The People · Page 50
The artisans of taste.
Chef
Wylie Dufresne
New York City, New York, United States
Wylie Dufresne built a New York career on a useful contradiction: cooking that stays technical without turning stiff, and playful without losing control. As chef and owner, he has…
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Chef
Yu Kunisue
San Francisco, California, United States
Wood fire, fermentation, and kaiseki give the work at SHIZEN its working frame. In Tokyo, Yu Kunisue’s role is Executive Chef, with a practice shaped by Japanese cuisine, close…
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Chef
Alex Jackson
London, United Kingdom
## The Climb Training at La Sorbonne Paris 3 placed Alex Jackson’s foundation outside the kitchen before he moved into the London dining scene. He then held the head chef role at…
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Chef
Amanda Wilson
New York City, New York, United States
At Daily Provisions in New York City, Amanda Wilson’s work as Executive Chef starts with familiar forms handled cleanly. Berkshire bacon, American cheese, eggs, Wake-Up Sauce, and…
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Chef
André Robert
Paris, France
André Robert now carries La Cagouille’s fish-first discipline in Paris, where freshness and exact cooking are the working standards rather than the marketing line. Taking over…
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Chef
Antoine Villard
Paris, France
## The Path Antoine Villard’s early path was shaped in kitchens where precision mattered more than display. Working as second to Bertrand Grébaut at Septime restaurant placed him…
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Chef
Aurélien Véquaud
Gits, Belgium
Aurélien Véquaud is the Executive Chef of the Belles-Rives Juan group, a role he was appointed to on March 10, 2025. From Vendée, he brings to the table a cooking style that moves…
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Executive Chef, The Restaurant at Meadowood
Christopher Kostow
St. Helena, California, United States
Napa Valley cooking, in Christopher Kostow’s work, is framed by procurement and restraint: “Find local, quality ingredients and let them shine.” The method is visible in dishes…
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Restaurateur
Danny Meyer
New York City, New York, United States
The practice of hospitality here is built from education, room work, and operating discipline rather than chef mythology. Trinity College sits in Danny Meyer’s record as part of…
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Chef
Dave Harrison
Copenhagen, Denmark
The arc is compact, but it has the clean momentum of a chef who learns leadership by taking on more of the kitchen itself. Dave Harrison’s path reads less like a scatter of…
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Chef
Erik Anderson
Healdsburg, California, United States
Erik Anderson previously led Barndiva in Healdsburg as Executive Chef, starting in 2022. In kitchens that reward precision, restraint, and repeatable control, Anderson has worked…
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Bartender / bar director
Evelyn Chick
Toronto, Canada
Evelyn Chick owns SIMPL THINGS in Toronto, a home base that feels like a natural extension of a career spent moving through rooms, cities, and shifting versions of hospitality…
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Chef
Fabio Ciervo
Rome, Italy
Fabio Ciervo’s work at La Terrazza is built around movement rather than fixed repetition. The dish changes by design, and the method is described in terms of five working…
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Chef
Franck Audu
Bordeaux, France
Cooking sits at the level of duty before it becomes a pleasure in Franck Audu’s framing. The line he gives it — “Cooking is an art but also a school of humanity. No one should die…
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Chef
Franck Baranger
Santiago de Compostela, Spain
The work reads as controlled and exact, with ingredients given room to speak and the seasoning hand kept deliberate. ## The Climb Early work through Le Pantruche, Caillebotte, and…
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Joey Ryan
Charleston, South Carolina, United States
## Career Executive chef Joey Ryan leads the kitchen at Xiao Bao Biscuit in Charleston, where co-ownership puts the same hand on menu, room, and bar. That arrangement gives the…
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John Norris Rogers
Cape Town, South Africa
Before John Norris Rogers was named Eat Out Woolworths Financial Services Chef of the Year in 2022, the shape of his career was already set by kitchen discipline. Silwood School…
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Chef
Jordi Simón
Palamós, Spain
In Palamós, the ingredients speak plainly of coast and season, but at DVISI, Jordi Simon gives them a wider working range. Mediterranean foundations stay in place, while the plate…
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Chef
Joshua Pressman
Santa Barbara, California, United States
Pizza at Bettina in Santa Barbara is treated as a primary craft: dough, fire, timing, and restraint. In Joshua Pressman’s kitchen, the standard is not display but…
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Chef
Lena Ciardullo
New York City, New York, United States
## Coming Up Slow-roasted lamb shoulder is the kind of dish that rewards restraint: low lift, but only if the heat, timing, and layering are right. For Lena Ciardullo, the draw is…
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Chef
Luke Farrell
London, United Kingdom
## The Path Luke Farrell’s practice sits between London dining rooms and the growing conditions that feed them. As chef and restaurateur of Four restaurants in London, chef of…
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Chef
Mark Okuda
Los Angeles, California, United States
Mark Okuda is Chef and Co-Owner of The Brothers Sushi in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. The work behind that title comes into view through a clear progression: sushi service in…
