The People · Page 31
The artisans of taste.
Chef
Nicolai Ellitsgaard
Lindesnes, Norway
Nicolai Ellitsgaard has held the Head Chef post at Under in Lindesnes, Norway since 2019, putting him in charge of a dining room whose draw is as much architectural as it is…
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Chef, Gambero Rosso
Riccardo Sculli
Marina di Gioiosa Ionica, Italy
Riccardo Sculli is the Toronto-born chef of his family's Gambero Rosso in Marina di Gioiosa Ionica, Calabria. He entered the restaurant kitchen as a boy, trained at the Boscolo…
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Chef
Adam Degg
Toronto, Canada
# Adam Degg At FIFTY TWO in Harrogate, the work sits at the point where kitchen leadership meets service. Adam Degg’s career runs from London’s high-pressure dining rooms through…
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Chef
Brandon Rice
San Francisco, California, United States
Brandon Rice is chef and founder of Ernest in San Francisco, where a disciplined culinary education and years in some of the country’s most closely watched kitchens have come…
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Chef
David Hawksworth
Vancouver, Canada
David Hawksworth’s cooking sits in Contemporary Canadian cuisine, but the work is defined less by label than by discipline. His own framing is direct: “Using my European-trained…
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Chef
Dennis Huwaë
Amsterdam, Netherlands
## In Their Words Ingredient selection sits at the center of Dennis Huwa’s cooking. The standard is not intervention for its own sake, but recognition: choosing produce, then…
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Chef
Frank Rosin
Dorsten, Germany
Frank Rosin has built Rosin in Dorsten around exacting, unfussy precision. Since 1991, as chef and restaurateur there, he has treated the room as the clearest expression of his…
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Itoi Shota
Komatsu, Japan
## The Climb Since 2022, Itoi Shota has held the chef post at Auberge eaufeu. On paper, that is a simple title; in practice, it marks a kitchen where the work has settled into a…
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Chef
Jason Paluska
Santa Barbara, California, United States
## Coming Up San Francisco gave Jason Paluska a first pass at restaurant pace: from 2006–2013, he worked as a cook at Town Hall, Salt House, and Anchor & Hope, then moved into the…
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Chef
Jun Yukimura
Tokyo, Japan
## The Path At Kyoto, Jun Yukimura worked as a cook until 2000, building the kind of foundation that matters in serious kitchen work: discipline, repetition, and steady refinement…
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Chef
Lefteris Lazarou
Athens, Greece
At Varoulko Seaside in Athens, the work is Greek coastal cooking kept close to its source. The Michelin star awarded to Lefteris Lazarou in 2002 marks a long-running standard…
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Mario Elias
Wéris, Belgium
## The Path Polish and precision are the through-line in Mario Elias’s training: Ecole Hôtelière de Spa, Le Château d’Hassonville, and Le Capucin Gourmand. Those houses set the…
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Roxanne Lange
London, United Kingdom
Her cooking is seasonal and produce-led, but never loose for the sake of it. Roxanne Lange works within a classical frame, using restraint as a tool rather than a style point, so…
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Chef
Sebastian Vargas
Miami, Florida, United States
## The Path Formal training at the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park gave Sebastian Vargas a framework for the precision that now shapes his work. The school’s structure…
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Chef
William Béquin
Paris, France
William Béquin is executive chef of Le Tout-Paris, a position that puts him in one of Paris’s most watched dining rooms, where timing, polish, and control are part of the brief…
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Chef
Yavhin Siri
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Yavhin Siri leads the kitchen at Nadodi in Kuala Lumpur as Chef de cuisine, with control over pacing, tone, and the momentum of service. At Nadodi, that work sits inside a menu…
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Winemaker
Anne Le Naour
Pauillac, France
Anne Le Naour’s training in agronomy and specialization in oenology set the terms of the work: technical, exacting, and close to the vine. The language that comes out of that…
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Winemaker
Arnaud Durand
Pauillac, France
Cellarmaster at Château Sociando-Mallet in Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne, Haut-Médoc, France: the title gives Arnaud Durand’s work its sharpest definition, tying it to a cellar where…
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Chef
Benjamin Andreux
Paris, France
## The Climb Benjamin Andreux’s apprenticeship at L’Oustau de Baumanière in Les Baux-de-Provence, France, set the terms of his early kitchen training: repetition, pace, and the…
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Chef
Damiano Alberti
Copenhagen, Denmark
His work sits between kitchen and cellar, with a Tuscan sensibility carrying through both: measured, expressive, and exacting about detail. ## Today AIS gave Damiano Alberti a…
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Chef
