The People · Page 36
The artisans of taste.
Chef
Kotaro Meguro
Tokyo, Japan
Kotaro Meguro treats cooking as a moving practice: not repetition, but revision. “I try never to use the successful combinations or cooking techniques from the previous menu in…
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Chef
Kozeen Shiwan
Helsinki, Finland
Kozeen Shiwan is chef of The ROOM by Kozeen Shiwan in Helsinki, a namesake restaurant that ties the kitchen, the room, and the name into one clear line. ## The Path The fact reads…
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Chef & Proprietor, L’Axel
Kunihisa Goto
Fontainebleau, France
Kunihisa Goto, born in 1976 in Ōita, Japan, trained at Sakuragaoka Cookery School before moving to France in 2001 to work under chefs like Jacques Decoret in Vichy and Philippe…
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Winemaker
Larry Cherubino
Wilyabrup, Australia
Larry Cherubino is the Australian winemaker behind Cherubino Wines, where the work is defined by a clear, disciplined style rooted in place. His first working life was in…
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Chef
Lasse Knickrehm
Kiel, Germany
Lasse Knickrehm is Chef de Cuisine at Ahlmanns in Kiel, Germany, where the work reads as the product of a deliberate apprenticeship path rather than a quick ascent. German…
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Chef
Laurent Arbeit
Sessenheim, France
Executive Chef at Auberge au Bœuf in Sessenheim, France, Laurent Arbeit works from a title that names the role, while his own wording shifts the emphasis to the house. He says, “I…
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Chef
Laurent Haller
Rixheim, France
Laurent Haller, Executive Chef at Le 7ème Continent in Rixheim, France, carries his formation from Lycée professionnel d’Audincourt into a kitchen built around product, rhythm and…
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Chef
Laurent Lemal
Collioure, France
Laurent Lemal has led the kitchen at La Balette in Collioure, France, since 2020, where the work is built on seasonal buying, locavore discipline, and technical control. The…
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Chef
Laurent Peugeot
Pernand-Vergelesses, France
## The Climb The training sequence — CFA La Noue, La Papisienne, Beaune, and L’Écusson, Beaune — gives a clear picture of the groundwork behind Laurent Peugeot’s cooking. Those…
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Chef
Lennon Silvers Lee
Santa Barbara, California, United States
## Career - **Executive Chef** — Sushi Bar Montecito, California, USA (2021) - **Head Chef** — Silvers Omakase, Santa Barbara, California, USA ## Signature At Silvers Omakase in…
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Chef
Lesley Mak
Braine-l'Alleud, Belgium
## The Making Classic French dining depends on control before it depends on display. In the role of chef of Maison Marit, Lesley Mak works inside a dining language built on poise,…
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Chef
Lionel Hénaff
Quimper, France
## The Path Technique in Lionel Hénaff’s work reads as accumulation rather than effect: precision, restraint, and attention to texture have been built across kitchens in Ireland…
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Winemaker
Lisa Evich
Kenwood, California, United States
## The Climb Sonoma wine rewards technicians who can work across scale without losing the read on site, and Lisa Evich’s path moved through that exact discipline. Trained at…
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Chef
Loïc Le Bail
Roscoff, France
## The Path The early kitchen post at Nori gave Loïc Le Bail a first professional frame for his work, before the longer tenure at Le Brittany began in 1989. That shift matters in…
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Chef
Loïc Lefebvre
Colmar, France
## The Path Loïc Lefebvre trained at Lycée Alain Fournier, where kitchen discipline and the demands of craft set the terms early. From there, the work moved into the pace and…
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Chef
Louis Anjos
Lagos, Portugal
## The Climb Cookery training at Fátima Hotel School gave Louis Anjos a formal base before service kitchens took over. His first post, as cook in the Leiria region in Leiria…
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Chef
Louis Tam
Guangzhou, China
Guangzhou supplies the working context for Chōwa: a dining room where Contemporary Japanese and French cuisine is organized around balance rather than contrast. In Louis Tam’s…
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Winemaker
Louisa Rose
Eden Valley, Australia
## The Path Training at Roseworthy, South Australia (1992) gave Louisa Rose an early grounding in vineyard discipline and cellar method. In 1993 she moved into Yalumba in Barossa…
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Louise Solzman
Périgueux, France
Louise Solzman’s defining restaurant post was executive chef at Delius Restaurant in Signal Hill, California, United States. The work on her record is steady and cumulative:…
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Chef
Luc Mobihan
Saint Malo, France
His work is tied to Breton fish and seafood: a style built from coastal product, service discipline, and a career that moved through Château de la Chenevière in Port-en-Bessin,…
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Winemaker
Luc Morlet
Oakville, California, United States