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James Beard Award winner
Michael Romano
New York City, New York, United States
Michael Romano is a partner at Union Square Hospitality Group in New York City, a role that reflects both his longevity and the quiet authority he brought to one of the city’s…
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Chef
Paolo Gori
Florence, Italy
His work at Da Burde is built on continuity rather than reset. Paolo Gori has kept the restaurant moving by deepening its own language, letting tradition and progress sit in the…
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Chef
Peter Merriman
Kapalua, Hawaii, United States
Inducted into the Hawaii Restaurant Association Hall of Fame in 2011, Peter Merriman is a Hawaii chef and restaurateur widely identified with the rise of Hawaii Regional Cuisine.…
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Chef
Philip Krajeck
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
The work is organized around two restaurants: one using global techniques against Tennessee Southern ingredients, the other loosely Italian-influenced and drawn toward pizza,…
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Chef
Philippe Massoud
New York City, New York, United States
## The Climb Hospitality work can be read as systems design, and Philippe Massoud’s route through it was built that way. Cornell University and Rochester Institute of Technology…
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Chef
Salam Dakkak
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Chef-owner of Bait Maryam in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Salam Dakkak was named Middle East & North Africa’s Best Female Chef in 2023. The distinction fits a body of work built…
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Seth Turiansky
San Francisco, California, United States
Born and raised in Burlington, Vermont, Seth Turiansky’s route into fine dining reads as a stepwise build: discipline first, then repetition, then responsibility. His professional…
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Chef
Silas Li
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
## Where They Are Now Brooklands College, Surrey, is where Silas Li trained before he moved into a career that brought him to Hong Kong in 1997 and into a private kitchen for…
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Chef
Stephen Barber
St. Helena, California, United States
## The Path Kitchen discipline and regional memory run through Stephen Barber’s career: the line at City Grocery in Oxford, Mississippi, set the first terms, followed by Head Chef…
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Chef
Tatiana Levha
Paris, France
In Paris, the work stays direct: duck hearts with sweet chili, scallop pot-au-feu, lemon meringue tart. At Le Servan, Tatiana Levha uses those ingredients to build a French-Asian…
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Yuta Kimura
Tokyo, Japan
## The Climb Tonkatsu asks for repetition, and Yuta Kimura has built his work around that demand. As Executive Chef of Tonkatsu Hinata, he treats the specialty as daily practice:…
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Chef
Amarilys Colón
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Born in Puerto Rico, Amarilys Col brings a measured, architectural hand to La Padrona in Boston. The work reads through deliberate gestures, grounded flavors, and plates that stay…
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Chef
Axel Manes
Paris, France
Chef Axel Manes of L’Atelier Saint Germain De Joël Robuchon in Paris, France, carries a formation that begins in Belgium and moves through Brussels, Lyon, and the Saint-Germain…
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Chef
Bing Luo
Tokyo, Japan
## The Climb Sichuan cuisine depends on disciplined heat, aroma, and timing, and Bing Luo’s work was built through that grammar first at Sichuan Cuisine Cooking School and then…
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Chef
Chris Gould
Portland, Maine, United States
Chris Gould is chef and owner of Central Provisions in Portland. The restaurant has become closely associated with international small plates, a format that asks for range and…
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Chef
Cyrus Todiwala
London, United Kingdom
Before Cyrus Todiwala became chef proprietor of Café Spice Namasté in London, United Kingdom, the work was shaped in Indian hotel kitchens, where technique, patience and instinct…
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Chef
Gianmarco Abramo
London, United Kingdom
Gianmarco Abramo is Head Chef at Cora Pearl (London), and the cooking there is built on seasonal British produce, tightened by Anglo-European influence, and kept deliberately…
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Chef
Hisato Hamada
Tokyo, Japan
## The Climb Film gave Hisato Hamada an early study in pacing, framing, and timing before he entered the field that now defines his name. That earlier work sits behind the way he…
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Winemaker
Ignacio López
Logroño, Spain
## Coming Up Winemaking here is about reading site, variety, and season into a finished bottle. Ignacio López has worked from that premise in Mendoza, then through Cafayate and…
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Chef
Jasper Schneider
Avon, Colorado, United States
Since 2018, the kitchen at The Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch has been led by Jasper Schneider, with the mountain setting in Colorado shaping the way the food reads on the plate:…
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Winemaker
Jesus Artajona
Salas Bajas (Somontano), Spain
## The Climb Training in Chemistry at Zaragoza and Enology at Bordeaux gave Jesus Artajona a dual footing: one in scientific method, the other in the finer adjustments of wine.…
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Chef
Jimmy Bannos Jr.