David Posey
Chicago, Illinois, United States
David Posey is Executive Chef and Co-owner of Elske in Chicago, United States, and that pairing of titles matters: one role sets the kitchen’s technical standard, the other binds…
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Cellar Master and General Manager, Champagne Lallier
Dominique Demarville
Aÿ, France
Dominique Demarville is the Cellar Master and General Manager of Champagne Lallier in Aÿ. He joined the house in January 2021 after more than two decades in senior Champagne…
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Chef
Florian Stein
Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle, France
His cooking is built on product, clarity, and control: a modern French register shaped by restraint rather than excess. In Florian Stein’s work, ingredients are left room to…
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Chef
Gabriel Stulman
New York City, New York, United States
Gabriel Stulman runs Happy Cooking Hospitality in New York City, United States, but the work reads less like a corporate umbrella than a set of tightly held neighborhood rooms.…
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Chef
George Chen
San Francisco, California, United States
## Coming Up The early formation spans UC Berkeley, California, USA and a stint on Wall Street in New York, USA, before the work shifted into restaurants with Betelnut (from…
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Winemaker
Gonzague Lurton
Margaux, France
Gonzague Lurton is the owner and manager of Château Durfort-Vivens in Margaux, France. At that estate, ownership is not an abstraction but a working responsibility: the daily…
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Winemaker
Laurent Fortin
Labarde, France
## The Climb Since 2013, Laurent Fortin has been General Manager of Château Dauzac, a post that asks for more than cellar oversight. The work sits between vineyard direction,…
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Winemaker
Ludovic David
Margaux, France
## Coming Up At Château Marquis de Terme in Margaux, the work is the long, exact task of holding character steady while refining it. As Managing Director there from 2011, Ludovic…
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Chef
Manu Buffara
Curitiba, Brazil
## The Climb Service, study, and repetition shaped Manu Buffara before the restaurant did. Her early work moved from front of house to formal training to kitchens abroad, and each…
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Winemaker
Matthieu Arroyo
Sauternes, France
His work sits at the point where chemistry, nature, and wine meet. For Matthieu Arroyo, that means a cellar practice built on precision, but not stripped of texture: the vineyard,…
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Chef
Neil Borthwick
London, United Kingdom
## The Climb At The French House in Soho, London, where Neil Borthwick has been chef since 2018, the work reads as an argument for patience over theatre. The food is Old-school…
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Chef
Pascal Vandenheulen
Lichtaart, Belgium
## Today Hotelschool van Gent gave Pascal Vandenheulen the formal base; Finca Popoli in Spain is where that training sits inside daily work as chef, sales, and owner. The same…
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Winemaker
Sam Rose
Rapaura, New Zealand
## Career Sam Rose is winemaker at Wairau River Wines in Rapaura, New Zealand, a position shaped by a working childhood in the vineyard rather than a break from it. As his parents…
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Chef
Thibaut Ruggeri
Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, France
## Formation French kitchen formation is cumulative: station work, repetition, timing, sauce work, seasoning, and the restraint to remove what does not serve the plate. In Thibaut…
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Chef
Yukichika Shimazu
Tokyo, Japan
## Coming Up Training at Abe in Hiroo, Tokyo, set the base: sushi work built from the counter up, with discipline around movement, temperature, and timing. At Ranmaru in Fudomae,…
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Chef
Assaf Granit
Jerusalem, Israel
Assaf Granit is closely tied to the Michelin star Shabour in Paris earned in 2021, but the award reads more as a landing point than a starting gun. By then, his cooking had…
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Winemaker
Fergus Elias
Staplehurst, United Kingdom
## Coming Up Training at the University of Liverpool and Plumpton College gave Fergus Elias the technical base for work that depends on timing, palate, and repeatable decisions.…
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Chef
Graziano Prest
Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
## Today Alpine kitchens shaped Graziano Prest’s early work from 1990 onward, in Veneto and the mountain belt beyond it, where service demands exact timing, durable technique, and…
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Chef
Hiroki Takamura
Akita, Japan
## Today Edo-style Japanese cuisine depends on control at the level of cut, broth, pacing, and plate balance, and Hiroki Takamura’s work at Nihon Ryori Takamura in Akita, Japan…
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Chef
Jiro Ono
Tokyo, Japan
## Coming Up As head chef there, Jiro worked in a setting where discipline was built through service after service, and where exactness was not ornamental but part of the method.…
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Chef
