The People · Page 54
The artisans of taste.
James Beard Award winner
Harold Moore
New York City, New York, United States
Harold Moore cooks comfort with a practiced hand at Cafe Commerce in New York City. The register is familiar, but the execution is precise: Pommes Aligot sits on the menu as a…
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Chef
Hide Takeda
Los Angeles, California, United States
## The Trajectory The chef’s post at Sushi Takeda is a working sushi-bar role in Los Angeles, with Hide Takeda named as chef of Sushi Takeda. ## Where They Are Now Edo-mae…
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Chef
Hisayoshi Iwa
Tokyo, Japan
Hisayoshi Iwa has been the owner-chef of Sushi Iwa in Tokyo since 2012, and Michelin Guide recognition has followed that steady, exacting line of work. The practice here is not…
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Jeff Maxfield
Miami, Florida, United States
Jeff Maxfield came to Walrus Rodeo in Miami in 2023 with a working grip on wood-fire American cooking and the sort of experience that only comes from long hours in line kitchens…
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Chef
Josita Hartanto
Berlin, Germany
Since 2011, Lucky Leek in Berlin has been shaped by Josita Hartanto in a dual role that combines owner and Head Chef. That structure matters: it gives the kitchen a stable point…
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Chef
Kaz Oyama
Los Angeles, California, United States
On Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, the work is organized around beef as the primary material. In Kaz Oyama’s room, Japanese yakiniku gives the meal its structure: selection, fire,…
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Chef
Kian Samyani
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Iranian and Persian cooking gives Kian Samyani the working grammar: kababs, bread, family recipes, and the memory of childhood visits to Iran. The structure is personal, but the…
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Chef
Kunihide “Nakaji” Nakajima
New York City, New York, United States
Training that starts at 18 sets a cook inside repetition before authorship. In the case of Kunihide “Nakaji” Nakajima, the work moved through a 1997 arrival in Midtown, a Harlem…
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Chef
Leonard Botello IV
Houston, Texas, United States
Leonard Botello IV holds the owner and pitmaster role at Truth BBQ in Houston, with the chef title sitting beside it. That pairing maps the work as it is actually done in Texas…
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Chef
Ljubomir Stanisic
Lisbon, Portugal
Ljubomir Stanisic has been chef of 100 Maneiras in Lisbon since 2009, and the restaurant has grown under his direction into a place where dinner is staged with the structure and…
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Chef
Loïc Dantec
Paris, France
## The Path In Paris kitchens, progression is built service by service, and Loïc Dantec’s route reflects that discipline. A first chef role at Le 114 Faubourg in Paris gave shape…
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Chef
Masakazu Hiraki
Tokyo, Japan
## The Path Technical formation begins at Tsuji Professional Culinary Training College, and in Hiraki’s case that base is visible in the way the rest of the record unfolds:…
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Chef
Matt Sussman
Kyoto, Japan
His work sits where bread service, front-of-house practice, and a restaurant idea drawn from Alpine inns meet. “Breaking bread is what people do to commune with one another, to…
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Miljohn Dimaano
Kenmare Co. Kerry, Ireland
Executive Chef at The Falls Restaurant in Kenmare, County Kerry, Ireland, is the anchor point of Miljohn Dimaano’s record. It marks a move through senior kitchens with purpose:…
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Nicolas Fontaine
Baiersbronn, Germany
Before Nicolas Fontaine took on Executive Chef duties at Dorfstuben in Baiersbronn, his work moved through kitchens that demanded different forms of control: apprenticeship, then…
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Chef
Otto Phan
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Chicago is a city of dreamers. ## The Path Since 2018, Otto Phan has owned and cooked at Kyōten, building a room where exacting technique and feeling are held in balance. In a…
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Chef
Patrick Williams
Los Angeles, California, United States
Patrick Williams is best known for work at La Azteca in Los Angeles, where the cooking has been associated with warmth, precision, and a kitchen style that reads as measured…
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Chef
Phillip L. Lopez
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Phillip L. Lopez’s career is marked by steady upward movement, the kind you read in the work before you hear it in the room: tighter execution, cleaner decisions, more…
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Chef
Reina Chen
Shenzhen, China
Reina Chen is chef of Fumée in Shenzhen. ## Coming Up Stage work and kitchen work share discipline, timing, and control, and Reina Chen moved through both in sequence: first as a…
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Chef
Roman Paulus
Prague, Czech Republic
## Coming Up Training at The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, École hôtelière de Lausanne, and La Pergola gave Roman Paulus a base in discipline, technique, and the…
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Chef
