Sunday Soirée at DANIEL

Chef Daniel Boulud is widely celebrated as one of America’s leading culinary authorities and restauranteurs. Inspired by the rhythm of the seasons and menus driven by fine ingredients, Boulud has become renowned for the contemporary appeal he adds to soulful cooking rooted in French tradition. Since arriving in the U.S. in 1982, he has continually evolved his cuisine and expanded his reach from one location (Daniel in 1993) to multiple properties in New York City and across the U.S., as well as Toronto, Montreal, Singapore, Dubai, The Bahamas, and Riyadh.

Boulud was raised on his family’s farm in the village of Saint-Pierre-de-Chandieu, outside of Lyon. In 1993, he opened the much-celebrated Daniel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. His restaurant group has grown significantly over the past 30 years, and today encompasses notable brands including: Restaurant Daniel, Café Boulud, Le Pavillon, Centurion NY, Blue Box Café by Daniel Boulud, Le Gratin, Bar Boulud, Boulud Sud, Maison Boulud, Jōji, Epicerie Boulud and La Tête d’Or.

Daniel Boulud has won countless awards for his achievements, including James Beard Foundation awards for Outstanding Restaurant; Outstanding Restaurateur; Best Chef, New York City; and Outstanding Chef of the Year. He has been named Chef of the Year by the Culinary Institute of America, Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and Officier de l’Ordre du Mérite Agricole et Chevalier du Mérite National by the French government. In 2015 the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awarded Boulud the Diners Club^® Lifetime Achievement Award for his success as a restaurateur, businessman, and ‘chef who is revered as one of the world’s finest.’ In 2021, Les Grandes Tables du Monde named him Best Restaurateur in the World. He also earned the 2023 Innovation Award from La Liste.

His Michelin-starred restaurants include Restaurant Daniel, Le Pavillon, Jōji and Café Boulud New York. Boulud’s culinary style is reflected in nine cookbooks, including the definitive DANIEL: My French Cuisine (Grand Central Publishing, 2013) and My Best: Daniel Boulud (Ducasse Books, 2014). Additionally, Boulud is Co-President of Citymeals on Wheels, an organization dedicated to serving meals to New Yorkers in need; is Co-Founder of Food1st, in partnership with SL Green Realty Corp. and is Chairman of Ment’or, providing grants to young chefs to advance their culinary education.

Eddy Leroux’s passion for food began as a schoolboy. Raised in the town of Douai, in northern France close to the Belgian border, he grew up in a diverse neighborhood and attended school with Moroccans, Poles, and other Eastern Europeans. At lunch time, curious about the dishes his classmates brought from home, Eddy began to trade his own meals for theirs, growing to love their more exotically seasoned and spiced cuisines.

At the age of 14, Eddy began formal culinary training and at 18 was a finalist in the national competition for best French apprentice. By 23, Eddy was rapidly working his way up in the kitchens of Paris’s Michelin 3-star restaurant, Lucas Carton. There under chef Alain Senderens, one of the founding fathers of la nouvelle cuisine, Eddy honed his technique and opened his palate to the array of luxurious ingredients at his fingertips. During his five year tenure with Senderens, Eddy took a four-month assignment in Thailand, working as Chef de Cuisine of the renowned Le Normandie in the Oriental Hotel, Bangkok. At Le Normandie Eddy cooked alongside a visiting cadre of international Michelin-starred chefs, all the while exploring the flavors, spices and produce of Thai cuisine on his days off. Curious to discover more of Asia, Eddy traveled around South Korea and Myanmar before returning once again to Paris and Lucas Carton.

Soon, Eddy’s appetite for adventure enticed him to New York City, where he took the post of Chef de Cuisine under Laurent Gras at the Waldorf Astoria legendary Peacock Alley He spent four years there until one evening in 2002 he cooked for Daniel Boulud’s annual Citymeals-on-Wheels charity gala, assisting an incredible roster of chefs: Guy Savoy, Gordon Ramsey, Eric Ripert and of course Daniel Boulud. Before long, Boulud invited Eddy to join him at DANIEL as Executive Sous Chef. In June 2005, Eddy was promoted to Chef de Cuisine of DANIEL, and in 2021, he was handed the reins of the kitchen earning the title of Executive Chef.

Eddy is also co-author with DANIEL foraging vendor, Tama Matsuoka Wong, of the cookbook Foraged Flavor: Finding Fabulous Ingredients in Your Backyard or Farmer’s Market, with 88 Recipes (Clarkson Potter, June 2012). The cookbook received recognition as a 2013 James Beard nominee for vegetable focus and the vegetarian categories.