16 Recipes to Make at Home for a Taste of Thomas Keller (2024)

FAQs

What was Thomas Keller's quote? ›

Thomas Keller's quote, "Great cooking is not about following recipes, it's about trusting your instincts and experimenting," encapsulates the essence of culinary mastery.

Chef Thomas Keller is renowned for his culinary skills and high standards. He has established a collection of restaurants that sets a new paradigm within the hospitality profession, including The French Laundry, in Napa Valley, and Per Se, in New York, among others.

He opened his first restaurant, Rakel, in New York City in 1986, then moved westward to California to work as the executive chef at the Checkers Hotel in Los Angeles. In 1994, Keller took ownership of The French Laundry in Yountville, quickly garnering nationwide acclaim.

Thomas Keller grew up in the restaurant business, in Palm Beach, Florida, working his way up from dishwasher to cook. As a teenager, he fell in love with the art of French cooking and learned his craft working in restaurants up and down the East Coast before moving to France to complete his training.

Culinary career

He is the only American chef to have been awarded simultaneous three-star Michelin ratings for two different restaurants. His restaurants currently hold seven Michelin stars in total: three at Per Se, three at The French Laundry, and one at The Surf Club Restaurant.

Thomas Keller is an American chef who has been awarded titles like best chef in America and California multiple times. His restaurants hold seven Michelin stars. He worked his way from kitchen apprentice to very successful and famous chef over many years.

The French Laundry is $390 per person + add-ons, but for the Miyazaki Wagyu and Regiis Ova Caviar Tasting Menu, it's $1200 per person.

Gordon Ramsay

The eternally angry culinary critic Gordon Ramsay is one of the most famous chefs on TV, known for the harsh words he shares with the people on his shows like Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen.

Was Thomas Keller on Top chef? ›

His son, Jerome Bocuse, guest judges along with special guest, renowned American chef Thomas Keller.

Chef Keller has earned countless accolades, including The Culinary Institute of America's “Chef of the Year” Award, the James Beard Foundation's “Outstanding Chef” and “Outstanding Restaurateur” Awards and Michelin Guide's Chef Mentor Award.

The interest in cooking may have been piqued early on at home, but Keller didn't embrace a career as a professional chef until 1977. In Rhode Island in the kitchens of The Dunes Club, he met another mentor – chef Roland Henin – who became a major influence on the young cook's career.

They were star crossed lovers for a bit, but finally married in 1982. Tom's first two sons, Alexander Keller and Nicholas Keller, were born in the 1970's. His third son, Brett Austin Keller, and his only daughter, Madison Elizabeth Keller Anonick, were born in the 1980's.

“Every struggle is a victory.” “It is with a kind of fear that I begin to write the history of my life.” “Knowledge is happiness, because to have knowledge—broad, deep knowledge—is to know true ends from false, and lofty things from low.”

To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything.

On January 5, 1916, Helen Keller delivered a speech in New York City. The speech itself - "Strike Against War" - includes some brilliant passages, including the lines you see above. But even more impressive for most of us is that Keller made speeches at all. Keller was left deaf and blind at age 2 by illness.