## The Path Training in Champagne and Burgundy gives Luc Morlet a vocabulary that shows up later in the glass: technical grounding, regional range, and the discipline to work with…
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Chef
Luca Abbruzzino
Lamezia Terme, Italy
## The Climb At Abbruzzino Oltre in Lamezia Terme, Italy, Luca Abbruzzino works within a format that replaces a fixed menu with movement. The kitchen is built to stay responsive,…
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Chef
Luca Marteddu
Baden, France
## Where They Are Now Product-led cooking is the throughline at Le Gavrinis in Baden, France, where Luca Marteddu has worked as chef since 2019. The method is plainspoken in his…
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Chef
Luca Zecchin
Mosman, Australia
Before taking the pass as Executive Chef of Ormeggio at The Spit in Mosman, Australia, Luca Zecchin had already spent years building a cooking style from the Northern Italian…
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Chef
Lucas Garigliano
Beijing, China
His measure of the job is direct: the work is to build experiences at the table, with food doing the part that brings people together and holds attention through taste, timing,…
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Winemaker
Lucas Löwi
Mendoza, Argentina
## The Climb Working inside the Moët Hennessy Wine Division in Argentina gave Lucas Löwi an early grounding in the pace and discipline of the fine-wine trade. The move from Moët…
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Chef
Luciano Zazzeri
Marina di Bibbona, Italy
Luciano Zazzeri’s work is anchored in coastal inheritance: the salt air, the operating rhythm, and the family business of Marina di Bibbona, Tuscany, Italy. At La Pineta, where he…
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Chef
Ludovic Pouzelgues
Nantes, France
## The Path Technique here starts with formal schooling. Ludovic Pouzelgues earned his Baccalauréat professionnel cuisine in 2000 at Lycée hôtelier à Noirmoutier, a base that…
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Chef
Luigi Speranza
Frankfurt on the Main, Germany
Born in Naples, Italy, Luigi Speranza left home at 14 for The Culinary School of Roccaraso, then moved into kitchen work through a path that runs from line-cook station to…
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Chef
Lukas Jakobi
Bagnols, France
Since 2023, Lukas Jakobi has been the chef of **Zwanzig23 by Lukas Jakobi** in Düsseldorf, a title that reads almost like a signature in itself: direct, unmistakable, and firmly…
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Chef
Mai Nagamatsu
Bilbao, Spain
## The Climb Mai Nagamatsu’s work in food took shape in 2015 through a select shop selling katsuobushi. That opening mattered less as a retail launch than as a clear statement of…
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Chef
Mallory Gabsi
Paris, France
## Career Training at École d’Hôtellerie et de Tourisme Spermalie and Institut Libre de Technique set the base: discipline, technique, and the practical rhythm of hospitality…
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Chef
Malte Kuhn
Baden-Baden, Germany
In Baden-Baden, Maltes “Hidden Kitchen” uses intimacy as a working condition rather than a mood. The cooking stays close to regional flavour, with selected products handled…
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Chef
Manabu Asanuma
New York City, New York, United States
Before Manabu Asanuma became Executive Chef of Muku in New York City, his formation began at culinary school in Miyagi. That grounding shows in a style built around seasonality,…
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Chef
Manon Schenck
Grandhan, Belgium
From kitchen to kitchen, Manon Schenck’s work has been shaped by movement, refinement, and a return to La Table de Manon in Grandhan, Belgium, where her identity as a chef has…
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Chef
Marc Faivre
Malbuisson, France
Marc Faivre’s work is defined by long residence in one kitchen rather than movement between them. Since 1989, he has been chef of Le Bon Accueil in Malbuisson, France, and that…
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Chef
Marc Lepine
Ottawa, Canada
Marc Lepine has been chef-owner of Atelier Restaurant in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, since 2008. The work there sits on a foundation built in France, Italy, and Toronto, then…
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Marc Marsol
Muro, Spain
Marc Marsol cooks at Fusion19 in Muro, where tasting menus are built to read Mallorca as material, not motif. The island comes through in texture, cadence, memory, and season,…
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Chef
Marcel Kazda
Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
Marcel Kazda’s cooking is built on formation: Koch training at Kaiserhof in Karlsruhe, then work in Karlsruhe, then the long accumulation of responsibility that followed. The…
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Chef
Marcel Tauschek
Munich, Germany
## Career Marcel Tauschek’s rise to Head Chef at Mountain Hub Gourmet in Munich in 2023 reads as progression by accumulation rather than by sudden break. The role followed earlier…
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Marcello Crini
Passignano, Italy
