The People · Page 43
The artisans of taste.
Chef
Enzo Coccia
Naples, Italy
## The Climb Pizza is the center of Enzo Coccia’s work: owned, made, and repeated as daily practice in Naples, where La Notizia 53 is both workplace and proof of method. His own…
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Hans Sauter
Lake Louise, Canada
His cooking at Post Hotel Dining Room puts Swiss-European fine dining in direct contact with Canadian regional cooking. That mix is grounded in an early education at his…
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Chef
J.P. Singh
New Delhi, India
"We are family in Bukhara." In the Bukhara register, hospitality is not separated from service: the table is built around Indian cuisine, Bukhara cuisine, and the culinary…
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Kimimasa Fujimori
Tokyo, Japan
Chef Kimimasa Fujimori leads Kabuto Unagi in Tokyo, Japan through a single discipline: unagi. The work is defined by eel, and by the concentration that comes with building a…
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Chef
Kris Tominaga
Los Angeles, California, United States
## The Path Kris Tominaga’s early work moved through a sequence of kitchens and formats that reads less like a leap than a long apprenticeship in service. He began as Sous Chef at…
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Chef
Marco Coccia
Naples, Italy
Marco Coccia brings Naples-trained pizza discipline to Queens, New York City, New York, United States, where he is head chef at Sotto La Luna. His own shorthand for the work stays…
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Mitsuya Yamada
London, United Kingdom
The craft here is built on restraint: Tajima Wagyu beef, binchotan charcoal, and a method that treats heat as the primary tool rather than a background condition. Mitsuya Yamada…
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Peter Hall
London, United Kingdom
Peter Hall has been chef at Lorne in London since 2017 and co-proprietor there since the same year. The work is built on precision, but not at the expense of responsiveness: the…
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Chef
Toshiji Tomori
Tokyo, Japan
His profile is spare: one restaurant, one city, one format. Toshiji Tomori is identified through Cignale Enoteca in Tokyo and through an omakase practice that brings Italian and…
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Chef
Chris Leach
London, United Kingdom
Chris Leach’s work at Manteca in London is built around nose-to-tail cooking, with chef and co-founder shaping a kitchen that treats the whole animal as the brief. The line into…
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Chef
Daniel Evers
San Francisco, California, United States
## Coming Up The line work across Craft in New York, Marea in New York, AL's Place in San Francisco, and Cotogna in San Francisco maps a kitchen education built on pace,…
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World's 50 Best Bars
Erika Flowers
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
## The Path At South College, Erika Flowers built the base that would carry into bar work: training, repetition, and the habits that hold a service together. From there, Turning…
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Chef
Fabrizio Di Stefano
Rome, Italy
Fabrizio Di Stefano became chef of Roscioli Ristorante Salumeria in Rome in 2021, taking on a room where Roman cooking carries both memory and present-day pressure. He describes…
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Chef
Hirofumi Saito
Kamakura, Japan
Hirofumi Saito’s work reads as a study in restraint: a Chinese cooking style built on control, clarity, and the discipline to let a single idea land cleanly at the table. Since…
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Jaime Mendoza
Los Angeles, California, United States
Jaime Mendoza cooks at Tacos Y Birria La Unica in Los Angeles, United States, with goat birria as the defining specialty. The work reads as a long apprenticeship in scale and…
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Chef
Justin Cournoyer
Toronto, Canada
## The Climb At Actinolite in Toronto, Justin Cournoyer works as owner and head chef with the kind of consistency that treats service, kitchen, and business as one system. The…
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Chef
Katherine Campecino-Wong
San Francisco, California, United States
## Coming Up At Atelier Crenn, Katherine Campecino-Wong was trained in a kitchen that treated precision and restraint as core tools, not garnish. The work there is visible in how…
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Kobayashi Koji
Nagano, Japan
The scale of Fogliolina della Porta Fortuna in Karuizawa, Nagano, Japan sets the terms for the cooking: six seats, close attention, and no room for theatrical excess. Since 2011,…
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Chef
Marc Forgione
New York City, New York, United States
Chef and owner of Peasant by Marc Forgione in New York City, Marc Forgione has built a career through disciplined stations, stepped promotions, and the accumulation of…
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Chef
Masaaki Miyakawa
Sapporo, Japan
Masaaki Miyakawa has owned and led Sushi Miyakawa in Sapporo, Japan, since 2014, working through Edomae-style sushi as a fixed discipline rather than a matter of nostalgia. In his…
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Chef
Nina Compton
