After A Golden Age Of Influential Chefs In the 1980s And 1990s, Celebrity Chefs In The Past Twenty Years Have Added Little

Forbes

25-04-2025

Portrait of French chef Andre Soltner as he sits at a table in his restaurant, Lutece (249 East 50th ... More Street), New York, New York, 1984. (Photo by)
Two weeks ago dozens of illustrious chefs attended a luncheon to pay homage to André Soltner, who died at the age of 93 in January, as an icon of their profession as owner of the New York French restaurant Lutèce. The show of so many colleagues for Soltner was out of respect for a man who never wavered from setting high standards for cuisine and for himself over more than three decades in the kitchen.
Soltner was one of those chefs who in the 1980s and 1990s helped American gastronomy garner world-wide recognition that spurred chefs everywhere to break from stultifying molds and to explore regional foods once felt too common to be served in an upscale restaurant.
Le célèbre chef cuisinier Paul Bocuse pose, le 24 janvier 2007 pendant le salon Sirha à Chassieu, à ... More l'occasion du concours le Bocuse d'Or, la "plus grande arène gastronomique du monde", qui fête cette année ses 20 ans. Plat de résistance du Salon international de la restauration, de l'hôtellerie et de l'alimentation (Sirha), ce concours de gastronomie, souvent considéré comme le plus prestigieux dans le monde, oppose pendant deux jours 24 équipes au total, de tous les continents. Leur mission: préparer un plat de poisson et un de viande en 5H30... sans se laisser déstabiliser par le millier de spectateurs. AFP PHOTO JEFF PACHOUD (Photo by Jeff PACHOUD / AFP) (Photo by JEFF PACHOUD/AFP via Getty Images)
The recognition of chefs as true cultural influencers began in the 1970 when a handful of French cuisiniers like Paul Bocuse, Roger Vergé and Michel Guèrard made news with an exciting style of haute cuisine respectful but not bound to archaic culinary traditions. The U.S. media glorified them as chefs willing to step into the limelight rather than stay in the shadows, which, in turn, led to chefs in America to showcase new ideas that would radically––though tastefully––transform the way we eat, championed by a young cadre of Californians like Alice Waters in Berkeley and Wolfgang Puck in Los Angeles to challenge the idea that chefs rely on frozen and processed foods instead of searching out the very best seasonal provender available, even to paying farmers to grow it.
Alice Waters, a Montessori teacher, pioneered California Cuisine in the 1980s.
Puck, who wore a baseball cap in the kitchen, created an enticing new, lighter style of casual California dining, including 'gourmet pizzas,' for a Hollywood crowd that made his restaurant Spago celebrated and glamorous. In Boston Jasper White fostered New New England cuisine, based on abundant seafood and vegetables, while in New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme put highly spiced Cajun food into a national spotlight. In Chicago Rick Bayless of Topolobampo elevated Mexican fare to a true cuisine, while Dean Fearing did the same for Texas cooking at his namesake restaurant in Dallas. Nobu Matsuhisa, first in Beverly Hills, then New York and internationally, set a style of sushi wholly new and put Japanese elegant and sexy. These chefs had enormous impact on American gastronomy and inspired another generation that included Marcus Samuelsson, Mario Batali, Ming Tsai, Bobby Flay and many more. (See my not-at-all comprehensive list of others below.)
Wolfgang Puck during Wolfgang Puck Anniversary Celebration at Wolfgang Puck Express in Atlanta, ... More Georgia, United States. (Photo by R. Diamond/WireImage)
Meanwhile French chefs working in America came to be considered transformative for their exquisite menus, like Jean-Louis Palladin in Washington DC, Michel Richard and Joachim Splichal in Los Angeles and Daniel Boulud, Eric Ripert and Jean-Georges Vongerichten in New York. An American named Thomas Keller set the bar ever higher with his highly inventive, multi-course California dinners at The French Laundry in Yountville.
With the onset of magazines like Bon Appetit and Food & Wine and TV food shows, chefs suddenly became stars, some making Time magazine's Most Influential People' of the year list.
NAPA, CALIFORNIA - MAY 28: Chef David Chang participates in a culinary demonstration during the 2023 ... More BottleRock Napa Valley festival at Napa Valley Expo on May 28, 2023 in Napa, California. (Photo by)
