The People · Page 21
The artisans of taste.
Chef
Andrius Kubilius
Audrieu, France
## Coming Up Training at Vilniaus Antakalnio Vidurinė Mokykla gave Andrius Kubilius an early structure for working with discipline, and that foundation carried into professional…
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Executive Chef & Proprietor, Cracco in Galleria, Milan
Carlo Cracco
Milan, Italy
Carlo Cracco is an Italian chef born on October 8, 1965, in Creazzo, Vicenza, who trained under Gualtiero Marchesi, the first Italian chef to receive three Michelin stars,…
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Chef
Nathan Outlaw
Port Isaac, United Kingdom
## Coming Up Training at Thanet College gave Nathan Outlaw the base; the kitchens of InterContinental London Park Lane gave him the pace. That combination tends to leave a mark:…
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Chef & Owner, Rose’s Luxury
Aaron Silverman
Washington DC, Washington DC, United States
## Coming Up Training moved from university into culinary school, then into restaurant kitchens where the range narrowed through service, station work, and chef / kitchen roles.…
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Restaurateur / hotelier
Ayesha Thapar
San Francisco, California, United States
Ayesha Thapar’s work in hospitality is legible through the restaurants she has co-founded, with each opening adding to a body of work built by accumulation rather than…
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Winemaker
Chester Osborn
McLaren Vale, Australia
His own description of the wines is plain: “My wines are quite loud, with plenty of character.” That gives a fair read on the craft behind Chester Osborn as well: direct,…
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David Hodson
Napa, California, United States
David Hodson is former chef of Bouchon Bistro in Yountville, and the work reads as the product of repetition, restraint, and the sort of discipline that survives service. Le…
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Hadrien Moudoulaud
Paris, France
Hadrien Moudoulaud is a Paris bartender and co-founder of Bar Nouveau. He worked at Little Red Door, Bonhomie, Mezcaleria, Artesian in London and Le Syndicat before opening Bar…
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Chef
Håkon Solbakk
Trondheim, Norway
Håkon Solbakk has been Executive Head Chef at Speilsalen, Britannia Hotel in Trondheim, Norway since 2023, following four years as Head Chef in the same kitchen. The progression…
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Chef
João Oliveira
Portimão, Portugal
In Portimão, Portugal, the work starts with the market and the coast. Fish, seafood, and vegetables set the terms; the menu follows what is fresh, local, and in season. At Vista…
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Marc Puzzuoli
Paris, France
Marc Puzzuoli is a bartender, operator and co-founder of Bar Nouveau in Paris. After experience at Swift in London, he joined Rémy Savage and twins Sara and Hadrien Moudoulaud to…
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Co-Founder, Bar Nouveau; Bartender and Hospitality Entrepreneur
Remy Savage
Paris, France
Rémy Savage is a French-Irish bartender and hospitality entrepreneur whose work combines philosophy, art and drinks. After leading programmes at Little Red Door, Artesian and Le…
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Chef
Robert Chambers
London, United Kingdom
At Luca in Clerkenwell, London, the plate is built from English asparagus, Toasted Quinoa, Black Olive Crumb and Lardo di Colonnata without forcing those elements into the same…
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Chef
Ryan King
Napa, California, United States
Ryan King is Chef de Cuisine at Bouchon Bistro in Yountville, United States, where the room is built around a specific kind of service rhythm: the scrape of cutlery, tables set…
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Sara Moudoulaud
Paris, France
Sara Moudoulaud is a Paris bartender and co-founder of Bar Nouveau. Her career includes Bespoke, Little Red Door, Artesian in London and Le Syndicat before she opened Bar Nouveau…
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James Beard Award winner
Srijith Gopinathan
Menlo Park, California, United States
## The Essentials Indian cooking sits at the center of Srijith Gopinathan’s work across California, from restaurant leadership to co-ownership. At Ettan in Palo Alto, which he has…
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Chef
Timon Michiels
Sint-Idesbald, Belgium
## The Climb Technical training sits at the base of Timon Michiels’s work, and it is already visible in the way his path moves between structured schooling and high-pressure…
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Co-Founder, Quinary
Antonio Lai
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Born in Hong Kong and local by nationality, the bar practice Antonio Lai describes is tied to a 1997 sightline: a bartender working flair with ease and grace. The early reference…
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Charlene Dawes
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Charlene Dawes is a co-founder of Quinary, the pioneering Hong Kong cocktail bar she established with bartender Antonio Lai. Their venue became one of the city's early…
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Chef des cuisines, Pur' - Jean-François Rouquette
Jean-François Rouquette