Katsumi Soga
Milan, Italy
Katsumi Soga’s work reads through structure rather than volume: kaiseki depends on control, sequence, and exactness, and that is where his profile is clearest. At Iyo Kaiseki in…
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Winemaker
Klaas Stoffberg
Franschhoek, South Africa
Klaas Stoffberg has held the Cellar Master post at Babylonstoren in Franschhoek since 2013, a run that spans multiple vintages and the regular pressure of seasonal change. At a…
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Chef
Omar Dhiab
Paris, France
Omar Dhiab is the chef of Omar Dhiab in Paris and chef-owner of Elbi. The structure of his work is clean: formal training, two current kitchens, and a MICHELIN Guide honor…
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Chef
Peter Duncan
Franschhoek, South Africa
## Coming Up The kitchen path here starts with service pressure, not theory. Under chef Maritz Jacobs at Reuben's Restaurant and Bar in Franschhoek, Peter Duncan entered the pace…
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Chef
Richard Abou Zaki
Porto San Giorgio, Italy
## Coming Up Training at Le Gavroche and Osteria Francescana gave Richard Abou Zaki two hard schools of kitchen discipline: one rooted in service and refinement, the other in…
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Chef
Romain Dupeyre
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Raised in Nice on the Mediterranean coast, Romain Dupeyre works from a Southern French frame, with French gastronomy as the base and Cantonese sensibilities shaping the menu…
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Chef
Satoshi Furuta
Tokyo, Japan
Satoshi Furuta’s work at CHIUnE in Tokyo is organized around a single point of authorship: owner-chef, counter, menu, and final responsibility held in the same hands. In 2023,…
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Chef
Stefano Ciotti
Pesaro, Italy
Modern Adriatic cuisine at Nostrano in Pesaro is built from a working premise of the coast: land and sea are not separate chapters. Since 2015, Executive Chef and owner Stefano…
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Chef
Sylvain Sendra
Paris, France
In Paris, Fleur de Pavé is built on a vegetable-forward grammar: precise cooking, textural contrast, and a controlled exchange between acidity and richness. Within that frame,…
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Chef
Takahiro Noguchi
New York City, New York, United States
The defining appointment in Takahiro Noguchi’s career is Executive Chef of Benoit Tokyo, where Classic French bistro cooking is held to the discipline it requires. His work there…
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Chef
Toni Sala
Olost, Spain
From Olost, Spain, the cooking at Fonda Sala is built on rural and wild game cuisine, with Toni Sala working as soul, chef and director inside a register defined by black truffle,…
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Chef
Tony Esnault
Costa Mesa, California, United States
## The Climb The through-line in Tony Esnault’s work is produce: that is the stated priority, and the record of his career follows it. Training at François Rabelais culinary…
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Yonglong Yang
Taipei, Taiwan
## The Path Since 2017, Sushi Ryu has been the site of Yonglong Yang’s steady kitchen leadership. The work reads in the register of restraint: precision, concentration, and a…
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Chef
Yoshizumi Nagaya
Düsseldorf, Germany
In Düsseldorf, Yoshizumi Nagaya has built a practice around Traditional Japanese cuisine, with Western notes used as measured adjustments rather than departures. The work is…
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Chef
Aaron Isip
Makati, Philippines
## Career Technique in Aaron Isip’s cooking comes from two anchor points: Le Cordon Bleu Paris and De La Salle University. That pairing gave him classical grounding and the habit…
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Winemaker
Aaron Meneghelli
Napa, California, United States
## The Climb A kitchen career in Napa and Sonoma is built on pace, repetition, and control, and Aaron Meneghelli’s early years were spent in rooms where all three mattered. Under…
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Winemaker
Aaron Pott
Napa, California, United States
Aaron Pott’s work sits between academic training and cellar practice, with each side reinforcing the other. Trained at University of California, Davis and Université de Bourgogne,…
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Pastry Chef/Baker
Abigail Dahan
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Abigail Dahan joined Provenance in Philadelphia in 2024 as Pastry Chef, the latest stop in a career that begins near Paris, France, and moves through training, restaurant…
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Winemaker
Adam “Skip” Francis
Gippsland, Australia
Practical trades train for sequence: measure, cut, fit, correct. Adam “Skip” Francis describes his move into the work with the same economy: **“I have. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm very…
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Chef
Adam Catterall
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
