Ron Siegel

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Ron Siegel is an American chef working in San Francisco. He is currently Chef of the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, taking over for Chef Sylvain Portay in 2004. Siegel is perhaps best known for his 1999 appearance on Iron Chef, becoming the first ever U.S. citizen to win in Kitchen Stadium.

[edit] History

Moving to San Francisco from New York at the age of seven, Siegel broke into the culinary world as a butcher in Palo Alto, California. Siegel enrolled at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and in 1991 went to work as a line cook at Aqua, a seafood restaurant in the Bay Area.

In 1993, Siegel moved to New York to work at Restaurant Daniel, but only a year later he returned to work at The French Laundry in Yountville, California as a sous-chef to Thomas Keller.

A rising star in the making, Siegel left The French Laundry to become Chef of Charles Nob Hill in San Francisco in 1996, which specialized in a fusion of French and California cuisine.

[edit] Iron Chef

In 1998, Siegel gained international fame by traveling to Japan to appear as a challenger on the wildly popular TV show Iron Chef. Siegel faced Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai as his opponent for French versus French battle. The theme ingredient for the battle was lobster.

Siegel had to overcome many obstacles, not the least of which is the fact that the two sous-chef provided him did not speak English and Siegel did not speak Japanese. Looking like somewhat of a madman, Siegel was able to come up with the following five dishes:

Egg Royale
Lobster Cream Soup with scallops and truffles
California Salad with lobster, basil oil, tomato concasse and avocado
Lobster ravioli with sweet corn sauce
Lobster and foie gras in fig sauce

Siegel swept Iron Chef Sakai, 4-0. In a post-battle interview, perhaps flush with success, Siegel indicated his willingness to return and defeat all the Iron Chefs. As if to cement his victory, in 1999 Food & Wine magazine declared Siegel one of the best new chefs of that year.

In 2001, Siegel left Charles Nob Hill to become executive chef of Masa's of San Francisco. Siegel remained at Masa's until June of 2004 when he took over the Dining Room of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Focusing on French cuisine with a Japanese influence, Siegel's has maintained the Dining Room of the Ritz-Carlton's reputation as one of the top restaurants in the country.