Bill Cosby In A Toque And 8 More Photos From The Andrew Carmellini Archives

All this week we've given chef Andrew Carmellini the keys to Food Republic. He's our guest editor and he's not holding back. There's a video for the art of baguette baking at his New York City restaurant Lafayette and a guide to eating like a professional in France. And of course he laid it down with the 10 Commandments Of Being An NYC Chef. Here we asked him to send us some of his favorite photos from the archives. If you run kitchens in New York City for 20 years you meet some characters.

This is Le Cirque in 2006. This was kind of a wild night. Bill did this whole routine that lasted for like 30 minutes. He got on the line and made all these jokes. It was before cell phone videos, but I am certain that it would have had 90 million hits. [/caption]
This was from the first Restaurant Week in New York City, which was started in 1994 as a promotional event held during the DNC. Was I annoyed? I was passing out raviolis on Central Park South. I'm 22 in that picture and had been in New York for only two years. [/caption]
This is Lespinasse in 2004, the day after we got the four stars in the New York Times. Gray Kunz was a tremendous chef at the time. He was bringing East Asian and Indian flavors into a formal setting. Nobody was using galangal and rose hips in their kitchen. No way.[/caption]
I'm a huge 'Homeland' fan and this was from a party during the first season. We cook for a lot of the music and Hollywood world and I don't really take photos that often. But this was a party I was popping in on.[/caption]
Here's me and Bob soon after we opened Locanda Verde. He's a great partner. When we opened, he had this vision of how the restaurant would open up into the street. And it was exactly on the money. I wanted it to be an Italian tavern and very friendly. We really work well together.[/caption]
This is the opening crew at Cafe Boulud. What am I thinking? I know that evil, angry look was indicative of my state of mind at the time. I was cooking my ass off then. I've changed over the years. I try to be more calm in general. In a difficult working environment, it's the guests that suffer the most.[/caption]
This is from one of my many bands and was taken at a high school party. I must have been 16 in that picture. It was 1987. We'd play mostly covers like New Order and Journey and sneak in some original songs.[/caption]
A group shot at Locanda Verde last year.[/caption]
We always refer to Jean-Louis Palladin as the Keith Richards of the stove. This was taken at Café Boulud in 2001.[/caption]