Dominique Crenn | |
|---|---|
 Crenn in 2013 | |
| Born | April 7, 1965 |
| Partner | Maria Bello (engaged) |
| Children | 2 |
| Culinary career | |
| Cooking style | French cuisine |
Rating(s) | |
Dominique Crenn (born 7 April 1965) is a French chef. [1] As of 2016 [update] , she was the only female chef in the United States to attain three Michelin stars, for her restaurant Atelier Crenn, in San Francisco. [2] Crenn has been featured in several Food Network and other television shows.
Crenn, originally from Locronan, was adopted at 18 months by a French couple from Versailles. [3] She spent many summers in Brittany at the family farm. [1] Her mother, a cook with an "adventurous palate, took her young daughter to experience Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese restaurants in Paris." [4] Her father, a politician, would take his daughter along when he dined at Michelin star restaurants with his friend, a food critic for Le Télégramme. [1]
Crenn's experience on the family farm, her mother's cooking, and her visits to high-profile restaurants developed her culinary tastes. Disliking the male-dominated French culinary scene, she earned a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in international business. [1]
Crenn moved to the United States to pursue her culinary aspirations, landing in San Francisco in the late 1980s. Her first restaurant position was at Stars, a prominent restaurant in the city run by celebrity chef Jeremiah Tower. After two years, she moved on to work at restaurants such as Campton Place, 2223 Market, and Yoyo Bistro at the Miyako Hotel before taking a position as head chef for the restaurant in Intercontinental Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia. She was Indonesia's first ever female head chef, but was forced to flee the country during civil unrest in 1998. [1]
Returning to the United States, she became executive chef for Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles, California and then at Abode Restaurant and Lounge in Santa Monica, California. In 2008, management at Intercontinental Hotel offered her a new position, and she joined Luce in San Francisco where she was awarded her first Michelin star in 2009, and was awarded another one-star ranking the next year. [1]
In 2009, Crenn competed on The Next Iron Chef but was eliminated in the Adaptability Challenge, reaching 7th place overall in the season. In 2010, Crenn competed on Iron Chef America against chef Michael Symon, winning the battle. [5]
In 2011, she opened her restaurant Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, California. [6] The Michelin Guide awarded the restaurant a two-star ranking, making Crenn the first ever female chef to receive two stars in the United States. Atelier Crenn was again awarded two stars in 2014. [1] She was awarded the Best female Chef in 2016 by world’s 50 Best Restaurant awards. [7] Crenn appeared on Season 2 of Chef's Table , a documentary film series on Netflix. In 2018, Crenn earned her third Michelin star. [8]
Petit Crenn, inspired by the food of her childhood in Brittany, opened in 2015. In 2016, Crenn announced plans to open Bar Crenn, a wine bar featuring small plates, next door to Atelier Crenn. In March 2018, Bar Crenn opened, earning one Michelin star in its first year, which means Crenn currently holds four Michelin stars. [9] [10] In 2018, Crenn was awarded the James Beard Foundation Award of Best Chef: West. [11]
In 2021, Crenn joined the creative team on the dark comedy horror film The Menu, serving as a consultant for Ralph Fiennes' character Chef Julian Slowik and creating the dishes showcased throughout the film. [12] In 2022, Crenn was featured as an Iron Chef on the Netflix show Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend .
Crenn was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2024. [13]
Crenn sees herself as an artist, referring to her dishes as "poetic culinaria." Katie McLaughlin notes in a profile of Crenn for The Wall Street Journal that Atelier Crenn "serves a cuisine so visually, texturally, and conceptually inventive it has both delighted and baffled critics and drawn international attention." [14]
Crenn is known to treat her staff well, avoiding the yelling and scrutiny that was common in professional kitchens for decades. She is also known to greet her guests, walking from table to table to do so. [1]
In December 2019, Crenn became engaged to her girlfriend, actress Maria Bello. [15]
Nonfiction
Rick Bayless is an American chef and restaurateur who specializes in traditional Mexican cuisine with modern interpretations. He is widely known for his PBS series Mexico: One Plate at a Time. Among his various accolades are a Michelin star, the title of Top Chef Masters, and seven James Beard Awards.
Jeremiah Tower is an American celebrity chef who, along with Alice Waters and Wolfgang Puck, has been credited with pioneering the culinary style known as California cuisine. A food lover from childhood, he had no formal culinary education before beginning his career as a chef.
