Best New Chefs

Why Because he applies his technical mastery to a casual kind of cooking, featuring the bold flavors of Italy's Friuli region. He even does amazing things with a simple breadstick.

Born Kingston, Ontario; 1975.

Education École Supérieure de Cuisine Française Ferrandi, Paris.

Experience Jamin in Paris; La Taupinière in Brittany, France; The French Laundry in Yountville, CA.

Why he went to cooking school in France "My parents are academics—they are both professors of surgery. When I told them I wanted to be a chef, they said, 'Don't you need to go to school for that?' Then I read about Ferrandi, which gives foreign students the opportunity to work full-time in French kitchens if they pass the exam."

Ingredient obsession Citric acid from a local health food store. "We use it to make our own ricotta, our own yogurt. Lemon juice tastes too much like lemon juice; citric acid is neutral."

Most memorable meal Lunch at Les Maisons de Bricourt, a Michelin two-star restaurant on Mont-Saint-Michel Bay in Brittany. "It was the first time I ate a meal that so epitomized one place. The menu was all Brittany—the butter, the cheeses, the scallops. Out in the bay, tractors were harvesting the oysters when the tide was out."

Won Best New Chef at: Frasca Food and Wine; Boulder, CO