Satoshi Masuda
Los Angeles, California, United States
Kyoto-style tempura is a discipline of timing, restraint, and clean execution. At Tempura Endo in Beverly Hills, United States, Executive Chef Satoshi Masuda works from that…
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Chef
Sirichai Sreparplarn
New York City, New York, United States
Formation starts with Bangkok. Sirichai Sreparplarn is a native of the Thai capital, and that background runs through the 2017–2024 chef tenure at Ugly Baby in Brooklyn, New York…
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Chef
Somer Sivrioğlu
Osaka, Japan
Judge on MasterChef Turkey in 2018 is the public marker, but the craft behind Somer Sivrio sits in the longer work: building Turkish cooking in Australia, giving it a permanent…
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Chef
Steve Samson
Los Angeles, California, United States
Steve Samson is the Chef/Owner of Rossoblu in Los Angeles, and the title fits the work: command on one side, stewardship on the other. Italian cooking, in his hands, reads as…
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Chef
Thomas Gellynck
Sint-Amandsberg, Belgium
Thomas Gellynck works from the kind of kitchen where comfort is treated as a method, not a finish. At Commotie in Ghent, Belgium, the food is meant to be shared, the room is meant…
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Co-Owner, The Long Island Bar
Toby Cecchini
New York City, New York, United States
Toby Cecchini is a bartender and co-owner of The Long Island Bar in Brooklyn. He and Joel Tompkins restored the landmark space and reopened it in 2013.
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Chef
Zach Sato
Wailea, Hawaii, United States
## The Place Maui shapes the palate in specific ways: it teaches freshness, restraint, and brightness as standards rather than effects. The setting is part of the brief. Locally…
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Aaron Crowder
New York City, New York, United States
Chef and partner at Eel Bar in New York City is the current marker of Aaron Crowder’s career, but the role reads as the product of accumulated kitchen work rather than a final…
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Chef
Alessandro Zangrossi
Barcelona, Spain
Alessandro Zangrossi works the room and the operation at La Balmesina in Barcelona, where restaurant management and partnership sit side by side. That pairing matters in trade…
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Chef
Amado Forés
Makati, Philippines
## The Path Restaurant identity built around handwork needs the hand to remain legible. As founder of A Mano and founder of AF Hospitality, Amado Forés works from a premise that…
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Chef
Andrew Cleverdon
Washington DC, Washington DC, United States
## The Path Andrew Cleverdon’s training at The Culinary Institute of America in 2001 set an early standard: structure first, repetition second, and execution over talk. That…
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Chef
Carola Santoro
Adrogué, Argentina
## The Climb The co-founder and Executive Chef role at Ti Amo has been Carola Santoro’s since 2019, and it reads as much as a working position as a return to a place already…
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Dario Fociani
Rome, Italy
Dario Fociani is a Roman specialty-coffee professional who co-founded Faro in 2017 after working in cafés in Melbourne, London and Berlin. At Faro he leads marketing, while also…
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Pastry chef
Erin Reed
Washington DC, Washington DC, United States
Pastry asks for timing, restraint, and repeatable control. Erin Reed works in that register: shaping desserts with steady discipline, calibrated service timing, and the kind of…
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Chef
Francis Ang
San Francisco, California, United States
Before Francis Ang became Executive Chef of Abacá in San Francisco, his kitchen training ran through Gary Danko and Fifth Floor, two San Francisco addresses that sharpened his…
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Chef
Gaspare Squitieri
Fürth, Germany
In Fürth, Germany, Neapolitan practice at Pizza Zulu was built from the base outward: dough, time, flour, and heat before garnish. Gaspare Squitieri’s work sat in that sequence.…
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Chef
Gioel Demaio
Bilbao, Spain
Chef at Demaio in Bilbao, Spain, Gioel Demaio reached #36 in The Best Pizza Awards 2025 Selection. The recognition rests on a focused body of pizza work: Contemporary Neapolitan…
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Chef
Ingga S. Cabangon Chua
Makati, Philippines
Ingga S. Cabangon Chua’s formation begins with dough: the patient, living material that gives Crosta in Makati, Philippines, its center of gravity. As founder of the restaurant,…
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Chef
Jader Demaio
Bilbao, Spain
Jader Demaio works the pizzeria side of Demaio in Bilbao, Spain, where the job sits on a narrow set of skills: heat management, timing, dough, and the steady repetition that turns…
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Chef
Juan Carlos Romero
Miraflores, Peru
## The Climb Layering a kitchen identity takes time, and Juan Carlos Romero has built his position that way: step by step, with discipline that shows in the finished work. As…
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Chef
