Chef/Co-Owner, BEACON Restaurant & Bar (NYC)
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Author, HIGH HEAT Grilling and Roasting Year-Round with Master Chef Waldy
Malouf
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THE HUDSON RIVER VALLEY COOKBOOK: A Leading American Chef Savors the Region's
Bounty
 Open fire and
wood fire cooking are the hallmarks of the earthy, flavorful, and inventive
cuisine Waldy Malouf presents at his critically acclaimed midtown landmark
restaurant, BEACON Restaurant & Bar. As restaurant critic William Grimes
acknowledged in his hugely favorable New York Times review, “Beacon ...
delivers uncomplicated, big-flavored food, emphasizing fresh, seasonal
ingredients. That’s all, and that’s enough ... Beacon gets it
right.” Along those same lines, Crain's NY Business critic Bob Lape noted,
“Beacon’s flame may well be eternal. Don’t resist it.”
Background
Waldy Malouf graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1975 having
won First Prize in that year's Carras Culinary Competition. His extensive
professional experience includes affiliations with The Four Seasons, La Côte
Basque, the St. Regis Hotel, La Cremaillere (Banksville, NY), the Hudson River
Club, and The Rainbow Room.
In fact, it was just four short months after being named Chef/Director of
Manhattan's beloved Rainbow Room that restaurant critic Ruth Reichl of The New
York Times awarded the restaurant a remarkable three star review—its
first—and one of only three, three-star reviews bestowed in 1997.
Beginning at La Cremaillere, Waldy developed a signature cuisine that presented
the culinary riches of New York State's Hudson River Valley, a subject he
explored to great acclaim in his first book, THE HUDSON RIVER VALLEY COOKBOOK:
A Leading American Chef Savors the Region’s Bounty (Addison-Wesley, 1995).
The book—nominated for a Julia Child Cookbook Award from the IACP—won
high praise from The New York Times, which named it one of the year's "Ten
Best." Bon Appetit, Gourmet, and The Daily News also lauded the work,
which was released in paperback the summer of 1999 by Harvard Common Press and
optioned by Book-of the-Month-Club.
Waldy's second book—co-authored with Melissa Clark—was published May
2003 by Broad way Books. HIGH HEAT: Grilling and Roasting Year-Round with
Master Chef Waldy Malouf showcases the brilliant, bold cooking that's made
Beacon Restaurant a worldwide draw, and features 125 innovative recipes that
deliver the same dynamic flavors whether prepared on an outdoor grill or in a
high-temperature oven.
Over the years, Waldy has garnered a distinguished reputation for establishing
an excellent rapport with his teams of chefs, and is viewed as a mentor by many
in the industry. He has developed and nurtured long-term, deeply felt
relationships with local farmers and growers. "It is," he notes,
"the rapport I've cultivated over a period of twenty years with local
purveyors, vintners, and fishermen that gives my food substance, body, and
emotion."
Awards, Accolades and Activities
Waldy Malouf has been the recipient of many prizes and accolades for his
outstanding work.
A mere two months after the opening of Beacon, he was featured prominently in
The New York Times as "The Chef" in the "Dining In/Dining
Out" section's eight-part chef/recipe series. His recipes are featured in
the St. Martin's Press release, The Chefs of The Times.
Due to his expertise at RAINBOW!, the restaurant received a coveted Mobil
Travel Guide Four Star Award and was inducted into the Nation's Restaurant News
"Fine Dining Hall of Fame." Waldy has been the subject of features in
Time magazine; House Beautiful; Metropolitan Home; New York magazine; Ladies'
Home Journal; Food & Wine; Bon Appetit; Paper magazine; Time Out New York;
CNN; The Food Network; "CBS Early Show;" Brazilian & Japanese
Television; New York 1; and numerous international magazines and guide books.
In October 1996, Waldy was one of five distinguished alumni chosen by the
Culinary Institute of America to receive honors at their Golden Anniversary
Gala. He sits on the Board of Directors of their Alumni Association. He won
First Prize in the Third Annual Cointreau Recipe Contest in 1992, and has been
named a "Great Chef of New York" numerous times by the James Beard
Foundation. He is a frequent participant in The New School’s "Behind
the Scenes at the Great Restaurants of New York" series, and teaches
regularly at Macy's "DeGustibus." Additionally, he judges many
notable culinary competitions.
Waldy has travelled to the farms, wine-growing regions, cooking schools and
prestigious restaurants of London, Madrid, San Sebastian, Puglia, and the
Sonoma Valley on behalf of the NY State Department of Economic Development, the
NY Wine & Grape Foundation, and as a guest chef of the host countries.
Another exciting project has taken him across the US forty times and back as a
member of a group of regional chef-consultants to Northwest/KLM Airlines. Their
objective is to create in-flight menus that incorporate regional cuisine from
each of the airline's major US hubs.
In memory of his associates at Windows on the World, Waldy serves on the
founding committee for the Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund, which aids
families of food service workers lost in the World Trade Center attack. To
serve this organization, he helped develop and coordinate the October 11, 2001
dining out event, which encouraged restaurants throughout the world to donate
10% of the evening's proceeds to the Fund. To date, the fund has raised $18
million.
Waldy has been a participating chef for Share Our Strength/Taste of the
Nation's annual fundraising gala for years and served on the Board of Directors
for the American Institute of Wine and Food (NY Chapter). He co-chaired their
annual Marketplace Tasting several years in a row. Additionally, Waldy has a
commitment to hunger-relief causes and culinary education, volunteering his
services at numerous food world events including those sponsored by God's Love
We Deliver; the Culinary Institute of America; CityMeals-on-Wheels; The James
Beard Foundation; and Green Chimneys. He has spoken on the topic of the future
of sustainable cuisine at The Joe Baum Forum on the Future at The Culinary
Institute of America. Additionally, he is President of the Board of Directors
of The Ballet School of Stamford.
With his wife, Meg, and their two children, Max and Merrill, Waldy Malouf lives
in Connecticut.
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