The People · Page 77
The artisans of taste.
Chef
Kenneth Pogson
Portland, Oregon, United States
## The Climb Training at Southwest Tennessee Community College sits at the start of Kenneth Pogson’s record, and Voodoo Doughnut, founded in Portland in 2003, marks the work that…
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Lauren Madson
New York City, New York, United States
## Coming Up At Librae Bakery, the pastry work under Lauren Madson has been shaped by a focused, exacting hand. A 2022 pastry chef role at the bakery grew into her current head…
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Chef
Laurent Capdeville
Strasbourg, France
## The Climb At Gavroche in Strasbourg, France, Laurent Capdeville learned the working grammar of a professional kitchen: pace, precision, hierarchy, and the daily balance between…
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Chef
Masaya Fujimoto
Tokyo, Japan
In Chuo City, Tokyo, the work is built on a narrow set of variables: beef, charcoal, heat, and timing. At Idea Ginza, where Kobe beef steak is brought to the grill, the craft…
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Chef
Nicolas Davouze
Mougins, France
## The Climb The kitchen at Maison de Bacon became Nicolas Davouze's professional base in 2021, and from that point the work around his name was tied to a clear mandate: chef,…
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Chef
Philip Frankland Lee
Santa Barbara, California, United States
## Coming Up Today, Philip Frankland Lee is co-owner of Scratch Restaurants Group and Executive Chef of Sushi by Scratch Restaurants: Montecito. The work sits between menu…
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Chef
Sarah Minnick
Portland, Oregon, United States
## The Climb Training in design can carry into kitchen work through sequence, touch, and repeatable hand skills. Sarah Minnick trained at Rhode Island School of Design, where she…
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Chef
Stefano Zanini
Desenzano del Garda, Italy
Stefano Zanini’s work at MoS Ristorante in Desenzano del Garda, Italy, is built around control, restraint, and exacting detail. The clearest expression of that approach is…
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Chef
Tres Shannon
Portland, Oregon, United States
The first move was a joint venture in 2000, built with offbeat confidence and a recipe-driven sense of play. Out of that start-up energy came doughnuts that treated imagination as…
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Yat-Sang Chan
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Hong Kong is the working context for Yat-Sang Chan’s Cantonese cooking: a place where recipes sit inside family habit, regional technique, and a daily standard of repetition done…
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Chef
Yusuke Goto
Los Angeles, California, United States
## The Path The training line here is one of discipline before distinction: Tsuji Group French Culinary Institute, then cook-in-training, then a circuit through kitchens in Japan…
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Chef
Anthony Garlando
London, United Kingdom
"Simple, seasonal and unique flavour combinations." At Aqua Shard in London, Anthony Garlando applies that brief with a kitchen hand trained in restraint: the work is cleanly…
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Besmir Balaj
Falkenberg, Sweden
Besmir Balaj has built his work around restraint: one restaurant, one style, and a tight focus on the logic and lift of Neapolitan pizza. At Lilla Napoli in Falkenberg, Sweden,…
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Carles Morote
Barcelona, Spain
At Suru Bar in Barcelona, Executive Chef Carles Morote brings a long apprenticeship into a cooking style built on control, touch, and measured force. The work reads as Modern…
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Chef
Chan Wing-Kin
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Chan Wing has led Sushi Kumogaku in Hong Kong as Head Chef since 2021, a role defined less by display than by steady command of the room. In a city where refinement is often read…
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Chef
Chikara Ono
San Francisco, California, United States
Owner of Delage in Oakland is one working title within Chikara Ono’s regional practice, not the whole measure of it. The through-line is disciplined cooking applied across small…
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Elon Amir
Tel Aviv, Israel
His cooking starts at Carmel Market, where the pace of the stalls, the seasonality of the produce, and the discipline of daily shopping shape the work on the plate. From that…
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Chef
Frank Castronovo
New York City, New York, United States
Frank Castronovo’s work is built on repetition, tenure, and a fixed point of view. Frankies 457 Spuntino in Brooklyn, New York, gives that approach its clearest form: a restaurant…
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Chef
Frank Falcinelli
New York City, New York, United States
## Coming Up Technique in this lane was built in sequence: The Culinary Institute of America, then kitchens in France and New York that gave Frank Falcinelli range across formal…
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Chef
Frankie van Loo
London, United Kingdom
## Formation Polished London dining-room work is a useful early register for a chef: restraint on the plate, service discipline, and consistency under scrutiny. Early in their…
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Chef
Gary Menes
