This article is part of a series profiling Nation Restaurant News' 2012 Fine Dining Hall of Fame inductees. This report is a bonus feature from the Nov. 12 issue of Nation’s Restaurant News, typically available to subscribers only. Subscribe today.
When asked how fine dining is different today than when he arrived in New York 30 years ago, the French-born Daniel Boulud responds thoughtfully and earnestly.
“I think fine dining is becoming more exciting,” Boulud said. “I think that fine dining is becoming more surprising. I think that fine dining is becoming less conventional.”
He answers, however, as if unaware that he is in large part responsible for the current state of fine dining — especially its excitement and unconventionality.
What’s more unconventional than an haute cuisine burger, for example, with dabs of foie gras and black truffle nestled inside? Boulud created the burger at db Bistro Moderne in New York in response to French criticism of McDonald’s.
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“The hamburger may be the most successful snack in the world. The French wish they could have invented McDonald’s,” he told The New York Times. This from a chef who has captured a large collection of honors, including four James Beard Foundation Awards. He has also received three Michelin stars and four stars from The New York Times, both for his flagship, Daniel.
It’s the balancing act of creativity and tradition that makes Boulud stand out in a field already crowded with world-class talent.
“I think Daniel knows where the sweet spot is between classicism and invention,” said former New York Times dining critic Frank Bruni. “He’s the product of a rigorous French training that’s reflected in his cooking, but he understands that these times demand a bit of whimsy and globe-trotting.”
Growing up on a farm in Saint-Pierre-de-Chandieu just outside of Lyon, Boulud served under the most celebrated Michelin-starred chefs, beginning at the age of 15 at the two-star Gérard Nandron in Lyon. His tutelage continued under esteemed three-star chefs Georges Blanc, Roger Vergé and Michel Guérard.
Boulud eventually became one of the industry’s leading mentors himself, shepherding numerous award-winning chefs to success. He also cultivates talent as the co-founder and chair of the Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation.
Boulud launched his career in the United States in 1982 as a chef for the European Commission in Washington, D.C. Stints in New York followed, most notably his six-year tenure as executive chef at Sirio Maccioni’s legendary Le Cirque. Maccioni said he hired Boulud because he was “the best classic French chef I ever met — reliable and talented and ambitious.”
In 1993 Boulud realized a long-held dream to open his own French restaurant in New York.
“The fact that I grew up in the Relais & Châteaux tradition of quality — in the two- and three-star kind of mold — I was always influenced by that, and I always wanted to be one of them,” Boulud said.
He not only instantly became “one of them,” he set a new standard for high-end dining in New York. Leslie Brenner wrote in “The Fourth Star: Dispatches from Inside Daniel Boulud’s Celebrated New York Restaurant,” “Boulud’s cooking — especially at Daniel — was much more forward looking ... than much of what came before him. It helped bring American (and Franco-American) cooking to what it is today: an art form.”
Today Boulud’s 15 restaurants worldwide show the diversity of his culinary artistry, from the sausage and beer of DBGB to Beijing and Montreal’s upscale Maison Boulud.
Despite spending more than 40 years in the business and preparing to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his eponymous flagship restaurant in spring 2013, Boulud demurs at the idea of achieving legendary status.
“It is a business where it doesn’t matter how many people congratulate you and how many accolades you can get,” he said. “You still, day to day, have to take care of your business and your customer.”
If Boulud downplays his role in revolutionizing fine dining, peers like Le Bernardin’s Eric Ripert are quick to recognize his industrywide influence.
“Daniel has dedicated all his life to ‘la grande cuisine,’” Ripert said. “He has a contagious curiosity and love for cooking that has inspired not only his own team but the entire industry. Daniel’s search for perfection has been a benchmark for chefs of all levels around the world.”
Hometown: Saint-Pierre-de-Chandieu, France
Birth date: March 25, 1955
Restaurants: Beijing: Maison Boulud; London: Bar Boulud; Miami: db Bistro Moderne; Montreal: Maison Boulud; New York: Bar Boulud, Bar Pleiades, Boulud Sud, Café Boulud, Daniel, db Bistro Moderne, DBGB Kitchen & Bar, Épicerie Boulud; Palm Beach, Fla.: Café Boulud; Singapore: db Bistro Moderne; Toronto: Café Boulud
Hobbies: Golfing, driving, travel, dining
Favorite saying: “Don’t take anything for granted.”