Chicago, Illinois, United States
“The basis of what I do and everything that I study and practice has to do with Mediterranean roots.” In Jimmy Bannos Jr.’s work at Kouklas Greek Eatery in Niles, Illinois, that…
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Winemaker
József Kreinbacher
Somlóvásárhely, Hungary
## The Path Since 2002, József Kreinbacher has held one role at Kreinbacher Birtok in Somló, Hungary: founder, owner, and driving force. That continuity is the point. In a trade…
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Winemaker
Katia Álvarez
Cambados, Spain
Director of winemaking at Bodegas Martín Códax in Cambados, Spain, Katia Álvarez works with Albariño in one of Galicia’s defining coastal wine regions. The work sits where salt…
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Chef
Keisuke Yamagishi
Paris, France
## The Essentials French cuisine at étude in Paris, France sits under Keisuke Yamagishi’s direction, with sourcing treated as part of the cooking rather than a separate concern.…
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Chef
Kiyoshi Inomata
Saitama, Japan
Kawaguchi counter craft, in the case of Sushi Inomata in Saitama, is built on narrowing the frame rather than widening it. The restaurant opened in 2014, with Kiyoshi Inomata as…
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Chef
Koji Higaki
Paris, France
Koji Higaki’s formation begins in Osaka, where a Japanese cook absorbed two different kitchen languages: work in a Japanese restaurant and work in an Italian restaurant. That…
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Chef
Lluís Fernández Punset
Llançà, Spain
"It is good that there is control." ## The Climb Training at Barcelona School of Hospitality Management gave Lluís Fernández Punset the kind of base that shows up in the work:…
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Chef
Michael van der Kroft
Rotterdam, Netherlands
“Instead, I found identity.” The line reads like a note taken from the pass after a dish has been trimmed back to what matters. That is the measure here: less excess, more…
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Chef
Michael Wendling
Shanghai, China
## The Essentials French cooking at Cuivre in Shanghai is built on classic forms, with Michael Wendling using a restrained twist rather than a full break from the canon. Since…
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Chef
Nicolas Boujéma
Tokyo, Japan
Nicolas Boujéma’s work at SIGNATURE in Tokyo is built on control: composed plating, disciplined execution, and attention to what each ingredient already carries. As Chef de…
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Paul Tsui
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Paul Tsui’s profile is concise, but the facts carry weight: a chef trained in a structured academic setting and defined by a long-running post in one of Hong Kong’s notable dining…
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Chef
Andrea Lorenzon
Chester, United Kingdom
The cooking starts with French bistro structure, then settles into Venetian practice: seasonal, market-led, and tied to the cadence of Rialto. Andrea Lorenzon’s work with local…
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Chef
Billy Cheng
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
# Billy Cheng Fine dining on the Las Vegas Strip works under two pressures at once: fidelity to Chinese technique and the service polish expected inside a resort dining room. At…
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Chef
Callan Austin
Stellenbosch, South Africa
## Coming Up Training at the Institute of Culinary Arts set the base for Callan Austin’s progression through service-led kitchens, first as Chef de Partie at Le Coin Français in…
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Winemaker
Carlos Pulenta
Luján de Cuyo, Argentina
Carlos Pulenta has built his reputation in the language of red wine, with red blends and Malbec in particular doing the defining work. At Bodega Vistalba in Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza…
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Chef
Christian Pugliesi
Rome, Italy
Christian Pugliesi is Executive Chef at Mirabelle in Rome, Italy. The record is compact: a sous-chef post at Noma, then leadership of a named kitchen in Rome. ## The Climb…
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Winemaker
Christos Barafakas
Nemea, Greece
Christos Barafakas is the winemaker of Barafakas Winery in Nemea, and the strength of that position lies in its continuity: one estate, one craft, and a long working relationship…
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David Almany
Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
## The Path At Vintage Restaurant in Charlottesville, the cooking is shaped by a line cook’s discipline and a chef’s restraint, with David Almany bringing a style built on…
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Chef
Denis Lovatel
Milan, Italy
"The foundations on which my idea of pizza is based are twofold: identity... And then sustainability... Concrete actions in this sense would have a powerful impact." Denis…
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Esben Piper
