Acclaimed chef Daniel Boulud’s career in the restaurant industry has spanned decades and encompassed everything from getting a portrait of himself in a Second Avenue subway station to making a cameo on the hit television show “The Bear.” And it all goes back to a job he took as a teenager growing up in France.
“I started an apprenticeship at 14 in one of the best restaurants in Lyon,” he said. “I never quit.”
Boulud grew up in the countryside just outside of Lyon surrounded by food — his parents were farmers with a sprawling vegetable garden and plenty of livestock. Life as a chef appealed to him in part because he didn’t have much interest in higher education or working on a farm himself. His career started in France, but it brought him to New York in the early 1980s, when he started working on the Upper East Side at the now-shuttered Polo Lounge in the Westbury Hotel.
He described the early ’80s as a great time to break into the American restaurant scene, as there was a transformation going on in the country’s culinary world led by chefs including Wolfgang Punk and Dean Fearing. The fact that he got to experience life in the city as a 20something didn’t hurt either.
“The ’80s in New York were amazing,” he said. “I was just crazy with New York. I was going out every night. Life was a party.”
Although he considered returning to France and starting his own restaurant there as the ’80s gave way to the ’90s, he ultimately realized that doing so in New York might be the better option, given the reputation he had already developed. Still, that did not mean it was easy to find financial support, he said.
“When you are good and you do something, everybody taps you on your shoulder and says, ‘Oh, whenever you want to do something, let me know,'” he said. “But when it’s time to give the check to open the restaurant, it’s different.”
Boulud eventually was able to find an investor and in 1993 opened Daniel on the Upper East Side. The French restaurant, now celebrating its 33rd year, arguably remains his most famous establishment, even as his Manhattan portfolio has since expanded to several other locations, including markets in Lincoln Center, SL Green’s 1 Vanderbilt and the World Trade Center.
Boulud has opened multiple restaurants since the pandemic began, including the Flatiron District’s La Tête d’Or in November and the Financial District’s Le Gratin in 2022. His Café Boulud, which closed temporarily in 2021, received a Michelin star in December after reopening in late 2023 at East 63rd Street and Park Avenue. However, he acknowledged that Covid upended several aspects of the food industry, which is still adapting to operating in a post-pandemic environment. He cited Zoom as a roadblock for virtually all aspects of the city’s economy.
“Suddenly, no one traveled. No one came to work,” he said. “That was the biggest disruption for not only my business but for all business all across the city.”
But Boulud is still not looking to slow down anytime soon. He recently added a catering business and a cookware line to his culinary empire and prides himself on his ability to remain at the center of the restaurant scene after so many years.
“My most important goal is to always stay relevant,” he said. “I live with youth all the time.”