Lorenzo Tron
Melbourne, Australia
Lorenzo Tron runs SHOP225 in Pascoe Vale South, Melbourne, where pizza sets the register and the oven draws the room. The work is grounded in Italian food made for dietary…
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Chef
Marco Orrico
Vienna, Austria
Chef Marco Orrico of Via Toledo in Vienna, Austria, begins his story with formation by place: Naples behind him, Vienna around him, Italian dough as the line between the two. From…
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World's 50 Best Bars
Meaghan Dorman
New York City, New York, United States
Meaghan Dorman has been Bar Director and partner at Raines Law Room in New York City since 2009. She studied at Southern Connecticut State University. In 2014, her work expanded…
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Chef
Michele Fernando
Bangkok, Thailand
## The Climb At Massilia in Bangkok, the head pizzaiolo role belongs to the dough, the oven, and the repeatable standards that hold a service together. Michele Fernando works…
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Chef
Rebecca Wilcomb
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
## The Path Rebecca Wilcomb’s work is built through repetition: line time, station work, and the accumulation of habits that hold under pressure. Early roles as chef at Harvest in…
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Chef
Ryan Roadhouse
Portland, Oregon, United States
## Coming Up Dishwashing and bussing at a Japanese restaurant gave Ryan Roadhouse an early read on the pace of the trade: clearing, carrying, washing, watching, and learning how a…
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Chef
Thomas Woudwyk
Makati, Philippines
His own description of the role is plainspoken: “I'm more the chief taste testing expert and the finance guy.” Before opening, Thomas Woudwyk says, “I had been making pizzas for…
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Bartender / bar director
Tom Richter
New York City, New York, United States
“My vision was to create a place where people could have a healthy and affordable meal.” That brief is the throughline in Tom Richter’s bar work: utility before theater,…
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Chef
Yuichi Ito
Makati, Philippines
Yuichi Ito’s pizza work at Crosta Pizzeria in Makati, Philippines is built on control first: a clean read on dough, topping, balance, and timing, with enough room left for…
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Chef
Alfred Portale
New York City, New York, United States
Alfred Portale, Executive Chef & Owner of Portale in New York City, belongs to that rare class of chefs whose careers can be read as a map of modern American dining: a line from…
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Chef
Andrea Campani
San Giustino Valdarno, Italy
His cooking style is simple food, proudly and distinctly Tuscan. The appeal sits in that restraint: Andrea Campani’s plates do not push for attention so much as earn it through…
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Chef
Bobby Consiglio
New Haven, Connecticut, United States
## The Path At Sally's Apizza in New Haven, CT, Bobby Consiglio moved through two forms of the same responsibility: co-owner until 2017, then manager from 2017. In a city that…
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Chef
Daechun Kim
Seoul, South Korea
His work is associated with Modern Korean fermentation fine dining, aging techniques, and temple cuisine. ## Career Arc Japanese culinary training gives a cook a technical base in…
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Chef
Daniele Bendanti
Bologna, Italy
## The Path Training at ALMA, The International School of Italian Cuisine, gave Daniele Bendanti a formal base for the work that followed: measured, technical, and built in…
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Chef
Danni Barry
Recess, Ireland
Irish Chef of the Year in 2016, Danni Barry’s work reads as a progression through the kitchen hierarchy rather than a single breakaway moment: kitchen porter, chef, sous chef,…
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Chef
Geoffrey Lee
San Francisco, California, United States
Geoffrey Lee comes into focus through omakase, where sequence, temperature, and restraint do the work. At jū-ni in San Francisco, that discipline is the frame; in his earlier…
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Chef
George Farrugia
London, United Kingdom
At Noizé in London, the cooking is built on season and texture first. Pork belly comes crisped against BBQ sauce, sole fritters read like a pared-back fish and chips, and hare is…
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Chef
George Mcleod
Lisbon, Portugal
George Mcleod has been co-founder and chef of SEM in Lisbon since 2021, shaping the restaurant’s identity through precision rather than volume. The work at SEM is marked by…
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Chef
Hisashi Udatsu
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
## Coming Up The counter at Udatsu Sushi has been shaped since 2019 by Hisashi Udatsu, whose work as chef-owner is built on measured technique rather than display. In sushi, where…
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Chef
Ignacio Ovalle
Santiago, Chile
Since 2021, the kitchen at La Calma by Fredes in Santiago, Chile has been led by Ignacio Ovalle, whose work there is built on discipline, not flourish. ## The Climb Technique and…