Copenhagen, Denmark
Esben Piper is the founder of La Cabra, the Danish specialty-coffee roaster and café company. La Cabra began in Aarhus and now operates coffee bars including the Møntergade…
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Chef
Ethan Pikas
Chicago, Illinois, United States
## The Path At Cellar Door Provisions in Chicago, Ethan Pikas has built a rare kind of tenure: chef and opening partner from 2014–2021, then Executive Chef and owner from…
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World's 50 Best
Janaina Rueda
São Paulo, Brazil
Janaina Rueda’s work is built around Brazilian food spoken plainly and without apology. At A Casa do Porco in São Paulo and O Bar da Dona Onça in São Paulo, the point is not the…
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Chef
Janaína Torres
São Paulo, Brazil
Chef of Bar da Dona Onça in São Paulo, Brazilian Janaína Torres began this arc by founding that address in 2008; it now extends to her work as owner and chef of A Casa do Porco.…
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World's 50 Best
Janaína Torres Rueda
São Paulo, Brazil
## The Path Janaína Torres Rueda’s work is built around two São Paulo kitchens that have become central reference points in her career: O Bar da Dona Onça, where she has been…
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Chef
Jauca Catalin
Bath, United Kingdom
Jauca Catalin has been Executive Chef at The Bath Priory in Bath, United Kingdom, since 2020, where the work is built around fresh local produce, flavour and balance. Born in…
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Katsuaki Yoshida
Tokyo, Japan
Katsuaki Yoshida is the chef behind Megriva in Tokyo, where Italian counter dining is handled as a working format: close range, measured pace, and direct contact between cook and…
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Winemaker
Lynn Penner-Ash
Newberg, Oregon, United States
## The Climb Training at the University of California, Davis gave Lynn Penner-Ash a base in the disciplined study of wine: how place, grape, and human work register in the bottle.…
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Chef
Marcin Przybysz
Warsaw, Poland
## The Path At Epoka in Warsaw, Poland, Marcin Przybysz worked as head chef and creator of the restaurant concept, using the kitchen as a place to handle Polish culinary heritage…
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Chef
Matthew Niessner
Charleston, South Carolina, United States
His background pairs international range with classical American technique, and that combination shows in a kitchen approach built on breadth and discipline rather than display.…
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Chef
Nicolas Lebas
Palm Beach, Florida, United States
## Coming Up The line between resort cooking and fine dining shows up early in Nicolas Lebas’s work at Barnsley Resort in Adairsville, Georgia (2019–2022), where the scale and…
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Chef
Paolo De Simone
Milan, Italy
## Coming Up Founding a bakery sets the terms early: production, rhythm, and standards. In 2010, Paolo De Simone opened Storie di Pane in Vallo della Lucania, Italy, as founder…
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Winemaker
Paula González
Maipú, Argentina
Paula Gonz is Head Winemaker — Bodega Antigal (Maipú, Argentina), 2024, a role defined by cellar work with a clear brief: make wines that hold to the region, not the other way…
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Chef
Rafael Piqueras
Lima, Peru
Before Rafael Piqueras became chef and owner of Maras in Lima, Peru, his training passed through Le Cordon Bleu Peru Institute and the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners.…
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Chef
Richard Blondin
Columbus, Ohio, United States
Before Richard Blondin was named Executive Chef of The Refectory in Columbus, United States, his kitchen formation ran from Lyon, France to Ohio. That path is the clearest frame…
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Winemaker
Walter Finlayson
Stellenbosch, South Africa
Owner and cellar master/winemaker at Glen Carlou in Paarl, South Africa, is the working frame for Walter Finlayson. The record starts at Hartenberg in Stellenbosch and stays…
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Winemaker
Adam Louder
Grampians, Australia
Chief Winemaker at Mount Langi Ghiran since 2018, Adam Louder is most closely tied to a body of work shaped in Bayindeen, Victoria, Australia, and sharpened by years spent across…
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Winemaker
Adam Wadewitz
Adelaide Hills, Australia
Adam Wadewitz is Joint CEO of Shaw + Smith, a position earned through a stepwise build across cellar work, senior winemaking, and business leadership. The path reads as…
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Winemaker
Agnès Paquet
Meloisey, France
Agnès Paquet has worked as owner and winemaker at Domaine Agnès Paquet in Meloisey, France, since 2000. The work is grounded in Burgundy, where place is not backdrop but the…
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Winemaker
Alberto Arizu
Luján de Cuyo, Argentina