Yet while became stars and the food media fell over themselves to find the next big name, very few chefs of the last 25 years have had much of an impact on American or global gastronomy beyond show biz pizzazz. David Chang, cast as the 'bad boy' of American chefs for his foul language, dismissal of vegetarian food and litigious nature, opened the innovative, seat-of-the-pants cooking at his New York 12-seat restaurant named Momofuku, with backless stools, daily menus and blasting house music in 2008. Given the torrent of media exposure he received––including several TV shows––investors lined up to give him a global empire of restaurants. These days, after closing a slew of his original restaurants, he is mainly partner in a fast food chain called Fuku with 15 branches, and whatever influence he once had on young chefs seems slight.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 13: Guy Fieri poses with fans onstage during the Players Tailgate ... More by Bullseye Event Group on February 13, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo byfor Bullseye Event Group)
Certainly Anthony Bourdain had tremendous impact within the industry, but not as a chef, which he left behind after becoming a media star; rather he became a food-focused travel guide on TV, and no one has come along to replace him since his suicide in 2018.
So, too, Guy Fieri burst upon the scene with a clown-like act, not as a chef, and he, too, became a chain restaurant entrepreneur. And I doubt anyone who credit Gordon Ramsay with putting any positive spin on his profession.
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - JANUARY 20: In this image released on January 21, 2023, Chef Jose ... More Andres captured at their new restaurant Jaleo during the Grand Reveal Weekend of Dubai's new ultra-luxury resort, Atlantis The Royal on January 20, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo byfor Atlantis The Royal)
One has only to look at the lists of great and promising chefs given awards by the James Beard Foundation since the 1990s through 2005, in which the 'Rising Star' candidates and winners included young chefs who themselves became highly influential chefs, including Michael Mina, Marcus Samuelsson, Todd English, Douglas Rodriguez, Grant Achatz, Nancy Silverton, José Andres and Bobby Flay who have mentored so many more.
But in recent years there have been few chosen by the Foundation's vague criteria a chef 'who set high culinary standards and has served as a positive example for other food professionals.' For this year's upcoming 2025 awards there are some extremely talented chefs on the list, including Gabriel Kreuther, Suzette Gresham-Tognetti and Jungsik Yin, but none, at least not yet, has had any impact on American gastronomy, even within their respective cities. Most seem chosen merely for geographic and ethnic diversity––Ann Ahmed, Khâluna, Minneapolis, MN; Francis Guzmán, Vianda, San Juan, PR; Sarah Minnick, Lovely's Fifty Fifty, Portland, OR; or Ricky Moore, Saltbox Seafood Joint, Durham, NC­­––but outside those regions is there really reason to believe they will have any impact on other food professionals or American gastronomy overall?
Chef and television personality Gordon Ramsay, circa 1999. (Photo by Julian Barton/TV Times/Future ... More Publishing via Getty Images)
The Golden Age of great chefs in America was born out of imitation, adaption and innovation by young cooks buoyed by receptive media to get a national, even global, audience. For their efforts American gastronomy has never been better, more diversified or solid, from coast to coast. But these days it seems we want 'stars' who will fare brightly on dramatically crafted Food Network competition shows and be lucky enough to ride the publicity before next season's contestants show up.
WASHINGTON, VA - OCT21: Chef Patrick O'Connell prepares to cook for a gala dinner at the The Inn at ... More Little Washington celebrating the 60th anniversary of Relais and Chateaux, with Chef Patrick Bertron of Relais Bernard Loiseau, October 21, 2014. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Here are but a few of those chefs from the 1980s and 1990s who had significant impact on the way cooks cook and Americans dine today:
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - 1988: Chef and author Jeremiah Tower poses in his restaurant "Stars" during a ... More 1988 San Francisco, California, photo portrait session. Tower, a flamboyant and outspoken author began his career at the famed "Chez Panisse" restaurant in Berkeley, California. (Photo by)
Emeril Lagasse, Susanna Foo, Jody Adams, Lydia Shire, Judy Rogers, Larry Forgione, Jeremiah Tower, Charlie Trotter, Patrick O'Connell, Gary Danko, Georges Perrier, Mark Militello, Norman van Aken, Stephan Pyles, Robert Del Grande, Julian Serrano, Roy Yamaguchi, George Mavrothalassitas, Alan Wong, Joyce Goldstein and many others.