## The Path A progression through sectioned kitchens defines Adam Catterall’s career: Chef De Partie at Angels Restaurant, Senior Chef De Partie at Selfridges & Co, Sous Chef at…
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Chef
Adam Harper
Bakewell, United Kingdom
## Coming Up Training at the University of Derby gave Adam Harper a base in the kitchen that reads less as a leap than a sequence of steps. A trainee post at a well known group…
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Chef
Adeline Grattard
Paris, France
French materials can carry a Cantonese logic without being staged as fusion. In Adeline Grattard’s cooking, butter, fruit, cheese, flesh, and stock remain legible, but the…
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Winemaker
Adrian Sparks
Hunter Valley, Australia
Adrian Sparks is Chief Winemaker at Mount Pleasant in the Hunter Valley, Australia, where the work is built around poise, balance and site expression. The wines are described in…
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Chef
Adrian Torres
Orlando, Florida, United States
Chef work at Natsu in Orlando, United States, is framed by Precision-focused Japanese fine dining. In that setting, Adrian Torres works with clean lines, deliberate plating,…
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Chef
Airis Zapa
Oslo, Norway
Edomae sushi sets the operating frame at Sabi Omakase Oslo in Norway, where Nordic seasons, counter timing, and room standards are part of the same craft system. Airis Zapa works…
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Chef
Akifumi Sakagami
Los Angeles, California, United States
Akifumi Sakagami is Executive Master Chef at Onodera Group, a role tied to the standards of Traditional Edomae sushi: rice handled with judgment, fish prepared with restraint,…
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Winemaker
Akiko Freeman
Sebastopol, California, United States
## Coming Up Stanford University is the school on Akiko Freeman’s record before the work turns to wine, and Freeman Vineyard & Winery has been her co-founded base since 2001. In…
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Akira Shirayama
Tokyo, Japan
His sushi is organized around rice rather than display, and Akira Shirayama says that plainly: “to me, sushi is ultimately about the rice. That’s how I approach making it.” In…
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Chef
Ákos Sárközi
Budapest, Hungary
## Coming Up At Borkonyha Winekitchen in Budapest, the work sits on clarity rather than theatre. Ákos Sárközi runs the kitchen as chef and owner, and his own line — “I aspire to…
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Chef
Alain Bianchin
Overijse, Belgium
## The Climb La Table-Lasne by Alain Bianchin in Ohain is the 2025 post for Alain Bianchin, and the move reads as continuation rather than reinvention. The career behind it has…
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Chef
Alain Llorca
La Colle-sur-Loup, France
Provençal cuisine is the working frame here: regional products, regional memory, and a restaurant site tied to the craft formation of Alain Llorca. The bastide that now houses the…
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Chef
Alain Montigny
La Napoule, France
## Coming Up Alain Montigny’s entry into cuisine was technical before it was romantic: first, École hôtelière de Reims, then the discipline of service and kitchen work that comes…
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Chef
Alain Perrillat-Mercerot
Le Bourget-du-Lac, France
Chef of Atmosphères in Le Bourget-du-Lac, France, Alain Perrillat-Mercerot arrived there by way of hotel school, apprenticeship kitchens in Sévrier and Vougy, and a growing…
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Winemaker
Aldo Vacca
Barbaresco, Italy
His work is tied to Barbaresco and Nebbiolo, and to a house built on traditional methods and a style that keeps terroir in view. In Aldo Vacca, that line of work is carried by…
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Chef
Aleix Serra
Muro, Spain
Aleix Serra works at Fusion19 in Muro in a role built on precision, restraint, and incremental change. The kitchen reads through continuity rather than spectacle: movement through…
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Winemaker
Alejandro Pepa
Cafayate, Argentina
Alejandro Pepa spent more than 20 years at Bodega El Esteco, where his work became closely tied to the high-altitude conditions of the Calchaquí Valleys and the measured evolution…
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Chef
Alessandro Lucassino
Naples, Italy
Originally from Tuscany, Alessandro Lucassino’s work reads as craft first: the kitchen as a practiced calling, not a late-career pose. That early pull toward flame, discipline,…
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Chef
Alex Becker
Lannion, France
## The Path Station work is the base layer here: prep first, then chef roles, then leadership. Alex Becker’s progression started at 7m Grill in Omaha, Nebraska, where they worked…
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Chef
Alex Verhoeven
Turnhout, Belgium
In Turnhout, Belgium, the cooking at Hert is built on polished restraint: wild sea bass sharpened with yuzu kosho; langoustine worked as tartare; scallops set against horseradish,…
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Chef
Alexander Huber
Pleiskirchen, Germany
Country cooking in Pleiskirchen is the base layer here: family house, tavern table, patient heat, and ingredients that read clearly without being pushed into display. In the…
