The People · Page 25
The artisans of taste.
Chef
Keith Motsi
Seoul, South Korea
The line runs from Harare and the UK into Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo, and the craft shows in the steps between each stop: barback work, hotel-bar service, Head Bartender duties,…
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Chef
Laurent Kalkotour
New York City, New York, United States
He is recognized for work at Atrium Dumbo and for his 2018 Maître Cuisinier de France recognition. ## The Climb Today, Laurent Kalkotour leads the kitchen at Atrium Dumbo as…
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Chef
Luca Landi
Viareggio, Italy
## The Climb At Istituto alberghiero di Marina di Massa, the technical base was set early for Luca Landi, whose path then moved through kitchens where discipline and timing were…
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Chef
Simone Cantafio
Corvara in Badia, Italy
Simone Cantafio works in Corvara in Badia, Italy, as chef and director of La Stüa de Michil, where he also serves as executive chef. In the Dolomites, the restaurant is shaped as…
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Chef
Sören Herzig
Vienna, Austria
Modern Cuisine and Creative cuisine at Restaurant Herzig in Vienna are organized around ownership, authorship, and a compact kitchen identity. The cook carrying that identity,…
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Vicente Cossio
Inglewood, California, United States
## The Climb The foundation of Vicente Cossio’s work is a seafood business built from the ground up in 1984, when he founded Mariscos Chente's. His name is attached to the…
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Chef
Yosuke Shimizu
Nagoya, Japan
## The Ascent Precision and restraint are learned through repetition before they read as style. In Osaka at Honkotsuki and in Gifu City at Takada Hachisho, Yosuke Shimizu built…
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Chef
Philippe Augé
Guangzhou, China
Philippe Aug has held the chef post at Table de Levernois, France, since 2008, and that long tenure has defined the shape of his work. In a kitchen built on repetition and…
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Chef
Sebastian Jiménez
Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
## The Path The Head Chef role at Ræst, in Tórshavn, is the clearest fact in Sebastian Jim’s profile, and it carries the weight that title should: day-to-day responsibility, room…
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Chef
Vincenzo Ursini
Melbourne, Australia
## Coming Up At Grill Americano in Melbourne, Australia, the kitchen’s tempo has been shaped by Vincenzo Ursini since 2024, when he stepped in as Head Chef. The work in that seat…
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William Rodgers
New York City, New York, United States
He works the stove and broiler at Keens Steakhouse inside a format that has already been settled by the house: beef, smoke, heat, and repetition done correctly. William Rodgers is…
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Chef
Edoardo Tilli
Pontassieve, Italy
Edoardo Tilli is the chef and founder behind Podere Belvedere in Pontassieve, Italy, a project shaped through restraint rather than display. Self-taught, he built outside the…
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Ignacio Maese
Santander, Spain
Ignacio Maese is Executive Chef at El Serbal in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, where the kitchen is built around a Modern Cantabrian register: precise work, controlled pacing, and…
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Chef
Joel Bickford
Sydney, Australia
## The Path In Sydney dining rooms, Joel Bickford built his reputation through roles that demanded consistency, calm under pressure and a precise hand. At Bathers' Pavilion in…
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Chef
Kazunori Otowa
Utsunomiya, Japan
French technique is the working structure here: terrine, chaud-froid, sauce work, and composed service. In Kazunori Otowa’s cooking, that structure is used to register Japan’s…
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Chef
Max Stiegl
Purbach am Neusiedler See, Austria
At Gut Purbach am Neusiedler See, Austria, regional cooking is treated as a working system rather than a theme. In Max Stiegl’s kitchen, fish come from Lake Neusiedl, game from…
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Chef
Maxime Bouttier
Paris, France
Maxime Bouttier is chef of Géosmine in Paris, France, where the work sits on restraint, precision, and a clear point of view. His own rule is direct: “The most important thing is…
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Chef
Patrick Withington
Manchester, United Kingdom
Before Patrick Withington founded Erst in Manchester, the route into cooking ran through plumbing, supper clubs, and travel-inspired food rather than a standard kitchen-school…
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Chef
Takahiro Yamagishi
Kyoto, Japan
## Coming Up Takahiro Yamagishi later served as former sushi chef at Tominokoji Yamagishi in Kyoto, building experience inside the same restaurant he would eventually lead. That…
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Adam Shepard
New York City, New York, United States
## Coming Up Bond Street and Union Pacific were the first proving grounds in Shepard’s career, where the demands of line work set the tempo: speed, consistency, and the ability to…
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Chinese Executive Chef, Jiang-Nan Chun at Four Seasons Hotel Singapore
