Thomas Keller Biography

Thomas Keller Biography Book

The Famous Chef In The World

Born: October 14, 1955 (age 66) Education: Apprenticeship | Culinary Career

Cooking Style: French

Current restaurant(s): The French Laundry (Yountville, California) Bouchon (Yountville, California) Bouchon Bakery (Yountville, California) La Calenda (Yountville, California) Bouchon (Las Vegas); Per Se (New York City) Surf Club (Miami, FL) TAK Room (Hudson Yards, New York)

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Who is Thomas Keller?

Thomas Aloysius Keller (born October 14, 1955) is an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook writer. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation, notably the Best California Chef in 1996, and the Best Chef in America in 1997. The restaurant is a perennial winner in the annual Restaurant Magazine list of the Top 50 Restaurants of the World. In 2005, he was awarded the three-star rating in the inaugural Michelin Guide for New York City for his restaurant Per Se, and in 2006, he was awarded three stars in the inaugural Michelin Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area for The French Laundry. He is the only American chef to have been awarded simultaneous three- star Michelin ratings for two different restaurants. He currently holds eight Michelin stars total: three at Per Se, three at The French Laundry, one at Bouchon, and one at The Surf Club Restaurant.

The French Laundry

Following the split with his partner at Rakel, Keller took various consultant and chef positions in New York and Los Angeles. In the spring of 1992 he came upon an old French steam laundry in Yountville, California that had been converted to a restaurant. He spent nineteen months raising $1.2 million from acquaintances and investors to purchase the restaurant, then opened in 1994. Over the next few years the restaurant earned numerous awards, including from the James Beard Foundation, gourmet magazines, the Mobil Guide (five stars), and the Michelin Guide (three stars). In April 2009, Keller became engaged to longtime girlfriend and former general manager at the French Laundry, Laura Cunningham.

Publishing and film In 1999, Thomas Keller published The French Laundry Cookbook, which he considers his definitive book on cuisine. That year it won three International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) awards for Cookbook of the Year, Julia Child "First Cookbook" Award, and Design Award. In 2004 he published "The Bouchon Cookbook," although he gives most of the credit to Bouchon chef Jeffrey Cerciello.

Food and dining After the success of The French Laundry, Thomas and his brother, Joseph Keller (currently owner/chef of Josef's in Las Vegas), opened Bouchon in 1998. Located down the street from The French Laundry, it serves moderately priced French bistro fare, with Bouchon Bakery opening next door a few years later (in 2006 Keller opened a branch of the bakery in the Time Warner Center in Manhattan).