The People · Page 6
The artisans of taste.
Michelin-starred chef
Paul Ainsworth
Padstow, United Kingdom
## The Path The early shaping of Paul Ainsworth’s craft runs through formal study at Southampton City College in Southampton, England, then into service under Gary Rhodes in the…
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Chef
Sebastian Titz
Bad Ragaz, Switzerland
We cook with heart and passion; people should be able to enjoy themselves without regret." ## The Climb Since 2020, Sebastian Titz has been head chef of Verve by Sven, a role that…
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Chef
Andrew Sutton
Los Angeles, California, United States
## The Path Formal training at the Culinary Institute of America set the base for a career that moved through a tight run of high-profile kitchens. Andrew Sutton then held…
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Chef
Ilya Evdokimov
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
À STAY by Yannick Alléno at One&Only The Palm, the contemporary French table is built around five- and six-course menus. The register is Modern French and tied directly to Yannick…
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Winemaker, Domaine Hubert Lignier
Laurent Lignier
Morey-Saint-Denis, France
In Morey-Saint-Denis, France, Côte de Nuits work is parcel work first: fruit selection, oak kept measured, élevage carried long on lees, and bottling handled by gravity. Laurent…
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Chef
Nick Bril
Antwerp, Belgium
## Coming Up Training is the through-line in Nick Bril’s early record: Ter Groene Poorte and Oud Sluis gave him the technical base and working standards that shaped his approach…
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Executive Chef, Villa René Lalique
Paul Stradner
Wingen-sur-Moder, France
Paul Stradner is an Austrian chef born June 23, 1981, in Graz, who earned two Michelin stars at Brenners Park Restaurant in Baden-Baden within three months of his 2012 arrival,…
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Chef
Robert Curry
Athens, Greece
From cookery school in Los Angeles to a long tenure in Rutherford, Robert Curry’s work maps a steady climb through California kitchens that prize control, consistency, and place.…
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Chef
Stephen McLaughlin
Auchterarder, United Kingdom
Stephen McLaughlin’s role as Head Chef at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie in Auchterarder, United Kingdom, belonged to a long line of kitchen continuity rather than a late appointment.…
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Chef
Joseph Lidgerwood
Seoul, South Korea
Before Joseph Lidgerwood became the Australian owner-chef of EVETT in Seoul, his training moved through kitchens with exacting lineages. The sequence runs from The French Laundry…
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Chef & Proprietor, Oteque
Alberto Landgraf
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Alberto Landgraf is chef and proprietor of Oteque in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The work is seafood-led Modern Brazilian cooking: technical, pared back, and built around local…
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Chef Exécutif, Le Gabriel - La Réserve Paris
Jérôme Banctel
Paris, France
Three Michelin stars for Le Gabriel - La Réserve Paris in 2024 put a public marker on a body of work built through French hotel training, capital-city brigade discipline, and a…
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Executive Chef, Zén
Martin Öfner
Singapore, Singapore
Martin Öfner is the Executive Chef at Zén, a three Michelin-starred restaurant in Singapore and sister venue to Frantzén in Stockholm, where he shares leadership with Tor Aik Chua…
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Head Chef & CEO, TIAN Restaurant Wien
Paul Ivić
Vienna, Austria
Paul Ivić is an Austrian chef of Tyrolean origin with Croatian heritage who has been the head chef and CEO of TIAN Restaurant Wien since its opening in December 2011. He pioneered…
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CEO, Château Montrose
Pierre Graffeuille
Saint-Estèphe, France
Pierre Graffeuille is the chief executive of Château Montrose and the Bouygues family's wine estates. A graduate of Bordeaux Sciences Agro and the Faculty of Oenology of Bordeaux,…
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Chef
Gary Yin
Beijing, China
## Today Range, discipline, and cross-sector fluency run through Gary Yin’s route to the kitchen. Training at Meadowridge School (2008), The University of Hong Kong (2011), and…
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Cellar Master, Schloss Johannisberg
Gerd Ritter
Geisenheim-Johannisberg, Germany
Gerd Ritter is Cellar Master at Schloss Johannisberg and has been responsible for its cellars since 1999. He completed his cellar-master examination at the State Educational and…