Los Angeles, California, United States
Gary Menes’s work at Le Comptoir in Los Angeles is built around a vegetable-led tasting menu. The plate language stays on produce: texture, color, and subtle flavor shifts do the…
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Chef
Gavin Kaysen
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
## The Path Technique in this profile starts with formal training: at the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vermont, Gavin Kaysen learned the basics before moving into…
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Chef
João Cura
Porto, Portugal
His technical grounding came out of Escola de Hotelaria e Turismo de Coimbra, where formal hospitality training in Coimbra set the terms of João Cura’s cooking: precise, seasonal,…
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Chef
José Roldán
Córdoba, Spain
José Rold is Executive Chef at Garum 2.1 Bistronómic Tapas Bar in Córdoba. ## The Path Since 2026, the kitchen and the pastry side have both sat under José Rold’s direction: as…
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Chef
Jürgen Gschwendtner
Vienna, Austria
“I worked before all over the world, at Formula One for seven years and also on the ship Seabourn Pride,” Jürgen Gschwendtner says. ## The Path Küchendirektor is the role Jürgen…
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Chef
Justo Rodrigo Lopez
Manilla, Philippines
Justo Rodrigo Lopez is Executive Chef at Txanton in Manilla, Philippines, where the work is defined by Spanish cooking carried with restraint, balance, and exacting control. The…
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Chef
Karunesh Khanna
London, United Kingdom
Karunesh Khanna has been Executive Chef at Tamarind in Mayfair, London, since 2018. The role sits within one of the capital’s most exacting Indian dining rooms, where consistency…
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Chef
Karyn Tomlinson
Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States
## The Path Training and service form the spine of Karyn Tomlinson’s kitchen language. Northwestern University and Le Cordon Bleu Paris gave her the formal base; Meritage and…
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Chef
Keiko Kuwakino
Niigata, Japan
"We emphasize the naturally occurring flavors of fresh, local ingredients," Keiko Kuwakino says, and that line sets the terms of her kitchen: flavor drawn from the ingredient, not…
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James Beard Award winner
Lord Maynard Llera
Los Angeles, California, United States
Lord Maynard Llera moves through Los Angeles with a kitchen vocabulary shaped by formal schooling, chain service, opening work, and later management. As chef owner of Kuya Lord in…
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Chef
Makoto Okuwa
Miami, Florida, United States
Rice is the base material in Makoto Okuwa’s work, the part that sets the terms before fish, seasoning, temperature, and timing enter the frame. White rice carries one reading of…
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Chef
Marcos Juarez
Houston, Texas, United States
In Houston, Marcos Juarez works through contrast at the plate. Pastrami-cured salmon brushed with shichimi and apricot jam is set against Tofu Feta, Wasabi Almonds, Sesame…
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Chef
Michael Satinover
Chicago, Illinois, United States
The work is narrow by design: ramen, built around modern Sapporo-style bowls and made entirely in-house. Michael Satinover’s practice sits at the point where kitchen discipline…
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Chef
Nicolas Isnard
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
His public record is direct: a restaurant carries Nicolas Isnard’s name, and Michelin has marked the work with a star. That pairing says enough for trade readers — authorship on…
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Chef
Niki Vongthong
Houston, Texas, United States
Niki Vongthong’s work at Hidden Omakase in Houston sits on top of a path built through family retail, formal study, and a series of kitchens that tightened the same set of skills:…
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Chef
Pat Martin
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
## The Essentials Live fire is the center of Pat Martin’s cooking: smoke, heat, and a direct line to barbecue tradition. His food stays recognizable, but it is not locked into the…
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Chef
Seth Adams
Park City, Utah, United States
Seth Adams has been executive chef of Riverhorse on Main in Park City, Utah, since 2004, and has been co-owner since 2011. The work here is built on bold flavors and quality…
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Winemaker
Simon Roberts
Fragbarrow Lane, United Kingdom
## Coming Up Plumpton Winemaking College gave Simon Roberts the technical base; Ridgeview, where he worked as winemaker from 1999, gave the long repetition that defines cellar…
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Chef
Theign Phan
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
At Grand Majestic Sichuan in Hong Kong, Sichuan cooking is built on sequencing as much as intensity: fragrance first, the numbing prickle second, heat last. Theign Phan works in…
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Chef
Tommy Cleary
San Francisco, California, United States
Tommy Cleary works in a narrow register of yakitori where repetition, timing, and restraint carry the weight. As chef at Izakaya TBD in San Francisco, his profile is shaped by…
