Wolfgang Puck works a ton and has a really expensive espresso machine

Friday's Calendar section devotes its regular "My Favorite Weekend" column to the daily doings of superstar chef Wolfgang Puck, who almost choked me up with his admission that when he has friends in town he has his wife bring them to wherever he happens to be working that day and "hopefully, I'll get the chance to sit down and spend some time with them."

That is until I read about the $6,000 espresso machine he has in his house and thought, "OK, so that's what all this hard work is about." And who knows? Maybe a really good espresso machine is worth it. And besides, no matter how disappointed Puck's friends might be to not see much of him, surely they aren't disappointed at the prospect of eating in one of his restaurants under his care.

Other Puck favorites include: Angelini Osteria, Matsuhisa (where he enjoys the miso cod), Nokia, Griffith Observatory, LACMA and the Getty Center.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Wolfgang Puck and his family. Credit: David Livingston / Getty Images

Comments

[grandcru]

Why wouldn't he have an expensive espresso machine? The guy owns his own coffee company and makes great tasting coffees.
Seems I read an article about his coffee and its not just someone elses he puts his name on. In the article he sure sounded like a coffee expert. He understood how to cup coffee, its origins, blending and more as i recall.
coffee in his restaurants is really good too.

[Rob Clark]

A good $6k espresso machine will definitely make a better shot than any home machine, and while his is probably hard-wired, filtered & plumbed, I doubt it's "automatic" like the push-button ones at Starbucks. As a achef, I bet he's more "hands on" than that. And at only $6k, he didn't go top-of-the-line - a Rancillo three cup retails for $13,500 - unless he got a discount.

[steve]

I think the point is not whether it's a good machine or not, but that he can spend that much on an expresso machine.

[thomas22]

Unfortunately, most people who write in to critique chefs spout generalizations to make themselves feels good. Trying to put down successful people make them feel better agbout themselves. Oh, geez, there I go generalizing...

[Bob]

Apparently the coffee maker is something like the Saeco Idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TMzAs4r-0U

It's up to $6k.

[Coffea]

Swag- $6000 is about the going wholesale cost for a top of the line 2 group commercial espresso machine. I know quite a few people who have installed these into their homes because, frankly, consumer machines are not capable of producing truly high quality espresso without major modifications. These mods are perfect for hobbyists who enjoy using the workbench, but a busy and wealthy chef would be better served by spending the money for a commercial machine.

I'll agree that being a chef does not instantly make someone a coffee expert, however in my experience dealing with chefs and coffee education they seem to be more predisposed to learning and often have the ability to describe what they are tasting. They are often perfectionists which lends itself well to espresso and/or coffee prep.

Is your axe grinding specifically for Puck or chefs in general?

[Griffin]

$6000 isn't that much for what machine he probably has--one hardwired into his plumbing system, likely with a special water filter, of a large capacity that's fully automatic and fully adjustable. In other words, that cost is not much more than what you'd find in a decent coffee shop that could pull more than one shot at a time.

That said, I'm more than thrilled by my own $1000 espresso machine (which I got on clearance for $700)--it may not be hardwired into either my electric lines or plumbing system, but it make excellent fresh-ground espresso at about 1/5th the cost of any coffee shop near me. (If I didn't use certified fair trade and bird safe organic coffee, it would be even lower.) Pricey? Yes, but it's what I like in a coffee/espresso machine. For everyone? No.

[Casey]

It's seems natural that a successful chef would have the very best kitchen equipment. But does it make better espresso than my $400 Gaggia? Who knows. Maybe it's a commercial model like they have at Starbucks.

[swag]

Unfortunately, most chefs are idiot savants when they think they are geniuses. Too many presume their superior taste with food immediately lends over to credentials with coffee, and inevitably I found they know little to nothing at all about how to make good coffee. Hubris, really.

So between that and the market flood of overpriced espresso machines, chances are that $6k machine could be a piece of art and little else.