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Chef
Jair Téllez
Mexico City, Mexico
Baja California cuisine gains its force from edge conditions: coastline, border traffic, and a working tolerance for appetite without overstatement. In Jair Téllez’s cooking, that…
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Chef
Jiro Lin
San Francisco, California, United States
## Coming Up The sushi counter gave Jiro Lin his working grammar in San Francisco: knife discipline, service rhythm, and the measured pace required to make omakase hold together.…
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Chef
Josh Fryer
Denver, Colorado, United States
## Coming Up A kitchen career built on discipline and range is visible in the rooms Josh Fryer has moved through: large-scale banquet operations, luxury hotels, and restaurant…
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Koichi Taira
Tokyo, Japan
Koichi Taira is chef at Sushi Taira in Moto Azabu, Tokyo. His specialty is delicious nigiri sushi, a style built on restraint, exactitude, and the confidence to let each piece…
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Chef
Letizia Vella
Rabat, Malta
## The Path Institute of Tourism Studies Malta is where Letizia Vella’s training begins, and the value of that formation is visible in the way she works: disciplined, exact, and…
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Chef
Melissa Perello
San Francisco, California, United States
Before Melissa Perello opened Frances in San Francisco, the work had already been shaped in kitchens that prize tempo, discipline, and consistency. The Culinary Institute of…
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Miika Lönn
Helsinki, Finland
Miika Lönn’s work at Bistro Bardot in Helsinki, Finland is built on Classic French bistro technique: precise timing, restrained flavor, and the discipline to make familiar food…
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Neil O'Connell
Miami, Florida, United States
## The Path Neil O'Connell's CV tracks the kind of kitchen authority that is earned in increments: Senior Sous Chef at Michael Caines At Abode (2007–2010), then Sous Chef at…
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Chef
Pam Mazzola
San Francisco, California, United States
San Francisco has shaped the line of Pam Mazzola’s cooking: fog-muted mornings, market produce at its peak, and nearby farms setting the tempo of the menu. At Prospect, that…
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Chef
Saipin Chutima
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Northern Thai cooking in Las Vegas is the working register here: herbs and spices layered for definition, coconut-less curries kept clear rather than rounded off, and family…
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Michelin-starred chef
Skye Gyngell
London, United Kingdom
## Coming Up Skye Gyngell started in publishing, not service, as food editor at Vogue until 2003. That background shows in the way her cooking has moved: with an editor’s eye for…
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Chef
Takeaki Tadokoro
San Diego, California, United States
Takeaki Tadokoro has been chef/owner of Sushi Tadokoro in San Diego, United States, since 2012. That pairing of roles matters in sushi, where authorship and stewardship often sit…
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Tania Apolinar
New York City, New York, United States
Tania Apolinar brings a photographer’s eye to restaurant work: composition, timing, and the reading of a room. In New York, that sensibility shows up in the way Taqueria Ramirez…
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Chef
Tatsuro Tsuchiya
San Diego, California, United States
## The Path Technique in yakitori and sushi is built by repetition, not flourish, and Tatsuro Tsuchiya’s early posts in San Diego reflect that kind of work. At Yakitori Yakyudori…
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Chef
Tetsuya Nakao
Los Angeles, California, United States
## Coming Up Tetsuya Nakao arrived in America in 1982 and joined Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills as one of the original chefs who helped start Matsuhisa. That early post mattered…
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Chef
Vladislav Penov
Sofia, Bulgaria
## The Climb At Cosmos Restaurant in Sofia, Vladislav Penov has held the Executive Chef role since 2017, working a kitchen language shaped by Bulgarian memory, seasonal produce,…
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Chef
Alisha Elenz
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Since 2020, Alisha Elenz has been chef owner of Whisk The Night Away in Chicago, Illinois, a role that puts kitchen pace and front-of-house judgment in the same frame. The work…
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Chef
Brandon Kida
Los Angeles, California, United States
## The Climb Training at the Culinary Institute of America gave Brandon Kida a formal base before he entered kitchens where tempo and standards were set high. Work as cook at…
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Fei Wang
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
In 2017, the Head Chef role at Hutong in The Shard put Fei Wang into a dining room where kitchen control, pace, and public visibility all land at once. The work there sits at the…
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Chef
Frank Pabst
Vancouver, Canada
"They instilled in me very early, to use only the freshest, mostly local ingredients to create dishes that are simple, yet bursting of flavours." That rule reads plain; in a…
