2011 Chef
Jeff Michaud, Osteria
Why? Because he started cooking at 13. Because he did time in Aspen before coming to work for Marc Vetri at his eponymous Philly restaurant and then, when Michaud decided that he needed to learn more about Italian cooking, just up and moved to Lombardy, where he spent three years walking the earth like Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu working his way up from butcher’s boy at a small family shop to executive chef at an inn at the foot of the Alps. Then he came home again and opened Osteria for Vetri, where he currently does amazing things to pizzas, pastas and rabbits.
640 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130; 215-763-0920; osteriaphilly.com/