Douglas Keane
Why he won Because he's an expert at melding French and Asian influences in dishes that range all the way from simple to over-the-top luxurious.
Born Dearborn, Michigan; 1971.
Education Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, Ithaca, New York.
Experience The Four Seasons and Lespinasse in New York City; Jardinière and Restaurant Gary Danko in San Francisco; Market in St. Helena, California.
How he keeps perspective “After I was diagnosed with a brain tumor [in 2003], I realized you have to have balance in your life. I own three dogs now and they keep me grounded. So does Lael, my fiancée.”
Flight-of-fancy restaurant A family-style pizza place. “I’d serve five or six pizzas, one or two pastas and local wines—two reds and two whites, and they’d rotate all the time. I'd get a Pacojet, put it on a cart and make gelato tableside.”
Fantasy splurge “I’d travel back in time to eat at Frédy Girardet in Switzerland. In the present, I’d eat wherever Joël Robuchon was cooking that day.”
WEB EXCLUSIVE! Read more of our interview with Douglas Keane
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