The People · Page 22
The artisans of taste.
Chef
Ciro Salvo
Naples, Italy
## The Climb Pizza dough is the central object in Ciro Salvo’s work, and he has made that plain in one line: "The secret of my dough is me!" The claim is less slogan than working…
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Chef
Alexandre Silva
Lisbon, Portugal
Alexandre Silva’s cooking at Loco in Lisbon is built on a single, legible brief: Portuguese cuisine, handled with clarity, discipline and pride. Born in Abrigada, a small village…
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Peter Grey
Bray, United Kingdom
## The Path At Middlethorpe Hall in York, Peter Grey moved through Kitchen Porter, Commis Chef and Chef de Partie posts — the kind of sequence that builds pace, discipline and…
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Chef
Alberto Gipponi
Gussago, Italy
Alberto Gipponi has described food and cooking in visceral terms, but the useful part for the trade is the method beneath the language: a kitchen practice built around sensation,…
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Chef
Alison Clem
Austin, Texas, United States
## The Climb Since 2012, Alison Clem has taken over and built la Barbecue from a food trailer of la Barbecue, serving as chef/owner and director of operations and co-owner. That…
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Chef
Arne Riehn
Bangkok, Thailand
Arne Riehn is Head Chef at IGNIV Bangkok, Thailand, where fine dining is built around sharing without loosening the standard of the pass. The format depends on communal service,…
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Chef
Barry Quek
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Chef work can start with scale and repetition, and Barry Quek has said the first clear pull came while he was in the army. A cookhouse serving hundreds made the basics visible:…
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Chef
David Hartwig
Bangkok, Thailand
David Hartwig is Swiss and has led IGNIV in Bangkok, Thailand, as Head Chef. The work reads through precision and lightness: a kitchen approach that values exacting control…
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Jacky Zhang
Shanghai, China
His cooking sits in Cantonese cuisine, but Jacky Zhang describes the craft as something learned in the room rather than from a named institution. “I learned to cook through other…
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Chef
Kenneth Culhane
London, United Kingdom
## The Climb Training at Dublin Institute of Technology and Cathal Brugha Street TUDublin gave Kenneth Culhane the kind of technical grounding that reads in the work: disciplined,…
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Chef
Miguel Carretero
Madrid, Spain
## The Climb Training at Toledo School of Hospitality set the baseline for Miguel Carretero’s work: discipline, timing, and the repetition that turns technique into instinct. That…
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Chef
Mikel Población
Bilbao, Spain
## The Climb Escuela de Hostelería de Leioa gave Mikel Poblaci the sort of grounding that reads in the work later: discipline, repetition, and exactness. That kind of training…
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Chef
Ronny Siewert
Bad Doberan, Germany
The line is plain, but it sets the terms of Ronny Siewert’s work: early commitment, no detours, and a career built through repetition, discipline and the steady accumulation of…
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Chef
Takeji Ito
Otsu, Japan
Takeji Ito runs Hirasansou in Otsu, Japan, where hospitality is shaped by distance as much as by service. The climb to the house is part of the work; guests arrive after making…
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Teruki Murashima
Tokyo, Japan
## The Path A career built through precise kitchens reads as accumulation rather than sprint. Teruki Murashima moved from Sous Chef at Monna Lisa in Tokyo to Sous Chef at…
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Chef
Yoshinor Ishii
London, United Kingdom
Lead Chef at Auberge TOKITO in Tachikawa, Tokyo, Japan since 2021, Yoshinor Ishii works within kaiseki cuisine and ikejime, bringing high-grade British produce into a classical…
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Chef
Anne Alvero
San Francisco, California, United States
## Coming Up Zuni Café in San Francisco is the frame for Anne Alvero’s work: a kitchen built on precision, restraint, and a steady rhythm of service rather than display. Since…
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Chef
Aylin Yazicioglu
Istanbul, Turkey
## The Climb Exacting restaurant-building is what shaped Aylin Yazicioglu’s profile in Istanbul, where Nicole was defined by her hand as founder and Executive Chef from 2013–2019.…
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Dhiraj Kumar
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
## The Climb Lecturing came early in Dhiraj Kumar’s career, with IHM Shrishakti in Begumpet, Hyderabad listing him as a lecturer from 2021. The work sits at the teaching end of…
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Chef
Frédéric Chabbert
Antwerp, Belgium
## Coming Up Early kitchen work gave Frédéric Chabbert a practical education in discipline, pace, and standards. In Monaco, Alain Ducasse's kitchen put him in a setting where…
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Chef
Gaurav Kuthari
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Gaurav Kuthari’s work in Hong Kong has been built inside one house, with progression measured less by movement than by depth. He joined CHAAT in 2020 and became Chef de Cuisine in…
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Chef
Kristaps Silis
Riga, Latvia
