Daniel Boulud, Wylie Dufresne, Nancy Silverton, and more of the country's top chefs helped welcome the new class of F&W Best New Chefs with a bang—and an extraordinary amount of snacks.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Best New Chefs, the annual Food & Wine tradition of spotlighting the most promising new chefs in the country.
As F&W Restaurant Editor Jordana Rothman puts it, "These chefs represent the country’s best restaurant cooking right now and offer a clarion call for the kind of future we’d like to see: one that celebrates character, commitment, and imagination on and off the plate; amplifies all kinds of voices; and is always, of course, full of dazzling things to eat."
On Monday night at NYC's Vandal, the 2018 class of chefs came together to celebrate the honor among some storied past recipients, including Daniel Boulud, Nancy Silverton, Wylie Dufresne, Angie Mar, and Jamie Bissonnette. As could be expected, food and wine was enjoyed. Dufresne served his intoxicating Du doughnuts, Mar made luscious ribeye topped with truffles and escargot, and Silverton whipped up a bright chicken salad that made us feel better about eating more doughnuts.
With the announcement of this year’s class, the BNC family includes 323 chefs, with other past honorees including Tom Colicchio, David Chang, Anita Lo, David Bouley, Grant Achatz, Michael Solomonov, and Thomas Keller.
“Best New Chef was about finding a chef doing incredible interpretations of their cuisine,” said Dana Cowin, Food & Wine editor-in-chief from 1995 to 2016. “And doing something on the plate that every other chef is going to copy, or [creating] a pantry that’s going to change the culinary world.”
As the new class was announced on Monday night, you could feel the energy of the moment—these extraordinarily talented young chefs are the future of American dining.
See the full list of chefs honored below (and read about them here.)
Jess Shadbolt and Clare de Boer—King, New York City
Kevin Tien—Himitsu, Washington D.C.
Katianna Hong—The Charter Oak, St. Helena, California
Liz Johnson—Freedman's, Los Angeles
Michael Gallina—Vicia, St. Louis
Kate Williams—Lady of the House, Detroit
Jonathan Yao—Kato, Los Angeles
Julia Sullivan—Henrietta Red, Nashville
Diana Dávila—Mi Tocaya Antojería, Chicago
Brady Williams—Canlis, Seattle