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Between St. Lucia and Louisiana, Nina Compton has built a body of work around place as a working ingredient, not a decorative one. The cooking carries Caribbean cadence and New…
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Chef
Óscar Marcos
Madrid, Spain
Óscar Marcos’s work sits in the dining room, where service is measured by pacing, attention, and the team’s ability to hold a room without tightening it. At Alabaster in Madrid,…
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Patricia Haramboure
Madrid, Spain
## Coming Up Front-of-house service at Haramboure in Madrid, Spain is centered on Patricia Haramboure, who serves as head of dining room. The role sits at the seam between kitchen…
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Chef
Patxi Zumárraga
Madrid, Spain
Patxi Zumárraga has been chef at Haramboure in Madrid since 2023, and the work there is defined by a product-led method rather than a fixed script. The kitchen starts from what is…
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Chef
Rasmus Oubæk
Copenhagen, Denmark
Rasmus Oub’s cooking at Pluto in Copenhagen is anchored in classic cuisine, with execution that reads as controlled rather than showy. The work sits on discipline: a steady pass,…
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Chef
Satoshi Ogino
Tokyo, Japan
Satoshi Ogino’s Tokyo work has taken shape through restraint and clarity, arriving in 2020 at Akasaka Ogino, where the room carries his name by design. The choice is plainspoken…
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Chef
Sebastian Cardamoni
Buenos Aires, Argentina
## The Climb At Fogón Asado in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sebastián Cardamoni works the front edge of the fire. The dining room is built around heat, movement, and proximity, and…
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Chef
Takamitsu Yasuda
Tokyo, Japan
Takamitsu Yasuda is the chef-owner of Sushi Takamitsu in Tokyo, and the work reads as the straight result of an early start and a narrow, disciplined route. At 16, Yasuda began…
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Chef
Tyson Cole
Austin, Texas, United States
In 2011, Tyson Cole published *Uchi the Cookbook*, a signature work tied closely to the restaurant and its point of view. The book translates a hard-earned culinary philosophy…
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Chef
Yasuo Suetomi
Tokyo, Japan
The 2018 closure of Kasumicho Suetomi did not end a signature dish; it moved it. ## The Climb Yasuo Suetomi is chef of Suetomi, where he has been leading the kitchen since 2021.…
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Ben Truesdell
Chicago, Illinois, United States
## The Path Le Cordon Bleu culinary competition (2009) gave Ben Truesdell a proving ground where precision mattered. The result shows in a kitchen style built on exacting…
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Daisuke Tsuji
Tokyo, Japan
Daisuke Tsuji’s name sits inside that progression as evidence of a chef moving through an urban restaurant circuit with precision rather than noise. ## Coming Up Chef of Convivio…
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Chef
Julio Martín Baez
Buenos Aires, Argentina
As chef and owner of Julia in Buenos Aires, Julio Martín Baez cooks to a set of contrasts that gives each plate structure: something acidic, something fatty, something spicy,…
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Chef
Kentaro Nishibuchi
Kyoto, Japan
The Tabelog Award Silver came to Nishibuchi Hanten in Kyoto in 2026, reading less like noise than a precise acknowledgment of Kyoto-style Chinese cuisine done with discipline. At…
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Chef
Roel Lintermans
Berlin, Germany
## The Climb In Berlin, the work at Les Solistes by Pierre Gagnaire set the terms: exacting standards, tight control, and a kitchen culture where precision had to hold under…
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Chef
Tadashi Kusunoki
Nagoya, Japan
Executive Chef Tadashi Kusunoki leads Kusunoki Nagoya in Tokyo, where the work is built around modern tempura omakase. In a city that values precision and restraint, his cooking…
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Chef
Tetsuya Asano
Kyoto, Japan
He came to TOKI after a 2017 stint as sous chef at Ritz Paris, France, bringing a measured, disciplined style that reads first in the work and only then in the room. The move into…
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Chef
Atsushi Kono
New York City, New York, United States
Since 2022, the work at Kono in New York City has been organized around yakitori, and Atsushi Kono has made that focus explicit in a 16-course yakitori omakase served…
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Chef
Bram Candries
Ghent, Belgium
Bram Candries took over Gillis in Gent, Belgium, in 2017, carrying forward a meat-focused restaurant built on dry-aged European beef, butchery-led cooking, and an Old World wine…
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Chef
Carlos Del Portillo
Madrid, Spain
Before Carlos Del Portillo became chef at Bistronómika in Madrid, Spain, the line ran through the city that made him. Born in Madrid, he moved through Madrid kitchens in 1990,…
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Daniel Remers
Berlin, Germany
The record is compact: a Berlin base, an Executive Chef post, and a 2025 MICHELIN Bib Gourmand tied to Barra. That narrow set of facts says enough. Daniel Remers is building a…
