What Chefs Ride And Drive

Tattoos. Rock star status. Late nights partying hard. Outlaw associations. It shouldn't be surprising that many chefs also have a passion for their rides. For the adrenaline junkie there's speed; for the craftsman there's the art of a fine machine; and for the busy, adventurous, and overworked chefs, there's the practicality of a mode of transport that enables them to get around, explore, and escape. 

Click here for the Chefs, Bikes, and Automobiles Slideshow.

"I've been riding Harleys since 1981, so it goes beyond a mode of transportation," says chef John Stage of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. "It has always been a lifestyle to me."

He's not alone. Plenty of other chefs have storied passions for their rides that can be traced to childhood. For many, there's that early association and interest in automobiles for their speed and adrenaline. "When I was 14," chef Grant Achatz recounts in Life, On the Line, released this year, "my dad asked me what kind of car I wanted when I turned 16. He loved cars, and he wanted me to love them, too. 'A fast one,' I said."

That sense of excitement and danger fits squarely within the lifestyles that many associate with working in professional kitchens. "Like many chefs, I'm an adrenaline junkie," admits chef Mike Lata of FIG in Charleston, S.C. "I need to find release and riding my bikes — be it on the racetrack or in the mountains — gives me that."

Look at the accompanying photos of chefs with their favorite rides and that connection with speed, and of being a badass, an outlaw, is clear. Some photos make you think they had to have even been professionally shot. (Seriously, how cool is Hubert Keller?) You've seen that same spark in some chefs' eyes when they've had the chance to show off on TV — Alton Brown on Feasting on Asphalt, Anthony Bourdain when he borrowed that '74 Camaro for an episode of No Reservations.

With that iconoclasm and recognition comes the risk of the whole "bad-boy chef with a badass car" being "too much." And with that, for those chefs whose lives are lead particularly out loud, comes the risk of the rides being ripped off. Guy Fieri's bright-yellow Lamborghini was dramatically stolen from a San Francisco car dealership earlier this year (he replaced it with a yellow Chevrolet Camaro, by the way).

At left, Donatella Arpaia with her husband Allan Stewart. Right, Johnny Iuzzini. (Photos courtesy Donatella Arpaia and Kenji Takigami)

But just as often, these associations aren't as expected. Did you know Donatella Arpaia has a 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder? "I arranged to borrow this car for a day as a gift to a longtime loyal employee so they could drive it," says the chef. "As soon as I got behind the wheel, it was love at first sight. I could not describe the complete unexpected thrill that came over me. I felt that I'd arrived."

And there are less thrilling, if still important associations chefs have with their automobiles. "I got my first street bike at 17, a little 400 cc Honda CB-1," says chef Johnny Iuzzini, co-host of Top Chef Just Desserts, and most recently executive pastry chef at Jean Georges in New York City. "I love my bike because it gives me time alone in my head. I can't talk to anyone, no email, text, etc. It gives me time to think, to clear my head, to focus, to reflect and to just be alone."

Then there's the bond between chefs, their automobiles, and family members, often with fathers and sons. For instance, chef Scott Crawford of The Umstead Hotel & Spa in Cary, N.C., whose 2008 Harley-Davidson Fatboy arrived the day his son was born. "He has been in the garage with me through a lot of the customizing," says Crawford. "He has his own set of tools and copies everything I do. This is why this particular bike is so important to me. I will never sell it. Instead, I will pass it down to him."

Similarly, while the passage in Achatz's book about restoring a 1970 Pontiac GTO with his father kicks off by explaining his desire for a fast car, the rest of it tells a different story: "My dad knew that this would be a fantastic life lesson on organization, hard work, and persistence. You want a great car? Build one.... It was a lot like organizing a kitchen."

Of course, there are a lot more blatant culinary associations chefs have with their rides. For chef Hubert Keller of Fleur de Lys in San Francisco, that means riding up Highway One and stopping at Nick's Cove "to enjoy the freshest oysters and look out over the water." For François Payard, it was a trip he made on his bike through Europe, "I traveled from France to Italy, and through Greece, Yugoslavia, and Turkey." And for chef Carlos Barillas of Burger & Beer Joint in Miami, it was packing his Dodge Challenger with kitchen equipment and burgers to transport them to a live burger competition on South Florida Today before he could afford a van, and driving home after winning with "the trophy as a hood ornament."

Others, like Michael Chiarello of Bottega in Napa Valley and Johnny Iuzzini have culinary associations they're hoping to have. "I hope to create this memory on my 50th birthday in the Basque country of Spain: 50 years old, five friends, five days, 500 miles, and 5,000-calorie dinners each night. Can't wait."

Iuzzini was inspired by Ewan McGregor's series Long Way Round, "If Top Chef Just Desserts (shot in L.A.) gets picked up for a third season, I plan on shipping my moto out and riding home to New York. This will be anything but a straight line. I have bike friends all over the country, so a few may jump in and cut out, but the plan is to zigzag all the way home and document the trip while eating at destination restaurants, truck stops, mom and pop spots, camping, plus a whole lot of sightseeing."

For all the bad-boy imagery, lessons, and inspiring ideas associated with chefs and their rides, sometimes it's self-deprecation, the ability not to take themselves too seriously that makes that outlaw image one that works. Chef Michael Galata of Circo in New York City tells one such story about driving his 1968 Chevy Impala Convertible with the top down one day when it started pouring. "The top broke and would not go up and my back seats were filled with veg coming from the farmers' market. I drove from 16th Street to 55th Street on Sixth Ave., not looking very cool driving that day."