Bookpleasures.com ispleased to have as our guest the celebrity chef, television personality and author, David Ruggerio. 

David honed his culinary skills in France at several of the country's leading restaurants. Among them, the Hotel Negresco with Jacques Maximin; Moulin de Mougins with Roger Verge; Les Pres d'Eugenie with the mythic Michel Guerard, and l'Auberge du Pont de Collonges with the iconic Paul Bocuse.

He was honored in 1995 by noted vintner Robert Mondavi as one of the best thirteen Rising Star Chef in America, in the first year of this national awards program. He also was the chef and partner of Pierre Cardin's New York Maxims.  He also was the executive chef of the famed Le Caravelle.

David is also the author of Little Italy with David Ruggerio and David Ruggerio's Italian Kitchen.

He has hosted is own PBS cooking series, Little Italy with David Ruggerio. and went on to host his own cooking series on TV Food Network entitled Ruggerio To Go.

He has also authored  A Wistful Tale of Gods, Men, and Monster, Say Goodbye and Goodnight, and his a forthcoming memoir  High Crimes and Haute Cuisine, that has been optioned and the film is in production.

Norm: Good day David and thanks for participating in our interview.

What do you consider to be your greatest success (or successes) so far in your career?

David: In my culinary career, my greatest success was attaining 3 STARS at Maxim's. It was a restaurant owned by Pierre Cardin. It was enormous, and no one in New York believed the cuisine could ever be taken seriously. Cardin was so happy with the accolades; he made me his partner.  

In my writing career, getting my first novel, A Wistful Tale of Gods, Men, and Monsters, published, was a great surprise and success.

Norm: What has been your greatest challenge (professionally) that you've overcome in getting to where you're at today? 

David: As a youth, I was orphaned at the age of five, and arrested six times by the age of ten. I was lost.

At the age of eighteen, with no kitchen experience, I approached Roger Fessaguet, the legendary chef of La Caravelle. Considered one of the best restaurants in America, the brigade was entirely French. I went back thirteen times before he finely gave in and hired me. 

That first year was the greatest challenge of my life. No English was spoken, so I took a crash course in French at Berlitz.

I endured tremendous heat, cuts, burns, and worst of all, Fessaguet screamed and yelled at me from 7 am to 11 pm, six days a week. At the end of the year, Fessaguet agreed to send me to France to further my education.

Looking back, I realized that Fessaguet had a love for me. He understood that my life was at a crossroads; I could have easily ended up in jail for the rest of my life. Instead, I returned from France, became the Chef of La Caravelle at the age of 25, and soon considered one of the best chefs in America.

Norm: How many times in your careers have you experienced rejection? How did they shape you? 

David: Writing and cooking are very similar in that we must endure people's public opinions. We are naked; our successes and faux pas are exposed to the world. I've been lucky; my successes far outweigh my rejections.

When someone doesn't like my cooking or my writing, it hurts. Yet, I take each criticism to heart, and I strive to improve daily. 

Norm: What motivated you to become a chef?  As a follow-up, could you tell us about people or books you have read that have inspired you to embark on your career as a chef? 

David: Growing up, I watched my Grandmother, Mary Lazzarino, cook. She was an amazing cook, whipping up dishes with little to work with. It was her influence that motivated me to spend my life behind the stoves.

First and foremost, it was Roger Fessaguet, the chef of La Caravelle, that made me a chef in the classical sense. 

Secondly, Fessaguet sent me to work at Le Chantecler at the Hotel Negresco in Nice, France. It's chef, Jacques Maximin, had been named the Best Young Chef in France by the Gault Millau. He was what I imagined a culinary genius was, and more. He brought out the best in me; his hands were magical. Maximin could take three or four simple ingredients and create the most amazing culinary experiences.

Lastly and most importantly, before I returned to America, I made a pilgrimage to train under the greatest chef of the twentieth century. At the foot of the Pyrénées, at an enchanted place known only as Les Prés d'Eugénie.

I found a venerable wizard, his name was Michel Guerard. My time with him was magical; while Maximin molded me as a chef, Guerard influenced my cooking more than anyone I ever worked with. Michel Guérard was one of the creators of what became known as nouvelle cuisine, a culinary revolution in France during the 70s and 80s that would eventually change the world.

Norm: How did you get started in writing? What keeps you going? As a follow-up,  what makes a chef want to become a novelist? 

David: I never wanted my sons to follow me into the kitchen. While it can be a magnificent career, the business side is seedy and can devour a person. Despite my misgivings, my older son Anthony followed me into the business.

Exactly six years ago, I lost him to an opioid overdose. I was broken, I no longer had the heart to return to the restaurants.

Everywhere I looked, I saw Anthony. I turned my back to the kitchens and went in seclusion. 

