BY CINDY FERRAINO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

Many celebrities that come from all walks of the entertainment strip that grew up or lived in New Jersey have a knack for giving backing to the communities that they once called home. Now, a famous New Jersey transplant gives a thumbs up when it comes to saying, “Yo, I’m from Jersey, too.”

With a name like Mario Batali, you would think that this acclaimed television chef and restaurant owner arrived by boat from the Old Country, like my grandmother, Carmela Lamania Keenan did (a tribute to both my Italian and Irish heritages), gazing up at the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor with the hopes of freedom and a chance for a new rich life.

But Batali didn't start out with visions of cooking greatness. He attended Rutgers University as a theater and economics major. Mario Batali , at 5-11 and tipping the scales at 235 pounds, entered Rutgers with the idea that he was going to follow his first passion, playing football for the Scarlet Knights.

But priorities change. During college Batali worked as a dishwasher at "Stuff Yer Face" restaurant in New Brunswick and quickly moved up to stromboli and pizza maker. That started a sojourn which saw Batali working in kitchens around the country and around the world.

Being raised in a third Italian generation, Batali fell in love, just like all of us Italians, with wonderful food so he decided to head out to California to cook for a string of California hotels. After a stint in California, he left for a quaint mountain town called Borgo Capanne where he worked a family owned trattoria named La Volta. At La Volta, he developed and brewed his passion for authentic Italian cuisine just like his family used to make in the States. When he returned stateside, he landed across the river from New Jersey at Rocco, a Greenwich village restaurant. He left Rocco to open his own dig, Po, in 1993.

Batali keeps making a name for himself in culinary circles.  He doesn't slow down when it comes to creating a new dish or starting a new venture.

Batali received two distinct awards from the James Beard Foundation in 2002 for the “Best Chef: New York City” and in 2005 for “The Outstanding Chef of the Year.”