Pippa Calland

Pippa Calland never thought she would become a chef. Growing up in Indianapolis, her mother was an art collector, so Pippa thought she might become an artist. However, it wasn't until she discovered cooking that she found a medium she could be successful in. Her parents, both doctors, were also food connoisseurs, growing their own vegetables and taking her on trips to top New York restaurants when she was just eight years old. At age 14, after her family moved to Connecticut, she began working in a restaurant across the street from Martha Stewart's Westport headquarters one day, when "the salad guy didn't show up." She has been cooking ever since.

However, the path to becoming a chef was still far from straightforward. After obtaining a B.A. in liberal arts from the University of Denver in Colorado, she went to graduate school in Buffalo, where she also worked part-time at a restaurant. Soon she realized she had to choose between graduate school or cooking. Pippa remembers, "It was the hardest decision I ever made"-especially given the fact that her family had always emphasized academics and professional jobs. However, as soon as she made the decision to drop out of grad school to pursue culinary arts, she was "immediately at peace with it." As the chef of Reginald's, a small, now-defunct restaurant in Buffalo, she taught herself to cook and was allowed to experiment with few boundaries. She soon received a full scholarship from the prestigious James Beard Foundation and was off to New York to attend Peter Kump's renowned culinary school.

Pippa quickly found herself chef de cuisine at Eros in Manhattan, but realized she wasn't familiar enough with the New York restaurant scene to be in a managing position. She decided to work as a line cook in the city for nearly three years at various restaurants before she was ready to apply to the highly selective Beringer School for American Chefs. However, she didn't hear of her acceptance until the day she committed to studying at the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners in Costigliote di Asti, Italy. It wasn't too late, though. After working and studying in Italy for six months, she returned to attend the Beringer School in California, one of only eight students chosen nationwide to work with world-renowned chef Madeleine Kamman. Next, she first worked for restaurateur Pino Luongo at Coco Pazzo in Philadelphia, where she was executive chef, then re-teamed with him to become executive chef at Le Madri, where she has been since January 2001. She believes the excellent review from the New York Times in November 2002 is evidence of the restaurant's commitment to simple, powerful flavors and fresh ingredients, and one more reason she is "deeply, passionately, and intensely proud" of Le Madri, whose menu she describes as not strictly Italian, but more "Italian-inspired Mediterranean food." A self-professed "produce queen," some of Pippa's favorite ingredients to work with include fresh seasonal produce for their "nice, simple, clean flavors" and fish for its versatility. Pippa also volunteers her time and skills for charities whenever possible, as she has ever since she helped found a program in Buffalo to cook meals for hospice-bound AIDS patients.

Chef's Recipes :

Farrotto with Pancetta, Wilted Dandelion Greens and Pecorino

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