Paris, France
Jean-François Rouquette, an Aveyron native who grew up in the Paris region, is the Executive Chef of the Michelin-starred Pur' restaurant at Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme, where he has…
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Chef
Nicolas Decloedt
Ixelles, Belgium
Trained at Culinary Institute Ter Duinen, vegetable-focused cooking is the through-line in Nicolas Decloedt’s work across Brussels, Ghent, and Ixelles, with recognition from…
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Chef
Willem Hiele
Oudenburg, Belgium
## The Path Since 2022, Willem Hiele has been the chef of Willem Hiele in Oudenburg, Belgium, with the restaurant carrying the same name as the person shaping its kitchen. That…
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Chef
Josef Centeno
Los Angeles, California, United States
## The Path Training came before restaurant identity. Josef Centeno’s background runs through San Antonio Academy, Central Catholic Marianist High School, and the Culinary…
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Chef
Koji Watari
Tokyo, Japan
Fish-focused French cooking is the register here: seafood from Japanese waters handled through Classical French technique, with Koji Watari as the chef associated with that…
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Chef
Lee Cooper
Vancouver, Canada
## The Climb The line from line cook to ownership is usually built on repetitions, and Lee Cooper’s run shows that clearly: sous chef at Mission Hill Winery, apprentice under Rob…
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Chef
Mario Comitale
Quattro Castella, Italy
Mario Comitale’s career reads like a steady ascent through some of northern Italy’s most polished dining rooms, a trajectory shaped by discipline, refinement, and the quiet…
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Chef
Mary Dumont
Kennebunk, Maine, United States
Mary Dumont’s work at The White Barn Inn Restaurant in Kennebunk reads as cumulative craft: family kitchens, Bay Area training, and a sequence of openings and leadership roles…
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Chef
Minoru Ogawa
Tokyo, Japan
## The Honours Recognition in sushi is earned through control rather than display: a piece of fish placed at the right moment, handled without excess, and supported by rice,…
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Nozomu Yamai
Tokyo, Japan
His work is rooted in the discipline of traditional kaiseki, carried at a restaurant set within the grounds of Tengenji Temple in Minamiazabu. There, the menu is built daily…
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Chef
Shizuo Miyamoto
Kyoto, Japan
## Where It Started Chinese cuisine supplies the working grammar here: technique, heat, sequence, and meaning before decoration. In Shizuo Miyamoto’s cooking, that grammar is…
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Yoshiyuki Inoue
Los Angeles, California, United States
Before Yoshiyuki Inoue became chef of Sushi Kaneyoshi in Los Angeles, the line of his work was already set by Yokohama, where he was born in December 1978. Read against the grain,…
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Chef
Adam Stokes
Birmingham, United Kingdom
## At a Glance - First kitchen role: commis chef at Hambleton Hall in 2001. ## In Their Words **“I started as a commis chef in 2001 at Hambleton Hall.”** For a kitchen career,…
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Chef
David Minicucci
Toronto, Canada
## Coming Up Humber College gave David Minicucci the technical base for a career built on operational precision, pace, and eventual ownership. From there, the work moved from…
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Chef
Dominic Teague
London, United Kingdom
He cooks to a simple brief: ingredients should lead, with the plate kept elegant and relaxed. ## The Path An apprenticeship at the Lanesborough Hotel gave Dominic Teague his first…
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Doujin Nakajima
Kyoto, Japan
His cooking is kaiseki, but not in the mode of abundance or display. In Doujin Nakajima’s hands, it is stripped to essentials: minimal in form, exact in construction, and built to…
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Hotelier
Gordon Campbell Gray
London, United Kingdom
Born in Scotland in February 1947 and British by nationality, Gordon Campbell Gray is identified with a hotel craft built around atmosphere, proportion and the removal of…
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Chef
Gorkem Ozkan
Istanbul, Turkey
Gorkem Ozkan is the Executive Chef at Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Türkiye, where his cooking is defined by innovative Turkish seafood creations. In a…
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Chef
Marcelo Tejedor
Santiago de Compostela, Spain
In Santiago de Compostela, Galician raw materials are the ground Marcelo Tejedor works from at Casa Marcelo, the house he founded in 1999 and leads as chef and owner. The language…
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Chef
Mark Kempson
London, United Kingdom
Mark Kempson has built his reputation at Kitchen W8 in London, where the work is governed by the season and by a disciplined sense of restraint. The cooking is seasonal and…
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World's 50 Best Bars
Martin Hudak
Sydney, Australia