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Chef
Niven Patel
Miami, Florida, United States
Food & Wine named Niven Patel a Best New Chef in 2020. The recognition pointed to a Miami practice built around Modern Indian cooking, farm-to-table sourcing, bold traditional…
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Chef
Philippe Arrambide
Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France
Philippe Arrambide works at Les Pyrénées in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France, in a role shaped by early exposure to restaurant life and by repetition at service level. Born in…
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Chef
Pierre Drouineau
Le Louroux, France
Pierre Drouineau has led the kitchen at La Table du Prieuré in Le Louroux since 2020. His cooking is locavore and seasonal; as he puts it, "Attached to my environment, I wanted to…
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Chef
Pino Saccheri
Kyoto, Japan
## The Path Seasonality is the throughline in Pino Saccheri’s work, but the discipline behind it was built across very different kitchens. Internships in Sicily, Milan, and New…
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Chef
Tsubasa Tamaki
Tokyo, Japan
## The Climb At SAVOY in Azabu Juban and Mishuku, Tokyo, Japan, the kitchen leadership under Tsubasa Tamaki was built around Tokyo-style Neapolitan pizza: a line of work that…
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Chef
Yves Le Lay
Copenhagen, Denmark
## Career Yves Le Lay took the Head Chef and Partner role at Restaurant Madeleine in Odense in 2025, adding another line to a career already built through formal hospitality study…
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Bartender
Beckaly Franks
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
## The Climb Portland bar training rewards range: neighborhood pace, tavern volume, and cocktail-bar discipline all ask different things of a bartender. Beckaly Franks worked…
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Chef
Fabio Curreli
Brunico, Italy
From Sardinia to Brunico, Fabio Curreli’s work is best read as a chain of kitchens that demanded precision: Rome, Monte Carlo, then AlpiNN under *Cook the Mountain*. The thread…
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Chef
Francesco Preite
Prato, Italy
Francesco Preite has been owner-chef of Moi Omakase in Prato, Italy, since 2010. The work there is Japanese sushi in the omakase format: a single-counter, chef-led service built…
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Chef
Juan-Carlos Iglesias
Barcelona, Spain
## Coming Up The work begins with a fixed rule: Juan-Carlos Iglesias says, “I do not do anything that does not serve to make a better world.” In a trade that can reward noise, the…
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Kim Joo-hee
Seoul, South Korea
Executive Chef Kim Joo-hee leads Geumdwaeji Sikdang in Seoul, South Korea, in a role defined by discipline, timing, and control of pace as much as flavor. In Seoul’s dense,…
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Chef
Lorenzo Cogo
Venice, Italy
## Training and Lineage Veneto restaurant work gave the early grammar: service rhythm, trattoria discipline, and the daily repetition by which kitchen habits are learned before…
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Chef
Marta Pulini
Modena, Italy
## Coming Up Italian comfort food sits at the center of Marta Pulini’s work, but the form changes by setting: restaurant table, catering, tapas-style menus, and family-style…
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Massimiliano Bovo
Burano, Italy
Massimiliano Bovo is the General Manager at Trattoria al Gatto Nero in Burano, Italy. In that role, the work is less about display than about control of tempo: holding service…
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Miquel Prado
Barcelona, Spain
Miquel Prado’s work at Cruix in Barcelona is organized around rice cookery, where the standard is not ornament but control. In a culinary landscape that often signals ambition…
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Chef
Ruggero Bovo
Burano, Italy
Ruggero Bovo is tied to one kitchen and one address: Al Gatto Nero in Burano. In 1965, he was chef and owner of the restaurant, fixing his name to the island and to a long-running…
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Chef
Timo Plenter
Kyoto, Japan
## Coming Up Since 2022, the head-chef post at Regional Friesoythe has placed Timo Plenter in a kitchen that runs on polish and contemporary pace. It is a role that asks for…
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Chef
Yasui Yamato
Tokyo, Japan
Edomae sushi gives little cover to excess. The work is repetition made visible at the counter: rice, fish, temperature, seasoning, timing, and the pressure of the hand. In Yasui…
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Winemaker
Aaron Jackson
Paso Robles, California, United States
His guiding question is direct: “How can we write a new story for Central Coast wine, and how do we unlock its potential?” In Aaron Jackson’s work, that question reads less like a…
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Winemaker
Aaron Whitlatch
St. Helena, California, United States
## The Path Fermentation science took shape at the University of California, Davis, where Aaron Whitlatch built the technical base that later informed his cellar work. From there,…
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