## Coming Up At JOHN Chef's Hall in Riga, Latvia, the Head Chef role puts Kristaps Silis in charge of the room’s pace and the kitchen’s daily discipline. The position carries the…
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Executive Chef, Kyoto Kitcho Arashiyama
Kunio Tokuoka
Kyoto, Japan
Kunio Tokuoka, born in 1960 in Osaka, Japan, is the grandson of Kitcho founder Teiichi Yuki and has served as Executive Chef of Kyoto Kitcho Arashiyama since 1995, elevating the…
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Chef
Matt Christmas
London, United Kingdom
He describes the work plainly: “It’s food people like to eat.” That line is the brief. Matt Christmas’s cooking is built on practicality, control, and restraint; the point is not…
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Chef
Przemek Sieradzki
Kościelisko, Poland
Przemek Sieradzki is head chef at Restaurant Giewont in Kościelisko, Poland. The cooking is anchored in Podhale: mountain food, Polish family memory, and French technique used as…
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Chef
Ryan DeNicola
Los Angeles, California, United States
Ryan DeNicola’s work at Chi Spacca sits in meat cookery with a broad, practical grasp of flavor: grill heat, spice, smoke, fruit, and acid all have a job to do. In dishes like…
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Chef
Sam Aisbett
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
## The Climb Founding Whitegrass in Singapore gave Sam Aisbett a platform to define a cooking style with a clear point of view. From 2015–2018, the restaurant was his field for…
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Chef
Scott Paton
Plymouth, United Kingdom
That early certainty still sits under Scott Paton’s work at Àclèaf. The cooking is built around a clear brief: make people smile, and do it through food that is considered,…
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Chef
Colin Sato
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
In Honolulu, Colin Sato works in a register that treats local ingredients as operating language rather than garnish. Taro, kampachi, ulu, coconut, and lamb are handled as…
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Chef
Joris Bijdendijk
Amsterdam, Netherlands
## The Path At Sint-Nicolaaslyceum and Hogere Hotelschool Den Haag, Joris Bijdendijk built the kind of base that kitchen work still asks for: consistency, discipline, and a clear…
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Chef
Juan D'Onofrio
Madrid, Spain
## The Climb Technique, pace, and restraint mark Juan D'Onofrio’s route through the kitchen. He trained at Lycée School (2017) and Bellart gastronomy and pastry school before…
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Chef
Oliver Glowig
Paestum, Italy
## The Path Oliver Glowig’s career is built through executive-chef posts across hotels, restaurants, and other operating settings, with Germany as the starting point and Italy as…
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Chef
Andrea Migliaccio
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Andrea Migliaccio is profiled here in connection with Dubai, United Arab Emirates. ## The Path At Jumeirah, Andrea Migliaccio built the base that now underpins his work: polished…
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Chef
ArChan Chan
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
## Coming Up ArChan Chan has led Ho Lee Fook as Executive Chef since 2021. The position sits inside a Chinese restaurant identity that Chan describes in Hong Kong terms: “We are a…
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Chef
Bee Satongun
Bangkok, Thailand
Bee Satongun opened Paste in Bangkok in 2012, and the restaurant’s language has been built around balance: measured, disciplined, and willing to shift without breaking from…
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Chef
Emi Schobert
Málaga, Spain
Emi Schobert’s cooking at Blossom in Málaga, Spain is built from technique before expression: a modern fusion register shaped by precision, structure, and intent. Born in Buenos…
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Chef
Gregor Vračko
Zgornja Kungota, Slovenia
Gregor Vra leads the kitchen at Hiša Denk in Zgornja Kungota, Slovenia, and that role now defines his work. In a field that values control as much as expression, he has become the…
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Chef
James Parry
San Francisco, California, United States
## The Path The city is the throughline in James Parry’s résumé, and the significance of that matters in a trade where repetition, proximity, and institutional memory shape a…
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Chef
Kevin Cory
Miami, Florida, United States
Before Kevin Cory became chef of NAOE in Miami, Japanese cuisine had already set the terms of his public work. The result is a career built through repetition, discipline, and…
View →Estate Director and Winemaking Lead, Disznókő
László Mészáros
Mezőzombor, Hungary
László Mészáros is the estate director of Disznókő in Tokaj. An agricultural engineer educated in Hungary and France, he joined the estate in 1995 and became director in January…
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Chef
Adejoké Bakare
London, United Kingdom
Adejoké Bakare works from West African cuisine, and Chishuru in London gives that brief a fixed address in Fitzrovia from September 2023. The restaurant reads as the accumulation…
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Chef
Joël Watanabe
Vancouver, Canada
## Coming Up Since 2010, Joël Watanabe has held the executive chef role at Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie, a position built on consistency over time rather than novelty. He is also…
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Justin Park
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Justin Park is a co-founder of Bar Leather Apron, the Honolulu cocktail bar he established with Tom Park in 2015.
