The People · Page 124
The artisans of taste.
James Beard Award winner
Barbara Kingsolver
At a Glance. ## Signature Barbara Kingsolver’s signature works are *Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life*, *Demon Copperhead*, *The Poisonwood Bible*, and *The Bean…
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James Beard Award winner
Barbara Lazaroff
## The Path At New York University, the rigor of study and the speed of the city helped form a working eye for composition, pace, and public space. Barbara Lazaroff’s practice has…
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James Beard Award winner
Barbara Lynch
## The Climb Boston is the through-line in Barbara Lynch’s work: front-of-house service at the St. Botolph Club, then a first kitchen post cooking meals for priests in the rectory…
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Winemaker
Barbara Öhlzelt
## At a Glance - Winemaker at Weingut Barbara Öhlzelt - Works in Zöbing, Austria - Specialty: Riesling - KITZ GEMISCHTER SATZ 2025 was chosen as the anniversary wine in 2025…
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Winemaker
Barbara Tamburini
## The Climb That kind of apprenticeship teaches how to read raw material before it becomes wine, and how small decisions in the cellar carry weight later on. From that point, her…
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James Beard Award winner
Barbara Tropp
## Coming Up After Princeton University, Barbara Tropp moved into kitchen work that led her to San Francisco. The throughline was not speed or spectacle, but sustained restaurant…
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Master Sommelier
Barbara Werley
California, Bordeaux, Australia, Portugal, Germany, Austria, and Greece sit in Barbara Werley’s cellar logic as reference points: regions chosen for how they can hold a table,…
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Bartender / bar director
Barnett Yueh
Bartending in a seafood bar asks for a narrow kind of precision: drinks must hold their own without crowding the table, service has to track the pace of the room, and the…
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Bartender / bar director
Barney O’kane
## The Climb At Little Red Door in Paris, Barney O’kane learned the kind of bar discipline that shows up in the glass, in the pace of service, and in the room around it. The…
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Master Sommelier
Barrie Larvin
Barrie Larvin is a Master Sommelier, a title that points to technical command and the discipline of tasting with precision over time. His comments place that skill at a transition…
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Master distiller / blender
Barry Becton
## The Climb State Government Relations at Diageo sits inside the regulatory side of the trade: policy, advocacy, and the day-to-day work of representing a beverage company before…
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Master distiller / blender
Barry Crockett
Barry Crockett is best known for serving as Master Distiller of Jameson Irish Whiskey at Midleton Distillery in Cork from 1981 to 2013. "I am fortunate to have been part of the…
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James Beard Award winner
Barry Estabrook
## The Climb In food media, editorial work often means building the frame others read through. Barry Estabrook did that at two of the field’s better-known publications: in…
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James Beard Award winner
Barry Maiden
Food & Wine named Barry Maiden Best New Chef in 2009, and the award lands as a marker on the Boston-to-Cambridge run that had already been built in kitchens. In Boston, those…
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Michelin-starred chef
Barry Smyth
Barry Smyth’s profile is defined, in the source provided, by one credential: Michelin-starred chef. That is enough to place his work in the register of exacting kitchens, where…
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Chairman & CEO
Barry Sternlicht
Hospitality development, when it works at scale, depends on more than capital stack and room count. It asks how property, service, materials, brand behavior, and setting are…
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Master distiller / blender
Barry Walsh
That description covers both ends of the operation, from the making inside the orchard system to the selling that places the bottle in front of buyers. It is a working definition,…
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World's 50 Best Bars
Bart Sasso
Bart Sasso is a stakeholder at Ticonderoga Club in Atlanta, USA. He is also the founder of Sasso & Co, giving his work a dual track: a direct role inside one Atlanta hospitality…
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Wine luminary
Bartholomew Broadbent
