Here's Why Ina Garten Will Never Open A Restaurant

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In late 2022, celebrity chef Ina Garten spoke with Kerry Diamond of the Radio Cherry Bombe podcast about holiday entertaining and Garten's then-newly released volume, "Go-To Dinners: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook." In the midst of waxing rhapsodic about good cheese and seasonal butter boards, Garten took a moment to address Diamond's question about whether she would ever open a restaurant.

"[W]e will definitely not have an Ina Garten restaurant. I think that's the hardest work on the planet. It's just grueling. Everybody crammed into a small space" she stated in no uncertain terms. "That kind of pressure, I understand why people get an adrenaline rush from it, but I couldn't do that anymore. No, I love what I do." It seems that, for Garten, cooking at a deliberate and mindful pace is more her speed ... pun fully intended. 

Ina Garten taught us how to organize our pantry sensibly and has imparted countless cooking tips that home chefs should know. This supports the notion that Garten's personal philosophy about her culinary gifts might be that she was meant to showcase an aspirational lifestyle and share her knowledge as opposed to dishing up delicious meals à la some fellow culinary icons like Alex Guarnaschelli and Giada De Laurentiis, who have dipped into the restaurant game. Garten might class herself as more of a media figure, like a Ree Drummond or Martha Stewart, both of whom focus on the lifestyle side of cooking and kitchen wizardry.

While Ina Garten never aspired to the chaotic life of a restaurateur, she did start her career in food retail. The meaning of Garten's sobriquet, the "Barefoot Contessa," comes from the name of the specialty food shop she purchased in Westhampton Beach, New York, in 1978. Garten owned the store until 1996, at which time she sold it to write her first cookbook. Thirteen more cookbooks followed, along with an Emmy Award-winning TV show, a Facebook blog with tons of subscribers, and a thriving website. Today, you can have some of Garten's luscious cakes delivered to you thanks to a partnership with Goldbelly, or you can read her recent memoir, "Be Ready When the Luck Happens." You can even try to replicate her favorite recipes, but you will be cooking them, and not her!

Garten is not shy about the fact that her brand focuses on slow, luxurious living in stark contrast to her anxious, strict upbringing. Nowadays, her personal habits are incompatible with those of professional restaurant chefs, who often keep extreme hours. She doesn't wake up until 7:30 AM, she says, which is later than her husband, Jeffrey. At that point, she makes breakfast and reads the morning paper. She also says she likes to stay up late and watch T.V. Her life centers more around her own satisfaction and not that of picky restaurant diners ... a valid decision that we appreciate completely.