Thomas Keller facts for kids
Keller in 2009
|
|
| Born | Thomas Aloysius Keller October 14, 1955 Camp Pendleton, California, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Cooking style | French |
| Education | Apprenticeship |
| Spouse | Laura Cunningham |
|
Rating(s)
|
|
|
Current restaurant(s)
The French Laundry (Yountville, California)
 Per Se (New York City) Surf Club (Miami, FL)  Bouchon (Yountville, California) Bouchon Bakery (Yountville, California) ad hoc (Yountville, California ) La Calenda (Yountville, California) Bouchon (Las Vegas) Bouchon (Coral Gables, Florida) |
|
Thomas Aloysius Keller (born October 14, 1955) is a famous American chef, restaurateur (someone who owns or manages restaurants), and cookbook author. He is known for his amazing cooking skills and for owning top-rated restaurants. His most famous restaurant is The French Laundry in Yountville, California.
Thomas Keller and The French Laundry have won many awards from the James Beard Foundation. These include "Best California Chef" in 1996 and "Best Chef in America" in 1997. The French Laundry was also often listed among the "Top 50 Restaurants of the World."
In 2005, his restaurant Per Se in New York City received three stars from the first Michelin Guide for New York. The next year, in 2006, The French Laundry also earned three Michelin stars in the first Michelin Guide for the San Francisco Bay Area. This made him the only American chef to have two restaurants with three Michelin stars at the same time. His restaurants currently hold seven Michelin stars in total.
Contents
Becoming a Chef: Thomas Keller's Early Life and Career
Thomas Keller's journey into cooking started when his mother, who owned a restaurant, needed help because her cook was sick. He stepped in to assist. After his parents divorced, his family moved to Palm Beach, Florida.
During his teenage summers, Thomas worked at the Palm Beach Yacht Club. He began as a dishwasher but quickly moved up to a cook. This is where he found his love for cooking and learned to make a perfect hollandaise sauce.
Learning from a Master Chef
While working as a cook in Rhode Island during another summer, Thomas was noticed by a French Master Chef named Roland Henin. Chef Henin asked Thomas to cook meals for the staff at The Dunes Club. Under Henin's guidance, Thomas learned the basic skills of classic French cooking.
After working at The Dunes Club, Thomas took on different cooking jobs in Florida. He then became the cook at a small French restaurant called La Rive in Catskill, New York. He worked mostly by himself, with the owners' grandmother helping with prep. He even built a smokehouse to prepare meats and learned to cook different parts of animals from his mentor, Roland Henin. After three years, he moved to New York and then to Paris, where he trained at several restaurants that had Michelin stars.
Opening His First Restaurant
When he returned to America in 1984, he worked as a head chef at La Reserve in New York. In 1987, he opened his own restaurant called Rakel. Rakel served fancy French food to wealthy customers and received a good review from The New York Times. However, when the economy slowed down, Rakel became less popular. Thomas left because he didn't want to change his cooking style to simpler food.
The French Laundry: A Dream Come True
After leaving Rakel, Thomas Keller worked as a consultant and chef in New York and Los Angeles. In 1992, he found a restaurant in Yountville, California, that used to be an old French steam laundry. The previous owners had turned it into a restaurant.
Thomas spent 19 months gathering money from friends and investors to buy the restaurant. He finally bought it and reopened it in 1994, calling it The French Laundry. Over the next few years, the restaurant won many awards, including top honors from the James Beard Foundation, food magazines, and the Michelin Guide.
In April 2009, Thomas Keller became engaged to Laura Cunningham, who used to be the general manager at The French Laundry.
Other Restaurants and Projects
More Restaurants and Bakeries
After the huge success of The French Laundry, Thomas and his brother, Joseph Keller, opened Bouchon in 1998. It's located near The French Laundry and serves French bistro food at more affordable prices. A few years later, in 2006, Bouchon Bakery opened next door. Thomas Keller even joked that he opened Bouchon so he would have somewhere to eat after working late at The French Laundry!
