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About Daniel Boulud

Daniel Boulud is a French chef and restaurateur with restaurants in New York City, Palm Beach, Miami, Montreal, Beijing, and Singapore. He is best known for Daniel, his eponymous, Michelin 3-star restaurant in New York City.

While raised on a farm outside of Lyon and trained by renowned French chefs, Boulud made his reputation in New York, first as a chef and most recently a restaurateur. His management company, The Dinex Group, currently includes six restaurants and Feast & Fêtes Catering. His restaurants include Daniel, Café Boulud, DB Bistro Moderne, Bar Boulud, and DBGB Kitchen & Bar in New York City.

At fifteen, Boulud earned his first professional recognition: He was a finalist in France's competition for Best Culinary Apprentice. Boulud worked in France with Roger Vergé, Georges Blanc and Michel Guérard and later in Copenhagen before becoming the private chef to the European Commission in Washington, D.C..

Moving to New York City, Boulud opened the Polo Lounge at The Westbury Hotel then Le Régence at the Hotel Plaza Athenée. From 1986 to 1992, he was Executive Chef at Le Cirque. During his tenure, the restaurant became one of the most highly rated in the country.

Boulud set out on his own and opened his restaurant Daniel, in 1993, in Manhattan's Upper Eastside. Daniel relocated the restaurant to a new home in 1998: a Venetian renaissance-inspired setting at Park Avenue and 65th Street—premises, in fact, that had once housed Le Cirque. The original Daniel was re-launched as the Café Boulud.

Not long after opening, restaurant Daniel was rated one of the top ten restaurants in the world by the International Herald Tribune. He was named Chef of the Year by Bon Appétit, and Daniel received Gourmet's Top Table Award, a four-star rating from the New York Times, Wine Spectator's Grand Award, and New York City's top ratings for cuisine, service and decor in the Zagat Survey.

Boulud received the James Beard Award for Best Chef of New York City in 1992 while Executive Chef at Le Cirque. The James Beard Foundation would again recognize Chef Daniel Boulud with “Outstanding Chef of the Year” in 1994 and “Outstanding Restaurateur” in 2006 for restaurant Daniel. In April 2007 he received the Culinary Humanitarian Award at the United Nations from the Adopt-a-Mine Field Foundation. The President of France made Boulud a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in March 2006 in recognition for his contribution to the advancement of French culture.

Daniel Boulud works to support several charities focusing his efforts on hunger relief and culinary education. He has been an active member of the board of directors of Citymeals-on-Wheels, a non-profit organization that provides home-delivered, nutritious meals to frail, homebound elderly in New York City, since 2003 and hosts an annual gala for the charity each spring. On April 13, 2008, Daniel Boulud hosted an intimate Sunday supper to mark the 10th anniversary of Savoring Citymeals—an annual gourmet event he has hosted since 1998.

The Daniel Boulud Scholarship Endowment Fund was established by the chef’s business partner, Joel Smilow, in 2005. The fund serves to provide continuing education enabling promising young American cooks to pursue professional culinary studies in France.