My Favorite Cigar
Michael Cimarusti • Chef • Romeo y Julieta Wide Churchill
Only 157 restaurants in the world can boast three Michelin stars. Last summer, Chef Michael Cimarusti saw his Los Angeles restaurant, Providence, join that illustrious group, going from two stars to three. Such a feat takes a busy man, and when the 56-year-old relaxes, it’s with a fine cigar and a wonderful Bourbon.
His favorite smoke is the Cuban Romeo y Julieta Wide Churchill. “It’s just the right size for me,” he says. He got the bug for Cubans while working at New York’s Le Cirque, when he was given a Partagas Serie D No. 4. The chef is also a big fan of Padróns.
Cimarusti smokes when he’s relaxing and celebrating. “Always on holidays—this Thursday I’ll have at least one,” he says, chatting a few days before Thanksgiving. “When I’m on vacation I certainly smoke more.”
Before he had three stars of his own, he dined in a three-star restaurant in France. “At the end of the meal my wife and I were invited to take the party to the garden . . . they wheeled over a humidor and offered me a cigar. And after-dinner drinks. There’s long been this connection between cigars and gastronomy.”
