The Michelin Guide Restaurant Rating System

I came of age as a chef during an exciting time in the food world. Many American chefs were getting their inspiration from France, where there was a sort of culinary revolution brewing. A

group of chefs known as the "Bande à Bocuse," named in honor of chef Paul Bocuse, was experimenting with a new style of cuisine designed to move away from heavy sauces and large portions and into highlighting individual ingredients for their beauty and freshness. This new style of cooking was called Nouvelle Cuisine, and it was in large part what inspired the great chefs who came of age in the late seventies and early eighties in California, such as Jonathan Waxman, Alice Waters, Wolfgang Puck, and many others.

When I landed a job in Santa Monica, California, at Michael's, which was the French Laundry of its day, I got my first taste of what it is to cook with great skill as well as passion. I began to collect information on chefs from around the world the way other kids collect baseball cards. I could tell you who was cooking at any given restaurant in France or New York at any given time. My dream at the time was to become the best chef in the world and I would have given anything to work in a three-star restaurant in France.