Culinary Dynasties
The kitchens that trained today's chefs
Every great chef learned somewhere. These are the kitchens that raised them — the mentors, the alumni, and the starred tables those alumni run today. Pick a dynasty and follow it outward: each connection rests on a published account of where the chef trained, and a chef shaped by several great kitchens carries every one of those lineages.
elBulli
Ferran Adrià
Roses, Spain
Closed 2011
Ferran Adrià's laboratory on the Costa Brava reinvented fine dining and scattered its alumni across the world's best kitchens.
The French Laundry
Thomas Keller
Yountville, USA
Thomas Keller's Napa Valley benchmark trained a generation of American three-star chefs.
Joël Robuchon
Joël Robuchon
Paris, France
Joël Robuchon died in 2018; his ateliers continue worldwide
The most-decorated chef in Michelin history, whose Paris kitchens forged some of the biggest names in the business.
Le Louis XV
Alain Ducasse
Monaco
Alain Ducasse's Monaco flagship and his global group trained a remarkable share of today's starred chefs.
Arpège
Alain Passard
Paris, France
Alain Passard's vegetable-driven Paris three-star and the chefs who passed through it.
Noma
René Redzepi
Copenhagen, Denmark
René Redzepi's Copenhagen landmark sends its alumni out to redraw their own regions' cooking.
The Square
Phil Howard
London, United Kingdom
Phil Howard's Mayfair kitchen is a quiet engine of London's fine-dining scene.
Guy Savoy
Guy Savoy
Paris, France
Guy Savoy, himself a Troisgros apprentice, mentored a generation.
Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons
Raymond Blanc
Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
Raymond Blanc's Oxfordshire manor has trained British stars for four decades.
Maison Troisgros
Troisgros family
Roanne, France
The Troisgros dynasty of Roanne, a wellspring of modern French cooking.
Les Prés d'Eugénie
Michel Guérard
Eugénie-les-Bains, France
Michel Guérard, a father of nouvelle cuisine, and the chefs he formed.
Moulin de Mougins
Roger Vergé
Mougins, France
Roger Vergé's sun-drenched Provençal cooking shaped chefs worldwide.
The Fat Duck
Heston Blumenthal
Bray, United Kingdom
Heston Blumenthal's laboratory of British gastronomy.
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay
London, United Kingdom
Gordon Ramsay's Chelsea three-star and the chefs who rose through it.
La Tante Claire
Pierre Koffmann
London, United Kingdom
Closed 2004
Pierre Koffmann's La Tante Claire was a finishing school for British chefs.
Eleven Madison Park
Daniel Humm
New York, USA
The New York three-star whose alumni now cook around the world.
Charlie Trotter's
Charlie Trotter
Chicago, USA
Closed 2012
Charlie Trotter's Chicago temple trained a generation of American chefs.
Le Gavroche
Albert & Michel Roux
London, United Kingdom
Closed 2024
The Roux brothers' Le Gavroche, cradle of British fine dining.
Le Cinq
Le Cinq
Paris, France
The George V's grand Parisian dining room.
Pujol
Enrique Olvera
Mexico City, Mexico
Enrique Olvera's Pujol, the engine room of modern Mexican fine dining.
Girardet
Frédy Girardet
Crissier, Switzerland
Closed 1996
Frédy Girardet, once called the world's greatest chef, and his disciples.
Jean-Georges
Jean-Georges Vongerichten
New York, USA
Jean-Georges Vongerichten's New York flagship.