Albert Au
Singapore, Singapore
Albert Au is the Chinese Executive Chef at the one-MICHELIN-starred Cantonese restaurant Jiang-Nan Chun in Four Seasons Hotel Singapore, having joined in 2021 after nearly three…
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Chef
Alicio Garro
San Sebastián, Spain
Over that span, Basque seafood and market-led cooking gave Alicio Garro a fixed place in local dining memory. The work rested on ingredient-led menus that changed daily, set by…
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Chef
Antonio Ziantoni
Rome, Italy
At Zia Restaurant in Rome, Italy, Antonio Ziantoni works from a spare idea: let the best products of Italy have room. The cooking is described as minimalistic, with savory dishes…
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Chef
Christian Jeske
Neustift im Stubaital, Austria
In Neustift im Stubaital, the work at Hubertusstube is built from provenance first: regional produce that reads as the valley, and international ingredients chosen for precision…
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Chef, ECK Restaurant
Daniel Tilinger
Bratislava, Slovakia
Daniel Tilinger is the chef and concept creator of ECK Restaurant in Bratislava, Slovakia, where he has elevated Slovak gastronomy through precise, fire-focused cuisine blending…
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Chef
Fran Espi
València, Spain
One dish tied to his work is Ensalada de berberecho y algas con emulsión de su propia agua. It shows the kind of cooking Fran Espi works toward: sea-driven, tightly composed, and…
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Chef
Gísli Matthías Auðunsson
Reykjavík, Iceland
“Every drink and every dish had to have a meaning. Some reference, some reason.” That rule of purpose sits under Gísli Matthías Auðunsson’s cooking and sets the terms for the…
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Chef
Jason Chavenson
Washington DC, Washington DC, United States
Before Jason Chavenson reached Chef de cuisine at Maison Bar à Vins in Washington, D.C, the work had already set its terms: classroom training, then line cook discipline, then a…
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Juergen Wolfsgrube
Munich, Germany
## The Path Sparkling Bistro in Munich is built around a style that sits between boundary-pushing modern German cooking and Modern Austrian and German fine dining. As founder,…
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Chef
Palash Mitra
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
## Coming Up The line from London kitchens to Hong Kong service runs through Palash Mitra’s early posts at Gymkhana, The Cinnamon Club, and Scarfes Bar. That background shows in a…
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Chef
Pascal Aussignac
London, United Kingdom
## The Climb At Club Gascon in London, Pascal Aussignac built a long-running chef patron model: one restaurant, one point of view, from 1998–2026. That length matters in trade…
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Chef
Paul Lee
Taipei, Taiwan
Paul Lee is chef-owner of Impromptu by Paul Lee in Taipei, where contemporary American cuisine is handled with restraint and clear control. In 2019, Impromptu by Paul Lee earned…
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Chef
Shane Osborn
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Chef patron of Arcane in Central, Hong Kong, Shane Osborn has worked across Australia, London, and Hong Kong in kitchens where timing, discipline, and repetition matter. The…
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Chef
Tsai Jui-lang
Taipei, Taiwan
In Tsai Jui-lang’s cooking, time is handled as a material, not a backdrop. The line he has drawn between Taiwanese knife work and Hakka preserved ingredients — “a gamble with…
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Chef
Viet Hong
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
## Coming Up University is the formal anchor in Viet Hong’s background, but the trade begins in service. In 2010, Viet Hong started as part-time service staff at a five-star hotel…
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Chef
Bert Jan Michielsen
Antwerp, Belgium
## The Climb The chef / owner role at The Butcher's Son has been Bert Jan Michielsen's working position since 2016, placing the daily craft of the kitchen inside a butcher-linked…
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Camilla Ferraro
Seville, Spain
Camilla Ferraro has been chef of Sobretablas in Seville, Spain, since 2018, working from a register that keeps contemporary plating tied to the cadences of traditional Sevillian…
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Chef
Davide Ruotolo
Naples, Italy
## Coming Up Training at Da Gennaro dal 1956 and a Diploma in Scienze Umane gave Davide Ruotolo a working base in discipline and language before he entered pizza service. Those…
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Chef
Evens López
Paris, France
## Coming Up Training at Le Cordon Bleu Perú and Culinary school in Lima, Peru gave Evens López the technical base that later carried across multiple service cultures. From there,…
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Winemaker
Hironori Kobayashi
Nagano, Japan
From Mercian Corporation to Château Mercian Mariko Winery in Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, Hironori Kobayashi’s work is tied to one precise charge: guiding Mariko as General Manager…
