BEING A CELEBRITY CHEF ISN'T AS easy as pie. There are those endless cookbook signings, long trips from one TV gig to the next and, of course, the pressure to whip up four-star masterpieces in front of live audiences. Gourmet Justin Miller has an additional burden: he can't quite reach the stove.
Not that it's keeping the 7-year-old down. Standing on a milk crate, the 4'2" culinary wunderkind has done his tot-in-toque act on TV more than 40 times. Between generous servings of knock-knock jokes ("Lettuce who?" "Lettuce out of here—it's cold"), he has made potato-chip cookies with Rosie O'Donnell, vegetable sandwiches with Fred Rogers and minicheesecakes with Phil Donahue. His freshly baked first book, Cooking with Justin, features such kid-friendly foods as mashed potatoes with onions, and zucchini rings sauteéd in butter. "The best part is mixing things," says Miller, who tries out recipes at his parents' home in Baden, Pa. "I just like the action."
Today show coanchor Matt Lauer, who had Miller on in May, is bowled over. "He's this wonderfully polished little performer," he says, "but he's an absolute natural without being one of these kind of overly coached robots."
Even at 18 months, Miller was already at home on the range. It was then that his mother, Linda, 38, a homemaker, handed her son a cabbage leaf and some meat filling and watched in amazement as he rolled it expertly. By age 4, he had mastered a vegetable pot-pie, and his father, Jimi, 44, a radio broadcaster, sent a videotape to—where else?—Late Show with David Letterman. Soon after, Miller was flinging vanilla wafers around Dave's set.
What's next for the talented tyke? "I won't do Jay Leno," Miller says, ever loyal to Letterman. Not that he lacks exposure. "Martha Stewart went to CBS," deadpans Lauer. "Well, we've found her replacement."
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