CONTINENTAL PLATES

MASTER CHEF DANIEL BOULUD BRINGS HIS FRENCHINSPIRED CUISINE TO THE WORLD THROUGH HIS GLOBAL RESTAURANTS, FOOD LINES, PHILANTHROPIC WORK AND TRAVEL COLLABORATIONS

- STORY BY TERRY ZARIKIAN PORTRAIT BY BILL MILNE

ONE of the great masters of traditional French cooking, chef Daniel Boulud grew up on a farm outside Lyon, a world capital of gastronomy, before training in some of Europe's finest restaurants. I first met Boulud in 1988, when he was executive chef at New York's celebrated Le Cirque. During his tenure there, the restaurant achieved a four-star review in The New York Times, and Boulud received his first of many James Beard Awards. In 1993 he opened his Michelin-starred signature restaurant Daniel on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and for the past 30-some years Boulud and his Dinex Group have established hospitality benchmarks around the globe. This is in addition to his lines of cookware and food, his collaborations with travel behemoths such as Air France and Celebrity Cruises, his multifaceted charity work, and his time spent mentoring the next generation of chefs and restaurateurs.

“We want the DNA of me, Daniel Boulud, to be in every one of our restaurants,” he says. These include the longstanding Café Boulud in New York, Toronto and Palm Beach, Boulud Sud in Miami, and Maison Boulud in Montreal. Lately he has expanded his Manhattan offerings with the French American steak house La Tête d'Or and the sushi omakase restaurant Joji.