Stars was a landmark restaurant in San Francisco, California, from 1984 through 1999. Along with Spago, Michael's and Chez Panisse, it is considered one of the birthplaces of California cuisine, New American cuisine and the institution of the celebrity chef.
The Next Iron Chef is a limited-run series on the Food Network that aired its fifth season in 2012. Each season is a stand-alone competition to select a chef to be designated an Iron Chef, who will appear on the Food Network program Iron Chef America.
Anita Lo is an American chef and restaurateur. In 2001, she was named by Food & Wine magazine one of ten "Best New Chefs in America".
Clare Smyth is a Northern Irish chef. She is the Chef Patron of three Michelin starred Core by Clare Smyth which opened in 2017. Previously she was Chef Patron at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay from 2012 to 2016, won the Chef of the Year award in 2013, and achieved a perfect score in the 2015 edition of the Good Food Guide. Smyth has also appeared on television shows such as Masterchef and Saturday Kitchen. Smyth also notably catered at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's 2018 wedding.
Tanya Holland is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, podcast host, writer, and cookbook author. She is known as an expert of soul food. Holland is an alumna of Bravo TV's Top Chef, where she competed on the 15th season. She was the owner of Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland, California, which received national recognition and multiple Michelin Bib Gourmand awards.
Anne-Sophie Pic is a French chef best known for regaining three Michelin stars for her restaurant, Maison Pic, in southeast France. She is the fourth female chef to win three Michelin stars, and was named the Best Female Chef by The World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2011. She currently holds 10 Michelin stars.
April Bloomfield is a British chef who has opened two New York restaurants: The Spotted Pig and The Breslin Bar & Dining Room. Bloomfield had previously worked at several restaurants in the United Kingdom, including The River Café and Bibendum.
Melissa Perello is an American chef, she is best known for holding a Michelin star at her restaurant Frances in San Francisco. She had previously won a star at restaurant Fifth Floor, and has won awards from both Chronicles and Food & Wine magazines.
Niki Nakayama is an American chef and the owner of Michelin-starred n/naka restaurant in Los Angeles, specializing in modern Japanese kaiseki cuisine.
Adega was a Portuguese restaurant in the Little Portugal neighborhood of San Jose, California. Established in 2015, in 2016 it became the city's first restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star. In summer 2023, the owners announced that the restaurant would close at the end of the year, to be replaced by a second location of Petiscos, a more casual Portuguese restaurant with the same chefs.
Angela Solita Dimayuga is an American chef and political activist. She was an executive chef at Mission Chinese Food New York, and help build the restaurant in the early years. Dimayuga was included in the Zagat's "30 Under 30" List in 2015 as an upcoming culinary star and was also part of 2015 class of Eater Young Guns. She was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award in 2016 and named a 2017 Rising Star Chef for her work at Mission Chinese Food New York. As of 2018, she worked with The Standard hotel, which opened in London in 2019.
Suzette Gresham, also known as Suzette Gresham-Tognetti, is an American chef. She holds two Michelin stars at her restaurant Acquerello in San Francisco, California.
Emma Bengtsson is a Swedish chef who holds two Michelin stars at the New York City based restaurant Aquavit. She is the first female Swedish chef to win two stars.
Melissa King is an American chef and television personality. King is known for her appearances on the reality competition series Top Chef. She first appeared on the twelfth season of Top Chef: Boston, placing fourth; she then returned for the seventeenth season, Top Chef: All-Stars L.A., which she won. She specializes in modern Californian cuisine with Asian flavors.
Atelier Crenn is a French restaurant in the Cow Hollow neighborhood in San Francisco, California. Opened in 2011 by Dominique Crenn and Juan Contreras, the restaurant became the seventh restaurant in San Francisco Bay Area to be awarded three Michelin stars by the Michelin Guide in 2018.
State Bird Provisions is a San Francisco restaurant founded by chef-owners Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski.
Georgianna Hiliadaki is a Greek Michelin star chef and restaurateur, owner of the Funky Gourmet restaurant. Along with her partner, Nikos Roussos, have been called “the Greek power duo” who are the executive chefs and cofounders of Hospitality Group Modern Greek Food Group (MGFG). The Funky Gourmet in Athens, Greece is their flagship restaurant and has 2 Michelin Stars. It was founded in 2009. They met when they attended the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City and graduated in 2003.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
