès or Louis Vuitton – you always know what you’re getting and can rely on the highest quality.

By Bernhard Degen

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