Some people figure out what they want to do early and waste no time getting down to business.
Count Scott Conant among them. He was at the CIA right out of high school, and now, at just 26, is the executive chef at Chianti , named one of the best new restaurants of 1998 by The New York Times . He is also adept with pasta. When he moves on to meat, he does so with admirable simplicity. Conant ate peasant-style food at the home of his paternal grandfather, a potato farmer.