An Interesting Dinner with Steve Wozniak

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I asked my husband to give me a challenge- name an interesting person, and I would find their favorite dinner.  Steve Wozniak was only too easy.

In 2012, Business Insider did a feature on Steve Wozniak’s favorite restaurants, based on his Foursquare check-ins.  At the top of the list was Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.  Mr. Wozniak was quoted as saying, “When in the city, we love this place.  I have a few Ruth’s Chris butter mints in my pocket already, as usual!”

But first, a bit about Woz.

Steve Wozniak is best known for cofounding Apple, Inc. with his partner, Steve Jobs.  Steve Wozniak was born in San Jose, California, on August 11, 1950.  As a child, he was fascinated by electronics.  He met Steve Jobs while studying at UC Berkeley, and the two formed Apple Computer on April 1, 1976.  The early days of Apple famously took place in  a garage, where the Steves worked on creating the first use-friendly personal computer.  Wozniak was responsible for inventing products, and Jobs for marketing.  Wozniak built the Apple I while working out of this garage, and later designed Apple II.

Jobs and Wozniak became billionaires when the company went public in 1980, with Wozniak receiving four million stocks, worth 116 million dollars.  In 1981, Wozniak was injured in a private plane crash in Santa Cruz, and he suffered memory loss so severe that he did not remember the crash or his hospital stay. He eventually recovered from the amnesia.  Wozniak left Apple in 1987.

Post-Apple, Woz founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization that provides legal aid for computer hackers facing criminal prosecution, with Mitchell Kapor in 1990.  He has also founded CL 9, the company known for creating the first programmable universal remote control, and Wheels of Zeus (WoZ), with the mission of developing wireless GPS technology.  In 2006 he published his autobiography, iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It. Two years later, he joined Fusion-io, a Salt Lake City start-up.

What else is interesting about Woz?  He has been awarded a total of 11 Honorary Doctor of Engineering degrees. He pulled a hamstring and broke his foot while competing in Dancing with the Stars. He’s been married four times, he is a member of a Segway polo team, and in the 1990s, he submitted so many high scores in Tetris to Nintendo Power magazine that they eventually refused to print them.

And, as we’ve learned, he’s a big fan of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.

Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse is kind enough to share some of their recipes on their website.  After looking them over, I chose the recipe for the crab cakes- one of my own favorites.

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