TigerChef

New York offers some of the world’s most innovative and eclectic cuisine – as well as one of the world’s most competitive restaurant industry scenes. Achieving success in New York shows a great ability to combine a perfectionist’s work ethic with extensive knowledge of the finest commercial kitchen supplies and exceptionally artistic culinary skills. The new professionals on this list have already proven they have what it takes to make their mark on the culinary world.

Highly Competitive New York Chefs

1. Justin Bogle
Bogle, the Executive Chef of Madison Avenue’s opulent GILT, fashions equally impressive dishes. His “Modern American” style fits in perfectly with the gorgeous New York Palace Hotel, which houses the restaurant.

2. Heather Bertinetti
This new young chef, who has created pastries for Michael White, is one of the most sought-after pastry chefs in the city. Her talents are not limited to the realm of pastries. One of her more outstanding trademarks is a hot chocolate soup.

3. George Mendes
George Mendes studied at the Culinary Institute of America and has gone on to own New York City’s Aldea. He specializes in Iberian cuisine, with a menu that focuses on quality rather than quantity. With entrées for under thirty dollars, experiencing his restaurant doesn’t have to mean breaking your budget, either.

4. Joe Campanale
The co-owner along with Gabe Thompson of not one or two but three West Village Italian food establishments, Campanale has already made a big impression on the Big Apple. You can sample his work at Anfora, dell’anima, or L’artusi.

5. Christina Tosi
Tosi, of Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar, designs culinary delights so delicious that she was nominated for the 2011 James Beard Foundation Rising Star Award. She is best known for her outlandish yet scrumptious baked goods.

Inventive New York Chefs

6. Mathieu Polombino
The owner and chef of Motorino, Mathieu Polombino is the creator of what the New York Times has called New York City’s best pizza. The pizzeria offers a wide range of unusual toppings served on a perfectly crafted crust.

7. Jesse Schenker
Schenker was listed on Zagat’s 2011 Key Newcomers for Small Plates. He is the owner and executive chef at Recette, an establishment where the menu continually changes in order to keep up with this New York chef’s innovation and productivity.

8. Chase Tinio
This much-talked-about new chef learned his art the authentic way -- in Hong Kong. Having perfected his flair for Asian cuisine, Tinio now serves as the chef at Michael Huynh’s famous Baotique. There, he prepares today’s best Vietnamese cooking.

9. Aaron Chambers
After a run as the executive sous-chef at Café Boulud, Chambers now directs the kitchen in his role as executive chef at Boulud Sud. His Mediterranean dishes have made him famous even before his thirtieth birthday.

10. Melissa Elsen
Elsen and her sister are co-owners of Four and Twenty Blackbirds. This off-beat Brooklyn bakery serves amazing pies in fascinating flavors such as Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan. Time Out New York featured another of the bakery’s specialties, Strawberry Balsamic.

Though New York is a city where restaurants often come and go with seemingly lightening speed, these relative newcomers know their art and kitchen equipment and have the business sense to stand up under the pressure. Each one of them is already proving that professionalism and innovation are the necessary ingredients for early success.

Filed under: Top Picks • General

Tags: chef, chefs, executive chef, kitchen supplies, new york chef, restaurant owner, top ten