Knives at Dawn (46 page)

“Monsieur Paul,” the great Paul Bocuse, for setting me at ease from the first moment we met and for granting me so many interviews, especially during the week of the Bocuse d'Or.

David Black, for the idea, and for almost a decade of helping me attain dreams that date back to childhood.

At Free Press, Leslie Meredith for her great excitement and tireless efforts. Martha Levin for taking the thing on in the first place. Donna Loffredo for finding answers to countless compulsive questions and for help polishing the manuscript down the home stretch. Andrew Dodds and Carisa Hays for getting the word out. And Dominick Anfuso and Suzanne Donahue for their support.

At SepelCom, Florent Suplisson for his insights and availability and Damien Gagnieux for assisting with endless requests long after the Bocuse d'Or 2009 was over.

Richard Rosendale and Hartmut Handke for making time for me during a fascinating visit to Columbus and helping me understand why chefs compete.

Kate Laughlin, for your inexhaustible patience, your time, and your support.

The team at The French Laundry and The Thomas Keller Restaurant Group: Kristine Keefer, for your hospitality in Yountville, arranging interviews on two coasts, fact-checking assistance, help with photographs, and for being a pleasure to work with. Carey Snowden, for helping me out, especially during the first days of this project; Gerald San Jose, for always being quick with the answers; and to Bertram Whitman—all good things to those who wait.

Daniel Boulud's team in New York, especially Georgette Farkas, for your help in Orlando and New York, and with photographs. And Vanessa Absil, for helping me find DB when I needed him and for priceless assistance making plans for Lyon.

Amy Tucker, for transcribing a few phone books' worth of interviews. It was fun having you along for the ride.

Florence Kahn-Ramos, for helping me find my way around Lyon, for joining me for lunch, and for being my translator and new friend.

Karen Klees, for translating help from the States.

Lisa Abend, for hanging with me in Lyon, and for help interviewing the Spanish team.

Those at The French Laundry and Per Se who graciously spent time interviewing with me: Corey Lee, Jonathan Benno, Devin Knell, Larry Nadeau, Molly Ireland, Erin Tichy, Raj Dagstani, Chloe Genovart, Ema Leftick, and Tucker Taylor.

Karen and Quentin Hollingsworth, for spending a Sunday afternoon with a jet-lagged writer, telling me about yourselves and your family.

Michel Bouit and Liz Bergin, for all those stories about the past twenty years. Wish I had room for more of them in these pages.

Susan Weaver, for sharing the story of the first Bocuse d'Or.

The U.S. candidates and commis who competed in Orlando: Richard Rosendale and Seth Warren; Kevin Sbraga and Aimee Patel; Michael Rotondo and Jennifer Petrusky; Percy Whatley and Josh Johnson; Hung
Hyunh and Girair (Jerry) Goumroian; Rogers Powell and Kyle Fiasconaro; and John Rellah and Vincent Forchelli.

The Bocuse d'Or competitors who interviewed with me before and after the big day: Ronald Bellaart, Luke Croston, Wim Klerks, Filip Lang-hoff, Jonas Lundgren, Philippe Mille, Geir Skeie, and David Wong.

The photographers whose images grace the insert: Will Blunt, Nora Carey, Owen Franken, Dave Getzschman, Etienne Heimermann, Deborah Jones, Justin Lewis, and Paal André Schwital. Thanks also to Joleen Hughes and the team at Level for allowing me to include the Team USA poster.

And to the many others who shared time and information: Michael Bersell; Christian Bouvarel; Terrance Brennan; Joel Buchman; Nora Carey; Alison Cullin-Woodcock; Traci Des Jardins; Marie-Odile Fondeur; Jacky Fréon; Daniel Humm; Vincent Le Roux; Frank Leake; Paul Liebrandt; Lea Linster; Regis Marcon; Ferdinand Metz; Anne-Sophie Pic; Emilie Pichon; Marco Poldevaart; Renée Richard; Alain Sailhac; Daniel Scannell, CMC; Fenny Straat; Laurent Tourondel; Alan Tsuchiyama; Serge Vieira; Jean-Georges Vongerichten; David Waltuck; and Nick Versteeg.

The
TENNIS
magazine gang (Pete, Steve, Tom, James, Ed, and the extended family of Jon, Doug, and Asad). The way you guys think and write about the athletes who play the sport we all love helped me in this cause more than you'll ever know.

The residents of Fourth Street, Brooklyn, where this book was finished to the sounds of chirping birds and barking dogs, thanks for welcoming us to our new home. Hopefully, by the time you read this, we'll have all broken bread together.

And above all, to my wife, Caitlin, who has two careers and a very full life of her own, thank you for enduring the many weeks without me, especially the half-month I spent in Lyon, and to our beautiful children, Declan and Taylor, for making it fun to work at home.

Andrew Friedman writes about the worlds of food and tennis, which also happen to be two of his personal passions. His articles on food and chefs have appeared in
O, The Oprah Magazine
and
The Wall Street Journal
; he co-edited the popular anthology
Don't Try This at Home
; and has collaborated on more than twenty cookbooks and other projects with many of the best chefs in the United States, including Alfred Portale, David Waltuck, and former White House chef Walter Scheib. He also coauthored, with James Blake, the
New York Times
bestselling tennis memoir
Breaking Back
, and is a contributing editor to
TENNIS
magazine. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his family.