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Chef
J. P. Amateau
Los Angeles, California, United States
Before J. P. Amateau reached a kitchen line, he had already learned two useful forms of discipline: the Culinary Institute of America’s technical standard and the timing required…
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Chef
Jonathan Brincat
Valletta, Malta
## Coming Up At Noni in Valletta, the work is built around Maltese and Mediterranean cuisine, with Jonathan Brincat carrying the combined responsibilities of founder and co-owner,…
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Chef
Julia Sedefdjian
Paris, France
## Coming Up Apprenticeship in the south of France set the technical base before Paris entered the picture. At L'Aphrodite / Aphrodite restaurant in Nice, France (until 2012),…
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Chef
Malcolm Lee
Singapore, Singapore
In Singapore, Straits-Chinese and Peranakan cooking often starts with materials that read as everyday staples: rice, curry, sambals, family recipes. In Malcolm Lee’s hands, those…
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Chef
Mattia Pecis
Portofino, Italy
Mattia Pecis has led the kitchen at Cracco Portofino, Italy, since 2021, bringing to the Ligurian coast a style built on movement, discipline, and individual authorship. In this…
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Chef
Petter Nilsson
Stockholm, Sweden
Petter Nilsson’s work at Petri in Stockholm is built on calibration: flavor kept in line, texture kept legible, and the room treated as part of the plate. The point is not…
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Partner at Employees Only New York
Steve Schneider
Shanghai, China
At Employees Only New York in New York City, the operating language is cold glassware, rye, bitters, mezcal, citrus and the pace of a full room. Since 2020, Steve Schneider has…
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Chef
Tadashi “Edowan” Yoshida
New York City, New York, United States
## Coming Up A sushi apprenticeship in Tokyo, Japan set the baseline for Tadashi “Edowan” Yoshida’s work: knife control, rice handling, and repetition as method. That foundation…
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Takeshi Kaneko
Bangkok, Thailand
## The Path Two kitchens, one command structure: Takeshi Kaneko serves as Kitchen Head Chef of Shiro's and Executive Chef of Aksorn. The work in that position is less about…
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Chef
Vianney Massot
Beijing, China
His work sits in Haute French Cuisine, treated here as a set of methods rather than a fixed style: repetition, testing, and controlled progression. That frame explains the line of…
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Chef, Vespasia
Fabio Cappiello
Norcia, Italy
Fabio Cappiello, originally from Bitonto in Puglia, is the chef at Ristorante Vespasia in Norcia, Umbria, where he works alongside Japanese chef Fumiko Sakai since 2017,…
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Chef
Giulio Terrinoni
Rome, Italy
## The Climb Since 2015, Giulio Terrinoni has been chef and owner of Per Me Giulio Terrinoni, a position that marks a settled point in a longer rise. The restaurant carries his…
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Chef
Jos Timmer
Amsterdam, Netherlands
The core move in Jos Timmer’s work at De Kas came in 2018, when a year in the kitchen turned into ownership of the same restaurant. That shift did not read as a break from the…
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Chef
Kenichi Nishi
Yaizu, Japan
Kenichi Nishi has been owner-chef of Chiso Nishikenichi in Yaizu, Japan, since 2022. The work there is built on exacting handling and a close reading of ingredients, with fish…
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Kris De Roy
Bazel, Belgium
## The Path Training at Hotel School Ter Groene Poorte, Bruges and Hotel School Ter Duinen, Koksijde set the base: classic technique, kitchen discipline, and the habits expected…
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Chef
Marko Đerić
Belgrade, Serbia
Marko Đerić’s working life was shaped by the first real service: a short internship at Jerry restaurant in New Belgrade that made kitchen work more than a spare-time interest.…
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Chef
Maurizio Oster
Hamburg, Germany
Maurizio Oster’s work in Hamburg, Germany, is built around season, place, texture and the expressive load a single ingredient can carry. The cooking draws on international…
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Chef
Stephane del Rio
Madrid, Spain
Le Bistroman has been awarded Two Soles Repsol by Guía Repsol for a kitchen built on seasonality, classic recipes, and measured execution. The work associated with Stephane del…
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Chef
Thierry Schwartz
Obernai, France
In Obernai, locality functions as a working constraint rather than a slogan: fields, gardens, and growers within less than 50 kilometers set the range of the kitchen. In Thierry…
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Chef
Victor Villa
Los Angeles, California, United States
## The Climb The job carries a familiar burden: keep the work direct, keep the flavors legible, and let the details do the talking. In Villa’s case, that means the craft reads as…
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Sommelier
