Legacy

A few years after opening, Swahn hired 24-year-old Marcus Samuelsson, who led the restaurant to three New York Times stars, making him the youngest chef ever to achieve that recognition from the paper. As Samuelsson’s fame grew through cookbooks and TV, he eventually departed to open Red Rooster in Harlem. Swedish chef Marcus Jernmark then took over, earning a MICHELIN Star before leaving in 2014. Swedish pastry chef Emma Bengtsson then ascended to head chef, earning Aquavit a second MICHELIN Star and becoming the first female Swedish chef to attain that status and the second woman in the U.S. after Dominique Crenn.

Their rotating celebratory cocktail tasting menus are extraordinary. The latest “I Love NY Cocktail Tasting” ($125) reimagines New York favorites—bagel and lox, a bodega BEC (bacon, egg, and cheese) sandwich, pastrami on rye, a black and white cookie—with luxurious Swedish twists, each paired with savory cocktails. Aquavit previously honored Chicago through a cocktail tasting menu, demonstrating its continued innovation in both cuisine and hospitality.

Earning a third MICHELIN Star in 2018, Crenn became the first and only woman in the U.S. to achieve that honor. Beyond Atelier, she operates Bar Crenn next door and Le Comptoir, a one-MICHELIN-Star 10-seat experience within Bar Crenn. Add to that Bleu Belle Farm, her farm practicing regenerative agriculture in Sonoma County that supplies her restaurants. Crenn removed all single-use plastic (the first U.S. restaurant to do so), earning a MICHELIN Green Star. She was named world’s best female chef in 2016 and received the Icon Award in 2021, always pushing the limits and influencing a generation of chefs coming up behind her.

Everything ties back to art. The multi-course “ocean forward” tasting menu reads as poetry influenced by Crenn’s father. She refers to this as “poetic culinaria,” where cooking and art evoke emotions. Atelier Crenn doesn’t just serve meals; it shares stories through taste, texture, and vision, creating cuisine so inventive it has both delighted and baffled critics while drawing international attention.

To emphasize the importance of culinary sustainability and guardianship, Dan Barber has delivered TED talks, served on President Obama’s health and nutrition council, and was once named one of Time’s 100 most influential people. Blue Hill’s impact reaches wide, but not far. The team works with dozens of local farms, procuring a third of winter menus in fall for storage, preservation, and fermentation, while sourcing 80% of seafood from Long Island day boat fishermen. This has earned the restaurant numerous accolades including two MICHELIN Stars and a MICHELIN Green Star as a four-season working farm, educational center, and restaurant.

Here, there are no written menus. Guests enjoy multi-course feasts highlighting the best of the day’s bounty. Imagine 30 dishes over four hours, sampling on-site peppers, berries, rye, and root crops. Panna cotta made with milk from a retired dairy cow. This elegant, experimental meal keeps one foot firmly in the field, reminding diners that great food starts from the earth beneath our feet.

After Peter’s death in 1977, his son and daughter-in-law continued the tradition for 30 years. Now, 75 years later, third-generation brothers Mark and Brian Canlis have carried on the family legacy, though Brian departed for Nashville in 2024, leaving Mark to helm the restaurant. Canlis earned 15 James Beard® nominations, winning three, plus more than 20 Wine Spectator Grand Awards. In June 2025, the restaurant named James Huffman as executive chef, its first Seattle-born head chef in 75 years, to carry on the tradition.

Canlis has always championed women in leadership. In 2021, Aisha Ibrahim became the first female executive chef, re-introducing a sustainably focused tasting menu that earned her recognition as a 2023 Food & Wine Best New Chef. Though Ibrahim departed in early 2025 to open her own restaurant, her legacy continues through Huffman.

Napa Valley owes its significance to Krug. Without his pioneering commercial winery more than 160 years ago, the region might look entirely different. Over the past 80 years, the Peter Mondavi family has continuously modernized this historic property, specializing in cabernet sauvignon while introducing cold fermentation for whites and rosés and French oak barrel aging. Krug also created Napa’s original tasting room concept. Today, the renovated Redwood Cellar and Carriage House—on the National Register of Historic Places for 50 years—welcomes guests.

Charles Krug creates unique wine experiences. Few wineries host exceptional musical acts like Andrea Bocelli. Guests enjoy handmade Neapolitan wood-fired pizzas paired with wines, plus special events like ramen pop-ups and lobster boils, bringing culinary delight alongside exceptional wines in a setting that honors both tradition and innovation.

