Gavin Kaysen, New York (Rest.)

*****
This James Beard Award-winning and Michelin-starred chef has cooked with some of the best culinary talent in the world. As the executive chef of Café Boulud, Kaysen's creative and exquisite menus are made even more appealing (if possible) by his charming presence. Add his restaurant to your bucket list to see his incredible talent all plated up. Plus, we love his menu for “cooking together” on date night… mmm, wild mushroom risotto, anyone?

Date-night dinner: I'd start with a velvety squash soup with toasted walnuts and apples. For an entrée, I would make her (my wife) what we made the first time we cooked together: wild mushroom risotto. It takes patience, precision, and perfect ingredients to make something so simple yet so delectable.

Favorite way to sweat: I played hockey growing up, and the only way I can feel that rush now is rollerblading through Central Park.

Food splurge: A bottle of Champagne with a seafood platter.

You know you're a talented cook when Daniel Boulud offers you a job just days into your stage in one of his kitchens; Gavin Kaysen is one talented cook. Kaysen was doing a series of stages to broaden his culinary horizons—and boy did they broaden. Although he couldn't accept the offer from Boulud at the time, he knew that working for the über-chef was in his future.

But before his meeting with Boulud, Kaysen had already worked in several venerable kitchens, from l'Auberge de Lavaux in Lausanne, Switzerland and London's l'Escargot under Marco Pierre White to El Bizcocho at the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego. And, never afraid of a challenge, Kaysen represented the US—a perennial underdog—at the Bocuse d'Or in Lyon, France in 2007. Bocuse offered Kaysen another opportunity to meet Boulud, and his fate was sealed. Shortly after the competition, Kaysen was offered the executive chef position at Café Boulud in New York.

Kaysen has a keen sense of flavor pairing and a modern but approachable plating aesthetic. His culinary acumen has been recognized and praised by numerous awards. In 2007, Food & Wine Magazine named him one of their "Best New Chefs," and in 2008 he was a StarChefs.com New York Rising Star, as well as a James Beard "Rising Star."
Café Boulud
20 East 76th Street
New York, NY 10021
(212) 772-2600
www.danielnyc.com