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Chef-Founder, minibar by José Andrés
Jose Andres
Washington DC, Washington DC, United States
José Andrés is the chef-founder behind minibar by José Andrés in Washington, DC and the founder of José Andrés Group and World Central Kitchen. The Spain-born, naturalized…
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Chef & Owner, Amador
Juan Amador
Vienna, Austria
German precision, Swabian grounding and Spanish roots sit inside a cooking practice that has moved through Sylt, Sailauf, Langen, Frankfurt, Mannheim and Vienna. In Juan Amador’s…
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Chef
Marc Haeberlin
Illhaeusern, France
In 1976, Marc Haeberlin joined the restaurant as the fourth-generation chef in his family, entering a line already shaped by his father, Paul Haeberlin, and his uncle, Jean-Pierre…
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Head of Estate, Viticulture and Oenology, Schloss Johannisberg
Michel Städter
Geisenheim-Johannisberg, Germany
Michel Städter leads estate operations, viticulture, and oenology at Schloss Johannisberg in the Rheingau. He joined the historic Riesling estate in 2018 after earning an…
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Chef
Brando Moros
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Brando Moros works from heat, timing, and repetition. At 11 Woodfire in Dubai, the Head Chef’s job sits inside a kitchen built around fire and pace, where control matters as much…
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Chef
Ignacio Echapresto
Daroca de Rioja, Spain
Ignacio Echapresto’s work at Venta Moncalvillo in Daroca de Rioja is built around local rhythm: a restaurant that reads the village as part of the brief, and a kitchen that gives…
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Chef
Jhonatan Gómez Luna
Puerto Morelos, Mexico
Jhonatan Gómez Luna’s work at Le Chique in Puerto Morelos, Mexico is built on precision and control: a Contemporary Mexican tasting menu, paced course by course, with a wine list…
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Chef-Founder, JL Studio
Jimmy Lim
Taichung, Taiwan
Singaporean Modern cuisine, as practiced at JL Studio in Taichung, is built on translation rather than transplantation. In Jimmy Lim’s kitchen, Singapore supplies the references,…
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Executive Chef & Owner, Le Du, Baan, Nusara, Mayrai
Thitid "Ton" Tassanakajohn
Bangkok, Thailand
Thitid 'Ton' Tassanakajohn is the Executive Chef & Owner of Le Du, Nusara, Baan, Mayrai, Samut, and other restaurants in Bangkok, Thailand. After earning a degree in Economics…
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Chef
Jennifer Backman
Gouda, Netherlands
Jennifer Backman became executive chef of Castle Hill Inn’s entire culinary operations in Newport, Rhode Island, in 2024. The role follows a climb inside the same property, from…
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Chef & Partner, Claud and Penny
Joshua Pinsky
New York City, New York, United States
Joshua Pinsky is the chef and co-owner of Claud, a downtown bistro in New York City's East Village, which he opened in 2022 with partner Chase Sinzer, and Penny, a raw bar and…
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Chef
Koji Sawada
Osaka, Japan
## Coming Up Before the counter work, truck driving gave Koji Sawada a different kind of discipline: long hours, physical labor, and the habits of attention that later found form…
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Co-Executive Chef, Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare
Marco Prins
New York City, New York, United States
Marco Prins is a Dutch chef from Rotterdam who previously served as executive chef at Ukiyo in New York, where the restaurant earned a Michelin star under his leadership, and…
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Executive Chef, Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare
Max Natmessnig
New York City, New York, United States
Max Natmessnig is an Austrian chef and Executive Chef at Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare in Manhattan, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant. He previously led the…
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Chef
Ollie Bridgwater
Osaka, Japan
## Coming Up The early line work matters here: Ollie Bridgwater started as a part-time pot washer, then moved into a sous chef role at an Austrian ski resort. From there, the…
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Culinary Director, Montage International & Executive Chef, Montage Los Cabos
Xavier Salomon
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Culinary Director of Montage International and Executive Chef at Montage Los Cabos.