Martin Hudak works between coffee and cocktails, and the point of contact between the two is the method. Born in Prešov, Slovakia, he built that practice by treating coffee…
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Chef
Michele Lazzarini
Oltressenda Alta, Italy
## Coming Up At Contrada Bricconi in Oltressenda Alta, Italy, the kitchen is built around terrain rather than ego, and Michele Lazzarini’s work sits firmly in that register.…
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Chef
Rob Rossi
Toronto, Canada
Rob Rossi’s work sits in Italian dining built through station discipline, ownership, and the coastal grammar that now defines Osteria Giulia in Toronto. The through-line is close…
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World's 50 Best Bars
Stefano Catino
Sydney, Australia
## Coming Up Stefano Catino sits behind a working model of hospitality that is built as much as it is presented: co-founder of Maybe Sammy, and director & founder of Maybe Group &…
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Chef
Abel Álvarez
La Vega, Spain
At Güeyu-Mar in La Vega, Spain, grill work is treated as a control system rather than a garnish. Executive Chef Abel Álvarez’s kitchen is organized around a plain premise: start…
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Chef
Cornelia Sühr
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Cornelia Sühr, Executive Chef at White Barn Inn, Auberge Collection, came into the trade early, in a small village in Germany, where restaurant work entered her life at 13. That…
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Chef
Mary Attea
New York City, New York, United States
The shared meal is the core material in Mary Attea’s cooking: a Buffalo table shaped by Lebanese heritage, hospitality, and the daily rhythm of people gathering around food. At…
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Chef
Mostafa Seif
Giza, Egypt
His work centers on taking Egyptian cuisine global, but the method is local and practical: working kitchens, service pace, and the discipline of repetition. ## Coming Up Training…
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Chef
Weng Yongjun
Shanghai, China
As Executive Chef of Yong Fu (Huangpu), Weng Yongjun works Ningbo cuisine from a kitchen structured around seafood shipped daily from Ningbo, with the menu shifting meaningfully…
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Chef
Akrame Benallal
Paris, France
In Paris, seasonality and local supply set the working rhythm at the eponymous restaurant where Akrame Benallal cooks. The register is contemporary French: vegetables, fruit,…
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World's 50 Best Bars
Amanda Carto
Austin, Texas, United States
The General Manager’s craft in an Austin bar is measured in the room before it is measured on paper: pacing service, supporting staff, reading guests, and keeping the house…
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Chef and Founder, Gēn
Johnson Wong
George Town, Malaysia
## Formation Classical technique provides a useful grammar when it stays in service of ingredients rather than display. In Johnson Wong’s case, that grammar was learned at Le…
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Chef
Simone Padoan
San Bonifacio, Italy
## The Climb Apprenticeship at his brother's pizzeria gave Simone Padoan the base of the work: oven rhythm, repetition, and service held to a fixed standard. He stayed there until…
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Chef
Alex Claridge
Birmingham, United Kingdom
## The Climb In the early stages of his career, Alex Claridge worked as Executive Chef at a small vegetarian chain in Manchester and Birmingham. That early remit set a working…
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Chef
Andy Doubrava
San Francisco, California, United States
Andy Doubrava is Executive Chef of Tacos Mama Cuca in San Francisco, where the menu centers on Sonoran-style Mexican street food, including the Taco Yaqui. The work here is built…
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Chef
Bartosz Szymczak
Warsaw, Poland
## Coming Up Le Cordon Bleu sits at the start of Bartosz Szymczak’s professional line, followed by London kitchens where the work moved through Bleeding Heart, Arbutus, The Cow,…
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Chef
Chet Sharma
London, United Kingdom
## The Climb University of Oxford gave Chet Sharma the formal grounding; the kitchens that followed gave him the method. Work as research and development chef at L’Enclume,…
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Chef
Jeremy Fox
Los Angeles, California, United States
The through-line is vegetable cookery: precise, personal, and rendered with enough clarity that beets, berries, hominy, radish, and pickled vegetables can carry the force of a…
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Chef
Tomas Kalika
Buenos Aires, Argentina
In Buenos Aires, the working material at Mishiguene is memory: Jewish immigrant cuisine, family recipes, and dishes carried across borders, then reworked with modern technique.…
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Chef
Virginie Basselot
Nice, France
## Coming Up The training line starts with Apprenticeship in Normandy, then moves through service in French grand dining rooms: chef at Le Kraal in Deauville, France, chef at…
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Chef
Zarah Khan
Los Angeles, California, United States
