Everybody knows Wolfgang Puck. He basically created the concept of the celebrity chef with Spago in the halcyon days of early ’80s Los Angeles and since then, he’s become (quite literally) a household name with Wolfgang Puck frozen foods filling freezers all across America. As a man with restaurants all over the world, including a ton of airport locations, it’s not much of a surprise to learn that Puck travels all the time. What IS surprising is what he revealed in a recent interview with Conde Nast Traveler:

Puck’s favorite airline: It’s Emirates!

“I just got back from Dubai—we just opened a new restaurant there—and I had a wonderful experience with Emirates Airlines. Of all the airlines I’ve flown, to Singapore and Europe, I think Emirates Airlines is the best all around. It’s really the service, from beginning to end. The flight attendants are wonderful; they serve great wines in business class and first class. You want to have a good bottle of wine if you’re paying for business class. We had Dom Pérignon.”

His airplane eating routine:

“It’s really rare [I pack a snack], unless it’s a really long flight. I generally take the red-eye and I don’t need food on that flight. I have a glass of red wine, take a sleeping pill, and go to bed. Ambien is more my dinner than anything else. I need to watch my weight and planes are a good place to diet. But on Emirates, I had two helpings of caviar and some champagne and went to sleep. If the airlines served some good smoked salmon and toast or a toasted bagel, I would be happy. Maybe with a little lemon, some capers. Most people eat just to pass the time on a plane. I like to read.”

He also gets the most amazing humblebrag of all time in there when asked about the best meal he ate this week:

“We had the president of Ethiopia over and my wife, who’s Ethiopian, cooked Ethiopian food—a kind of goulash and lamb with jalapeños, lentils, beans. They eat a lot of comfort food, in a way, but with great spices.”

It would have been enough to talk about his wife’s Ethiopian lamb goulash (not a euphemism), but he just had to mention that the President of Ethiopia was there, too. Nice one, Wolfster.

Check out the rest of the interview and learn more about Wolfgang Puck’s favorite comfort food, what he’s reading, and what happens when he has to cook for the Obamas.

Read the full interview here.

Photo:

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