The Food World's Big Cheese
To call Clark Wolf (B.A., '76) a "foodie" would be the understatement of the
century.
Wolf is president of the eponymous Clark Wolf Company, a New York-based
food and restaurant consulting firm. Over the course of his career, he has
opened countless restaurants, advised dozens of celebrity chefs, and helped
shape the dining experience at the Kennedy Center, the Russian Tea Room, Mandalay
Bay and Caesars Palace.
Wolf is also a prolific writer. His new book, "American
Cheeses: The Best Regional, Artisan, and Farmhouse Cheeses, Who Makes Them
and Where to Find Them" (Simon & Schuster, ‘08), chronicles benchmark cheeses
across the U.S.
"Cheeses of today in our country are characterized
by an independence
of spirit combined with a respect for tradition and history," says Wolf, whose
research found him interviewing cheesemakers from coast to coast. "Twenty years
ago our cheeses were terrible; we've come a long way."
In many ways, Wolf's
book marks a return to his roots. He was an English major at SF State when
he took a job running a cheese shop on San Francisco's Nob Hill, where, he
says, he learned volumes about different artisan cheeses from around the world.
As manager of a small store, Wolf also learned a thing or two about business.
"Those were lessons I never forgot."
Wolf also has never forgotten the art
of writing that he learned at SF State. Today, as he splits time between Manhattan's
Tribeca neighborhood and rural Sonoma County, he writes a number of columns
and articles for industry publications.
When asked to draw parallels between
food and writing, he says the two have a lot in common. "As the artist, you
want to make sure you are telling stories with both," he says. "Otherwise neither
experience is fulfilling for the consumer, and that's the goal -- to touch them
and make them feel it was worth their time."
With the country embracing foods
grown within a 25-mile radius of the point of consumption, Wolf says he is
excited about the future of dining. This is why he's chosen to spend half of
his time in Sonoma County, which he considers to be the epicenter of the "locavore"
(one who tries to eat only locally grown foods) movement. Wolf says he visits
the farmer's market in nearby Sebastopol every weekend and is always looking
for the freshest local produce to incorporate into his dishes at home.
"I'm
encouraged by the fact that people are finally realizing that food does not
come out of the back of the truck," he says. "We need to be protective of the
Earth and air, not just so we can go for a walk in the Marin Headlands but
so that we can have good and fresh wholesome food."
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