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Chef
Aggi Sverrisson
Grindavík, Iceland
Born in Iceland and raised in Reykjavík, Aggi Sverrisson has said, “I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do in my life.” In the trade, that kind of uncertainty only matters if it…
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Master Sommelier
Dimitri Mesnard
Oxford, United Kingdom
## Career Sommelier work here is built across floor service, buying language, and the discipline of reading a cellar against a dining room. Dimitri Mesnard’s path runs from Le…
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Chef
Jérôme Schilling
Bommes, France
His work is identified with the specialty culinarian of the vine, a phrase that suits Jérôme Schilling’s sensibility: precise, rooted, and drawn toward the quiet dialogue between…
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Chef
Luke Selby
Oxford, United Kingdom
## The Path The apprenticeship-to-leadership arc is clear in Luke Selby’s route through some of the country’s most exacting kitchens. He began as commis chef at Le Manoir aux…
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Chef
Raymond Blanc
Oxford, United Kingdom
## Where They Are Now Service came first in Raymond Blanc’s training, and that matters. A waiter-in-training at Le Palais de la Bière in Besançon learns timing, sequence, table…
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Winemaker
Manuel Lobo
Sabrosa, Portugal
## Where They Are Now Head winemaking at Quinta Do Crasto in Sabrosa, Portugal has been Manuel Lobo’s brief since 2007, and the work sits inside a Douro made by granite slopes,…
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Chef
Nicoló Rotella
Shanghai, China
Nicoló Rotella is Executive Chef of 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA (Shanghai) in Shanghai, where Contemporary Italian cooking is shaped by early kitchen discipline in Turin, Italy.…
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Chef & Owner, AM par Alexandre Mazzia
Alexandre Mazzia
Marseille, France
The cuisine is built from cross-currents rather than a single school: African childhood influences, French tradition, instinctive cooking disciplined by service, and a working…
View →Co-Founder and Bartender, Hope & Sesame
Andrew Ho
Guangzhou, China
Andrew Ho is a bartender and co-founder of Hope & Sesame in Guangzhou. He leads the bar with Bastien Ciocca, developing Cantonese hospitality and cocktail innovation at the bar…
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Bastien Ciocca
Guangzhou, China
Bastien Ciocca is a co-founder of Hope & Sesame in Guangzhou. He leads the bar with Andrew Ho, whose cocktail programme pairs Cantonese hospitality with contemporary technique.
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Founder, Panda & Sons
Iain McPherson
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
"We won't change things under pressure from our surroundings." That line sets out the working rule: stay fixed on the bar’s point of view, not on outside noise. For Iain…
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Chef & Proprietor, L'Air du Temps
Sang-Hoon Degeimbre
Liernu, Belgium
Born in Miryang, South Korea, and Belgian by nationality, Sang-Hoon Degeimbre works in a register where molecular gastronomy, foodpairing science, and farm-restaurant practice…
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Chef
Yoshimasa Ikeda
Tokyo, Japan
## The Path At LA TABLE de Joël Robuchon in Tokyo, Yoshimasa Ikeda holds two working identities at once: Executive Chef and sushi specialist. The arrangement puts restaurant…
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Chef & Owner, Tempura Naruse
Takeo Shimura
Shizuoka, Japan
Today, tempura defines the working frame: chef, owner of Itamae-Tempura Naruse, and the maker of a set menu where cutlass fish tempura with shaved radish dipping sauce is counted…
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Pastry chef
Angelo Musa
Paris, France
Food is the working premise in Angelo Musa’s pastry: the part that holds the method together from hospitality school in Metz, north-east France, through the pastry and culinary…
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Chef
Richie Lin
Taipei, Taiwan
Richie Lin has made MUME in Taipei the clearest expression of his approach to cooking: technique first, product handled with discipline, and place treated as a working frame…
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Executive Chef & Co-Owner, Acquerello
Suzette Gresham
San Francisco, California, United States
Suzette Gresham, born in 1955 in California, is the Executive Chef and co-owner of Acquerello in San Francisco, which has held two Michelin stars since 2014, with the first…
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Director of Mixology, The Connaught
