Gala Dinner, Chefs

Daniel Boulud Daniel/Phillipe Jousse Alain Chapel/
John Mooney Heartbeat/Chris Gesualdi Montrachet/
Stephan Motir Tribakery

Daniel Boulud Daniel
Daniel Boulud was born in France on March 25th, 1955. He was raised on his family's farm near Lyon, where he grew up surrounded by the rhythms of the seasons, the wonders of produce fresh from the fields, and of course, his grandmother's inspiring home cooking.

After being nominated as a candidate for best cooking apprentice in France, Daniel went on to train under renowned Chefs including Roger Vergé, Georges Blanc and Michel Guérard. Following two years in Copenhagen where Daniel worked as a Chef in some of the city's finest kitchens, he made his way to the United States. His first position here was as Chef to The European Commission in Washington, DC. Next, Daniel opened the Polo Lounge at The Westbury Hotel and later Le Régence at the Hotel Plaza Athenée in New York City. From 1986 to 1992, Daniel served as Executive Chef at New York's Le Cirque. During his tenure there, the restaurant was regularly chosen as one of the most highly rated in the country.

In 1993, Daniel Boulud opened his own much-heralded restaurant DANIEL on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Here his inspiration remained the seasonal ingredients drawn from the best local purveyors. In just a year after opening, the restaurant was rated "one of the ten best restaurants in the world" by the International Herald Tribune.

In September 1998 Daniel Boulud opened Café Boulud, named for the gathering place his great grandparents tended on their farm outside Lyon at the turn of the century. The contemporary Café Boulud is a French restaurant with an international accent welcoming Manhattan's café society to a spot with the cosmopolitan chic of a Parisian rendez-vous. In December of the same year the chef-restaurateur relocated DANIEL to its new Venetian renaissance inspired setting in the former Mayfair Hotel on Park Avenue and 65th Street. Since the restaurant's re-opening, Daniel Boulud has been named "Chef of the Year" by Bon Appétit Magazine and the restaurant has received Gourmet Magazine's coveted "Top Table" award. On March 14, 2001 the New York Times restaurant reviewer William Grimes awarded DANIEL a coveted four-stars. A second Café Boulud is planned to open in Palm Beach's Brazilian Court Hotel in Summer 2003.

In June 2001 the Chef opened DB Bistro Moderne in the City Club Hotel on West 44th Street. "DB" is a casual and contemporary restaurant in the heart of midtown and just steps from the theater district. Here Daniel Boulud's latest menu offers updated bistro cooking rooted in French tradition.

Daniel's other endeavors include Feast & Fêtes, the exclusive catering department of DANIEL and his "Private Stock" line of Caspian caviar and smoked Scottish salmon offered via direct mail. Daniel was one of the founding partners of Payard Patisserie & Bistro and sold his interest in business to François Payard in September 2000.

Phillipe Jousse Alain Chapel
Quietness is a virtue in the kitchen at Restaurant Alain Chapel in Mionnay, north-east of Lyon, France. Chef de cuisine Philippe Jousse, who has been in charge of the kitchen since the legendary Alain Chapel died six years ago, says no one runs and no one talks, we just work.

"His philosophy was to never believe you are at the top, because if you think you are at the top you start to fall down," says Chef Jousse. And he believed that working silently was the fastest and most productive way to work.

The two-star Michelin restaurant has been open since 1939 and Chef Chapel was described as 'a paragon of sincerity, honesty and simplicity, producing an impeccable cuisine'. Chef Jousse recalls his mentor visiting the market four to five times a week, selecting the best produce for his restaurant. He also had a strong relationship with the farmers of the region, often asking them to supply him with a certain crop. As the favourite protege of Alain Chapel, Chef Jousse is well-equipped to maintain his mentor's culinary tradition and high standards, at the same time, introducing his own innovative touches.

An example is the creme de primeurs a l'estragon en gelee de crustaces - a consomme made with lobster and crayfish shells topped with a veloute of pureed spring vegetables, dashed with creme fraiche.

Of prime importance is that the taste of the main ingredient remains paramount, says Chef Jousse. The cuisine is relatively light, using less butter and cream and some olive oil to create a balance between old and new cooking styles, he says. Part of this style involves using certain Asian spices and flavourings, curry leaves for example.

Besides Chef Chapel, Chef Jousse says Daniel Bouche, from Le Petit Montmorancy, has also had a big influence on him as he used such a diversity of cooking styles.

Chef Jousse spent a year in Kobe. Today, he is extremely contented to run the acclaimed Mionnay restaurant as it was a dream come true for him, to continue operating it in the spirit and tradition of Alain Chapel'; "what more could one want?" he says, smiling.

Chris Gesualdi Montrachet

John Mooney Heartbeat

Culinary challenges are nothing new to John Mooney. He was cooking at David Rockwell’s home in the Catskills, when famed restaurateur Drew Nieporent struck up a conversation with him. Their paths crossed again at Food Arts’ 10th Anniversary Party, and that meeting resulted in John’s joining the culinary team that created the cuisine for Heartbeat. Mooney handles the day-to-day culinary operations that keep one of Manhattan’s most innovative restaurants at peak form. His creativity keeps Heartbeat’s cuisine fresh, as he develops new dishes that enhance the restaurant’s cutting-edge reputation.

“Most nights during dinner service, we have creative sessions going on in the kitchen,” Mooney says. “We try an assortment of things with fresh produce, juices, purées and pulps. It’s like a laboratory, where the kitchen tweaks things this way and that, gets feedback, and, if it meets standards, we offer it as a special. Heartbeat’s menu is in constant evolution.”

Mooney has enthusiastically adopted Heartbeat’s cooking style, which calls for no cream or butter, with the emphasis on simple, extremely flavorful preparations that often have an Asian tilt.

Born into a Chicago family with roots in Ireland, Mooney was trained at the Kendall Culinary School and completed his internship working all stations at The Signature Room at The 95th atop the prestigious John Hancock Center. His next stop was Ambria, Chicago’s Restaurant of the year, where he polished his classical and nouvelle French culinary skills under Gabino Sotelino. He moved on to the famed Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, working under one of this country’s most revered chefs, Dean Fearing. It was there that he gained more experience in the organizational operation of a kitchen and developed his knack with Southwestern cuisine.

John then moved to Washington, D.C., as Sous Chef of Red Sage, expanding his range in southwestern dishes under the inimitable Mark Miller. With Mark Miller and Robin Haas, his career took an eastward tilt as he opened two regional Asian restaurants, Raku in the DuPont Circle area and a second Raku in Bethesda, Maryland.

In 1997, he moved to New York City and took up culinary residence at Tapika. A year later, he opened Michael Jordan’s The Steakhouse. In October of 1998, he joined Michel Nischan’s opening team at Heartbeat as Sous Chef and was then promoted to Chef de Cuisine before becoming Chef in December 2002.

Since coming to Heartbeat, John has consulted at the King Solomon Hilton, Tel-Aviv, where his name still appears on the menu. He was the Chef for Julia Child’s 88th birthday party and participated in a number of civic events such as Harper’s Bazaar’s benefit for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, “Grand Gourmet” in support of the Grand Central Partnership and the American Heart Association’s “Chefs with Heart”.

John’s recipes were highlighted on the TV Food Network when he appeared on “Follow that Food” with Gordon Elliott and “Ultimate Kitchens,” a special on the James Beard House.

As for John’s future, in his words, “we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of this exciting new cuisine.”