The Daily Meal's Year In Chefs And Personalities 2011 Slideshow

The Daily Meal caught up with the famed Texas chef on a number of occasions this year. At the Barbados Food & Wine and Rum Festival Love opened up about his affinity for working with game, the secrets behind making the perfect burger, and his expansion plans. Later in the year we tossed Love questions about tips for whole animal cooking, the key elements of Southern cuisine, and got the scoop on his Fort Worth taqueria while attending the Atlanta Food& Wine Festival.

Favorite Quote: Tim Love on working working with exotic meats, "I've never worked with zebra, and I haven't worked with a lion's breast. I'd like to work with another part of that animal."

The Food Network star took a few moments from his hosting duties at the Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival to answer questions about his future plans. While Fieri was vague on details, he did hint at the possibility of opening his first restaurant in New York. He had a lot more to say when asked about his nonprofit organization, Cooking With Kids, which aims at supporting legislature crafted to improve school lunches.

Favorite Quote: Guy Fieri on the rumors about him opening a restaurant in New York, "We've been meeting with some partners to do something. I'm not going to do anything tame. You know, it has to be something a little bigger than life."

Famed California wine country chef and restaurateur, Cindy Pawlcyn, invited The Daily Meal to check out her new restaurant, Brassica, located in the former space of Go Fish. Pawlcyn discussed her reasons for switching up the concept at her restaurant from sushi to Mediterranean from the burdening financial expenditures associated with maintaining a high-end sushi place to Pawlcyn's desire to return to the culinary roots of her original restaurant, Mustard's.

Favorite Quote: Cindy Pawlcyn on putting whole sardines on the appetizer menu at Brassica, "I can hardly keep them in-house. I have died and went to heaven. Oh my god, people are eating sardines!"

Gilt City's Francis Lam took some time last November (while he was still a senior writer at Salon.com) to talk with The Daily Meal about the food he ate while spending his childhood summers in Hong Kong, his favorite sandwich in New York City, and how he began his career in food writing.

Favorite Quote: Francis Lam on food writing, "What's great about food writing is that you can see so much of the world through food. You can talk about so much about the larger world through food. It's our job as food writers to take advantage of that."

This spring Daniel Boulud opened his seventh venture in New York City, Boulud Sud. The acclaimed chef and industry mogul answered a few questions about the new space during a preview event.

Favorite Quote: Daniel Boulud on the the dishes he was most excited about debuting, "I'm most excited that I'm going to put garlic in food here like I've never put it on my food before. I've been scared in the past. No need to be scared about that here. No pork, no cream, no butter."

You can't talk about Boston's dining scene and not mention Ken Oringer. The charming chef has more than five restaurants (Clio, Uni, Toro, Coppa, La Verdad, and KO Prime), each with a well-executed different cuisine (French, Japanese, Tapas, Italian, Mexican, and steak), all significant destinations. In this interview, one of the city's premier chefs talks about his mentors, food blogs, and culinary rites of passage.

Favorite Quote: Ken Oringer on culinary rites of passage, "I think every cook should learn how to kill and skin a live eel. Every cook should learn to fabricate whole animals. Every cook should learn how to make a foie gras torchon. For me, it was all of the above and then some."

When it comes to discussing burger experts, there are few people as well-versed and respected on the subject of hamburgers as George Motz, author and director of the book and film, Hamburger America. The Daily Meal talked to him about which blend makes the best burger, preferred cooking methods, and the best patty in New York City.

Favorite Quote:Motz on childhood burger memories, "My childhood burger memories mostly centered around McDonald's. We probably ate there twice a week and I loved them. But it was the Apple Pan in LA that really turned me around, when I was 21. It completely changed my perception of what a burger could be."

After an offal demo at the 2010Barbados Food & Wine and Rum FestivalFergus Henderson took some time to talk about his favorite dance tunes, offal preparations from around the world, his upcoming new hotel, and his favorite sandwich in London.

Favorite Quote: After being asked which is the British national dish, fish 'n chips or curry, chef Henderson answered, "Neither. Beef." 

During a trip to New York just before the release of their book, Life on the Line this winter, Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas sat down for a talk at the Institute of Culinary Education. During the Q&A following the event, The Daily Meal asked the duo about the role of media in the food industry.

Favorite Quote: Grant Achatz on the popularity of user-driven review sites, "So, imagine you come into Alinea and you have a terrible meal. Do you write a letter to the chef saying you had a horrible meal? Probably not. Will you post it anonymously on a food blog? More likely. Taking notice of these blogs gives me the chance to hear honest opinions about what is going on in my restaurant."

During a trip to New York just before the release of their book, Life on the Line this winter, Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas sat down for a talk at the Institute of Culinary Education. During the Q&A following the event, The Daily Meal asked the duo about the role of media in the food industry.