His work is anchored in Tuscan food and wine culture, where the table is read as landscape, memory, and disciplined craft. Tuscan wines sit at the center of that focus, giving…
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Winemaker
Marcelo Retamal
Colchagua, Chile
## Coming Up At Viña De Martino in Isla de Maipo, Chile (until 2021), the work of winemaking under Marcelo Retamal would have meant steady attention to vineyard and cellar detail,…
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Chef
Marco Veneruso
Lugano, Switzerland
Marco Veneruso is Executive Chef at I Due Sud in Lugano, where his cooking seems to begin not with a menu, but with a memory. He has said, “With flavors, I tell the journey of my…
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Chef
Marco Visciola
Genoa, Italy
Genoa, Italy, is the fixed point in Marco Visciola’s cooking, the reference that organizes the work rather than merely framing it. The plate is built from a coastal inventory:…
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Chef
Marcus Blonkowski
Dresden, Germany
Born in Großröhrsdorf, Saxony, the cooking at Genuss-Atelier is built around regional cuisine with European influences: seasonal work, direct construction, good products, precise…
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Winemaker
Margaux Reeder
Preignac, France
Margaux Reeder’s cellar work at Château Bastor-Lamontagne in Preignac, France is built around freshness and finesse. In Sauternes, where the register often leans toward weight and…
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Chef
Mariano Gallego
Mendoza, Argentina
The restaurant began in 2005, when Mariano Gallego and Florencia D'Amico opened it on the family estate where they still live. That fixed setting has shaped the work from the…
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Chef
Mariano Guardianelli
Rimini, Italy
Mariano Guardianelli’s cooking is anchored in Abocar Due Cucine in Rimini, the restaurant he founded in 2013 and still shapes as chef and owner. Born in Córdoba, Argentina, he has…
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Chef
Mario Capitaneo
Angers, France
Mario Capitaneo’s cooking at Verso Ristorante in Milan is built on seasonal, fresh ingredients handled with techniques that sharpen flavour and avoid decorative excess. ## The…
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Chef
Mario Gamba
Munich, Germany
Chef and owner of Acquarello in Munich, Mario Gamba built his reputation through long service in kitchens where standards were set high and kept there. He worked at Tantris in…
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Winemaker
Mario Geisse
San Fernando, Chile
Mario Geisse grew up in Limarí, Chile, in a household where grapes, wine, and pisco were part of daily life rather than occasion-driven markers. That kind of early proximity to…
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Chef
Mario Hernández Alonso
Mexico City, Mexico
## The Path Ownership keeps the taquería model accountable to its narrow brief: beef tacos, handmade tortillas, and service without expansion of the core offer. Today, Mario…
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Chef
Mario Ridder
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Mario Ridder is Executive Chef / owner at Azurite in Delft, Netherlands. The work there is marked by spare clarity and a quietly exacting hand, with dishes built toward elegance…
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Winemaker
Mark Aubert
Calistoga, California, United States
Chardonnay sets the working terms here: site, fruit condition, picking time, texture, and the handling decisions made before the wine reaches the glass. In Mark Aubert’s work, the…
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Winemaker
Mark Beringer
Napa, California, United States
Mark Beringer’s 2015–2021 run as winemaker at Beringer Vineyards in St. Helena carried two kinds of weight: the practical demands of the cellar and the responsibility that comes…
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Chef
Mark Ordaz
New York City, New York, United States
## The Path New York kitchen work shaped Mark Ordaz early on through precision, speed, and stamina. That training began as Head Chef at Momofuku Ssäm Bar in New York, NY, then…
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Chef
Martin Sieberer
Cologne, Germany
Martin Sieberer has held the Executive Chef post at Hotel Trofana Royal in Ischgl since 1996. That kind of tenure matters in trade terms: it shows continuity, repeat standards,…
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Chef
Martina Caruso
Malfa, Italy
## The Path Catering school gave Martina Caruso the formal base; the working education came in summer service beside her father at Signum in Salina, in the Aeolian Islands. That…
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Chef
Masahiko Kawano
Singapore, Singapore
The dishes tied to that recognition are named with intent: Duck Consomme Noodles, Crab Chawanmushi and Caviar, and a duck consommé Masahiko Kawano returns to day after day.…
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Chef
Masanori Tomikawa
Amsterdam, Netherlands
## The Path Movement, discipline, and curiosity sit at the center of Masanori Tomikawa’s cooking. He has said plainly, “Traveling to many different countries and experiencing…
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Chef
Masashi Yamaguchi
Tokyo, Japan
Before Masashi Yamaguchi became chef of Sushi Masashi in Kita Aoyama, Tokyo, his training passed through hotel sushi counters, a Kyoto kitchen, and the Edomae line at Sushi…
