Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

July 18, 2012

Two top master chefs: Who they are

MARK GAIER

AGE: 55

HOMETOWN: Dayton, Ohio

HOW HE BECAME A MASTER CHEF: Gaier, inspired by his mother, was cooking and baking bread by the age of 14. After some time in publishing, he decided to go to culinary school and studied under Jean Wallach in Boston. In the mid-1980s, after a stint at the Whistling Oyster, Gaier moved west to San Francisco, where he landed a position working for Jeremiah Tower at the renowned Stars Restaurant. It was there that he and Frasier met.

CLARK FRASIER

AGE: 51

HOMETOWN: Carmel, Calif.

HOW HE BECAME A MASTER CHEF: Frasier grew interested in food when he lived in China. During the harsh winters in Beijing, the only vegetable available was dried, salted and pickled cabbage, which gave him a new appreciation for seasonal produce. Upon returning to the United States, he moved to San Francisco and worked his way up at Stars Restaurant. That is where he met Mark Gaier.

GAIER AND FRASIER: After Stars, the two chefs moved to Maine and, in 1988, purchased and restored the 18th-century farmhouse that became Arrows. There they began growing their own ingredients, curing their own meats and making their own cheeses. By 2006, Gourmet had named Arrows one of the top 50 restaurants in the United States, logging it in at No. 14. Today the restaurant has more than two acres of gardens and a greenhouse, where the chefs grow all the organic herbs and produce they need.

In 2005, Gaier and Frasier opened MC Perkins Cove, a more casual Ogunquit restaurant serving classic New England fare with a great ocean view. In 2007, the chefs opened a third restaurant, Summer Winter, at the Marriott in Burlington, Mass.

In 2010, Gaier and Frasier won the James Beard award for Best Chef: Northeast. They are frequent guests on network morning shows and have been featured in Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Time, Travel and Leisure, and Vanity Fair.

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