View →Co-Founder, Bar Leather Apron
Tom Park
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Tom Park is a co-founder of Bar Leather Apron, the Honolulu cocktail bar he established with Justin Park in 2015.
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Chef
Travis Swikard
San Diego, California, United States
Travis Swikard has been chef-owner of Callie in San Diego since 2021, a role that keeps the work anchored to the city where his current reputation is built. The title is direct,…
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Chef
Ahmet Erkaya
Miami, Florida, United States
Ahmet Erkaya’s work at Mandolin Aegean Bistro in Miami is built around a specific line of reference: the Aegean. Before the restaurant opened in 2009, the concept was already…
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Chef
Alain Ducasse
Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, France
At Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester in London, the plate is treated as a finished argument for product clarity rather than surface effect. Carosello Cucumber, Smoked Yoghurt and…
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Culinary legend
Alice Waters
San Francisco, California, United States
## The Climb Study, observation, and sustained attention sit at the center of Alice Waters’s work. At the University of California, Berkeley, and at Montessori school in London,…
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Chef
Cal Peternell
San Francisco, California, United States
## The Climb School of Visual Arts is the early marker in Cal Peternell’s training, a place where the work of seeing, ordering, and composing would have had real use later in the…
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Chef
Danny McCallum
Toronto, Canada
Danny McCallum’s work at Jacobs & Co. Steakhouse in Toronto is built on precision, consistency, and the discipline of repeating standards until they hold. In a steakhouse…
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Chef
Eiji Onoyama
Napa, California, United States
## The Path Kyoto training sits at the base of Eiji Onoyama’s cooking. At Kyoto Cooking School, the emphasis was on rigor and refinement; in the Kikunoi restaurants, that…
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Chef
Erhan Kostepen
Miami, Florida, United States
## The Path A compact Miami restaurant career can still show range when the throughline is discipline. In Erhan Kostepen’s case, the work has been marked by restraint, precision,…
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James Beard Award winner
Francois Payard
Paris, France
But then I realized I had more talent for baking and the rest is history.\ \ ## The Climb\ \ Pastry asks for discipline first: control of heat, timing, texture, and a clean read…
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Chef
Hubert Wallner
Maria Wörth, Austria
Hubert Wallner is the owner and chef of Restaurant Hubert Wallner in Maria Wörth. The work there runs on service timing and flavour judgment, and both depend on a hand that is…
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Chef
Hugo Bourny
Paris, France
## The Climb Training at La Rochelle set the base, then Hugo Bourny moved through a sequence of kitchens that reward precision, stamina, and the ability to hold a line under…
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Chef
Jacob Jan Boerma
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Jacob Jan Boerma is Signature Chef at The White Room by Jacob Jan Boerma in Amsterdam, where the name on the door functions as part of the restaurant’s identity rather than…
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Chef
Julio Vázquez
Barbate, Spain
Julio Vázquez’s work at El Campero in Barbate is built on formal hospitality training, repeated service in the same house, and a route through kitchens that sharpened consistency…
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Chef
Ludovic Kientz
Strasbourg, France
## The Path The making of Ludovic Kientz runs through Alsace in the old apprenticeship pattern: learn the room, learn the brigade, then earn the right to lead it. Training at…
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Chef
Martynas Praškevicius
Vilnius, Lithuania
## At a Glance Head chef, 2017–present, and founder, 2017, have defined Martynas Praškevicius’s work through practice rather than profile. His own account is plain about the…
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Chef
Masaki Kuzuhara
Nagoya, Japan
The award sits on a compact record: training at Quintessence and Hajime, and a specialty in eel cuisine. On paper it is spare; in practice it points to a kitchen style built on…
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Chef
Stéphan Bernhard
Guangzhou, China
Stéphan Bernhard is chef at Lingnan House in Guangzhou, China. His career connects Cantonese cooking in 2024 with earlier French haute cuisine shaped with a modern and…
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Winemaker
Vincent Dureuil
Rully, France
Vincent Dureuil has been winemaker and head of the family winery at Domaine Dureuil-Janthial in Rully, Burgundy, France, from 1994 to the present. The work here is not framed by a…
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Winemaker, Domaine Dureuil-Janthial
Vincent Dureuil-Janthial
Rully, France
In Burgundy's Côte Chalonnaise, wine is measured through tenancy as much as technique. At Domaine Dureuil-Janthial in Rully, France, that continuity runs through the Janthial…