In 2004, he opened Bouchon in Las Vegas. Also in 2004, his highly anticipated restaurant Per Se opened in New York City. Per Se was designed from scratch and became an instant hit, with reservations booked months in advance.
In 2006, he opened "ad hoc" in Yountville. This restaurant serves a different fixed-price "comfort food" dinner every night, served family style. It was so popular that he decided to make it a permanent restaurant.
Here are some of his restaurant locations:
- Yountville, CA: ad hoc, addendum, Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery, The French Laundry, La Calenda
- New York: Bouchon Bakery, Per Se
- Las Vegas: Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery
- Miami: The Surf Club, Bouchon Bistro
Other Ventures
Before opening The French Laundry, Thomas Keller started a small company called EVO, Inc. in 1992. It sold Provençal-style olive oil and red wine vinegar. More recently, Keller has also created his own line of special dinnerware and silver items. He also has his name on a set of kitchen knives.
Thomas Keller is the president of the Bocuse d'Or U.S. team. This is a very important cooking competition. He helps train the American chefs who compete. He believes it's important to help young chefs and raise the standards of cooking.
Books and Movies
In 1999, Thomas Keller published The French Laundry Cookbook, which he considers his most important book about cooking. It won several awards. He has also written or helped with other cookbooks, including "The Bouchon Cookbook," Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide, Ad Hoc at Home (2009), and Bouchon Bakery (2012).
Thomas Keller also worked on the movie Spanglish. He taught the actor Adam Sandler how to cook what was called "the world's greatest sandwich" for the film. This sandwich was like a BLT but with a fried egg. He also helped as a consultant for the 2007 Pixar animated movie Ratatouille. He designed a fancy, layered version of ratatouille, called "confit byaldi", for the characters to cook. He even had a small voice role in the American version of the movie!
Keller has also appeared in the TV series The Bear. He also teaches online cooking classes at Masterclass.com.
Awards and Recognition
Thomas Keller has received many awards for his amazing cooking and restaurants:
- Best American Chef: California, James Beard Foundation, 1996
- Outstanding Chef: America, James Beard Foundation, 1997
- Chef of the Year, Bon Appétit Magazine, 1998
- Voted #1 – Top Food, Zagat Guide to the Bay Area, 1998–2003
- Five-Star Award, Mobil Travel Guide, 1999–2004
- Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America, 2000
- Favorite Restaurant – Restaurant Experts' Poll, Food & Wine Magazine, 2000
- Top Restaurant for Food, Wine Spectator Magazine, 2000
- America's Best Chef, TIME Magazine, 2001
- Outstanding Wine Service Award, James Beard Foundation, 2001
- Outstanding Service Award, James Beard Foundation, 2003
- Best Restaurant in the World (French Laundry), Restaurant Magazine's Top 50 Restaurants of the World, 2003, 2004
- Best Restaurant in the Americas (French Laundry), Restaurant Magazine's Top 50 Restaurants of the World, 2005–2008
- Best New Restaurant (Per Se), James Beard Foundation, 2005
- Outstanding Restaurant (French Laundry), James Beard Foundation, 2006
- Michelin Guide New York, 3 Stars for Per Se, November 2005 – Current
- Michelin Guide Bay Area, 3 Stars for The French Laundry, 2006 – Current
- Michelin Guide Bay Area, 1 Star for Bouchon, 2007 – 2021
- Michelin Guide Bay Area, 1 Star for The Surf Club Restaurant, 2022 – Current
- Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor, presented by Chef Paul Bocuse on March 29, 2011, in NYC
- Lifetime Achievement Award (French Laundry) Restaurant Magazine's Top 50 Restaurants of the World
- Culinary Hall of Fame Induction.
- Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, 2014
See also
In Spanish: Thomas Keller (cocinero) para niños
