Fame & Fortune: TV chef Mario Batali

Celebrity chef Mario Batali loves Italian cooking, and it shows.

With his flaming red ponytail, shorts-for-all-seasons and trademark orange garden clogs, the lively, rotund host of the Food Network's "Molto Mario" and "Ciao America" brings an operatic flair to everything he does, whether he's whipping up a frenzied Tuscan fantasy against the clock on "Iron Chef America," dry-rubbing a rack of ribs for a NASCAR tailgating party or touring to promote one of his six best-selling cookbooks.

Batali comes by his theatricality naturally. A native of Seattle, Batali attended high school in Madrid, Spain, and studied the golden age of Spanish theater at Rutgers University. Following graduation, he briefly attended the famed Le Cordon Bleu in London, hated it, and instead embarked on an apprenticeship that included the Four Seasons in San Francisco and three years of intensive study in the tiny Italian village of Borgo Capanne under legendary chef Marco Pierre White.

Passionate about pasta, Batali returned to New York City and turned up the heat on the foodie circuit by opening a string of wildly successful restaurants -- including his Greenwich Village flagship Babbo -- Po, Lupa, Esca and his new baby, Del Posto.

The Food Network was quick to tap Batali, whose larger-than-life persona is matched only by his dedication to the history and science of great cuisine. Where other TV chefs strive to entertain, Batali seeks to educate his audience; little wonder many of his fans are chefs themselves.

A lengthy interview is included.