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Chef
Allison Plumer
New York City, New York, United States
Allison Plumer moved through Red Hook Tavern in New York City with the quiet intensity of a chef in the making, serving as chef there from 2019 to 2020. In a restaurant world that…
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Executive Chef & Co-Owner, Che Fico
David Nayfeld
San Francisco, California, United States
David Nayfeld co-created Back Home Hospitality and opened Che Fico in San Francisco, later adding Che Fico Parco Menlo, Il Mercato di Che Fico, and Che Fico Pizzeria. He was…
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Chef
Francesco Capece
Milan, Italy
## The Climb Founding a restaurant is often the first test of whether a cook can translate judgment into a working place. In 2016, Francesco Capece did that with La Locanda dei…
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Chef
Francesco Capece - Mario Ventura
Milan, Italy
Francesco Capece - Mario Ventura has been co-founder and pizza chef at Confine in Milan, Italy, from 2022 to present, shaping the restaurant’s identity through a focused devotion…
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Chef
Giorgia Caporuscio
New York City, New York, United States
## The Climb The line from Formia to Naples is the relevant training arc here: Giorgia Caporuscio trained at Hospitality institute in Formia and Training in Naples with master…
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Chef
Giorgia Caporuscio - Matteo Bassani
New York City, New York, United States
Giorgia Caporuscio - Matteo Bassani is chef of Don Antonio in New York City, where the rhythm of the kitchen is shaped by the same discipline and devotion that brought her there…
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Chef
Grégory Garimbay
Fougères-sur-Bièvre, France
At Bellefeuille in Paris, the kitchen reads from the ground up: vegetables set the register, and Grégory Garimbay uses mustard, leek, and veal sweetbread to build contrast without…
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Chef
Kang Min-chul
Seoul, South Korea
Kang Min-chul is chef and owner of KANG MINCHUL Restaurant in Seoul, with a practice rooted in French cuisine and shaped by work across Seoul at GiwaKang. The name appears on the…
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Chef
Kiyoshi Chikano
Kyoto, Japan
## The Climb Executive Chef at Tempura Matsu is a role built on timing, touch, and control, and Kiyoshi Chikano’s work sits squarely inside that frame. The kitchen’s tempura focus…
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Chef
Mario Ventura
Milan, Italy
## Coming Up Since 2023, Mario Ventura has worked across two demanding posts at once: sommelier and maître d' of Confine - Pizza e Cantina, and Executive Chef of The Westin Tempe.…
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Chef
Pablo Loureiro Rodil
San Sebastián, Spain
Pablo Loureiro Rodil has led Casa Urola in San Sebastián since 2012, after taking on the restaurateur role there in 2010. The line is narrow by design: Universidad del País Vasco,…
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Chef
Saint James Paris: Grégory Garimbay
Paris, France
## Coming Up Bellefeuille at Saint James Paris is where Grégory Garimbay’s work is defined: a chef’s role built on timing, restraint, and the daily management of service. In a…
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Winemaker
Stuart Botha
Stellenbosch, South Africa
Since 2017, Stuart Botha has made wine at Tokara Winery outside Stellenbosch, South Africa, with a brief that rewards restraint, shape, and consistency. His own description of the…
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Anthony Dirienzo
Detroit, Michigan, United States
Anthony Dirienzo’s record is built in high-pressure kitchens, where timing, consistency, and authority matter more than noise. He is chef of Prime + Proper in Detroit, and his…
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Barry Fitzgerald
Dublin, Ireland
His line runs toward Dublin: a study in responsibility and the steady narrowing of a cook’s attention toward place. ## The Path London set the first terms of the work for Barry…
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Co-Founder, Tres Monos
Carlos Aguinsky
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Carlos 'Charly' Aguinsky is a bartender and co-founder of Tres Monos in Buenos Aires. He and Sebastián Atienza founded the bar in June 2019 around accessible hospitality,…
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Chef
Chris Pandel
Chicago, Illinois, United States
“Why not make it personal, and do it the right way?” In a steakhouse kitchen, that question is a production standard: source carefully, hold the line on classic technique, and…
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Chef
Damien Duviau
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Hailing from Toulouse, France, he speaks about the Nobu identity as a daily discipline rather than a slogan, framing consistency as the measure guests read first. ## Coming Up…
View →Partner, Tres Monos
Gustavo Vocke
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Gustavo Vocke is the third partner of Tres Monos in Buenos Aires. He joined founders Carlos Aguinsky and Sebastián Atienza soon after the bar's June 2019 opening.
