Who do you think is the best chef?

[C Cina]

Hey all, great thread...
I'm a fan of Patrick O'Connell & Frank Stitt because they are true to their regions and locality, and after eating around the world, I still think Judy Rogers (Zuni Cafe, SF) food is the most honest.

As far as image goes, while GR is entertaining, I don't think he is helping. I think the whole chef as celebrity thing is sometimes worse for the profession.

[Headless Chicken]

By reputation; Susur Lee, Mark McEwan, Micheal Smith, and Rob Feenie are suppose to be some of our country's best.

Susur is like a Chinese/Canadian version of Bobby Flay, very arrogant even for a top chef.

Mark McEwan is quite down to earth, I met him on a few occasions, though he still has high expectations but a lot more easier to work with.

Micheal Smith is another 1 I've met a number of times, very nice guy. He sticks true to "Canadian" inspirations in what he makes. This guys is uber tall, I can't fathom how he cooks in some of the places hes featured on his travel/cooking show.

I don't know much about Feenie, only through what I've seen of him on TV. Hes based out in Vancouver so I have yet to try his place out, Lumiere.

[cajun cook]

I have read about many great chefs but of the ones I have had the privelege to dine with - Michael Mina was an inspiring experience - Of the greats I have worked with none have touched the mentoring qualities as well as cool under fire of Darin Nesbit of Palace Cafe in New Orleans - if you are in the Big Easy check him out!

[DJbeestie]

ferran adria
grant achantz
thomas keller
anthony bourdain -not for cooking so much as being a very interesting writer

[DJbeestie]

Originally Posted by DJbeestie

ferran adria
grant achantz
thomas keller
anthony bourdain -not for cooking so much as being a very interesting writer

almost forgot heston blumenthal

[BrooklynChef]

Pierre Gagnaire
Michel Bras

[InABox]

I’m think that although the famous chef mentioned above are all great they’re not the best chef. There really is no best because no one is perfect. Wolfgang puck said that when he wasn’t the best at something he hired the best so he could lurn from them. We all have different skill sets just because some of us are on tv doesn’t make us better. Those that have famous restaurants are good but just because your restaurant is in a large city so you get press doesn’t mean that your food is better then the small town diner. It really drops down to how happy the customers are. So I’d say the best chef is the chef with the least complaints. I don’t know his or her name but there out there somewhere. But if a name is what your after then our mom’s. No I mean it. When you were a child you mom made you soup when you got sick, or made that lop-sided cake for you birthday. I bet you were happy with it.

[JackButler]

In my opinion, Chef Harold Hillard is the greatest chef in the country. He's skilled and knowledgeable and everything you might expect, since I'm claiming he's the greatest. But even more important than his rather considerable cooking skills are his natural abilities to teach, encourage, and inspire younger generations of chefs.

I learned the difference between "cook" and "chef" from him. He guided my early years in the profession with wisdom and kindness and support. He was the one who talked me out of quitting when it looked like I'd never make it. And he did this for every apprentice and student he ever had, over nearly twenty years of teaching. He is, in fact, still teaching, even though he's nearing 80.

The most important lesson he teaches is that to be a chef is to always be learning. His motto is "If you think you know everything, you actually know nothing."

It was truly my honor to learn from him. He's not famous. He won't ever be famous. But he's the greatest chef I know.



And yeah, I know how sappy and melodramatic that sounded.

[tcapper]

I have eaten in 11 Michelin starred restaurants and worked in 2 of those, but my best Chef vote goes to :

Michele Gherig currently in the Park Lane Intercontinental, London


ChefsWorld - Chefs Jobs, Catering Jobs, Recruitment & Employment resources for chefs

[crimsonmist308]

i don't know their names, but i have had some absolutely superb
meals from unknown chinese chefs. crazy impressive meals
with the most unusual ingredients.

whatever you may think of animal cruelty, one of the most
remarkable dishes i have ever seen is "deep fried breathing carp"
where the carp (fed till very fat then starved for several days
so that there is no more s**t in the intestinal tract) is knocked out
but not killed. it is then scaled, seasoned, floured, then deep fried
while the chef is holding the head out of the oil.

when served, the carp is juuuust done to the bone, but the head
revives and is still breathing! hit the head too hard and you serve
a dead carp. not hard enough and it revives hitting the oil and the
carp flays hot oil all over you!

considering the many thousands of ingredients and seasonings and
spices available to chinese chefs, certainly one of them could be
considered a "world's best"!

[iconoclast]

Originally Posted by iconoclast

i imagine this is limited to living/present day? that being so... eric ripert... daniel boulud... anthony bourdain...

i would like to add thomas keller as well... after reading some of his work, and doing some more research i have to agree thomas keller is up there...

[bundens]

wolfgang puck hands down
if not the greatest then one of the greatest.

I'm also very impressed with gordon ramsay and alton brown. I like their scientific approach to the food. I believe that's what makes a great chef, is knowing what the ingredients do and why.