About
About Daniel Boulud
Daniel Boulud, a native of Lyon, France, is today considered one of America’s leading culinary authorities and one of the most revered French chefs in New York, the city he has called home since 1982. Daniel is chef-owner of db Bistro Moderne, DBGB Kitchen and Bar, Bar Boulud, Café Boulud, Boulud Sud and Épicerie Boulud. In all his restaurants you’ll find the warm welcome the chef is renowned for, combined with traces of the soulfully satisfying traditional cooking he grew up with on his family’s Rhône Valley farm. Yet Daniel Boulud is best known for New York’s exquisitely refined DANIEL, the three Michelin-star Relais & Châteaux restaurant. You’ll also discover the chef’s ingredient driven seasonal French-American cooking in Miami and Palm Beach, FL and internationally in London, Singapore, Beijing, Montréal and Toronto. Boulud is the author of seven cookbooks, the recipient of three James Beard Foundation awards, including Outstanding Chef and Outstanding Restaurateur and was named a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur by the French government, as well as Chef of the Year 2011 by The Culinary Institute of America. He is a generous and energetic supporter of Citymeals-on-Wheels, serving on their board of directors since 2000 and is also co-founder and Chairman of the Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation.
About The Dinex Group
What would eventually become The Dinex Group began to take shape when Daniel Boulud left his position as Executive Chef at New York’s famed Le Cirque in 1992. The following year, with the help of Lili Lynton, a trusted friend and savvy investment professional, and the financial backing of Joel Smilow, former Chairman of Playtex Products, the chef went on to open Restaurant DANIEL. Soon thereafter the restaurant would attract significant media acclaim and a highly coveted four star rating in The New York Times and three stars in the New York City Michelin Guide.
In 1994 Boulud formed a partnership with Jean-Christophe Le Picart to create Feast & Fêtes Catering, which has become known for offering the haute couture of haute cuisine catering. When Restaurant DANIEL’s award winning Pastry Chef François Payard felt he was ready to create his own venture, Daniel Boulud and Joel Smilow welcomed the opportunity to stand behind François- creating Payard Patisserie & Bistro, which opened in 1997.
With intrigue and demand for Boulud’s exquisite French cuisine on the rise, the chef and his team of business partners created The Dinex Group, LLC in 1997 as a holding and management company for the three existing restaurant operations, as well as for future ventures.
In 1998 and 1999, Restaurant DANIEL relocated to an 18,000 square feet space at 610 Park Avenue, the location of the former Mayfair Hotel, resulting in a restaurant of unprecedented luxury and spaciousness. The original DANIEL location was redesigned to create Café Boulud, which received a three star rating in The New York Times and a star in the Michelin Guide. DB Bistro Moderne was The Dinex Group’s most casual and contemporary restaurant concept to date when it opened just steps from Times Square in Midtown Manhattan in 2001, on the ground floor of the City Club Hotel. In 2008 the group opened Bar Boulud, a casual bistro and wine bar across from Manhattan’s Lincoln Center.
For its first venture outside of New York City, Dinex chose Palm Beach, Florida where it opened a second Café Boulud in 2003, situated within the Brazilian Court Hotel. Expansions beyond New York City continued with Maison Boulud Beijing in 2006, a French fine dining restaurant in Beijing’s “Legation Quarter”; May 2010 saw the opening of Bar Boulud in London’s Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, soon followed by two db Bistro Moderne locations: in downtown Miami’s five star JW Marriott Marquis Miami, opened in November 2010, and in Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands Resort & Casino, opened in December 2010; and openings in Montreal and Toronto respectively in 2012: Maison Boulud in the Ritz-Carlton Montreal in May 2012 and Café Boulud in the new The Four Seasons Hotel Toronto in October 2012.
Meanwhile the group was equally busy at home, opening DBGB Kitchen and Bar in June 2009, a French–American brasserie situated downtown on Manhattan’s Bowery, and Boulud Sud in May 2011, a Mediterranean restaurant across the street from Lincoln Center. The group rounded out its offerings with an gourmet eat-in and take-out market concept, Épicerie Boulud, which offers house made charcuterie, breads and pastries, artisanal cheeses, sandwiches and soups, pastries, as well as an oyster and wine bar in the evening.
Today, The Dinex Group operates 14 restaurants, including seven in New York City and an additional seven in national and international destinations.
