Ron Siegel (born August 12, 1966) is an American

chef A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...

who formerly worked in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. In August 2012, it was announced he was joining San Francisco restaurant,

Michael Mina Michael Mina (; born 1969) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. He is the founder of the Mina Group, a restaurant management company operating over 40 restaurants worldwide. He is the executive chef at his two names ...

, as executive chef. He had been Chef of the Dining Room at the

Ritz-Carlton The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC is an American multinational company that operates the luxury hotel chain known as The Ritz-Carlton. The company has 108 luxury hotels and resorts in 30 countries and territories with 29,158 rooms, in addit ...

Hotel, taking over for Chef Sylvain Portray in 2004. Siegel is perhaps best known for his 1998 appearance on ''

Iron Chef is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, is a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle buil ...

'', becoming the first ever U.S. citizen to win in Kitchen Stadium. His cooking style is known for blending haute French cuisine with subtle Japanese touches.Mobil's Review of the Dining Room Restaurant
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History

Ron Siegel was born on August 12, 1966, in Manhattan. He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area with his family at the age of 7. Siegel attended

Palo Alto High School Palo Alto Senior High School (commonly referred to locally as "Paly") is a comprehensive public high school in Palo Alto, California. Operated by the Palo Alto Unified School District, the school is one of two high schools in the district, the ...

. Siegel broke into the culinary world at the age of 16 working as a butcher in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

, at a local grocery store. Siegel enrolled at the

California Culinary Academy The California Culinary Academy (CCA) was a for-profit school, and an affiliate of Le Cordon Bleu located in San Francisco, California. Danielle Carlisle established the school in 1977 to train chefs using the European education model. The origi ...

. In 1991 went to work as a line cook at

Aqua Restaurant Laurent Manrique (born March 30, 1966) is a French restaurateur and Michelin-starred chef. He currently owns establishments in Mexico and San Francisco. Biography Laurent Manrique learned of his love for cooking while growing up in the Gascon vi ...

, a seafood restaurant in San Francisco. His first mentor was the chef at Aqua, George Morrone. In 1993, Siegel moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

to work at

Daniel Daniel commonly refers to: * Daniel (given name), a masculine given name and a surname * List of people named Daniel * List of people with surname Daniel * Daniel (biblical figure) * Book of Daniel, a biblical apocalypse, "an account of the acti ...

, and returned a year later to work at

The French Laundry The French Laundry is a three-Michelin star French cuisine, French and California cuisine, Californian cuisine restaurant located in Yountville, California, Yountville, California, in the Napa Valley. Sally Schmitt opened The French Laundry in 1 ...

Yountville, California Yountville ( or ) is an incorporated town in Napa County, in the Wine Country of California, United States. Located in the North Bay region of the Bay Area, the population was 3,436 at the 2020 census. Almost a third of the town's populat ...

, as an opening

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 of th ...

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 ...

. In 1996, Siegel left The French Laundry to become Chef of Charles Nob Hill in San Francisco, which specialized in a fusion of French and California cuisine. In 1999, while he was the executive chef of Charles Nob Hill, Siegel was selected as one of Food & Wine Magazine's 10 "Best New Chefs in America." In 2001, Siegel left Charles Nob Hill to become executive chef of Masa's of San Francisco. Siegel remained at Masa's until June 2004 when he took over the Dining Room of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, where he focused on French cuisine with a Japanese influence. The name of his venture at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, "Parallel 37", was inspired by the geographic latitude near San Francisco. In 2012, Siegel left Parallel 37 to become the executive chef at

. During 2016, he was the executive chef and partner of Rancho Nicasio in Nicasio, California. In April 2017, Siegel announced he was opening Madcap in San Anselmo, California in the summer of 2017. In 2023, Madcap given a

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 ...

, it was the only restaurant in Marin,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

to earn a Star.

''Iron Chef''

In 1998, Siegel travelled to Japan to appear as the second U.S. born challenger on the popular TV show ''

'' (after chef Patrick Clark in October 1997), with help from then-mayor of San Francisco Willie Brown who asked for FujiTV (owner and producer of ''Iron Chef'') to accept Siegel as a challenger. Siegel faced Iron Chef French

Hiroyuki Sakai is a Japanese chef who specializes in French cuisine. Sakai is best known as the second, final, and longest-serving Iron Chef French on the Japanese television show ''Iron Chef'', first appearing at the beginning of 1994 (after Yutaka Ishinabe r ...

in a battle using the theme ingredient

lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

. Siegel produced five dishes: # Egg Royale # Lobster Cream Soup with scallops and truffles # California Salad with lobster, basil oil, tomato concasséed and avocado # Lobster ravioli with sweet corn sauce # Lobster and foie gras in fig sauce In the end, Siegel swept Sakai 4–0.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siegel, Ron American chefs Living people People from Manhattan Cuisine of the San Francisco Bay Area 1966 births California Culinary Academy alumni Chefs of French cuisine Chefs from San Francisco Palo Alto High School alumni People from Palo Alto, California