Deaf Community Rallies Behind Hot Chef Kurt Ramborger
February 24, 2012
By Andrea Grimes
ViUDA Bistro’s Kurt “The Irish Chef” Ramborger, officially the Hottest
Chef in Austin, beat Portland’s Greg Gourdet of Departure yesterday to
advance to the next round of Eater’s annual Hottest Chef in America
competition, and we can’t say we’re surprised: not only is Ramborger
dead sexy, he’s also garnered incredible support from the worldwide
deaf community thanks to online activism from his sister, Heidi Branch.
Ramborger is deaf, and so are several of his colleagues at ViUDA
Bistro.
Branch has been posting video updates–this one’s subtitled, for the
non-sign-language speakers out there–on Ramborger’s progress in the
competition and encouraging folks to vote and leave positive comments,
saying, “We need to show our positive attitude.”
Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMH8zZ-d9oo&feature=related
Ramborger himself appeared on Austin’s KEYE TV yesterday, showing a
tremendous sense of humor about the whole experience, saying: “I make
food that is sexy,” and that he loves cooking so much that he wants to
“arouse” people’s palates. We see what you did there, Irish Chef.
http://weareaustin.com/lifestyle/features/austin-live/stories/vid_136.shtml
Like his sister, Ramborger’s also started posting video blogs via
YouTube, and we’re hoping to have a translation up soon of his first
video, “Tale of the hottest chef in America.” Go, Kurt, Go!