Daniel Boulud’s Famous Protégés Are Throwing Him the Ultimate Birthday Dinner

Daniel Boulud was the guest of honor at the James Beard Foundation’s sold-out Gala for Good at The Pierre in New York on November 6, but the most telling tribute of the night was still four months away. Among the auction lots was a dinner at the James Beard House on March 25, 2027, his birthday, cooked by four chefs who learned a thing or two in his kitchens: Stefano Secchi, Gavin Kaysen, Melissa Rodriguez and Dominique Ansel. Plenty of chefs collect awards. Very few get a birthday dinner from their alumni.

It says a great deal about Boulud that, more than four decades into a career defined by Michelin stars, James Beard medals and a restaurant empire that stretches to Dubai, the thing people kept bringing up was the people. The Foundation honored him for his contributions to hospitality and to generations of chefs, and having spent time with him for Haute Living’s cover story, I can tell you he’d put those in the opposite order.

Photo Credit: Vita Phoenix for James Beard Foundation

From Lyon to Le Cirque

Boulud grew up near Lyon, which is a bit like a painter growing up in Florence, and trained under three of France’s great masters: Georges Blanc, Michel Guérard and Roger Vergé. He arrived in New York in 1982, made his name at the Polo Club and then ran the kitchen at Le Cirque, back when it was the center of the Manhattan social universe. In 1993, he opened Daniel on the Upper East Side, and the city has never quite been the same.

Since then, the Boulud name has traveled well beyond Park Avenue, with restaurants across the U.S. and in Canada, The Bahamas, Singapore and Dubai. He has won James Beard Awards for both Outstanding Chef and Outstanding Restaurateur, which is the culinary equivalent of winning best actor and best director. And he’s still opening restaurants: the gala came just weeks after the debut of Brasserie Boulud.

Photo Credit: Vita Phoenix for James Beard Foundation

The Boulud Family Tree

What sets Boulud apart is how many great kitchens trace back to his. Ansel, whose Cronut once had New Yorkers lining up around the block, is a Boulud alum. So are Kaysen, Rodriguez and Secchi, and so is restaurateur Georgette Farkas, who was in the room on Friday. One of the evening’s cooks, Katalina Diaz, came straight from Restaurant Daniel, which must have made for a slightly nerve-racking service. (Cooking for your boss is one thing. Cooking for your boss in front of 40 years of James Beard history is quite another.)

His mentorship has a formal side, too. Boulud founded the Ment’or BKB Foundation, which supports Team USA at the Bocuse d’Or and sends young American chefs abroad for apprenticeships, and he has spent more than two decades as a champion, and now co-president, of Citymeals on Wheels, which feeds homebound older New Yorkers. His relationship with the James Beard Foundation goes back to its early years, when he cooked at the James Beard House in Greenwich Village.

Boulud, ever the gracious host even when he’s the one being toasted, shared the credit. “I share this honor with my family, my partners, and the extraordinary teams who bring our restaurants to life every day,” he said, calling success something “built through hard work, perseverance, and the people who surround you.” Spoken like a man whose alumni list reads like a restaurant guide.

Photo Credit: Vita Phoenix for James Beard FoundationPhoto Credit: Vita Phoenix for James Beard Foundation

A Night in His Honor

Top Chef judge Gail Simmons hosted, and The Pierre’s Tomasz Surowka led a collaborative menu with a roster that could double as a very ambitious dining itinerary, including Paul Carmichael of Kabawa, Vikas Khanna of Bungalow, Richard Lee of San Francisco’s Saison and Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli of Don Angie. Gabriel Kreuther, David Rockwell and Andrew Yang were among the guests, and S.Pellegrino took the evening’s corporate honor. The auction offered plenty for anyone who plans their travels around a reservation, from a private dinner with Kwame Onwuachi at Tatiana to a cycling trip through Piedmont with dinner at Piazza Duomo, but it was the Boulud birthday dinner that had people reaching for their paddles.

All told, the night raised $1.3 million for independent restaurants, which feels like exactly the kind of cause Boulud has spent his career championing. More than 40 years after he first stepped into a New York kitchen, the best measure of his success might not be on the walls of his dining rooms. It’s in all the other kitchens he helped fill.

Photo Credit: Vita Phoenix for James Beard Foundation

Read More

Read Haute Living’s cover story on the secret recipe to Daniel Boulud’s success, see where Brasserie Boulud lands among New York’s best fall openings, and look back at the night Haute Living honored Boulud with Hublot.