To escape the world, I began fishing lobster. After a year, alone in the ocean, I realized that I had a story to tell. I sat at a computer and began to write my memoir. At the same time, my passion for horror made me write A Wistful Tale of Gods, Men, and Monsters. 

When I look into the eyes of my new granddaughter, I see Anthony. Her expressions tell me that Anthony lives on in her. I now love to write. How lucky am I? I have found two passions in my life!

As both a chef and a storyteller, I create. The similarities between the two métier are incredible. 

Norm: What advice can you give aspiring writers that you wished you had received, or that you wished you would have listened to? 

David: Don't watch films that were adapted from novels. Instead, read the actual book. In fact, read, read, and read some more. I do not have a lot of free time, but I try to set aside time daily to sit and read, Nothing has improved my writing by merely reading! 

Norm: Could you tell our readers something about Say Goodbye and Goodnight and  A Wistful Tale of Gods, Men, and Monster?

David: A Wistful Tale is a horror novel in a classic vein. Based on an abandoned cemetery in a small town in Upstate New York during All Hallows Eve. It is chock full of monsters such as werewolves, ghosts, and an evil dwarf. It is scary fun.

It is the type of book people will read to their children every Halloween.

Say Goodbye and Goodnight was a labor of love. Based in Brooklyn during 1977, it is the story of a romance.

Many places and events in the story are real. Young Anthony Marino is an up and coming fighter who falls for a beautiful Gia Columbo.

It is the story of a neighborhood colored by Italians, disco, and many adverse events that transpire during that year: a citywide blackout, a bankrupt city, and a killer who tormented Brooklyn for a summer.

The Son of Sam teased the police through his letters to a famed journalist named Jimmy Breslin. In one particular note, he challenged the police to capture him and signed it-Say Goodbye and Goodnight.

Norm: How did you become involved with the subjects or themes of these works of fiction?

David: With another horror novel coming out on November 25th, I will have written three books. Although all are fiction, I love incorporating both real people and actual places. 

My first book began with the cemetery, which I visited and researched. The second was based around a disco that I worked at as a teen. The third is based around a town in Upstate New York, which I found to be rather spooky.

Many of the characters in my books are based on people I have known in my life. One great example is Izzy Moishel, Anthony Marino's trainer in Say Goodbye and Goodnight.

Based on my trainer (I also fought), Izzy Zerling was the product of Manhattan's Jewish ghetto of the Lower Eastside. He fought during the Great Depression, fighting more than 300 times merely to put food on the table.

Izzy had a language all his own, along with wit and wisdom without peer. I believe that the reader will love the Izzy I write about, a character that is not far from the original. 

Norm: Do you write more by logic or intuition, or some combination of the two? Please summarize your writing process.

David: First, I don't consider myself a writer; instead, I consider myself a storyteller. I don't know if I have a real process. When I sit to begin a book, it starts with a thought. I have no idea where it will take me. I write almost daily, and when I sit, the book takes over and leads me on a journey. When I write horror, I become dark and brooding. Yet, when I wrote, Say Goodbye and Goodnight disco echoed through my house. Now that I'm writing a Christmas novel, my wife is enjoying my moods.

Norm: What were your goals and intentions in the novels, and how well do you feel you achieved them? 

David: I need to write a book that I enjoy. I don't preach, and my writing is basic and forthcoming. If I enjoy my book, I'm confident that I will entertain the reader. I think I've been successful; I'm on the third novel with the same publisher.

Norm: What do you think most characterizes your writing? 

David: Fiction with a nonfiction approach.

Norm: What was the most difficult part of writing the books, and what did you enjoy most about writing them? 

David: Writing mostly horror, it takes me to dark places in my everyday life. In fact, my physician has prescribed medication to stop me from dreaming.

My dreams are horrific and, at times, carry over after I wake.

I love to create things. During my entire adult life, I became famous for the cuisine I created. Similarly, I love creating novels; it is glorious to open a book that I have created!

Norm: Where can our readers find out more about you and your books?

David: For more information and upcoming books, appearances, and giveaways- RUGGIERO BOOKS.

For more information about my cooking, including weekly recipes-DAVID RUGGIERO.COM. 

Norm: What is next for David Ruggerio?

David: My next book is coming out on November 25th, 2020. Another horror novel, A Prison Without Locks, is a book based on a town in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The main culprit in this book is the fear of the dark. I exploit that fear, and after reading it, I think most will look under their bed before sleeping.

I'm in the process of finishing another book that will come out next year. How do you follow a book that makes you afraid of the dark? My publisher wanted more horror! Instead, a Christmas novel! It is warm, sweet, and loving. It is refreshing to write it.

Norm: As this interview comes to an end, what question do you wish that someone would ask about your book, but nobody has? Please tell us?

David: Having successfully written horror, romance, and even a holiday novel, is there a genre you have not touched but are chomping at the bit to try?

Norm:  Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. It's been an absolute pleasure to meet with you and read your work. Good luck with