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Chef
Aaron Verzosa
Seattle, Washington, United States
Aaron Verzosa is chef and owner of Archipelago in Seattle. A Filipino American chef with a University of Washington background, his cooking works between Pacific Northwest produce…
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Chef
Angie Ampil
New York City, New York, United States
## The Climb Training at Santa Clara University set the base, but the real education came through the Upland kitchens, where Angie Ampil moved through service roles with a clear…
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Chef
Dino Bugica
Geyserville, California, United States
Dino Bugica is the chef and owner of Diavola in Geyserville, California, where the kitchen works in a precise, old-world register: house-cured salumi, wood-fired pizza, and the…
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Chef
Harry Sasson
Bogotá, Colombia
As chef at Harry Sasson in Bogotá, Harry Sasson is defined by the restaurant that bears his name. He is also its founder and owner, and his public voice links that work to…
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Chef
Jack Strong
Portland, Oregon, United States
Jack Strong is executive chef of JORY at The Allison Inn & Spa in Newberg, Oregon. He is a 2026 James Beard Awards semifinalist. ## The Path The discipline of service at Kai in…
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Chef
Jessica Natali
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Jessica Natali’s cooking sits in the working overlap between izakaya pacing, omakase structure, seafood, vegetables, and drink timing. At Kōnā in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the…
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Chef
Liz Johnson
Los Angeles, California, United States
## Coming Up The kitchen work at Mimi in New York City and Freedman’s in Los Angeles (2017–2018) gave Liz Johnson range across two sharply different rooms. That early stretch…
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Chef
Masaharu Morimoto
Doha, Qatar
Masaharu Morimoto has been chef of Morimoto in Doha, and the work attached to his name has been shaped by precision, reinvention, and a fluent grip on fusion cuisine. Born May 26,…
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Culinary legend
Mike Solomonov
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Born in Israel and raised in Pittsburgh, the work carries a useful split view: one set of references grounded in place, another shaped by distance. At Zahav in Philadelphia, that…
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Mikey Boquiren
London, United Kingdom
## The Climb Classical French structure sits at the core of Mikey Boquiren’s cooking, but it is not treated as a closed system. His own line — “We are not just classical French.…
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Winemaker
Paris Sigalas
Oia, Greece
## The Climb Teaching at Piraeus was the first professional register for Paris Sigalas, and it shows in the work: observation before declaration, method before momentum. By the…
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Chef
Pierre-Henri Morel
Le Perreux-sur-Marne, France
Pierre-Henri Morel’s cooking at Les Magnolias in Le Perreux-sur-Marne is built on exactness: clean timing, controlled contrast, and a kitchen language that favors precision over…
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Riad Nasr
Oostende, Belgium
## Coming Up French classics are the anchor of Riad Nasr’s work, and the rooms he helped shape in downtown New York gave that style a modern city cadence. At Balthazar in New York…
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Chef
Ryan Kluver
Los Angeles, California, United States
## Coming Up Early kitchen work built Ryan Kluver around repetition, pace, and control. As a Line Cook at Patina Group (2005–2008), the work demanded speed at the pass and a…
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Travis Sowards
New York City, New York, United States
Travis Sowards’s work at Temple Court in New York City sits on a rare mix of kitchen execution, editorial discipline, and public-facing service. As Executive Chef, the role asks…
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Chef
Will Aghajanian
Los Angeles, California, United States
## Coming Up Kitchen leadership is the constant in Will Aghajanian’s résumé: chef at Mimi in New York City, then head chef at Catbird Seat in Nashville, and since 2023 chef and…
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Chef
Claud Grant
London, United Kingdom
## Coming Up The Ultimate Chicken Schnitzel is built on restraint: a familiar form, an Austrian nod, and a plate that depends on clarity rather than flourish. In Claud Grant’s…
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Dave Bonomi
Chicago, Illinois, United States
He is also an owner at Coalfire Pizza and an owner of Peanut Park Trattoria, with a blunt operating line: "We just try to make the best product we can every day." ## The Path…
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Chef
Esther Ha
New York City, New York, United States
## The Path Esther Ha’s path through pastry and savory kitchens is marked by accumulation: formal study, then successive roles that tightened her timing, judgment, and pace.…
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Chef
Fabio Viviani
Chicago, Illinois, United States
## The Path Training at IPSSAR Saffi gave Fabio Viviani the formal base, but the trade was learned on the floor and in the pass. He started as a bakery worker at Local bakery in…
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Chef