Wolfgang Kneidinger
Vienna, Austria
Head of Wine at Palais Coburg in Vienna, Austria, Wolfgang Kneidinger works in a field where service depends on calibration: what to pour, when to speak, when to step back. His…
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Chef
David Boyer
Paris, France
## The Climb Traditional French cuisine rewards repetition, memory, and control, and David Boyer built his career inside that framework after training at CFA Jean Monnet in 1998.…
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Chef
Eugénie Béziat
Paris, France
## The Climb The kitchen language here is one of curiosity and control, with room for risk only when the result can still hold its shape. The move placed her work inside a dining…
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Chef
Guido Niño-Torres
Les Vans, France
Before Guido Niño-Torres reached Likoké in Les Vans, France, the line through his work already ran from education to kitchen practice. He studied at Lycée français de Cali, and…
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Chef
Jonas Andre Nåvik
Trondheim, Norway
Executive Chef of Fagn in Trondheim, Jonas Andre Nåvik works in a Modern Nordic register that keeps the focus on technique, locality and restraint. The point is not decoration but…
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Chef
Julien Boscus
Paris, France
Julien Boscus is Chef Proprietor of Origines Restaurant in Paris, France, where the cooking follows the calendar and gives the ingredient the lead. The line is Modern French…
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Kelli Crosson
La Jolla, California, United States
Kelli Crosson’s current post at A.R. Valentien in La Jolla is a kitchen role that depends on control, sourcing, and pace. The line from New York to marketing at Corporate office…
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Kobe Desraumalts
Brussels, Belgium
## The Climb Kobe Desraumalts began as chef at In de Wulf in Dranouter, West Flanders, where he stayed until 2016. Those years set the terms of a cooking style that kept…
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Chef
Martijn Defauw
Marke, Belgium
## Coming Up Precision, restraint and a clear sense of flavor have already given Martijn Defauw’s work a readable shape. Since 2017, the chef and owner role at Rebelle has placed…
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Chef
Matteo Re Depaolini
Beijing, China
Matteo Re Depaolini became Chef de Cuisine at Mio in Beijing in 2024, bringing a disciplined, exacting approach from Legnano, Milan, Italy into one of the capital’s most polished…
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Chef
Michel Trama
Puymirol, France
Michel Trama’s cooking at Restaurant Michel Trama in Puymirol is built from Gascon ingredients handled with restraint and line. Duck, foie gras, and herbs supply the core…
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Chef
Ryuji Teshima
Paris, France
## Coming Up At Pages in Paris, France, the French cuisine with Japanese influences is built as a personal line rather than a borrowed category. Since 2014, Ryuji Teshima has…
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Chef
Andrew McConnell
Melbourne, Australia
Andrew McConnell is owner and Executive Chef of Gimlet in Melbourne. Born in Melbourne in 1976, he has kept his work tied to the city that shaped it, moving from apprenticeship…
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Executive Chef & Owner, Essential by Christophe
Christophe Bellanca
New York City, New York, United States
Chef Christophe Bellanca, raised in Ardèche, France, trained at renowned kitchens including Georges Blanc in Vonnas, La Pyramide in Vienne, Régis Marcon in Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid,…
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David Agüero
San Sebastián, Spain
## The Path At Narru, the chef’s helm places David Agüero inside the restaurant’s daily rhythm, where the work of directing a kitchen also means setting the tone for how it…
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Chef
María Solivellas
Caimari, Spain
María Solivellas cooks at Ca Na Toneta in Caimari, Spain, with a method built around place rather than display. The work stays close to local, seasonal Mallorcan cuisine:…
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Chef
Nadia Sammut
Cadenet, France
## Coming Up At Auberge La Fenière in Cadenet, the cooking is built around a predominantly plant-based approach rooted in the Mediterranean diet. Vegetables and legumes do the…
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Chef
Romain Paillereau
Fribourg, Switzerland
## Coming Up Since 2021, Restaurant Des Trois Tours in Bourguillon has been the setting for Romain Paillereau’s current work as chef. The post is defined by continuity, but not by…
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Chef
Sungchul Shim
New York City, New York, United States
The work at Kochi is built on Korean skewered dishes, rendered through fine-dining technique and grounded in the food Sungchul Shim grew up with. The Korean royal court is part of…
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Yoshikazu Suto
Barcelona, Spain
## The Climb Chef-owner of Suto in Barcelona since 2019, Yoshikazu Suto is defined by a route that runs from Gunma Prefecture, Japan, through two decades of training abroad and…
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Chef