Favorite Quote: Grant Achatz on the popularity of user-driven review sites, "So, imagine you come into Alinea and you have a terrible meal. Do you write a letter to the chef saying you had a horrible meal? Probably not. Will you post it anonymously on a food blog? More likely. Taking notice of these blogs gives me the chance to hear honest opinions about what is going on in my restaurant."

Frank Bruni sat down with The Daily Meal this year to talk about his New York Times column, "The Tipsy Diaries," his first cocktail, and the drink he orders most often. 

Favorite Quote: Frank Bruni on cocktail trends, "What I know is that no matter what the trend of the moment, bars that have engaging, intelligent bartenders and carefully made drinks will always, always be popular, whether or not they have hidden doors or hollowed coconut shells."

Long before Marc Forgione became an Iron Chef and received two stars from The New York Times, he learned how to cook from his father, Larry Forgione, a culinary icon in his own right. The mohawk-sporting chef spoke with The Daily Meal about his relationship with his father, and how he's influenced his culinary philosophy.

Favorite Quote: Marc Forgione on his culinary approach, "My dad helped put America on the map, but I feel like my cuisine is more New York and more melting pot. My dad laid down the tracks, and now I feel like Im riding where those tracks havent been yet."

To celebrate the spirit of Valentine's Day, The Daily Meal interviewed three couples who own and run restaurants together Mark (executive chef) and Marjorie Fuller, owners of Spring Hill in Seattle, Wash.; Karen (pastry chef) and Quinn (executive chef) Hatfield of Hatfield's in Los Angeles; and high school sweethearts and owners of Recette in New York City Lindsay (Director of Operations) and Jesse Schenker (executive chef).

Favorite Quote: Lindsay Schenker on returning to work at Recette on their wedding day, "It was the best, most fulfilling day of our lives. We wouldn't have done it any other way."

Now in its third generation of family ownership,Canlis journey through the new economy is being shepherded by brothers Mark and Brian Canlis. At this year's Food & Wine Best New Chefs celebration in New York City, Mark sat down to discuss how to balance the expectations of long-standing customers with a restaurant's need to attract new ones.

Favorite Quote: Mark Canlis on the future of the restaurant, "Wer'e the city's restaurant and have been for generations. That's really important. Bringing in a new generation of Canlises was scary, because we want people to feel like its the old Canlis. But there has to be an evolution. Some of our customers tell us never to change. But we change every day, and that's why they still love us."

This past March, chef Michael White launched a two-day pop-up dining experience at The Setai Hotel in conjunction with Tupperware, which he aptly named TupperClub. On one of the evenings, White spoke with The Daily Meal about his dream of opening a restaurant in Italy, what he does in his parents' kitchen, and if you should expect to see him on his own TV show soon.

Favorite Quote: Michael White on which cuisine fuses well with Italian, "I see Japanese in the perfect piece of olive oil-poached John Dory with the perfect fava beans and a little picked basil. It's very Italian, but very Japanese at the same time."

It's quite a coup that the nascent Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival scored Wolfgang Puck as a headliner for the event's inaugural year. The Daily Meal caught up with the storied chef recently to get his take on the new festival.

Favorite Quote: Wolfgang Puck on his tireless work ethic, "I don't even know how to spell the word retirement I do what I love to do so if I were to retire, I would have to find a job."

Dana Cowin needs little in the way of introduction. She has been Food & Wine's editor-in-chief since 1995. Among other things in the interview, The Daily Meal discovered Dana's pick for America's most underrated food city, which TV food competition was most fun to judge, and what question you should never ask a chef, or her.

Favorite Quote: Dana Cowin on the most underrated food city in America, "Los Angeles is the most underrated food city in the country. People still don't take it seriously. They seem to think that all the locals are on juice fasts."

The Daily Meal has been lucky enough to speak with Ferran Adrià (and hear him speak) a number of times throughout the past year. In January, Adrià divulged his life plan for the next two years, including his hopes of traveling extensively. And then the following July, Colman Andrews reported from the closing festivities at elBulli, where he noted Adrià's thoughts on moving on from the restaurant.

Favorite Quote: Ferran Adrià on the essence of his culinary philosophy, "There are only two types of cooking: good and bad."

This year, a number of significant members of the food industry passed away. The Daily Meal's editorial director, Colman Andrews, paid tribute to two icons by writing about their lives and accomplishments. In each of these cases, Colman recounted his favorite memories of them, from the first time he ate at Santi Santamaria's restaurant, to his lifelong friendship with Joan Luther.

Favorite Excerpt: Colman Andrews on Joan Luther's appetite, "Funnily enough, however much she loved the industry, I could never quite figure out whether she really enjoyed food or not. She didn't eat lunch, period, but would invite you to join her at noontime and then sit there perfectly happy ingesting nothing more than cup after cup of coffee."