David Bouley

David Bouley (born near Storrs, Connecticut) is an American chef and restaurateur with restaurants in TriBeCa, New York City. He is best known for his flagship restaurant, Bouley.

Early in his career, he worked in restaurants in Cape Cod, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and, eventually, France and Switzerland. While in Europe, after studies at the Sorbonne, David had the opportunity to work with chefs Roger Vergé, Paul Bocuse, Joël Robuchon, Gaston Lenôtre, and Frédy Girardet.^[1] Having gained that experience, David returned to work in New York City in leading restaurants of the time, such as Le Cirque, Le Périgord, and La Côte Basque, as well as spending time as sous chef in a restaurant opened by Roger Vergé in San Francisco. From there, David became chef of Montrachet restaurant when it opened in TriBeCa in 1985. The restaurant quickly drew attention and earned a three-star review in The New York Times. In 1987 David opened his own restaurant, Bouley, in TriBeCa overlooking Duane Park.

In 1991, Zagat's asked its 7,000 diners, "Where you would you eat the last meal of your life?" Respondents "overwhelmingly" chose Bouley.^[2] In 1997, David closed his restaurant and opened up the Bouley Bakery and Danube, both on the same block across from the old Bouley restaurant.

In the days after the September 11 attacks, Bouley organized an operation to feed rescue and relief workers at Ground Zero. Controversy arose afterwards when it came to light that he had reported a loss of income to his insurer for this period, though he had been paid by the American Red Cross for his service. He later reached an out of court settlement with his insurer.^[3]

Bouley Bakery earned two Michelin Stars before it changed locations in 2008 and renamed itself back to Bouley. His other restaurant, Danube also initially received two Michelin stars.^[4] The Danube location was transformed into a new entity designed by Architect SuperPotato or Takashi Sugimoto called, 'Brushstroke Restaurant'.

Brushstroke Restaurant, located at 30 Hudson Street, opened in April 2011, is a combined effort between Bouley and the Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka, to share Japanese food culture and products while integrating American ingredients.^[5]

Bouley Test Kitchen is a private event and testing learning center for visiting guest chefs and to develop recipes for the Bouley entities. The facilities were used by the American Team for the Bocuse d'Or Competition 2011, spearheaded by Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller.^[6]

Bouley Botanical, on another corner in TriBeCa, located at 281 Church Street, is an event space dedicated to cultivating nutrient-rich plants, are served in the flagship Bouley Restaurant. It also serves as an educational forum to develop creative healthy eating habits.^[7]

In the summer of 2006, David married fellow collaborator, Nicole Bartelme, pioneer of the TriBeCa Film Festival, artist and photographer.^[8]

Books

• East of Paris: The New Cuisines of Austria and the Danube (Ecco) Authors: David Bouley, Mario Lohninger, Melissa Clark (2003). ^[9]

Restaurant Health Department Violations

In late 2009, Bouley Bakery and Market in New York City failed health inspections twice. Bouley responded by hiring a former Health Department inspector as a consultant to address the issue, stating that it "will never happen again." ^[10]

References