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Chef
Gino Angelini
Los Angeles, California, United States
"At one point, at 47, I realized that I wanted to open my own restaurant." ## The Path Opening a restaurant under a chef’s own name is a craft decision as much as a business one:…
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Chef
Giovanni Di Palma
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
## The Path Since 2009, Antico Pizza Napoletana has been shaped by Giovanni Di Palma as founder, owner, and head pizza man. The role sits on a single line: make Neapolitan pizza,…
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Pastry chef
Hannah Ziskin
Los Angeles, California, United States
## The Path Pastry work at Bar Tartine in San Francisco gave Hannah Ziskin an early platform for a style that favors seasonality, contrast, and restraint. The desserts read as…
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Hiroshi Nakamichi
Tokyo, Japan
## The Path Training in Lyon placed French discipline at the center of Hiroshi Nakamichi’s practice. The city’s reputation for rigor and depth gave structure to a style that would…
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Chef
Jure Tomič
Brezice, Slovenia
Born in the same town in 1981, Jure Tomi’s work has been shaped less by a single break than by the accumulation of training, repetition, and close attention. A nutritional science…
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Marek Burakowski
Warsaw, Poland
Marek Burakowski’s work in Warsaw is marked by continuity: a run of kitchen posts in one city, each step earned through service, not noise. The through line is clear in the named…
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Chef
Sara Aqel
Amman, Jordan
## Coming Up Dara Dining by Sara Aqel is built around a city-level case for local dining: in Amman, Sara Aqel positions the restaurant around what Jordan already produces, rather…
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Chef
Tavel Bristol-Joseph
Austin, Texas, United States
Tavel Bristol-Joseph’s work at Canje sits at the point where pastry discipline, Texas hospitality, and Caribbean technique meet. The kitchen reads less like a single style…
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Chef
Vladimir Mukhin
Moscow, Russia
## The Path Mukhin's craft is built from kitchens that demand exact timing, clean repetition, and discipline in the details. The point of that training was not to abandon Russian…
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Chef
Alexis Gauthier
London, United Kingdom
Classical French gastronomy gives Alexis Gauthier’s plant-based work its operating system: structure, sequence, sauce logic, composure, and 25 years of service discipline. The…
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Chef
Angel Zapata Martin
London, United Kingdom
At Barrafina in London, United Kingdom, where Angel Zapata Martin was Chef Director from 2017 to 2023, the work did not pretend to be easy. “Today I woke up with a lot of pride.…
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Chef
Dan Hunter
Birregurra, Australia
## The Climb Professional discipline shows early in a career that starts at the sink and moves through some of the most exacting kitchens in the field. Dan Hunter began as a…
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Chef
Gavino Pilo
Seoul, South Korea
Gavino Pilo has been Executive Chef of Little Napoli in Hong Kong, China, since 2021, working Neapolitan pizza with the kind of precision the city demands. The craft here is…
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Chef
Gerardo Vázquez Lugo
Mexico City, Mexico
## The Climb Technique and tradition formed the base of Gerardo Vázquez Lugo’s training at Instituto de Cultura Culinaria (CUCUL). That grounding set the terms for what followed:…
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Chef
Giuseppe Oliva
Copenhagen, Denmark
Since 2019, Giuseppe Oliva has been the pizzaiolo and owner of Surt in Copenhagen, the project he founded. The work is organized around a clear rule: “At SURT, we value acidity.”…
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Chef
Iñaki Aizpitarte
Paris, France
## Coming Up Le Chateaubriand has been the center of Iñaki Aizpitarte’s professional life since 2006, when he took on the chef role in Paris. The work is described without…
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Chef
John Zaragoza
Chicago, Illinois, United States
John Zaragoza is the owner of Birrieria Zaragoza in Chicago, United States, where birria is the restaurant’s defining specialty. That focus has become the place’s calling card: a…
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Chef
Jonthan Zaragoza
Chicago, Illinois, United States
## Coming Up The Executive Chef role at Birrieria Zaragoza puts Jonthan Zaragoza inside the restaurant’s daily cadence and its working culinary identity. In a kitchen built around…
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Chef
José Calleja
Madrid, Spain
José Calleja cooks from product knowledge first, with classic recipes as his frame of reference. At Surtopía in Madrid, where he serves as chef, the work reads as controlled and…
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Chef
José Certucha
Madrid, Spain
José Certucha’s kitchen identity at La Llorería in Madrid reads in plain terms: direct, controlled, and unsentimental. That same clarity shows up in his public line on the…
