The restaurant, located in Greenwich Village, has little outdoor space so Chef Mooney decided to make use of the dead space it had - the roof - in order to grow his own vegetables.

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Ms. Ciammetti says she was able to cover her costs and make a little money during her Guest Chef run, and the restaurant is already profitable, according to Mr. Cameron.

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But, though the guides survived, his influence had faded before the age of the celebrity chef, a creature he had little time for.

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"THEY'RE LITTLE PACKETS of goodness, " said Miami chef Jeff McInnis.

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Chef Timothy Bilton serves everything from Greedy Little Pig Yorkshire pork to locally stalked venison under the beams at this cosy gastropub, which featured in the Last of the Summer Wine TV series.

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Rick Stein, chef and television celebrity, has created a little empire of fish restaurants, hotels and a cookery school in Padstow.

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"To some people the 24- to 36-hour ordeal of smoking a 20-pound pork shoulder seems a little crazy, " says Erik Leander, a home chef who buys whole hogs from an organic farmer and has kept a smoking diary for five years.

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And in the little town of Yountville, they'll find Thomas Keller, who used to be a big city chef in New York and Los Angeles.

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About 185km south of Garrotxa is the town of Falset, where the equally passionate chef Roger Felip-Soler works to familiarise visitors with the ingredients and cooking styles of his little corner of Catalonia.

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