## Coming Up Train the palate on pastry and you often get the kind of control that later shows up in savory work. Zarah Khan’s University of Washington background, followed by a…
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Chef
Andrea Papa
Viareggio, Italy
Andrea Papa is Executive Chef of Romano in Viareggio, Italy. At the restaurant, he works within an authentic and refined expression of Viareggio cuisine, with a kitchen tied to…
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Chef
Angelos Lantos
Athens, Greece
Head Chef at Spondi, Athens The line between those roles is drawn by repetition, not theatrics. In a dining scene that often prizes speed and novelty, his profile is built on the…
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Chef
Danijel Đekić
Rovinj, Croatia
Around Rovinj, the work begins with Istrian and Adriatic terroir, but in Danijel Đekić’s kitchen it is treated as a set of materials, not a backdrop. At Monte, where Đekić is chef…
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Chef
Fabio Trabocchi
Washington DC, Washington DC, United States
Fabio Trabocchi is an Italian chef and restaurateur at Fabio Trabocchi Restaurants in Washington, D.C, and chef at Fiola in Washington, D.C. the work is grounded in Italian…
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Chef
Gianfranco Vissani
Baschi, Italy
## The Path Training at Istituto Professionale Alberghiero di Spoleto (1967) put Gianfranco Vissani into the disciplined grammar of hospitality early: service, timing, and…
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Chef
Giuseppe Formica
Washington DC, Washington DC, United States
Formation, for Giuseppe Formica, is visible in the dining room at Fiola in Washington, D.C, where he serves as GM/Partner. His lineage is carried through service: the care of a…
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Chef
Jerrod Zifchak
New York City, New York, United States
In New York City, black cod can be built like a plated exercise in control: garam masala beurre monté for sheen and spice, roasted squash and fall squash purée for sweetness and…
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José Manuel
Ribadesella, Spain
José Manuel’s cooking is built on discipline of a kind that reads as old-school in method and current in finish. At La Huertona in Ribadesella, Spain, the product leads:…
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Partner
Liz Lambert
Austin, Texas, United States
Place-led hospitality treats rooms, counters, courtyards, roads, and open ground as one operating field. In the work Liz Lambert made or founded, Texas settings are not used as…
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Chef
Yuhei Miyamoto
Tokyo, Japan
Yuhei Miyamoto is Head Chef of CYCLE by Mauro Colagreco in Tokyo, Japan, a role he took in 2023. Born in Chiba, Japan, in 1988, his career has moved in a clean line: first in…
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Chef
Balo Ortiz
Madrid, Spain
Mexican cooking here is framed through origin, not ornament: Balo Ortiz uses Mexico as a working reference point, and Chiribita Tacos in Madrid as the format where that reference…
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Chef
Giacomo Simone
Ostuni, Italy
An Apulian chef shaped by discipline and refinement, Giacomo Simone built his career inside Restaurant 700 before moving into the Head Chef role and, since 2021, directing…
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Chef
Javi Martínez
Peralada, Spain
Javi Martínez is the chef at Castell Peralada Restaurant in Peralada, Girona, Spain. That kind of restraint says as much as a longer CV. the work is framed by where it happens and…
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Jörg Lenzin
Quebec City, Canada
## The Climb Apprenticeship in Swiss kitchens gives its structure: Jörg Lenzin’s formation was built on disciplined repetition, a federal certificate as a gastronomy chef, and…
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Chef
Masahiro Ishihara
Tokyo, Japan
## Coming Up Apprenticeship and French fine-dining training set the base of Masahiro Ishihara’s kitchen work. Under Michelin-starred Chef Katsuhiro Nakamura, and later in Michelin…
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Chef
Maurizio Serva
Rivodutri, Italy
Maurizio Serva is chef and patron of La Trota in Rivodutri, Italy, where the Michelin Guide awarded a second star in 2012. The work at La Trota is built on a narrow but exacting…
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Chef
Mei Kogo
Tokyo, Japan
## Coming Up At Sophia University, Mei Kogo built the base that later carried into sushi: discipline, concentration, and the habit of exact work. The education sits before the…
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Nobuhisa Miyasaka
Tokyo, Japan
Nobuhisa Miyasaka works in Kyoto-style kaiseki at Miyasaka in Tokyo, where the point is not display but control: seasonal ingredients, simple seasoning, clean and delicate…
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Chef
Patrick Curran
Washington DC, Washington DC, United States
Patrick Curran is the chef of Café Riggs in Washington DC, and his work there sits inside a path shaped by the Culinary Institute of America, Momofuku CCDC, and Riggs Washington…
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Chef
Peter Wirbel
Suzhou, China
A Michelin star at midi in St. Ingbert came from cooking that stayed clear of ornament for its own sake. The plate language was direct: straightforward creations, full of flavor,…