## The Path The family role at Bodega Luigi Bosca is not just managerial; it is a custodial one, and Alberto Arizu has been part of that structure from the point where the Arizu…
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Winemaker
Albie Koch
Stellenbosch, South Africa
## Coming Up Elsenburg provided the technical base before Albie Koch moved into winemaking at De Toren in Stellenbosch in 2005. The work that followed was built inside one estate,…
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Winemaker
Amber Ochota
Adelaide Hills, Australia
Amber Ochota manages Ochota Barrels in Basket Range, Adelaide Hills, South Australia. Born in the Adelaide Hills and raised among family, animals and gardens, she came into wine…
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Winemaker
Ana Paula Bartolucci
Agrelo, Argentina
Ana Paula Bartolucci’s route to sparkling wine was built through formal enology training at Universidad Don Bosco and years inside production at Chandon Argentina before she…
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Winemaker
Andrea Capussotti
Canelli, Italy
## Coming Up At Gancia in Canelli, Andrea Capussotti works as technical director in sparkling wine, where the brief is control, timing, and restraint. His own rule for the cellar…
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Winemaker
Andrew Hardy
Coonawarra, Australia
Coonawarra gives the opening frame: an estate, a winemaking team, and Cabernet Sauvignon as the grape that draws Andrew Hardy’s attention. At Parker Coonawarra Estate in…
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Winemaker
Andries Burger
Elgin, South Africa
## The Climb Stellenbosch University gave Andries Burger the technical base for a cellar practice built on detail, discipline and a close reading of place. That grounding now…
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Winemaker
Andy Robinson
Healdsburg, California, United States
Andy Robinson has been winemaker at Seghesio Family Vineyards in Healdsburg since 2015, after twelve years there as enologist. The work is built around Zinfandel and varietals of…
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Winemaker
Angelos Iatridis
Amyntaio, Greece
## Coming Up Angelos Iatridis’s work is built on sequence: formal study, broad experience in Greece and abroad, then a focused commitment to cool-climate winemaking on the…
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Winemaker
Anthony Yount
Paso Robles, California, United States
## The Climb In Missouri, where farm roots tend to shape how land is read and worked, Anthony Yount’s background points to the same priority that runs through his cellar work: the…
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Winemaker
António Maçanita
Madalena (Pico), Portugal
## Coming Up António Maçanita’s work is built around place as a working material, not a backdrop. In his own framing, the point is usefulness: wine as something that does more…
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Chef
Antonio Park
Westmount, Canada
## The Climb A home kitchen provided the first instruction, then Japan supplied the formal discipline. Antonio Park’s early cooking was shaped by watching his mother make things…
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Winemaker
Antonis Dourakis
Alikampos, Greece
## The Path Technical training at the University of Applied Science of Wiesbaden gave Antonis Dourakis a framework for work that depends on timing, observation, and repeatable…
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Winemaker
Apostolos Thymiopoulos
Trilofos, Greece
Apostolos Thymiopoulos has been the winemaker at Thymiopoulos Vineyards in Naoussa since 2004, and that span defines the shape of his work. Xinomavro sits at the center of that…
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Arjuna Bull
New York City, New York, United States
## Career Arjuna Bull trained at Johnson & Wales University before moving through New York kitchens where speed, section work, and service discipline mattered more than rhetoric.…
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Winemaker
Artemis Karamolegos
Santorini, Greece
## The Climb Since 2003, Artemis Karamolegos has served as winemaker of Artemis Karamolegos Winery, and that span gives the work a clear frame: continuity, not interruption, has…
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Winemaker
Athanassios Parparoussis
Patras, Greece
## The Path Founded in 1974 in Bozaitika, Patras, Parparoussis Winery anchors Athanassios Parparoussis’s work in the northern Peloponnese. The line is direct: the winery was…
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Winemaker
Austin Hope
Paso Robles, California, United States
Austin Hope’s work at Hope Family Wines in Paso Robles, California is organized around a practical read on blending and a clear regional identity. As president and winemaker, he…
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Winemaker
Babis Bekris
Panagia, Greece
## The Climb Babis Bekris leads Akrathos Newlands Winery in Panagia as CEO, and the role sits inside a longer inheritance of grape work rather than outside it. Born in the…
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