Paul Liebrandt is a British chef and restaurateur. He was the co-owner of Corton restaurant in New York City and the subject of the documentary film, '' A Matter of Taste: Serving Up Paul Liebrandt''. Liebrandt is known for his daring cuisine, creativity and eccentric style, and has been awarded two

Michelin star The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic ...

s. He previously worked at Atlas, Gilt and Papillon restaurants in New York, and in 2008 opened Corton. Liebrandt was born in Salisbury,

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(now

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

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) on 26 August 1976 and was raised in London, England. After accumulating experience in upscale restaurants in London and Paris, he moved to New York in 1999.

Career

At age 15, Liebrandt considered becoming an officer in the British Army as his father had done. After his parents divorced when he was eleven, he boarded at St. George's School in

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,674 in the 2021 census, while the population of the civil parish was 31,128. Harpe ...

, England. He moved out of his house in 1992 and began work as a commis chef at L'Escargot in London. In 1995 he was a commis chef at The Restaurant Marco Pierre White, at a time when White was the youngest chef to be awarded three Michelin stars. Liebrandt later went to work for

Raymond Blanc Raymond Blanc OBE (born 19 November 1949) is a French chef. Blanc is the chef at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a hotel-restaurant in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England. The restaurant has two Michelin stars and scored 9/10 in the ''Good Food Guid ...

's two Michelin star

Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons ("Four Seasons Manor", a.k.a. Le Manoir) is a luxury hotel-restaurant in the village of Great Milton near Oxford, in Oxfordshire, England. It is situated in a 15th-century manor house, near a church that was v ...

near

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, England., Then moved to Paris, France to work with Chef Pierre Gagnaire at his Three Michelin star restaurant. In 1999, Liebrandt moved to New York, where he worked as a

sous chef A sous-chef is a chef who is second in command of a kitchen, ranking directly below the head chef in the Kitchen Brigade system developed by Auguste Escoffier. In large kitchens, sous-chefs are typically left in charge of managing members o ...

at Bouley Bakery.

Atlas

In 2000, Liebrandt became

executive chef A chef de cuisine (, French language, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that Supervisor, leads a kitchen and its cooks. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef is a chef ...

at Atlas at 40 Central Park South, where at age 24, he was the youngest chef ever to earn a three star review from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. He quit over a disagreement with the owners about the menu at Atlas and went to work at the bistro Papillon.

Papillon

While at Papillon, Liebrandt earned a two-star rating from ''The New York Times''. He also earned a reputation for eccentricity, in part for requiring diners to eat their ''

prix fixe Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who ...

'' meals while bound and blindfolded. According to Liebrandt, it was the pastry chef's idea and only happened on two occasions. Liebrandt quit the restaurant after a few months when it dropped his avant-garde menu in favour of "burgers and fries", in response to diners' post-

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

preference for

comfort food Comfort food is food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone and may be characterized by its high caloric nature associated with childhood or home cooking. The nostalgia may be specific to an individual or it may apply to a ...

. He opened his consulting company the Veda Group and worked as a private chef for

Prince Andrew Prince Andrew, Duke of York (Andrew Albert Christian Edward; born 19 February 1960) is a member of the British royal family. He is the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and a younger broth ...

and Lord Rothschild.

Gilt

Gilt opened in December 2005, in the former location of Le Cirque 2000, in the New York Palace Hotel. Liebrandt was recruited as Gilt's executive chef, allowing Liebrandt to create a menu that

Thomas Keller Thomas Aloysius Keller (born October 14, 1955) is an American chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, the French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Found ...

characterised as a "light years" extension of his cooking. The restaurant received a two-star review from ''The New York Times''.

Corton

After leaving Gilt, Liebrandt freelanced for a short time before opening his

Tribeca Tribeca ( ), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Str ...

restaurant Corton In October 2008, Liebrandt opened Corton. Corton earned two stars in the 2009 New York City

Michelin Guide The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few restaurants ...

. Liebrandt's elaborately imaginative food and "sometime outré" style were toned down slightly at Corton, but reservations at Corton often must be made months in advance and Liebrandt's cooking continues to receive ecstatic reviews. Corton closed in July 2013 when Chef Liebrandt left to open The Elm in Brooklyn in the McCarren Hotel & Pool.

A Matter of Taste

Liebrandt starred in the Sally Rowe directed documentary film '' A Matter of Taste: Serving Up Paul Liebrandt''. The film follows Liebrandt's New York career over the course of a decade, and premiered on HBO on 13 June 2011. The film was nominated for an Emmy for Best Cultural Programming in 2012. Food writer

Andrew Friedman Andrew Friedman is an American professional baseball executive. He is currently the president of baseball operations of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously served as the general manager for MLB’s Tampa Bay R ...

started discussions in 2011 about writing a book which will be published by

Clarkson Potter Clarkson may refer to: People *Clarkson (surname) Given name *Clarkson Nott Potter (1825–1882), American attorney and politician *Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (1793–1867), English painter Places Australia * Clarkson, Western Australia ** ...

in 2013. Liebrandt appeared as a guest judge on Season 15 of ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo in March 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chefs ...

.''

Awards

Liebrandt has received several awards and other recognition throughout his career. *Youngest Three Star Chef, ''The New York Times'', 2000 *The Best and the Brightest, ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'', 2002 *Two Stars, Corton, ''Michelin Guide'', 2009 *Best New Chef, ''

Food and Wine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine, wine pa ...

'', 2009

References

External links

* https://www.paulliebrandt.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Liebrandt, Paul Living people British restaurateurs 1976 births British male chefs Head chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants Rhodesian people People from Harare