About me
Being a chef from Los Angeles, Rick Barbata’s culinary career began at Spago on Sunset Boulevard working with the then unknown, Wolfgang Puck. It was there when we Wolfgang Puck started incorporating the whole California cuisine concept to the world. Salmon and goat cheese on a pizza, what? It was absolutely unheard of at the time. That man alone helped change the world and the world’s interpretation of what good cooking is all about and he changed Rick Barbata’s life too. Rick learned a tremendous amount of food knowledge from him.
Soon after, Rick Barbata would find himself cooking with some of the biggest names in restaurants and the culinary scene on the west coast, and the whole country for that matter. Some of the other chefs Rick has been involved with and gained knowledge from in his career are Michael Roberts, Alain Ducasse, Jean Francois Meteigner, Pat Soma, Michel Richard and others. Fortunately, Rick has been able to parlay his experience of learning and cooking with the best to getting gigs all over the world. The list of famous people that Rick Barbata has fed is long and includes such well-known people as Robin Williams, Julia Roberts, Halle Berry, David Geffen, Senator Olympia Snowe and many others.
In more recent years, Rick Barbata had a popular restaurant in Portland, Maine called RICK’S on Munjoy Hill which was voted “Best New Restaurant 2001” and where he was voted “Best New Chef 2001”!
Cooking Influences
Wolfgang Puck, Michael Roberts, Alain Ducasse, Jean Francois Meteigner, Pat Soma, Michel Richard.
Awards, Honors and Societies
Best New Chef, Portland Phoenix 2001
Best New Restaurant, Portland Phoenix 2001
United States Chef
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