Founder and CEO of Broadbent Selections since 1996, Bartholomew Broadbent has built a career around the merchant’s side of wine: apprenticeship, field experience, and a sustained…
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Culinary legend
Barton Seaver
## Coming Up Seafood set the terms of Barton Seaver’s work early, and he has kept returning to it as an ingredient, a subject, and a system. His own description — “Because it’s so…
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Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Bashar Wali
“I don't run hotels. I build places that make people feel.” In the hotel trade, that claim puts the work where operators recognize it: not in rooms, rates, or amenities alone, but…
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Pastry chef
Bastien Girard
## Coming Up In 2017, Bastien Girard worked there before the pastry chef appointment that followed. The year reads as a working apprenticeship in place: learning the rhythm,…
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Bartender / bar director
BB Barna
## At a Glance Role: bartender and bar director. ## In Their Words **“Being fake is not an option, I'm either real or nothing.”** At the bar, the job is not only to pour and pace…
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Master of Wine
Beans Boughton
Beans Boughton works with Alliance Wine in Oxford, where rare allocations and premium strategy sit inside the same brief. In that corner of the trade, the work is defined by…
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James Beard Award winner
Beatrice Ojakangas
## Coming Up Home Economics at the University of Minnesota–Duluth, completed in 1956, gave Beatrice Ojakangas a working base in domestic skill before she moved into magazine work.…
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Hotelier
Beatrice Tollman
In luxury hospitality, the durable work is operational rather than ornamental: a house standard built through welcome, comfort, service timing, and detail that repeats across…
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Chef-Owner
Beatriz Allué
Beatriz Allué is chef-owner of El Origen.
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Master distiller / blender
Becky Harris
Becky Harris holds the master distiller / blender role at Catoctin Creek Distillery, and the work sits at the center of her practice. In distilling, that title points to two…
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Bartender / bar director
Becky Paskin
Becky Paskin’s work with whisky grew out of service, not theory. Before editorial desks and category coverage, she was on the floor as a bartender and restaurant manager, learning…
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Michelin-starred chef
Beh Gaik Lean
Beh Gaik Lean’s Michelin-starred status is the public shorthand attached to her work, and it is shorthand with weight. Michelin recognition is not a decorative line on a profile;…
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Winemaker
Belén Sanz Cid
Belén Sanz Cid has held the same post at Dehesa de los Canónigos in Pesquera de Duero since 1998, with oenology and technical direction running in parallel from that year to the…
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Lifestyle expert
Belinda Chang
## The Ascent Dining-room technique often starts before the cellar: station discipline, table pacing, and the ability to read a room. At Rice University in Houston, Texas, Belinda…
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James Beard Award winner
Belinda Jeffery
Belinda Jeffery is a television food presenter at Better Homes and Gardens. The work is anchored in directness: she has said, “I love food, I love cooking and I love eating.” That…
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World's 50 Best Bars
Ben Davidson
## At a Glance Since 2018, Ben Davidson has worked as Head Chef for multiple clients in London, England, United Kingdom, a role defined by private kitchens, shifting menus and…
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James Beard Award winner
Ben Grupe
## The Path Training at Racquet Club Ladue and The Greenbrier gave Ben Grupe the framework, but the work that followed supplied the repetition. Early roles at Windows on…
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Bartender / bar director
Ben Lobos
## The Climb By the time Ben Lobos reached the World Class finals in Berlin (2020), the work was already in place. Competition at that level runs on preparation, not…
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James Beard Award winner
Ben Paynter
He came to editorial work after time as a high-end chef, then moved through roles as a features editor at Men's Health and a senior writer at Fast Company. That sequence gives Ben…
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Head Chef
Ben Piette
Ben Piette is Head Chef at Maison. The city is not specified.
