Late Summer Gazpacho
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 1:00AM 
One of the greatest gifts a chef can receive is when their guests come back, time and again, for the same dish. When I worked for Wolfgang Puck, there was an architect from Spain who lived down the street from one of the restaurants where I spent a lot of time. She would always order the summer gazpacho and tell me it was better than she got back home. A few kisses on both cheeks and she would be back the next day for another bowl.
Spaniards have debated gazpacho style for decades – maybe centuries. Smooth or chunky, white or red, simple or complex. Everyone agrees though, that it needs to be made with fresh summer tomatoes, and that it hits the spot on a hot summer day. Our boys turned up their noses at first, but learned to like gazpacho by dipping their bread into it like salsa; now they drink it like a veggie smoothie.