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Chef
Masayoshi Baba
Vancouver, Canada
## Coming Up At Tojo's, the counter work required the kind of precision that sushi does not forgive. Masayoshi Baba developed his control there through measured movement,…
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Chef
Masayuki Komatsu
Markt Indersdorf, Germany
## The Path The work begins with systems thinking. Before the knife and the sushi counter, Masayuki Komatsu worked as a hydraulic engineer, a background that reads less like a…
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Chef
Matan Zaken
Lasko, Slovenia
## Coming Up Nhome followed Nhomade, with Matan Zaken moving from a first version of the project into the Paris restaurant that now carries his current cooking. Pavus in Laško,…
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Chef
Mathew Hegarty
Les Deux-Alpes, France
His own standard is plain: “In the kitchen, we question ourselves every day.” ## The Path At Le P'tit Polyte in Les Deux Alpes, the first years as second (2012–2015) were a…
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Chef
Mathias Achatz
Niederwinkling, Germany
## Career By 2014, the kitchen at Buchner in Welchenberg had Mathias Achatz in a kitchen chef role. That is the first fixed point in the record: a named position inside a working…
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Chef
Mathieu Aumont
Saint-Brieuc, France
In Saint-Brieuc, France, the working register is set by the coast: rigorously selected fish and seafood, local vegetables, and the Coquille Saint-Jacques de la baie de…
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Mathieu Escoffier
Singapore, Singapore
## The Climb Since 2019, the dual role of chef-owner and chef at Ma Cuisine has put Mathieu Escoffier in charge of both the cooking and the restaurant’s operating tempo. The work…
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Chef & Owner, Histoires and Hexagone
Mathieu Pacaud
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Mathieu Pacaud, born in 1981 in Paris, son of three-Michelin-starred chef Bernard Pacaud of L'Ambroisie, began his career at age 15 at Jamin under Benoît Guichard and progressed…
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Chef
Mathieu Vande Velde
Francorchamps, Belgium
## The Climb At Namur hotel school, the craft was built on fundamentals: structure, discipline, and the standards that prepare a cook for serious service. Mathieu Vande Vande…
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Winemaker
Mathilde Grivot
Vosne-Romanée, France
Mathilde Grivot has been winemaker at Domaine Jean Grivot in Vosne-Romanée since 2017, bringing a measured, contemporary touch to a family domaine rooted in Burgundy, France. The…
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Winemaker
Matías Riccitelli
Mendoza, Argentina
Matías Riccitelli is the founder, owner, and winemaker of Riccitelli Wines in Mendoza, a role he began in 2009. The work is grounded in place: Mendoza’s light, slope, and vineyard…
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Chef
Matt Baker
Washington DC, Washington DC, United States
He became chef-owner at Gravitas in Ivy City, Washington, D.C.; the restaurant is his signature platform and the place most closely tied to Baker’s Michelin-starred work, a dining…
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Winemaker
Matt Crafton
Calistoga, California, United States
Matt Crafton has been winemaker at Chateau Montelena Winery in Calistoga since 2014, and the role sits inside a long run of work built within the same estate. The arc is plain:…
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Winemaker
Matt Dees
Santa Ynez, California, United States
## Career Winemaking here is a study in place through fruit, and Matt Dees has worked that problem from several angles since 2004 at JONATA in Ballard Canyon, in California’s…
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Chef
Matthieu de Lauzun
Pézenas, France
Pézenas is the working ground for a modern Mediterranean register at Restaurant De Lauzun, where Matthieu de Lauzun’s cooking brings delicacy, French-Moroccan memory, and…
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Chef
Maxime Leconte
Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
In trade terms, that is the whole frame: one kitchen, one title, one place where the work is identified with the person. The record reads with rare concentration. Rather than a…
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Chef
Maxime Nouail
Billiers, France
## Coming Up Technique and discipline were set early at École hôtelière de Saint-Méen Le Grand, where Maxime Nouail built the foundations of his craft. That training shows in work…
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Chef
Maxime Zimmer
Comblain-au-Pont, Belgium
Executive Chef at Un Max de Goût in Comblain-au-Pont, Belgium, is a role built on training, service rhythm, sourcing discipline, and ownership. In Maxime Zimmer’s case, the line…
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Chef
Maximilian Schmidt
Naurath, Germany
The Michelin Guide awarded one star to the restaurant in 2024, recognizing creative cuisine shaped by the produce and landscape of the Mosel-Saar region. ## The Path Restaurant…
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Chef
Maximin Hellio
Deauville, France