Fernando Flores
Pamplona, Spain
Its working vocabulary comes from Navarra’s supply: agricultural cycles, seasonal pacing, and the recognizable flavors of white asparagus, cardoon, piquillo peppers, and lamb from…
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Jude Wilmoth
St. Helena, California, United States
## The Climb Hospitality basics came first for Jude Wilmoth: the pace of service, the mechanics of the floor, and the discipline that starts in entry-level work. At Tra Vigne, he…
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Chef
Kim Devisschere
Ghent, Belgium
## The Climb Volta and Publiek gave Kim Devisschere a disciplined start: kitchens where repetition, timing, and control matter more than display. The line from one to the other…
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Chef
Mitsunori Kusakabe
San Francisco, California, United States
Mitsunori Kusakabe’s training began in Kinki University, Department of Architecture, and that background shows up in the way the work is framed: measured, ordered, and built…
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Ryoji Hayashi
Tokyo, Japan
The work is built around Chinese classics, but the register is Japanese precision rather than nostalgia. Under Ryoji Hayashi, familiar dishes are tightened in execution, presented…
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Tommaso Fratini
New York City, New York, United States
Tommaso Fratini’s work sits inside the Roscioli system with a trade-level calm: pace controlled, standards fixed, and the cooking kept close to the product. His profile is…
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Chef
Vikram Sunderam
Washington DC, Washington DC, United States
The James Beard Foundation named Vikram Sunderam Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic in 2014, a recognition that followed a career moving from Mumbai to London to Washington, DC, and into a…
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Winemaker
Aaron Pieterse
Johannesburg, South Africa
Aaron Pieterse is co-owner of Primal Spirits Distillery in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the project has grown from a lecture-room idea into a working expression of place,…
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Winemaker
Adam Spiegel
Rohnert Park, California, United States
## The Path Whiskey appealed here as a form of work you can build, measure, and own end to end. Adam Spiegel framed the change plainly: “I really wanted to do something different.…
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Winemaker
Alexander McDonald
Port Ellen, United Kingdom
## Coming Up At Kilchoman Distillery, the work began at ground level as a **distillery worker**, with the pace and practical demands of the site setting the terms of the craft.…
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Winemaker
Ally Ayres
Blue Mountains, Australia
## Coming Up Since 2018, Karu Distillery has had Ally Ayres as co-founder, co-owner and head distiller, with the work shaped by a steady hand rather than noise. That mix of roles…
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Winemaker
Alois Gölles
Riegersburg, Austria
Alois Gölles is the distiller and vinegar maker of Gölles Distillery in Riegersburg, Austria. The work sits at the point where fruit handling, fermentation, and timing meet; the…
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Winemaker
Andre Pienaar
Cape Town, South Africa
## The Path Copper stills, heat management, timing, and instinct are the language of master distiller and owner Andre Pienaar’s work at Pienaar & Son Distilling Co. The title…
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Andres Medina Risco
Santiago de Compostela, Spain
In Santiago de Compostela, the kitchen starts with what the season and the coast already provide: Galician produce from field and market, firm-fleshed fish, cabbage, grapes,…
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Winemaker
Andrew Rall
Durban, South Africa
## Coming Up Since 2008, Andrew Rall has held the founder-and-distiller role at Distillery 031. That position is the basis of the work: building spirit through repetition,…
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Winemaker
Anestis Babatzimopoulos
Thessaloniki, Greece
He built a category reputation through Greek spirits, and Anestis Babatzimopoulos frames that work in plain terms: bottling tsipouro in Greece was not an incidental line item, but…
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Winemaker
Angus MacDonald
West Park, New York, United States
He gives the work a sharp definition: “We're a tiny, hyperlocal, hyper-traditional craft distillery. We're nine-tenths maverick and one-tenth historian.” ## The Climb Founder and…
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Chef
Anton Pozeg
Vienna, Austria
Anton Pozeg’s current work is anchored in the pair of roles he has held since 2022: Head of Culinary at Sacher Hotels in Austria and Executive Chef at Rote Bar in Vienna. One…
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Antonella Nonino
Pavia di Udine, Italy
Antonella Nonino is a member of the fifth generation of the Nonino distilling family in Percoto. With her sisters Cristina and Elisabetta, she has worked on the family's spirits,…
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Winemaker
Aquilino García López
Candelaria Yegolé, Mexico
Aquilino García López co-founded Mezcal Vago in Candelaria Yegolé, and the work is framed there as inheritance as much as production. The line he gives traces back through family…
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Winemaker