Agostino Perrone
London, United Kingdom
Training in American bartending gives a bartender a working grammar: build, balance, dilution, speed, and the habits of service that make a drink repeatable under pressure.…
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Chef & Owner, Table
Bruno Verjus
Paris, France
Bruno Verjus, born in 1959 in Roanne, France, is a self-taught chef who transitioned from careers in medicine, advertising photography in Los Angeles, and entrepreneurship in…
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Chef
Éric Pras
Chagny, France
In Chagny, Saône-et-Loire, haute cuisine at Lameloise is built on precision rather than display. In Éric Pras’s kitchen, milk-fed veal, acacia flower, garlic praline, burnt lemon…
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Assistant Director of Mixology, The Connaught
Giorgio Bargiani
London, United Kingdom
## The Path Work at Local nightclubs in Italy gave Giorgio Bargiani speed, repetition and the pressure of service in a room that moved fast. The limitation, by his own account,…
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Chef
Ornella Contin
Brusaporto, Italy
Her work reads as continuity made visible: the San Remo dishes that first shaped Ornella Contin’s voice still register in the later cooking, carrying a coastal register of…
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Chef-Owner, Meta
Sun Kim
Singapore, Singapore
At Meta in Singapore, Contemporary Korean cooking is built from a Korean base and worked through Japanese technique, Western schooling, and seasonal produce. In Sun Kim’s hands,…
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Executive Chef & Co-Owner, Clover Hill
Charlie Mitchell
New York City, New York, United States
Charlie Mitchell (born 1992) is an American chef and restaurateur based in New York City, specializing in soul food with a fine dining approach. Born in Detroit, Michigan, he is…
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Executive Chef, Enoteca Pinchiorri
Riccardo Monco
Florence, Italy
Riccardo Monco, born in Milan in 1972, trained at Scuola Alberghiera “Carlo Porta” and under chefs Angelo Paracucchi at La Locanda dell'Angelo, Pietro Leemann at Joia, and Alain…
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Chef
Matthew Kammerer
Elk, California, United States
## The Climb Formal training at Johnson & Wales University gave structure to Matthew Kammerer’s work, but the line of development was already set earlier: repetition, attention,…
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Chef
Franck Derouet
Annecy, France
The cooking at Clos des Sens has narrowed its working radius over time. In Franck Derouet’s case, the line runs from major international establishments to a kitchen organized…
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Co-Owner & Restaurant Manager, Le Clos des Sens
Thomas Lorival
Annecy, France
Thomas Lorival is a French hospitality professional, co-owner, and restaurant manager of Le Clos des Sens. He leads the dining-room and wine experience alongside chef and co-owner…
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Winemaker, Château Ausone
Alain Vauthier
Saint-Émilion, France
Alain Vauthier makes the wine at Château Ausone with his elder daughter Pauline Vauthier. Their family has cared for the Saint-Émilion vineyard since 1690, and the estate…
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Family Director, Domain H. William Harlan
Amanda Harlan
Napa, California, United States
Napa Valley-born Amanda Harlan is Family Director for the Harlan winegrowing domain. After earning a psychology degree from the University of Southern California and beginning her…
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Winemaker
Andy Erickson
Napa, California, United States
Andy Erickson quit a job and moved into wine, and that choice set the shape of the work that followed: steady, technical, and built around decisions that matter most before a…
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Owner, Scarecrow Wine
Bret Lopez
Napa, California, United States
Bret Lopez, born in Los Angeles in 1948, is the grandson of J.J. Cohn and owner of the JJ Cohn Estate in Rutherford, Napa Valley, where he produces Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon…
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Winemaker, Scarecrow Wine
Celia Welch
Napa, California, United States
Celia Welch is an independent winemaker based in Napa Valley, best known for crafting Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon from the historic J.J. Cohn Estate in Rutherford since its…
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Head Chef & Host, Victor's Fine Dining by Christian Bau
Christian Bau
Perl, Germany