The Brennan family, led by the legendary Ella Brennan, took over in 1974, painting the staid beige exterior its now-iconic aqua blue with white shutters. The restaurant introduced the 25¢ martini lunch (still available on select days) and the famous jazz brunch, while launching careers of celebrated chefs including Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse. Then Tory McPhail helmed the kitchen before handing the reins to current chef, Meg Bickford, following in a long line of women to continue the celebration started by Miss Ella, the grande dame of New Orleans.

Commander’s maintains its commitment of “from dirt to plate within 100 miles,” as approximately 90% of ingredients come from within 100 miles of the restaurant. This sustainable philosophy ensures classic dishes like turtle soup finished tableside with sherry, Creole gumbo, and bread pudding soufflé showcase the best of Louisiana’s farming community while preserving authentic Creole traditions.

Under Keller’s leadership, The French Laundry introduced iconic culinary dishes like Oysters and Pearls (sabayon of pearl tapioca with oysters and caviar), butter-poached lobster over foie gras, and truffle-infused custard. One of only 14 American restaurants with three MICHELIN Stars, TFL has won numerous James Beard Awards® and topped the World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2004. The restaurant helped launch the careers of many chefs who have gone on to define modern gastronomy such as Grant Achatz (Alinea), Corey Lee (Benu), and René Redzepi (Noma). In 2025, the restaurant announced its Culinary Garden Experience, 75-minute guided tours of its iconic 3.5-acre garden where more than 150 different types of fruit, vegetables, microherbs, and flowers grow for use in many dishes at TFL, including the daily-changing chef’s tasting menu and the “tasting of vegetables” menu.

This century-old building holds extraordinary history while continuing to create memories. It helped establish Yountville’s culinary culture, which now includes four other Keller restaurants. The daily-changing tasting menus celebrate ingredients grown just steps away, embodying the farm-to-table ethos that has influenced countless restaurants worldwide.

Son David took over winemaking in the 1970s, and in 2018, the Lawrence family acquired the winery, continuing the founders’ vision. Nearly 65 years later, winemaker Brittany Sherwood maintains excellence across six estate vineyards spanning Napa’s sub-appellations: Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena, Howell Mountain, Oak Knoll District, and Calistoga. All certified organic, these 100% Napa fruit vineyards produce collectible wines with distinctive mint, dark berry, and chocolate notes, plus prized chardonnay and sauvignon blanc.

You can taste history in every bottle, literally. The $200 Estate Legacy tour at the family’s ancestral home (dating to the late 1800s) offers a two-hour journey through the original Stone Cellar, winemaking facilities, and biodynamic farms. Guests taste various wines including library vintages in this intimate, one-on-one experience that connects past and present.

Dubbed the “pope of American cuisine” by wine pioneer Robert Mondavi, O’Connell was also called “a rare chef with a sense of near perfect taste, like a musician with perfect pitch,” by the International Herald Tribune when it named the Inn as a top 10 restaurant in the world in 1994. The Inn has since earned three MICHELIN Stars and a MICHELIN Green Star for sustainability. O’Connell has won six James Beard Awards®, including Restaurant of the Year and a lifetime achievement honor. He even cooked for Queen Elizabeth, showing that everyone wants to dine with the always dazzling proprietor.

Who doesn’t love escaping to the countryside and being transported to a place blending Colonial America with French countryside charm? The Inn offers elevated American fare through nightly tasting menus or a luxurious $2,500 caviar tasting. With touches like caviar tacos and Faira, the rolling cheese cow, it’s elegance without elitism. This is old-school technique wrapped in countryside warmth, where craftsmanship and community take center stage over celebrity.

With a MICHELIN Star, James Beard Award® for Outstanding Restaurant, countless cookbooks, a PBS show, and YouTube cooking classes, Bayless and Topolo continue winning fans 36 years later. He leads culinary staff trips to Mexico, constantly wanting to learn, expose, and teach. Bayless has opened additional restaurants including Xoco, Tortas Frontera, and Bar Sótano (the underground mezcal bar with daughter Lanie), and has mentored numerous chefs who have opened or run their own establishments, including Brian Enyart at Leña Brava, Stephen Sandoval at Diego, and Rishi Kumar at Mirra. But possibly his biggest contribution to the food world is helping to introduce the depth and breadth of Mexico’s rich culinary offerings to the masses.

Every menu tells a story about Mexico. From highlighting regional ingredients like moles, masa, and chiles to incorporating agave spirits into tasting menu cocktails, the Topolo team deeply celebrates Mexican culture. Robust research of markets, neighborhoods, and taco stands appears throughout each meal, while the extensive Mexican art collection illuminates the country’s beauty and richness.