Rick Moonen is an American

seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus a ...

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a k ...

and an early adopter of

sustainable fishing A conventional idea of a sustainable fishery is that it is one that is harvested at a sustainable rate, where the fish population does not decline over time because of fishing practices. Sustainability in fisheries combines theoretical disciplin ...

practices. He is known as the "Godfather of Sustainability". Moonen graduated from

the Culinary Institute of America The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is a private culinary school with its primary campus in Hyde Park, New York, and branch campuses in St. Helena and Napa, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Singapore. The college, which was the first ...

and then went on to work at

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

's La Côte Basque,

Le Cirque Le Cirque is a French restaurant that has had several locations throughout the New York City borough of Manhattan for more than forty years. It is currently closed, with its future status unknown. New York City history Le Cirque was establish ...

, and The Water Club, where he worked for six years. He then became executive chef and partner at Oceana before he opened rm in New York, which earned three stars from ''

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''. He was also partner in the Greek Restaurant, Molyvos, which also received three stars from the New York Times. He was one of very few chefs in New York to have three stars from two separate open restaurantsIn in New York. In 2005, Moonen closed the New York Restaurant rm in order to open Rick Moonen's RM Seafood and r bar café at

Mandalay Bay Mandalay Bay is a 43-story luxury resort and casino at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned by Vici Properties and The Blackstone Group and operated by MGM Resorts International. It was developed by Circus Circ ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...

. Moonen is an advocate for

sustainable seafood Sustainable seafood is seafood that is caught or farmed in ways that consider the long-term vitality of harvested species and the well-being of the oceans, as well as the livelihoods of fisheries-dependent communities. It was first promoted through ...

. He is a founding member of the Chef’s Coalition,

Seafood Choices Alliance The Seafood Choices Alliance was a program of the nonprofit ocean conservation organization, SeaWeb. It was established in 2001 to bring together the disparate elements and diverse approaches in a growing "seafood choices" movement in the United S ...

and a member of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Seaweb,

Share our Strength Share Our Strength is a national organization working to end childhood hunger and poverty in the United States. Share Our Strength holds culinary events, solicits individual donations, and uses social media to raise funds, which are then used to ...

, and a chef's advisory board member of Ecofish. Moonen has served as a spokesperson for American caviar and has testified several times for environmental and sustainable policy issues in Washington, D.C. and New York. He is on the board of advisors for the

French Culinary Institute The International Culinary Center was a private for-profit culinary school headquartered in New York City. In 2020, it merged into the Institute of Culinary Education, also in New York City. It was founded as The French Culinary Institute by ...

, a member of the corporation and a fellow of

, a contributing editor to ''

Food & Wine Magazine ''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 reviews, chefs, wine pairings and season ...

'' and is a frequent guest chef at the James Beard House. In 2010, Moonen was a finalist in the second season of

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels * Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 *Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing compan ...

's ''

Top Chef Masters ''Top Chef Masters'' is an American reality competition series that aired on the cable television network Bravo, and premiered June 10, 2009. It is a spinoff of Bravo's hit show ''Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition te ...

''.

Restaurants

* Rick Moonen's RM Seafood * Rx Boiler Room

Awards

* 2016 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards...Best Chef : West nominee * 2010 James Beard Award Winner for Documentary with "Chef's A Field" * 2009 Nevada Restaurant Association Restauranteur of the Year * 2011 Chef of the Year from Monterey Bay Aquarium * 2013 Humanitarian of the Year Award American Culinary Federation * 2013 USA Today Named Moonen an Earths power Player, one of five leaders helping the future health of our planet * Inducted into the American Culinary Federation Hall of Fame * 1993 Chef of the Year Award for the Northeast Region from Chefs in America. * 2010'' Top Chef Masters Second Place Winner'' * ''Top Chef 6: Las Vegas'': Guest Judge (''Restaurant Wars'') * 2006 Seafood Champion Award

References

External links

* https://www.opentable.com/restref/client/?rid=3902&restref=3902&corrid=a71b118f-31d0-469b-87bb-b7c91e9f822b * http://www.rmseafood.com * http://www.rickmoonen.com
Rx Boiler Room
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moonen, Rick American chefs American male chefs Living people Culinary Institute of America alumni Year of birth missing (living people)