John Besh

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Besh
Born
Meridian, Mississippi, USA
Education Culinary Institute of America
Current Restaurant(s)

John Besh is the owner and executive chef at Restaurant August in New Orleans, Louisiana (twice on Gourmet Magazine’s list of Best Restaurants), and owns three other restaurants: La Provence, Lüke, and Besh Steak (located in Harrah's New Orleans Casino).[1] He is working on his first solo-authored cookbook, Ma Louisianne.[2]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Besh was born in Meridian, Mississippi, and raised in southern Louisiana. He loved to hunt and also fish. John graduated from Pope John Paul II high school, in Slidell, Louisiana. He studied at the Culinary Institute of America, graduating in 1992.[3] In the early 1990s, he was a non-commissioned officer (NCO) in Operation Desert Storm in the Mideast, serving on active duty with the Marine Corps Reserves[2][4] for 10 months, and led a squad in the company that liberated Kuwait International Airport.[5] He studied in Germany with Karl Josef Fuchs at the Michelin-starred Romantik Hotel Spielweg. Besh has also studied in the south of France with Alain Assaud.[2]

[edit] Career

Besh was named one of the Ten Best New Chefs in America by Food & Wine in 1999.[4] In 2006, he won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in the Southeast.[6] He opened Restaurant August in 2001 in Central Business District, New Orleans. Since then he has opened two more restaurants: Lüke and Besh Steak. When his mentor, Chris Kerageorgiou, died in 2006, Besh took over La Provence, the restaurant Kerageorgiou had founded.

[edit] Television Appearances

[edit] Bibliography

  • New Orleans Program: Eat, Exercise, and Enjoy Life, with David A., M.D. Newsome, 2006, ISBN 978-1589803442.
  • Introduction to Military High Life. Elegant Food Histories and Recipes by Agostino Von Hassell, 2006, ISBN 978-1931948609.

[edit] Contributions

Chef Besh has contributed recipes or been featured in the following books:

  • The Heirloom Tomato Cookbook by Mimi Luebbermann, Robert Holmes, and Dan Mills, 2006, ISBN 978-0811853552.
  • The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine by John D. Folse, 2004, p. 786, ISBN 978-0970445711.
  • The Pleasure of Your Company: Entertaining in High Style by Kimberly Schlegel, 2004, p. 122, ISBN 978-1586853143.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Besh Family of Restaurants.
  2. ^ a b c "John Besh", New York Times. 
  3. ^ Culinary Institute of America: CIA Spotlight, John Besh.
  4. ^ a b Best New Chefs - 1999 - John Besh.
  5. ^ Thorn, Bret. "John Besh: Switching gears from leading troops to leading cooks", Nation's Restaurant News. 
  6. ^ 2006 James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Awards.
  7. ^ Episode IA0301, Batali vs. Besh, 'Battle Andouille'.

[edit] External links