Maximin Hellio is a chef in Deauville, and the public profile around his work has been shaped by early recognition: the Trophée Espoir in 2012, followed by Grand(e) de Demain in…
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Chef
Mayank Istwal
Houston, Texas, United States
Mayank Istwal works as Executive Chef at Musaafer in Houston, United States, with a practice built across hotel kitchens, a cruise-line galley, private production catering, and…
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Chef
Maycoll Calderon
Rees am Rhein, Germany
Maycoll Calderon is best read through the rooms he has built and sustained: Huset in Mexico City since 2015, plus the other addresses that extend the same authorship. The work…
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Chef
Menex Cheung
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
## The Climb Since 2019, Menex Cheung has held the Executive Chef and Head Chef roles at China Tang Hong Kong, and that long run has shaped the kitchen’s tempo and standards. In a…
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Chef
Michael Ammon
Perasdorf, Germany
Michael Ammon has owned and run the kitchen at Gasthaus Jakob in Perasdorf, Germany, since 2016. Born and raised in Bavaria, he has worked entirely in Germany, with a career…
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Chef
Michael Carlson
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Before Michael Carlson became chef and owner of Schwa in Chicago in 2005, the work already pointed toward a specific way of cooking: unstressed, direct, and willing to let simple…
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Winemaker
Michael Eddy
Napa, California, United States
## Coming Up Wine work rewards people who can read a cellar as both science and season, and Michael Eddy’s early path was built that way. Humboldt State University and the…
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Chef
Michaël Fulci
Montpellier, France
## The Path At Les Terraillers in Biot, Michaël Fulci built the kind of kitchen discipline that shows up later in the work: tight timing, clean execution, and attention paid…
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Chef
Michael Quendler
Gummersbach, Germany
The Michelin star awarded to Mühlenhelle in Gummersbach, Germany, in 2012 is the clearest accolade attached to Michael Quendler’s work. ## The Honours In 2025, the guide also…
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Chef
Michael Scholz
Rutherford, California, United States
Michael Scholz is Vice President of Winemaking & Vineyards at St. Supéry Estate Vineyards & Winery in Napa Valley, California. The role sits at the point where vineyard work and…
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Winemaker
Michael Twelftree
Barossa Valley, Australia
Michael Twelftree is the proprietor of Two Hands Wines in Barossa Valley, Australia, and the work is anchored in three things that define the trade: place, grape, and time. As…
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Chef
Michael Vanderhaeghe
Elverdinge, Belgium
## The Path Technique is built in stages, and Michael Vanderhaeghe’s training shows the usual trade sequence: school, stage work, then responsibility in service. Hotelschool Ter…
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Chef
Michel Dussau
Ohain, Belgium
His table philosophy is plainspoken: “The table is the go-between of friendship.” In practice, that puts Michel Dussau on familiar ground with cooks who treat hospitality as a…
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Winemaker
Michel Rolland
Rutherford, California, United States
Michel Rolland was born on 24 December 1947, and his work became closely tied to two fixed points in wine: Merlot and Pomerol. The throughline is not breadth for its own sake, but…
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Chef
Michelle Weaver
Bischofswiesen, Germany
In 2009, Michelle Weaver was executive sous chef at Charleston Grill in Charleston, South Carolina, where service depended on cadence, restraint, and a room polished to match the…
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Mihyun Han
New York City, New York, United States
Based in New York, Mihyun Han is behind a set of rooms that trade on consistency, identity, and control. With Maki Kosaka among the businesses she owns, her work reads as…
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Winemaker
Mika Engelbrecht
Stellenbosch, South Africa
Mika Engelbrecht’s entry into wine reads less like a declaration than a response to the work itself. After roles at Neethlingshof Estate in Stellenbosch, she became winemaker at…
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Chef
Mike Schiller
Saint Vith, Belgium
In contemporary regional cooking, flavour and texture still do the primary work. Mike Schiller’s practice is built around that discipline: top-rated cuisine produced and served in…
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Chef
Mikizo Hashimoto
Tokyo, Japan
Mikizo Hashimoto runs Nihonryori Ichirin in Tokyo as owner chef, working within Japanese technique, a disciplined seasonal structure, and a close network of producers across…
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Winemaker
Miljenko Grgich
Rutherford, California, United States
## Coming Up Training at the University of Zagreb gave Miljenko Grgich an early grounding in discipline and tradition, the sort of foundation that shows up later in cellar work:…
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