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Chef
Justin Yu
Houston, Texas, United States
Justin Yu, chef and owner of Theodore Rex in Houston, works from a local register that stays tied to Texas ingredients even as the menu reaches beyond the city. A native…
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James Beard Award winner
Kaitlin Steets
Houston, Texas, United States
Kaitlin Steets is Head Chef at Theodore Rex in Houston, where she brings a steady, exacting energy to the kitchen. Her path into the role was built deliberately, moving from line…
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Chef
Kenny Burssens
Antwerp, Belgium
## The Path At Ter Groene Poorte, the training ground is practical: hospitality, timing, cellar work, and the discipline of service. For Kenny Burssens, that foundation led into…
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Chef
Luis Ronzon
Mérida, Mexico
Luis Ronzon works in Contemporary Mexican cooking with a focus sharpened by Yucatecan roots. At Quintonil in Mexico City, that means technique carried close to memory, with polish…
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Masahiro Ueda
Tokyo, Japan
Masahiro Ueda holds the dual role of chef-owner and executive chef at Iyuki in Tokyo, Japan. That position sits at the center of the restaurant’s daily rhythm: the kitchen’s…
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Chef
Rodrigo Oliveira
Stockholm, Sweden
## Coming Up The current scope of Rodrigo Oliveira’s work runs through Balaio IMS and Bar Agrikultur, with the founder and chef roles pointing to movement rather than repetition.…
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Chef
Ryan Zichella
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Ryan Zichella is Executive Chef of Deuxave in Boston, Massachusetts. The work is tied to place: Massachusetts roots, a Boston kitchen, and the demands of executive-chef…
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World's 50 Best Bars
Shelley Tai
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
## The Path Shelley Tai’s bar work was built in the standard sequence: barback, apprentice bartender, bartender. At Quinary in Hong Kong, that progression points to the part of…
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Chef
Tian Yong
Temple City, California, United States
## The Climb In Temple City, California, the head-chef post at Bistro Na’s put Tian Yong in the position of setting pace, structure, and standards for the kitchen. That kind of…
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Chef
Tim Siadatan
London, United Kingdom
## The Climb The rigour of Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen trainee programme gave Tim Siadatan an early framework for disciplined service and kitchen standards. That first training ground…
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Chef
António Galapito
Lisbon, Portugal
The line runs through Portuguese product, Portuguese cookery, and Portuguese culture. António Galapito works inside that frame with restraint: the discipline is in the cut, the…
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Winemaker
Antonio Rallo
Sicily, Italy
Along the way, Antonio Rallo’s work stayed anchored in vineyard and cellar, with wines that put Sicily, Pantelleria, and Etna into public view. The discipline here is not display…
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Chef
Chris Decker
Dana Point, California, United States
Chris Decker works pizza as a trade of dough, heat, and timing. In Dana Point, California, the material is Italian-American pie: flour brought into shape, fire aimed with intent,…
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Chef
Chris Weber
Seattle, Washington, United States
## Coming Up Seasonal cooking at The Herbfarm in Woodinville, Washington, United States is built on repetition with variation, and Chris Weber’s work is rooted in that cycle. The…
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Chef
Ciccio Vitiello
Caserta, Italy
In Caserta, dough became Ciccio Vitiello’s first material lesson: flour, water and time as a working discipline, not a metaphor. Handled first as a child and then carried into a…
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Chef
Dana Hokin
Chicago, Illinois, United States
## The Path Since 2016, Dana Hokin has co-founded and owned Robert's Pizza & Dough Company, with a role that sits between room-level execution and the larger shape of the…
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Chef
Donna Baldwin
Dana Point, California, United States
Donna Baldwin is the co-owner and founder of Truly Pizza in Dana Point, California, but the work that defines her has long been service. Across casino floors, hotel consulting,…
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Chef
Joe Powers
Kenmore, New York, United States
## The Climb AVPN Pizza School in 2019 gave Joe Powers a formal base in traditional pizza making. That training set the terms for the work that followed: fundamentals handled with…
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Chef
John Arena
Dana Point, California, United States
## The Path Pizza lineage is part of the craft vocabulary here: Arena, John built his career around the discipline of pizza as both trade and enterprise, and he says it plainly —…
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Chef
Luca Brasi
Osio Sotto, Italy