Born in Offenburg and German by nationality, Christian Bau’s record sits in a trade line built through houses, not slogans: Restaurant Talmühle for education, Schwarzwaldstube for…
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Director of Winemaking, Harlan Estate, BOND, and Promontory
Cory Empting
Napa, California, United States
Cory Empting is the Director of Winemaking at Harlan Estate, BOND, and Promontory, all under the Harlan family in Napa Valley. He joined Harlan Estate as a harvest intern in 2001…
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Owner & Winemaker, Domaine Emmanuel Rouget
Emmanuel Rouget
Burgundy, France
Flagey-Échézeaux, Burgundy, France, gives Domaine Emmanuel Rouget its frame: Pinot Noir handled through vineyard detail, low yields, destemming, concrete fermentation, barrel…
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Chef
George Blogg
East Grinstead, United Kingdom
West Sussex supplies a practical produce grammar: brief garden leaves, lifted roots, and foraged margins that locate a plate in a particular landscape. At Gravetye Manor, George…
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Executive Chef, Ocean Restaurant
Hans Neuner
Porches, Portugal
Hans Neuner is an Austrian executive chef who has led Ocean restaurant in the Algarve, Portugal since 2007, earning the establishment two Michelin stars in 2009 and 2011. Named…
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Winemaker
Heidi Barrett
Napa, California, United States
At La Sirena in Calistoga, small production is the working frame, with balance treated as the central measure. ## The Making Cellar competence in this line was built from formal…
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Winemaker
Heidi Peterson Barrett
St. Helena, California, United States
Heidi Peterson Barrett’s work in Napa Valley has been built through Fermentation Science, cellar repetition, and the slow accumulation of judgment that comes from making wine…
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Chef
Jordi Artal
Barcelona, Spain
Jordi Artal’s work at Cinc Sentits in Barcelona is tied to Modern Catalan cuisine and to a tight geography: one restaurant, one city. That focus is the operating principle. Rather…
View →Vineyard Manager, Chateau Ausone
Laurent Vallet
Saint-Émilion, France
Laurent Vallet is the vineyard manager at Chateau Ausone in Saint-Émilion. The estate's 2022 Chapelle d'Ausone technical sheet identifies him alongside cellar master Philippe…
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Proprietor & Winemaker, Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair
Louis-Michel Liger-Belair
Pommard, France
Louis-Michel Liger-Belair, born in 1970, is the seventh Count Liger-Belair who founded Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair in Vosne-Romanée in 2000 with 3.2 hectares including Village…
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Director of Winemaking and Viticulture, Screaming Eagle Vineyards
Nick Gislason
Napa, California, United States
Nick Gislason is the director of winemaking and viticulture at Screaming Eagle Vineyards in Oakville, Napa Valley, where he has led the winemaking team since the 2011 vintage…
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Winemaker, Château Ausone
Pauline Vauthier
Saint-Émilion, France
Pauline Vauthier makes the wine at Château Ausone with her father Alain Vauthier and represents the family's eleventh winegrowing generation in Saint-Émilion. The Vauthiers have…
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Cellar Master, Chateau Ausone
Philippe Baillarguet
Saint-Émilion, France
At Clos des Baies, his work is grounded in clay-limestone soils, organic viticulture, small yields, and cellar decisions he treats as final. The language may be spare, but the…
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Owner, Screaming Eagle Winery and Vineyards
Stan Kroenke
Napa, California, United States
Stan Kroenke is an American billionaire businessman and owner of Screaming Eagle Winery in Napa Valley's Oakville region, which he acquired in 2006 alongside Charles Banks before…
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Executive Chef, Boury
Tim Boury
Roeselare, Belgium
In Roeselare, Belgium, product-led cooking sets the terms before technique announces itself. In Tim Boury’s kitchen, raw langoustine is cut into tartare; sweet pumpkin supplies…
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Managing Director, Domain H. William Harlan
Will Harlan
Napa, California, United States
Will Harlan is the founder of The Mascot and Managing Director of Domain H. William Harlan, overseeing Harlan Estate, BOND, Promontory and The Mascot. He introduced The Mascot in…
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Founder, Harlan Estate
William Harlan
Napa, California, United States
