Daniel Patterson (chef) facts for kids
Daniel Patterson is a well-known American chef, a person who owns and manages restaurants (called a restaurateur), and a food writer.
Contents
Life and Career of Daniel Patterson
Daniel Patterson was born in Lynn, Massachusetts. His mother taught French and history, and his father was a lawyer. He often traveled to France with his family, which greatly shaped his ideas about food.
Early Days and First Restaurants
Patterson started working in restaurants at age 14, washing dishes. He later went to Duke University but decided to leave before finishing. In 1989, he moved to Sonoma, California.
In 1994, when he was 25, Patterson opened his first restaurant, Babette's, in Sonoma. It was inspired by French cooking. Babette's was a popular spot, but it closed in 1999 when its lease ended. In 2000, he opened another restaurant called Elizabeth Daniel. It was highly regarded but closed on New Year's Day in 2004 due to slow business. He also worked as the opening chef at Frisson, a restaurant that tried new ideas like using special smells (called aromatherapy) and scientific cooking methods (molecular gastronomy).
Coi and Other Ventures
In 2006, Daniel Patterson opened Coi. This restaurant became very famous and earned two Michelin stars. Michelin stars are a special award given to restaurants that offer excellent food. Coi was also one of the top restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. At Coi, Patterson's cooking often involved foraging, which means finding wild ingredients from nature. He also used unique smells and essential oils in his dishes.
Patterson also opened other restaurants. He started an informal rotisserie (a place that cooks meat on a rotating spit) called Il Cane Rosso, which means "the red dog" in Italian. He later sold this business. He opened Plum in Oakland in 2010 and Haven in 2012. In 2017, he worked with another chef, Roy Choi, to open a fast-food restaurant called Locol. Locol won an award but closed in 2018. In 2022, Coi, his last restaurant in the Bay Area, closed its doors.
Daniel Patterson as a Writer
Besides being a chef, Daniel Patterson is also a food writer. He has written for well-known magazines like New York Times Magazine, Food & Wine Magazine, and San Francisco Magazine.
Books and Essays
In 2004, he co-wrote a book called The Magic of Essential Oils in Food and Fragrance with Mandy Aftel, who is famous for making perfumes.
In 2005, Patterson wrote a well-known essay titled "To the Moon, Alice." In this essay, he shared his thoughts on how some San Francisco restaurants were copying a famous style of cooking. He believed this made them less creative and less skilled in their cooking. He also felt that some diners avoided fancy food, even if they paid similar prices for simpler, home-style meals. He wanted to encourage more new and exciting ideas in the food world.
Awards and Recognition
Daniel Patterson has received many awards for his cooking and restaurants:
- Best New Chef, Food & Wine Magazine, 1997
- Rising Star Chef, San Francisco Chronicle, 1997
- Best New Restaurant, James Beard Foundation, 2001 (for Elizabeth Daniel)
- Chef of the Year, San Francisco Magazine, 2007
- Best Chef: Pacific (nominee), James Beard Foundation, 2009 and 2010
- Two Stars, Michelin, 2021 (for Coi, which closed in 2022)