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Chef
Sandro Serva
Rivodutri, Italy
Sandro Serva works as chef at La Trota in Rivodutri, Italy, the family restaurant founded by Emilio and Rolanda Serva in 1963 on the bank of the Santa Susanna spring and river.…
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Chef
Takayuki Hagiwara
San Francisco, California, United States
## Coming Up Shiki no Kuma Nabe, or Four Seasons Bear Hot Pot, is the signature dish associated with Takayuki Hagiwara. Served year-round, it uses a name that points to the…
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Chef
Andreas Antona
Birmingham, United Kingdom
Before Andreas Antona’s name was attached to some of the Midlands’ most closely watched dining rooms, the work was already taking shape in the kitchens of the region that became…
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Chef
Jun Sakamoto
São Paulo, Brazil
São Paulo, Brazil, supplies the city context, but the working language at Jun Sakamoto is the sushi counter: polished wood, regional seafood, and controlled service in the classic…
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Chef
Natsuko Shoji
Tokyo, Japan
Her own words describe the work in practical terms: “I look at fashion icons and trends and I try to express their aesthetics using Japanese fruit.” That line sets out the method…
View →Owner and Chief Bartender, Bar Trench
Rogerio Igarashi Vaz
Tokyo, Japan
Rogerio Igarashi Vaz is the owner and chief bartender of Bar Trench in Tokyo. He co-founded Bar Trench and Bar Tram, and leads the bar's cocktail programme from its Ebisu-nishi…
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Chef
Thomas Benady
Servon, France
## Coming Up Today, Thomas Benady is chef of Auberge Sauvage. ## Where They Are Now At Auberge Sauvage, set in a former 16th-century presbytery near Mont-Saint-Michel, the…
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Chef
Yoshiteru Ikegawa
Tokyo, Japan
## Coming Up In yakitori, repetition is the point: the work lives in control, timing, and the discipline to build a restaurant around one specialty. Yoshiteru Ikegawa has done…
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Winemaker
Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin
Reims, France
In Reims, France, the raw material was Champagne, and the name on the house was Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. From 1805 to 1866, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin’s life and labor were bound to…
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Chef
Beau MacMillan
Copenhagen, Denmark
“I wanted to get back to what I love to do.” At Aure in Copenhagen, Denmark, Creative Nordic cooking is the working frame for Beau MacMillan: Nordic produce and technique, handled…
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Chef
Chad Johnson
Tampa, Florida, United States
## The Climb Formal training at Heath High School and the French Culinary Institute gave Chad Johnson the structure that later showed up in the kitchen as timing, discipline, and…
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Winemaker
Didier Mariotti
Reims, France
In Reims, Champagne is assembled by parcel, by variety, and by vintage. Each component is held apart until blending gives the wine its final architecture. That way of…
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Chef
Hidefumi Namba
Tokyo, Japan
Edomae Sushi Namba Hibiya is built around the meeting point of shari and tane. In Hibiya, Tokyo, Hidefumi Namba works in a register where the piece is judged by contact, pressure,…
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Chef
Jeremy Austin
Creemore, Canada
## The Climb Chinese influence runs through Jeremy Austin’s cooking as structure rather than ornament: a way of shaping local ingredients so they read clearly on the plate. The…
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Chef
Léon Griffioen
Cádiz, Spain
## Coming Up In early service work, Léon Griffioen worked as cook / chef at Cádiz (various hotels in Chiclana) in Chiclana, Cádiz, Spain (from 2000), a position that put him…
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Chef
Lydia del Olmo
Ourense, Spain
The distinction at Ceibe is built on Seasonal Galician cooking handled with restraint. Natural flavors and textures stay legible, while older Galician recipes are carried forward…
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Chef
Molly Nickerson
New York City, New York, United States
Molly Nickerson is the executive chef of Marea, a two-Michelin-starred Italian seafood restaurant in New York City, part of the Altamarea Group. She began her career washing…
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Chef
Ryujiro Nakamura
Tokyo, Japan
## Coming Up Edomae sushi is the line that defines Ryujiro Nakamura’s work, and the discipline of that style was sharpened during his years as Executive Chef at Umi in Aoyama,…
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Chef
Tom Parker
Fence, United Kingdom
## The Path At Northcote Manor, Tom Parker worked as sous chef from 2011 to 2013, a period that put structure around the basics: pace, precision, and the pressure of a…
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Chef
Xosé Magalhaes
Ourense, Spain
From Xinzo de Limia, Ourense, Xosé Magalhaes built his work around the demands of service: timing, recall, and the discipline to repeat the same standard night after night. Casa…
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