Alex Meyer
Miami, Florida, United States
Before Alex Meyer became chef-owner of Boia De in Miami, his work was shaped in kitchens that demanded pace, discipline, and attention to detail. That background shows up in food…
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Chef
Angelo Vagiotis
Cork, Ireland
Irish produce and the turn of the seasons set the terms at The Pullman in Galway, where Angelo Vagiotis leads the kitchen as Head Chef. The work reads as measured rather than…
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Chef
Chris Cipollone
New York City, New York, United States
Chris Cipollone has been chef and co-founder at Francie in Brooklyn, New York, since 2020. The work reads as controlled and cumulative: a career built through exacting rooms,…
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Chef
Christophe Gavot
Bizanos, France
Chef de cuisine at Villa Gallici in Aix-en-Provence, France, Christophe Gavot has built a career through the measured progression of professional kitchens. The line runs from La…
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Chef
Christopher Cipollone
New York City, New York, United States
Hospitality, in Christopher Cipollone’s work as Executive Chef/Owner of Francie in Brooklyn, New York, is treated as part of the job rather than an accessory to the plate. His own…
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Chef
Franckelie Laloum
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
## Coming Up The pace of Franckelie Laloum’s career is legible in the rooms it passed through: Head Chef at Maison Pic (2010–2011), then Head Chef at Shangri-La Shanghai, Jade on…
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Chef
Giacomo Notarbartolo
London, United Kingdom
## Coming Up "Nobu was the beginning of modernity," Giacomo Notarbartolo has said, and the line reads less like branding than a working description of the standard he applies to…
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Chef
Graham Squire
London, United Kingdom
At The Goring in London, Graham Squire works in British cooking as a matter of structure: Sunday roasts, classic dishes, and the steady judgment required to keep a recipe intact…
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Chef
Hugo Moran
Miami, Florida, United States
His career reads as a progression through kitchens where pace, discipline, and precision are non-negotiable. That kind of repeat order is part of the measure in service: it marks…
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Chef
Ivan Brehm
Singapore, Singapore
Cross-cultural cooking, as practiced at Nouri in Singapore, starts from a working premise rather than a theme: cuisines carry similarities because food cultures do not develop in…
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Chef
Ivan Chan
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Before Ivan Chan became Executive Chef of Beefbar in Hong Kong, Hong Kong had already done part of the work. Born there, he cooks with a sense of inheritance rather than…
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Founder and Owner, Alquímico
Jean Trinh
Cartagena, Colombia
Jean Trinh is the founder and owner of Alquímico in Cartagena. His work connects the bar's Colombian ingredients and drinks program with hospitality, sustainability and the team's…
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Chef
Jérôme Ferrer
Montréal, Canada
More than two decades into his run at Jérôme Ferrer - Europea, the restaurant marked a new public threshold in 2025 with One MICHELIN Guide star. The signal is straightforward:…
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Chef
Johan Björkman
Gothenburg, Sweden
Johan Björkman’s cooking at Koka in Gothenburg is built from the shifting ingredients of the Swedish West Coast, handled with a modern discipline that keeps the plate under…
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James Beard Award winner
John Winterman
New York City, New York, United States
## Career Service-floor work is the throughline in John Winterman’s career: the progression runs from restaurant busser at Restaurant in Breckenridge, Colorado (from 1993) to…
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Chef
José Tamayo
Quito, Ecuador
José Tamayo is Executive Chef at Casa Gangotena in Quito, Ecuador, and the route there was built through movement, discipline, and repeated changes of register: pastry to service,…
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Chef
Kazuo Harada
São Paulo, Brazil
His cooking is built on refinement: Asian cuisine interpreted through traditional technique, then opened up with contemporary flair and a clear Japanese-Brazilian accent. The…
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Chef
Kei Koo
Taipei, Taiwan
Kei Koo has led the kitchen at de nuit in Taipei since 2023, working in a Contemporary French register built on restraint rather than display. His own words are the clearest…
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Chef
Masayoshi Hanada
Paris, France
Masayoshi Hanada is the Japanese chef of HANADA in Paris, France, where the work is built around Edo-mae style sushi. In a dining city that often leans on display, HANADA reads as…
View →Founder, Potato Head
Ronald Akili
Denpasar, Indonesia
Ronald Akili is the hotelier and founder behind Potato Head and Desa Potato Head in Bali. His hospitality work places design, culture and environmental responsibility in the same…
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