Ashby Marshall
Sebastopol, California, United States
Her defining work is grain-to-glass spirits production, a philosophy Ashby Marshall describes plainly: "This concept of farm-to-still or grain-to-glass production is at the very…
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Winemaker, Domaine Jean-Claude Bachelet
Benoît Bachelet
Saint-Aubin, France
Since 2000, the primary winemaking at Domaine Jean-Claude Bachelet in Gamay, Saint-Aubin, France, has passed through Benoît Bachelet’s hands as a matter of continuity rather than…
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Winemaker, Domaine Benoît Ente
Benoît Ente
Puligny-Montrachet, France
Puligny-Montrachet rewards close work over range. Since the 1999 debut vintage, the practice at Domaine Benoît Ente has stayed fixed on one demanding village in Burgundy, France:…
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Winemaker, Domaine Benoît Moreau
Benoît Moreau
Chassagne-Montrachet, France
Domaine work in Chassagne-Montrachet is measured first in the vineyard: observation, low intervention, and the premise that wine character is set before fruit reaches the cellar.…
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Winemaker
Bernard D'Offay
Anse Royale, Seychelles
## The Path Since 2002, the work behind Takamaka Rum has been shaped through Bernard D'Offay as co-founder, with the project moving from small-scale testing into a more settled…
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Chef
Bo Jimmy Zhu
València, Spain
Since 2024, the kitchen at Haku in València, Spain, has been led by Bo Jimmy Zhu in a style shaped by Italian culinary schooling, London kitchen training, and time in a leading…
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Winemaker
Brad Spalding
Thredbo, Australia
## The Climb Working as a ski instructor and later director at Thredbo Snow Sports School in Thredbo put Brad Spalding inside a demanding seasonal system: timing mattered,…
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Winemaker
Brian McKenzie
Burdett, New York, United States
After meeting Thomas Earl McKenzie, the former bank vice-president helped start the distillery and began shaping a whiskey program built around New York-sourced grain, local…
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Winemaker
Brian Restall
Byron Bay, Australia
A drinking spirit built on local sourcing and traditional distilling methods leaves little room for ornament. For Brian Restall, founder of Lord Byron Distillery in Byron Bay,…
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Winemaker
Caleb Clanton
Bryan, Texas, United States
## Coming Up Distilling and leadership sit together in the early arc of Caleb Clanton’s work, with Texas A&M University giving shape to the foundation he would carry into Bryan.…
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Winemaker
Cameron Mackenzie
Yarra Valley, Australia
His work sits at the point where distillation meets wine-trained sensory judgment. Cameron Mackenzie says his background in wine gave him a useful head start because he understood…
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Winemaker
Cameron McCann
Stirling, United Kingdom
## Coming Up The work here moves between public order, hospitality, and spirit retail, with Cameron McCann’s route showing how those disciplines can sit in the same commercial…
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Winemaker
Cameron Syme
Margaret River, Australia
## Coming Up The work is anchored in grain, spirit and place: Cameron Syme’s role as founder of Great Southern Distilling Company, founder of Limeburners Distillery, and master…
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Winemaker
Carlie Dyer
Melbourne, Australia
## The Path The move from wine labs into whisky was built on method. Carlie Dyer came through the drinks trade on the analytical side first: casual lab technician at Casella…
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Winemaker
Casey Overeem
Hobart, Australia
His own measure for the work is plain, and it leaves little room for doubt: “I made a promise that I would produce a whiskey that would stand alongside the best whiskies in the…
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Winemaker
Charles Bryant
Worcester, South Africa
## Coming Up Gin distillation is the core of the work at Six Dogs Distillery, where Charles Bryant’s role is defined by direct making rather than a long list of public posts. The…
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Chef
Charles Ganem
Paris, France
## The Path Product work and restaurant building meet early in Charles Ganem’s record, with each move carrying the same bias toward systems, speed, and tight execution. From…
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Christian Dyson
Marana, Arizona, United States
Chef de cuisine Christian Dyson leads the kitchen at CORE Kitchen & Wine Bar in Marana, United States, where the work is built on precision, pacing, and control of sequence. In…
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Christian Pineda
New York City, New York, United States
San Diego-born and raised, Christian Pineda came into restaurants through design and ownership, moving between the back of house, the dining room, and the plans that connect them.…
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Winemaker
Christoph Kössler
Stanz im Landeck, Austria
The distillery sits in the former birthplace of the Baroque master builder Jakob Prandtauer. That address gives Christoph Kössler’s work a frame of continuity: a house built…
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