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Chef
Alexander Mayer
Herleshausen, Germany
## Coming Up The line work at Restaurant Wintergarten, Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa in Baden-Baden set the first clear frame for Alexander Mayer’s style from 2019: head-chef…
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Alexander Oos
Trittenheim, Germany
Alexander Oos is a chef shaped by precision, repetition, and the kind of kitchen discipline that keeps a room moving in a straight line. At Wein- und Tafelhaus in Trittenheim,…
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Chef
Alexandre Baule
Emptinne, Belgium
## The Path Apprenticeship gave Alexandre Baule the base that many kitchens still depend on: discipline, exacting standards, and a respect for fundamentals. That training reads…
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Chef
Alexandre Dionisio
Brussels, Belgium
## Coming Up Brussels is the throughline in Alexandre Dionisio’s career: each move advances through the city’s restaurant hierarchy, from line cook duties in Le Passage in Uccle…
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Chef
Alexandre Thomas
Hellerup, Denmark
## Today At Le Jardin d'Hiver, Palais Ronsard and Parsley Salon, Alexandre Thomas works as Executive Chef in two settings that ask for different kinds of control. The title points…
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Chef
Alexandros Tsiotinis
Athens, Greece
Before CTC in Athens earned a Michelin Star in 2021, Alexandros Tsiotinis was already working from a clear position: Greek haute cuisine, filtered through Athens, memory, and…
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Chef
Alexis Albrecht
Rhinau, France
His kitchen language is direct: source, stewardship, and the discipline to keep both visible on the plate. Alexis Albrecht says it plainly: "We work a lot with herbs, wild plants,…
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Chef
Alexis Voisenet
Nara, Japan
Alexis Voisenet has put the terms plainly: “I put my whole life into this restaurant; it has to work.” In a trade that can flatten language into polish, the line is useful because…
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Chef
Alfio Ghezzi
Limone sul Garda, Italy
## The Path At Senso Lake Garda, the role is split between stewardship and authorship: Alfio Ghezzi works there as Resident Chef and Executive Chef, which places him inside the…
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Chef
Alfonso Caputo
Marina del Cantone, Italy
## Coming Up Training at Gualtiero Marchesi gave Alfonso Caputo a working foundation in precision, restraint, and exacting technique. That apprenticeship reads as the point where…
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Chef
Alfred Leung
Guangzhou, China
## Today Hospitality, taste, and consistency have defined Alfred Leung’s work since he moved from Hong Kong to Singapore in 1981. In an exacting trade, that kind of longevity is…
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Chef
Alfredo Russo
Venaria Reale, Italy
Alfredo Russo cooks at Dolce Stil Novo in Venaria Reale, Italy, within a Modern Italian register that favors control over excess. Hotel-management school sits behind that…
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Chef
Allen Ren
Vancouver, Canada
Chinese roast-duck work in Vancouver is the frame for Allen Ren’s current post: Executive Chef at QuanJuDe Beijing Duck House in Vancouver, Canada, held since 2020. The kitchen…
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Winemaker
Allister Ashmead
Barossa Valley, Australia
Co-Managing Director at Elderton in Barossa Valley since 2003, Allister Ashmead carries second-generation responsibility at the family wine estate. The work is less about display…
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Chef
Amanda Cohen
New York City, New York, United States
“Dirt Candy is all about the food.” In that line, Amanda Cohen gives the restaurant’s working rule in plain terms: vegetables are the subject, not the sideshow. At Dirt Candy in…
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Chef
Amanda Eriksson
Breuil-Cervinia, Italy
Amanda Eriksson argues for Italian cookery on the strength of its ingredients: the claim is not sentiment, but breadth of method, regional logic, and pantry discipline. In her own…
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Chef
Amanda Shulman
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Amanda Shulman brought a Connecticut upbringing into Philadelphia’s dining room and made the city the center of her cooking life. In 2025, Her Place Supper Club earned One…
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Chef
Ana Dolores González
Vienna, Austria
## The Path At Expendio de Maíz in Mexico City, Mexico, Ana Dolores González worked as chef in a setting that sharpened timing, discipline, and attention to ingredient-led…
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Chef
Anders Holm Kiel Nielsen
Lønstrup, Denmark
## Coming Up At PiLK in Aarhus, Denmark, the work already sat on a narrow technical seam: in 2018–2018, Anders Holm Kiel Nielsen held both cook and kitchen chef roles, a…
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Chef
André Großfeld
Frankfurt on the Main, Germany
A Michelin star at Restaurant Villa Merton in Frankfurt on the Main sits on André Großfeld’s record, but the real subject is the cooking: regional fresh products handled with…
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