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Chief Brand Officer
Ben Pundole
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of A Hotel Life is the public title most often attached to Ben Pundole, but the practice is wider than publishing. It sits in the hotel trade’s…
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Other
Ben Ray Luján
In 2025, Ben Ray Luján serves on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation in Washington, D.C. The work sits in the institutional lane: committee procedure,…
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World's 50 Best Bars
Ben Schaffer
## The Path At Bard College, Ben Schaffer’s training gave him a base that later showed up less as a single discipline than as a way of working across publishing, drinks culture,…
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Chef
Ben Tish
At Cubitt House in London, the Chef Director role places Ben Tish inside a mode of cooking that values clarity over construction. The work is simple, seasonal and full-flavoured:…
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Bocuse d'Or laureate
Bence DALNOKI
Bence DALNOKI is Hungarian, and at Stand Restaurant in Budapest he works as sous-chef, a position that sits in the operational center of one of the city’s most closely watched…
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Winemaker
Bénédicte Hubau
Winemaker at Château Moulin Pey-Labrie in Fronsac, France, Bénédicte Hubau is defined by a Right Bank brief that is exacting and plain: Old-vine Merlot, limestone-laden hillside…
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Chef
Benito Molina
Benito Molina is a Mexican chef known to television audiences as a former judge on Masterchef México, but the work that defines him sits in the kitchen, not the studio. Born on…
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Chef
Benjamin Balesteri
"Just like the people in Italy, I'm guided by what's available in the wild and in the garden. In Italy, they don't manipulate food, but rather, bring out what's best about it. I…
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World's 50 Best Bars
Benjamin Cavagna
## The Path Milan was the training ground for Benjamin Cavagna, and the city’s pace demands a particular kind of bar discipline: polished presentation, late services, and…
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Chef
Benjamin Chrétien
## The Climb In 2025, Benjamin Chrétien took on the chef role at Hautes Roches in Rochecorbon, Touraine, Centre-Val de Loire, France, covering both the gastronomic restaurant and…
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Head Chef
Benjamin Gallein
Benjamin Gallein is Head Chef at Votum. The city is unknown.
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Chef
Benjamin Godin
## The Path Line work in demanding kitchens tends to reward consistency before it rewards speed, and Benjamin Godin’s path shows that sequence clearly. He began as Junior Sous at…
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Chef
Benjamin Goldman
## Today Training at the University of Central Florida and Johnson & Wales University shows up in the way Benjamin Goldman works: disciplined, technique-led, and built around…
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Benjamin Higgins
## The Climb Professional training at The Arizona Culinary Institute gave Benjamin Higgins a baseline in kitchen discipline before he moved into service settings that each…
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Head Chef
Benjamin Laborie
Benjamin Laborie is Head Chef at l'Impératif d'Éole. His city is unknown.
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Winemaker
Benjamin Lanz
Benjamin Lanz is the winemaker and owner of Weingut Lanz in Nonnenhorn, Bavaria, Germany, where his work centers on Fungus-resistant PiWi grape varieties. His approach is shaped…
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Master of Wine
Benjamin Lewin
Founder of Cell in 1974, Benjamin Lewin sits at the point where wine writing, publishing, and table service meet. The work attached to his name is less about performance than…
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Bartender / bar director
Benjamin Lickfett
## Career Since 2019, Benjamin Lickfett has held the brief for futures and Digital Innovation across Europe at Diageo. The appointment fixes the work to a clear date and a clear…
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Chef
Benjamin Reilhes
Born in Castres, Benjamin Reilhes came into the trade through a domestic kitchen where preservation, harvest, and shared meals were part of the working rhythm. Before he led the…
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Head Chef
Benjamin Toursel
Benjamin Toursel is Head Chef at Auberge Le Prieuré.