# Luca Brasi ## The Path The defining role here is chef patron at La Braseria in Osio Sotto, Italy, with Luca Brasi naming the house plainly: “I am Luca Brasi, and this is La…
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Chef
Michael Vakneen
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Michael Vakneen, chef of DØUBLE ZERØ PIE & PUB in Las Vegas, works pizza as a practical language: dough, fire, service, and timing held to the same standard. That discipline runs…
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Chef
Nico Russell
New York City, New York, United States
In the San Francisco Bay Area, Café Vivant’s menu is built around premium poultry and a market-driven reading of the region. The frame around Nico Russell’s cooking runs through…
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Chef
Robert Garvey
Chicago, Illinois, United States
## The Climb Robert’s Pizza & Dough Company is built on repetition done well: dough handled with care, fire managed with intent, and a menu that leans on technique rather than…
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Chef
Alex Chen
Vancouver, Canada
Before Alex Chen took on Executive Chef duties at Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar in Vancouver, Canada, the work was already patterned by apprenticeship, repetition, and the kind…
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Chef
Chihiro Naito
Tokyo, Japan
His cooking sits in Modern Vietnamese cuisine, with French technique and Japanese seasonal produce held in steady balance. That combination gives the work its shape: precise…
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Chef
Chintan Pandya
New York City, New York, United States
## The Climb Training at the Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development gave Chintan Pandya a disciplined base: fundamentals first, technique carried cleanly, no excess covering…
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Chef
Gregorio Tolosa
Cizur Menor, Spain
## The Path At Asador Bidea 2 in Cizur Menor, Navarra, Spain, Gregorio Tolosa came up as a parrilla specialist, working from the demands of flame, smoke, and patience. The grill…
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Chef
Henk Savelberg
Bangkok, Thailand
Executive chef of Savelberg in Bangkok, Thailand, since 2014, Henk Savelberg brings a long European line of training into a kitchen built on discipline, precision and restraint.…
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Chef
Jacob Rozenberg
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
His specialty is salumi, and Jacob Rozenberg treats it as a discipline of subtraction: the point is to highlight the flavor of the meat. That plainspoken rule sits at the center…
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Chef
Jenee Kim
Los Angeles, California, United States
## Training and Lineage Training at Seoul University preceded restaurant ownership in Los Angeles, where Jenee Kim worked as owner at Oleego before taking on Park’s BBQ in 2003.…
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Jordan Khan
Los Angeles, California, United States
Jordan Kahn cooks at Destroyer in Culver City, Los Angeles, United States with a measured, high-control style that has marked his work across fine-dining kitchens. The opening of…
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Chef
Jorge Sastre
Barcelona, Spain
Jorge Sastre is chef and co-founder of Sartoria Panatieri in Barcelona, Spain, where pizza is the central craft. His approach is stated plainly in his own words: “The pizza is the…
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Chef
Katlego Mlambo
London, United Kingdom
Katlego Mlambo’s cooking is built on control, texture, and a close read of place. The Eat Out Nederburg Rising Star Award sits behind that reputation, but the work itself does the…
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Chef
Marc Iacono
Miami, Florida, United States
## The Path At Lucali in Brooklyn, New York, Marc Iacono worked the kind of line where dough, fire, and timing have to meet without slack. The place carries weight with pizza…
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Chef
Marc Vetri
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Marc Vetri’s most durable work runs through Vetri Cucina in Philadelphia, where rustic fare is built with a level of finish that has kept the restaurant in view for years. The…
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Chef
Mark Iacono
Miami Beach, Florida, United States
## The Climb In construction and in granite and marble fabrication, the work demands a steady read on weight, pressure, and finish. Mark Iacono came up through that kind of labor,…
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Chef
Michael Rubinstein
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
## The Path The work reads as a progression through service at scale and close handwork: sustainable seafood practices, French-style butchery and sauce making, handmade pasta, and…
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Chef
Rafa Panatieri
Barcelona, Spain
In Barcelona, Rafa Panatieri, chef of Sartoria Panatieri, has built a pizza practice around grain, fire, and time. The work starts well before the oven: locally sourced organic…
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Chef
Roger Ma
Vancouver, Canada
Roger Ma has led Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar in Vancouver since 2014. ## The Path Line cooking at Fifty Two 80 Bistro at Four Seasons Whistler Resort in Whistler (2004–2005)…
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