What's Cookin' at AMC
Chef John: It Takes a Village Chef to Feed a Conference

This year's AMC sessions will provide lots of food for thought, but come Sunday evening, Chef John DeLucie of the uber-exclusive The Waverly Inn in New York City will take care of attendees' stomachs by whipping up appetizing foodnotably his restaurant's signature burgers and truffle friesfor the AMC Kick-Off Dinner on October 28. Based on the reception of his burger-and-fries combo at Waverly Inn, at which he's the chef and partnered with Vanity Fair's Editor-in-Chief Graydon Carter and others, DeLucie says confidently, "That should be a real crowd pleaser."

Prior to that restaurant, DeLucie was chef at the Maritime's La Bottega, where he first connected with Sean MacPherson and Eric Goode, his other two Waverly partners. Previously, he worked at other trendy restaurants, from Arizona 206, Lux and Oceana to the Soho and Tribeca Grand Hotels.

And though he and the Waverly Inn are known far and wide for the natural burgers and truffle fries, DeLucie is more than just a meat-and-potatoes guy. Still, when asked if he might tie-in other dishes or desserts to the AMC Florida setting, De Lucie says, "No, I will leave that to the other chefs who may also attend. Only burgers and fries for me."

Reviews of the Greenwich Village eatery in the The New York Times, Time Out New York, New York,  New York Post and elsewhere have singled out a number of DeLucies other specialties as standoutsfrom his pork chops and Dover sole to clam chowder and salmon or tuna tartare, and from the free-range chicken potpie to truffle macaroni and cheese. And for dessert, the chevre cheesecake and Bananas Foster. The latter, he explains, is "a dish created in New Orleans... Bananas, rum, butter and lots of sugar with the most delectable vanilla ice cream on top."  So, AMC attendees will just have to make post-AMC reservations at Waverly Inn townhouse to sample those other culinary delights.

How important an ingredient is presentation to this chef? "Not so much at the Waverly," he says. "We keep it simple and neat." In his opinion, "You should want to eat, not stare at the food."

On the other hand, he does see ambience as important. A New York review of the Waverly Inn pointed out that its tattered books and vintage photos, e.g., of the 1949 Brooklyn Dodgers, looked like they could have come from an old Vanity Fair photo shoot.

Those old books and photos actually came from many places DeLucie reveals, Some from the partners' private collections and flea markets. Some are even donated. The place has a remarkable old New York feel."

DeLucie won't be giving away cookbooks as AMC souvenirs since his is still in the process of being written. "I have a book in the works," he discloses. As for individual recipes, he suggests, "Anyone is free to email me for a recipe at johnd@waverlynyc.com.

So what is this celebrity chef's own favorite recipe? "Scrambled eggs with zucchini flowers," he replies, indicating there are sentimental reasons behind his choice: "My grandmother made this for me when I was a boy."

Actor Eckhart, star of the culinary-centric new flick No Reservations, said in a recent TV interview, "Chefs just wanna be rock stars." DeLucie adds, "And all rock stars want to be chefs."

Speaking of films, DeLucie has a favorite movie involving food scenes in 9 1/2 Weeks. He didn't embellish on that, so we searched the Internet and found various reviewers who mentioned a food-fetish kitchen scene. One site, The '80s Movie Gateway, said that film "almost single-handedly invented the 'food is sexy' concept."

Although the Waverly Inn is something of a celebrity magnet in the West Village--with such Inn crowd names as Robert DeNiro, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bono, Rachael Ray, Diddy, Sheryl Crow, Mariah Carey and Naomi Campbell, not to mention business execs like Les Moonves, Tom Freston and Calvin Klein, cited in newspaper storiesDeLucie downplays the star angle and says he doesn't remember any memorable stories about celebrities and the meals they've ordered. "Actually, I feel that the celeb factor is overstated. We have a lot of famous people, yes. But no one has really been all that fussy and they seem to enjoy the menu as is. I cant recall anyone ordering something crazy or not on the menu."

Upon reflection, however, he adds, "... although there was a very popular musician who brought his own food and asked me, through his assistant, to heat it up. I made it look very nice."

Speaking of musicians, Chef John says his biggest passion, besides cooking, involves making music. "I have a small virtual recording studio in my apartment," he says, "and I can lose many hours tooling around on that thing." And when asked his guilty pleasure, it turns out that that too has more to do with music than food. "iTunes," he says.

So we just had to ask if he has any food-linked song favorites. After all, a lot of rock 'n' roll hits from the '50s and '60s seemed to be tied into dessertsfrom the Four Tops' "Sugar Pie, Honeybunch" and Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" to others like "Cherry Pie" and "Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie." Then there was the dance song "Mashed Potatoes," Elvis' "Polk Salad Annie," even Hank Williams' "Jambalaya." And, more recently, ZZ Top recorded "Burger Man" in 1991.

None of those songs appealed to DeLucie, though he did volunteer, "I like R&B."