Chef Michel Richard

It’s not often you hear a world-renowned restaurateur called “the jolly chef” or “a legend for his playfulness.” And it’s unlikely you’ve read of too many people with the ability to put “postmodern irony” on a plate. Cue Chef Richard, about whom each of those things has been written.

Born in France, Chef Richard came to New Mexico in 1975 to run a patisserie. He had his eyes on the West Coast and soon opened his own successful patisserie in Los Angeles. For 10 years he split his time between California and France, where he dined and learned in three-star Michelin-rated restaurants.

Chef Richard committed to Los Angeles in 1987 opening his first restaurant, Citrus, where he began adapting his native French cuisine to the tastes of Southern California. Next he opened the more formal Citronelle in Santa Barbara, which was the basis for his current flagship restaurant, Michel Richard Citronelle in Washington, D.C.

In 2007, Chef Richard was named Outstanding Chef by the James Beard Foundation. That same year he created a second restaurant in Washington, Central Michel Richard, which earned a James Beard Foundation Award for Best New Restaurant in 2008. At Revel, Chef Richard has a new outpost for Central Michel Richard.