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James Beard Award winner
Benjamin Wallace
## Coming Up The Melbourne restaurant circuit shaped Benjamin Wallace’s line work early: teaching classes and demonstrations at South Melbourne Market, then moving through Sous…
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Winemaker
Benjamin Zidarich
Born in Prepotto, Benjamin Zidarich has made the Carso the fixed point of his winemaking. At Zidarich in Friuli Venezia Giulia - Prepotto / Trieste, Italy, the landscape is not…
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Winemaker
Benjamin Zirgel
In a world that often prizes reinvention, there is something quietly compelling about that kind of continuity. Here, the work is not described in theatrical terms but in the…
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Bartender / bar director
Benji Purslow
Benji Purslow is identified simply as a bartender and bar director, and in that spareness there is a certain quiet intrigue. What remains is the outline of a hospitality…
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Winemaker
Benoît Chaignon
“We do not use pesticides or chemical fertilizers.” At Château Mont Plaisir in Valréas, France, Benoît Chaignon treats that line as working practice: the vine, the soil, and the…
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Winemaker
Benoît Prévot
Benoît Prévot’s appointment as general manager of Château Le Bon Pasteur in Pomerol sits at the intersection of stewardship, precision, and inherited trade. The work is anchored…
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Winemaker
Benoît Trocard
Benoît Trocard has directed the family estate Clos de la Vieille Eglise in Les Artigues de Lussac, France, since 2002. The work is both managerial and generational: in 2010, he…
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chef
Benoît Violier
## Coming Up Classical kitchen discipline is built through repeated correction: knife work, stock clarity, timing, service rhythm, and the standard that each plate must meet again…
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Winemaker
Bérengère Quellien
## The Path The work begins with training and stays practical from there. At Centre de Formation Professionnel Agricole de Blanquefort, Bérengère Quellien learned the basics of a…
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Founder & World Barista Champion, Simple Kaffa
Berg Wu
Coffee service built around extraction control, roast clarity, and competition-standard presentation is the useful frame for Berg Wu’s work. Simple Kaffa in Taipei is the shop…
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Chef
Bernadette Lisibach
Swiss-born in Hellbühl, Neuenkirch, in 1974, Bernadette Lisibach has built her reputation through kitchens across Switzerland: Neue Blumenau in Lömmenschwil, Chesa Pirani in La…
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Master distiller / blender
Bernard Bernheim
Bernard Bernheim was a distiller, born in 1850 in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, whose life and work belong to the long, smoky tradition of bourbon whiskey. The year 1850 marks the…
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Pastry Chef
Bernard Besse
Chez Borzeix-Besse, depuis quatre générations on compose avec le meilleur ! Le parfum unique de la myrtille, la saveur des noix sont à l’honneur dans des alliances surprenantes en…
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James Beard Award winner
Bernard L. Herman
Bernard L. Herman is the George B. Tindall Distinguished Professor of Southern Studies and Folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a post that points to work…
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Winemaker
Bernard Lartigue
Bernard Lartigue was owner and winemaker of Château Mayne Lalande in Listrac-Médoc, France, from 1982 to 2020. He created the estate in 1982 and made Listrac-Médoc wines there…
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Michelin Guide
Bernard Pacaud
## Coming Up Classical French kitchen training is built on repetition, restraint, heat, timing, and judgment under service pressure. The kitchen-hand station teaches professional…
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James Beard Award winner
Bernard Shaw
Bernard Shaw is identified as a chef, a title that suggests the disciplined intensity of a working kitchen even as the public record here remains deliberately restrained. What…
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James Beard Award winner
Bernard Sun
Bernard Sun’s work sits in beverage leadership, where the standard is precision rather than display. Across New York dining rooms and corporate programs, his career reads as a…
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Head Chef
Bernardo Paladini
Bernardo Paladini is the head chef at Torno Subito in Miami.
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Head Chef
Bernd Werner
Bernd Werner is Head Chef at Werners Restaurant. The city is unknown.
