Daniel Boulud honoured as the JBF Gala turns 40
A sold-out dinner at The Pierre in New York marked the James Beard Foundation's 40th anniversary by putting the Lyon-born chef at its centre.
Daniel Boulud became the lead honouree of the James Beard Foundation's Gala for Good on 6 November, a sold-out dinner at The Pierre hotel in New York marking the foundation's 40th anniversary.
The evening ran in three parts: a reception and silent auction from 6pm, a seated dinner and live auction from 7pm, and a dessert reception to close. Nine chefs cooked across the courses, including Katalina Diaz of Boulud's own Restaurant Daniel, James Beard semifinalists Paul Carmichael and Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli, and nominees Vikas Khanna and Richard Lee. Television host and Top Chef judge Gail Simmons presented the evening.
S.Pellegrino, represented by Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages for the Americas president Stefano Marini, shared the honouree spot as the gala's corporate partner. Tickets ran from $1,500 for an individual seat to $40,000 for a Ruby Circle table, already marked sold out before the event.
Forty years on, the foundation picked a chef whose own New York career started almost when it did.
A farm near Lyon to Manhattan's dining rooms
Boulud grew up on a farm outside Lyon and trained in France under Michel Guérard, Roger Vergé and Georges Blanc before moving to New York in the early 1980s. He ran the kitchen at the Polo Lounge, then Le Régence at the Plaza Athénée, before six years as executive chef at Le Cirque from 1986 to 1992, work that first drew the James Beard Foundation's attention. The foundation now runs a wider talent pipeline, including its 2026-2027 TasteTwenty list of rising chefs.
He opened Daniel on East 76th Street in 1993. The restaurant was awarded two stars when the first New York Michelin Guide appeared in 2006 and reached three in 2010, though Michelin's New York director later cited inconsistency when the third star was withdrawn. His Dinex Group now runs restaurants under the Daniel, Café Boulud and DBGB names in cities including Miami, Singapore, Dubai and Montreal. The foundation has previously recognised other American chefs the same way, among them Alon Shaya's Safta's Table.
Forty years of a foundation built on chefs
The James Beard Foundation has run its annual gala as a fundraiser for culinary education and chef relief programmes since the 1980s, and this year's edition leaned on that history to mark four decades of operation. Organisers framed honouring Boulud as a way to tie the anniversary to a chef whose career runs almost as long as the foundation's own.
The foundation's Bid for Good online auction closed the same night as the dinner, adding a second revenue stream to the ticketed event. Results from the auction and the evening's total take had not been released at the time of writing.