H. William 'Bill' Harlan is the founder of Harlan Estate, which he established in Oakville in 1984 with a long-term vision of creating a California first growth. He subsequently…
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Cellar Master, Maison Ruinart
Caroline Fiot
Reims, France
Caroline Fiot is Cellar Master of Maison Ruinart, a role she formally assumed on January 1, 2026. Trained in viticulture and oenology, she began her career in Saint-Emilion and…
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Chef
Fran Martínez
Almansa, Spain
Fran Martínez’s work at Maralba in Almansa is built on apprenticeship, sequence, and return. He began studying cookery at 15 in Barcelona, then moved through Mas Pau in Figueres…
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Chef
Karen Torosyan
Brussels, Belgium
## Coming Up Today, Karen Torosyan is chef of Bozar Restaurant, where the work is defined by classic French cuisine edged with modernity and carried by exacting technique rather…
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Chef
Phillip Bischoff
Bangkok, Thailand
## Coming Up Today, Phillip is chef/owner of BKK Social Club. In trade terms, that pairing tells you what matters: the menu and the room are under one decision-making line, so…
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Chef, Cabaña Buenavista
Pablo González
El Palmar, Spain
Pablo González Conejero is the chef and owner of Cabaña Buenavista in El Palmar, Murcia, Spain, the only restaurant in the region with two Michelin stars (2017–2024) and three…
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Chef
Mitsuharu “Micha” Tsumura
Lima, Peru
## The Path Japan set the base of the work: the discipline of cooking took shape there, and the line of the craft is visible in Mitsuharu “Micha” Tsumura’s precision, restraint,…
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Chef
Brian Limoges
Sonoma, California, United States
Formation in fine dining is cumulative: school fundamentals, station discipline, sous-chef control, chef-de-cuisine responsibility, and the wider view required to run multiple…
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Owner & Chef, Mizai
Hitoshi Ishihara
Kyoto, Japan
Hitoshi Ishihara is the owner and chef of Mizai, a three-Michelin-starred kaiseki restaurant in Kyoto, Japan. He previously served as food chief at Kitcho Arashiyama at age 27…
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Chef
Patrick Mahler
Vitznau, Switzerland
## The Path Training at Kantonsspital Aarau gave Patrick Mahler the discipline that later showed up in his kitchen work: structure first, then control, then enough room for…
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Chef, La Tanière³
François-Emmanuel Nicol
Quebec City, Canada
François-Emmanuel Nicol is the chef of La Tanière³ (Tanière 3) in Québec City's Vieux-Port, the first and only Québec restaurant to earn 2 Michelin stars since 2019 under his…
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Chef
Josh Overington
Hovingham, United Kingdom
## Career Chef-owner at Mýse in Hovingham, North Yorkshire, England, Josh Overington works in a role that is direct on paper and exacting in practice. The title points to…
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Chef
Joshua Overington
Hovingham, United Kingdom
From a market town just outside York, and with summers spent in France and across Europe, Joshua Overington’s early formation was shaped by travel, appetite, and the discipline…
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Chef
Keith Theodore
San Antonio, Texas, United States
## The Climb Training at Hard Knocks University (1999) set the pace for Keith Theodore’s early years in the trade: disciplined, fast, and built on repetition under pressure. From…
View →Chef
Pierre Marty
Gargas, France
At La Bastide de Gordes, France, Executive Chef Pierre Marty works with the quiet authority of someone shaped by classical rigor and seasoned by leadership. His career does not…
View →Restaurateur
Lee Hanson
New York City, New York, United States
## Today At Balthazar, the work ran for 1997–2013 under Lee Hanson, a long stretch that speaks to command of service rhythm, repetition, and the pressure of a room that has to…
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Chef
Michele Zambanini
Cernobbio, Italy
In Cernobbio, the work begins with raw materials: pasta and ravioli made strictly by hand each day, seafood handled with restraint, and textures protected rather than forced into…
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Restaurateur
Riad Nasr
New York City, New York, United States
The path runs through Balthazar, Pastis, Minetta Tavern, and the New York City restaurant where Riad Nasr is co-chef/owner. Taken together, those names sketch a career built in…
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