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Winemaker
Bernhard Werner
Bernhard Werner has worked at Weingut Werner in Leiwen, Germany since 1987, and that kind of continuity shows in the work: the estate’s identity is built from repetition,…
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Hotelier
Bernold Schroeder
## The Making Luxury hospitality at group level is built on operating discipline, service consistency, property sense and the ability to work across owners, teams and markets.…
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Chef
Bert Cutino
## Coming Up In Monterey, hospitality was learned as a household routine before it was ever a job title. Bert Cutino grew up in Carmel and around Cannery Row, when the waterfront…
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James Beard Award winner
Bert Greene
## The Essentials Food writing and shopkeeping formed the two working modes of Bert Greene’s career: one built on deadline, editing, and daily reporting; the other on curation,…
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World's 50 Best
Bertol Izagirre
## Coming Up At Gorka Izagirre in Larrabetzu, Basque Country, the winery work is managed as an ongoing discipline: keeping the house moving, reading the vineyard, and making…
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Winemaker
Bertrand Massonie
Owner / President of Château Perron in Lalande-de-Pomerol, France, Bertrand Massonie carries a formation that begins at INSEEC Grande École, where he studied in 1998, and…
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James Beard Award winner
Besha Rodell
Besha Rodell’s career reads like a long conversation between appetite and ambition. Now Chief Restaurant Critic at The Age in Melbourne, she arrived at criticism by way of an…
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Master distiller / blender
Bessie Williamson
## The Path Laphroaig distillery in Islay, Scotland was the fixed point in Bessie Williamson’s working life from 1933 onward. By 1954, that long familiarity had become authority:…
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Pastry chef
Betsy LaSorella
## The Path At Cincinnati State, Betsy LaSorella serves as professor and Program Chair in the Pastry Arts program and professor in the culinary arts department. In pastry…
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James Beard Award winner
Betsy Shepherd
Betsy Shepherd is a chef whose professional identity is anchored in making things happen, not in standing at the center of the spotlight. She produces the First Responders Recipe…
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James Beard Award winner
Betty Fussell
As Betty Fussell has said, "I’ve spent most of my life doing kitchen battle, feeding others and myself, torn between the desire to escape and the impulse to entrench myself…
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Pastry chef
Beulah Levy Ledner
## The Honours The bakery business she built and ran in 1931 was the measure of Beulah Levy Ledner’s standing. In this trade, ownership and steady output counted more than a…
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Pastry chef
Biago Settepani
Biago Settepani is a pastry chef, a title that suggests both discipline and delight, and in his case it reads like a quiet promise of finesse. Pastry, where timing matters as much…
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Winemaker
Bibi García
Technical Director and Winemaker at Cortijo Los Aguilares in Ronda, Spain, Bibi Garc has shaped the cellar there since 2007, bringing a steady, exacting sensibility to a place…
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Bartender / bar director
Bien Ngoc Vu
That honor is the clearest marker attached to Bien Ngoc Vu’s name. In a field where public records are often built from venues, mentors, and house signatures, her profile is…
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James Beard Award winner
Bill Addison
## Coming Up At Eater, Bill Addison spent 2015–2018 as National Critic, a role that depended on close reading rather than reach. The work sits in the details: the plate, the room,…
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James Beard Award winner
Bill Buford
## The Essentials At The New Yorker in New York City, Bill Buford has worked inside one of the magazine’s most exacting editorial systems since 1995. Across criticism, fiction,…
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James Beard Award winner
Bill Esparza
James Beard Award recipient Bill Esparza has built a body of work around close listening: to the cadence of kitchens, to the way memory sits inside a dish, and to how food carries…
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Pastry chef
Bill Foltz
## Coming Up At Ember Grille & Wine Bar and L’Auberge Casino Resort, Bill Foltz works in pastry at the point where precision meets modeling. The role depends on clean execution,…
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Hotelier
Bill Heinecke
The trade work here is platform-building: assembling brands, operating systems, hotels, restaurants, and lifestyle retail into a company with local roots and international reach.…
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James Beard Award winner
Bill Jamison
Bill Jamison’s work sits at the junction of the table and the road, with cookbooks and travel guides forming the core of his byline. Grilling runs through much of that output as…
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Master distiller / blender
Bill Lark
Master distiller and blender Bill Lark began, fittingly, with whisky and with the quiet intimacy of home. Long before the language of craft could be turned into a story, he and…
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