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Chef
Alain Giraud -
Restaurant: Citrus, Los Angeles, California. Raised in a traditional French
family restaurant business. After growing up learning how fine food should
taste, he studied at Nicric;mes Culinary School and received his degree
in culinary arts. His early professional restaurant experience began at
the Nicric;mes school and led to a three-year stint at l'Ermitage Meissonnier
restaurant in Avignon. He then moved to Paris where he worked for two years
at the Michelin two-star Hôtel de Crillon, before spending two more
years at Le Grand Vefour.
In 1986 Giraud won first prize as a young chef in the culinaire Minervois.
He then worked for a number of restaurants in France, Hôtel Imperator
in N&icric;mes, restaurant Le Reverbere in Narbonne and Restaurant Leonce
in Florensac. |
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Chef
Bobby Flay
- Restaurant: Meza Grill, New York City, NY. At the young age of 35, chef
and restaurateur Bobby Flay has accomplished more than most people twice
his age. The flaming red-haired boy from Manhattan knew at a tender age
that he had a knack for making food taste vibrant and wasted no time delving
into a culinary career which has led him to a highly respected position
in the American food world. Flay fell into cooking at the age of 17 when
he took a job at Joe Allen's restaurant where his father was a partner.
Mr. Allen was so impressed with Flay's natural ability that he paid his
tuition to The French Culinary Institute. He later received the first "Outstanding
Graduate Award" in 1993 and now acts as a spokesperson and Master Chef
for the school. |
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Chef
Daniel Boulud
- Restaurant: Cafe Boulud, New York City, NY. Daniel Boulud was born in
France and was raised on his family's farm near Lyon, where he grew up surrounded
by the rhythms of the seasons, the wonders of produce fresh from the fields,
and of course, his grandmother's inspiring home cooking. After being nominated
as a candidate for best cooking apprentice in France, Daniel went on to
train under some of the country's most renowned chefs such as Roger Vergé,
Georges Blanc and Michel Guérard. Following two years as chef in
some of Copenhagen's finest kitchens, Daniel made his way to the United
States where his first position was as Chef to the European Commission in
Washington, DC. |
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Chef
Thomas Kovacs -
Restaurant:
Pike Street Cafe — Sheraton Seattle, Washington. Thomas Kovacs was
born in Zrenjanin, Yugoslavia, and attended grammar and high school in Budapest,
Hungary. He speaks Hungarian, German, Spanish, Russian, English and a little
Japanese for good measure. In the course of his career, he's used them all.
Kovacs trained in Budapest and worked at the city's Royal Hotel, Gellert
Hotel and Mirelitte Frozen Food Company, and at Germany's Hotel Eden/Karlshure,
Hotel Lindenhoff/Wielburg, Hotel Atlantic/Hamburg, Munchener Hotel/ Frankfurt
and Piroska Restaurant/Stuttgart. He took both first and second prizes at
Budapest culinary competitions, and won second prize at Frankfurt's culinary
competition. |
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Chef
Susan Spicer
- Restaurant: Bayona, New Orleans, La. "I use an eclectic mixture of
ingredients and styles, but it all makes sense. My taste is the filter.
And I have a good grasp of what's agreeable to my customers," says
Susan Spicer, chef-proprietor of Bayona, discussing her menu that ranges
from "Boudin Noir with Apples and Onions" to "Crawfish Curry
with Lime Pickle." Spicer served a three-year apprenticeship in New
Orleans at the Louis XVI restaurant and, in the summer of 1982, apprenticed
under Chef Roland Durand at Hotel Sofitel in Paris. "That was a turning
point in my career. It gave me a real solid sense of where I was and a chance
to compare myself to other professionals." |
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Chef
Patrick Clark -
When the Clintons were looking for a new chef for the White House, they
set their sights on Patrick Clark, chef at the historic Hay Adams Hotel
across Lafayette Square. Clark declined the White House job, explaining,
among other reasons, that a government salary was inadequate to take care
of his large family: a wife and five children. The chief executive's choice
for top chef was not the only honor conferred on Clark. Among other distinctions,
he won the James Beard Foundation award for "Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic
Region." But what most distinguished Patrick Clark was his bright personality
and warm affection, personal qualities that built such strong bonds with
his customers that when he died, while waiting for a heart transplant, in
February 1998. |
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Chef
Frederic Monti -
Restaurant: Brasserie Le Coze, Atlanta, Georgia. "Brasserie Le Coze
is absolutely perfect!" exclaimed Atlanta's insider guide Knife and
Fork. Absolutely perfect is also the way to describe Frederic Monti's
pastries that have helped earned the restaurant such grand accolades.
Monti's exquisite pastries and desserts are the results of long years
of study at the Pastry School in Avignon, France and training at the famous
Lenotre Restaurant and Bakery in Paris. As sous chef at Bechart Touget
Bakery in Aix-en-Provence, Monti refined his skills and studied his craft
— always seeking the perfection, taste and innovation that would
ultimately win him such praise.
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Chef
Bradley Ogden
- Restaurant: One Market/Lark Creek Inn/Lark Creek Cafe. San Francisco,
California. Chef Bradley Ogden is one of the New American cuisine's trailblazers,
and has received the following awards and recognition: He has been included
in Cook's Magazine's Who's Who of American Cooking, designated one of the
Great American Cooks by the International Wine and Food Society and as Best
Chef by the prestigious James Beard Foundation, and honored with the Golden
Plate Award by the American Academy of Achievement. Bradley Ogden was first
featured on Great Chefs in the Great Chefs of San Francisco series shortly
after he opened the elegant peach-toned dining room of San Francisco's Campton
Place Hotel in 1984. |
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Chef
Marc Janodet -
Restaurant: La Terrasse, Hotel Juana, Juan-des-Pins, France. Some of the
most famous names in France's constellation of stellar chefs and restaurants
appear in Marc Janodet's background: Jacques Maximin, Roger Verge, Christian
Morisset. Janodet, who heads the pastry kitchen at the Hotel Juana where
Christian Morisset is chef, began as an apprentice of Chef Westermayer in
St. Amour for three years, then went to work for Chef Penaud at Morbier.
After his national service, he became commis patissier at the Sofitel Aquitania,
then moved to the Sofitel Porticcio. In 1976 he went to work for three years
at the famed Hotel Negresco as pastry chef; Jacques Maximin was the Negresco's
chef. |
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