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Chef
Jacob Potashnick
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Jacob Potashnick won the 2026 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Great Lakes, a recognition tied to the farm-to-table tasting-menu cooking he serves as chef and owner of Feld in…
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James Beard Award winner
Lally Brennan
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
## The Climb At Mr. B's in New Orleans, the hostess stand gave Lally Brennan an early education in hospitality as a working craft: timing, flow, welcome, and the small decisions…
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Chef
Leung Yu King
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
## The Path Today, Leung Yu King is Executive Chef of Summer Palace. ## The Work Today Today, Leung Yu King serves as Executive Chinese Chef at Summer Palace in Hong Kong. The…
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Chef
Luca Gozzani
São Paulo, Brazil
Executive chef at Hotel Fasano in São Paulo, Luca Gozzani is an Italian chef whose work has been shaped by classic kitchen discipline and the standards of a house with a defined…
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Chef
Lucho Martinez
Mexico City, Mexico
Coastal cooking in the capital often depends on restraint: knowing when fish and seafood should carry the plate, and when urban discipline should frame it. At Ultramarinos Demar,…
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Chef
Meg Bickford
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
## The Climb Technique and regional identity were built together at John Folse Culinary Institute, where Meg Bickford’s training sat inside the grammar of Louisiana cooking. That…
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Winemaker, Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey
Pierre-Yves Colin
Chassagne-Montrachet, France
In Chassagne-Montrachet, France, Burgundy work at Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey is handled through the tactile variables that matter in the trade: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Aligoté,…
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Rodrigo Garcia Fonseca
Madrid, Spain
## The Path The line from Arima to Bascoat reads as a progression in kitchen discipline: Rodrigo Garcia Fonseca worked as chef at Arima in Madrid from 2019 to 2023, then moved to…
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Co-Founder, Tres Monos
Sebastián Atienza
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sebastián Atienza is a bartender and co-founder of Tres Monos in Buenos Aires. He and Carlos 'Charly' Aguinsky founded the bar in June 2019 around accessible hospitality,…
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Sven Mede
Telfs, Austria
## The Climb Sven Mede’s work has moved from station discipline into broader kitchen leadership, with each post adding another layer of technical control. At Le Manoir aux…
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Chef
Thomas McNaughton
San Francisco, California, United States
Before the title, before the company, the line runs through the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and into a San Francisco restaurant where his work took shape…
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James Beard Award winner
Ti Adelaide Martin
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
## The Climb Since 1997, Commander's Palace has had Ti Adelaide Martin as co-proprietor, a role that anchors one of New Orleans’ most storied dining rooms in steady hands. In a…
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Chef
Alessandro Frau
Phuket, Thailand
## Career Alessandro Frau’s career is built on progression that stays legible in the titles: apprentice chef, executive chef, then chef and owner / head chef. The thread through…
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Chef
Alex Harper
London, United Kingdom
Before Alex Harper took on the Executive Chef role for a new opening in Mayfair, London, the work had already been set by years in professional kitchens, where repetition builds…
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Chef
Artur Martínez
Barcelona, Spain
Modern Mediterranean cooking here is read through Vallès Occidental: restrained preparations, few visible moves, and service built around direct contact between cook and diner. In…
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Chef
Daisuke Nomura
Tokyo, Japan
## Coming Up Shojin Ryori sets the frame for Daisuke Nomura’s work: restraint first, then depth, with vegetables and seaweed carrying the weight of the dish through gentle dashi.…
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Chef
Jake Leach
London, United Kingdom
## The Climb Training at Guildford College, then work experience in a pub in Guildford, then a move to head chef at The Ledbury in Notting Hill until 2021: Jake Leach’s route is…
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Chef
Jody Williams
New York City, New York, United States
## The Path At Centre College, the groundwork was education; in New York City kitchens, the groundwork became service, timing, and room reading. Jody Williams moved through Tappo,…
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