008: Dominique Crenn - Chef and Owner of Atelier Crenn, Petit Crenn, Bar Crenn

What's Burning

Dominique Crenn is the co-owner and chef of the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, where artistry is at the forefront, cuisine is a craft, and the community is an inspiration. “Atelier” can be defined as a workshop or studio, a concept that drives Chef Crenn’s modern vision for fine French cuisine. Her highly distinctive French heritage and imaginative gastronomic lair behind the stove at Atelier Crenn is a clear reflection of her unique life story.

Growing up in Brittany, France, Dominique Crenn developed a keen interest in cuisine from her parents, who celebrated fine dining. While Crenn credits her mother for her early introduction to the culinary arts, she also attributes her culinary passion to her politician father and his best friend, a well-respected French food critic, who exposed her from a young age to many of the region’s best restaurants. It was in San Francisco where Crenn began her formal training as a chef, when in 1988, she moved from France and began working under the tutelage of San Francisco luminaries Jeremiah Tower and Mark Franz for over two years at the celebrated restaurant, Stars.

Crenn then went on to make history as the first female executive chef in Jakarta, Indonesia, where she headed the kitchen at the Intercontinental Hotel. After having spent about a decade away from San Francisco, she returned there in 2008 to head the kitchen at Luce, in San Francisco’s Intercontinental Hotel. It was there that Crenn earned her first Michelin star in 2009 and again in 2010.

Driven by her passion to create a deeply personal project, Crenn opened Atelier Crenn, a place to express her heritage as well as an ode to “poetic culinaria,” in January 2011. Atelier Crenn achieved its first Michelin Star within a year, in October of 2011. In the following year, Crenn made history again when Atelier Crenn received its second Michelin Star, becoming the first female chef in the US to receive this honor. In November 2018, Crenn beat her own record and became the first female chef in the US to receive three Michelin Stars.

In the summer of 2015, Crenn opened her second restaurant in San Francisco: Petit Crenn, a place where she presented the core of her culinary upbringing and inspiration in a more casual setting. Petit Crenn is an ode to the home cooking of Brittany, inspired by the dinner parties held by Crenn's mother and grandmother, where she first became mesmerized by the art of cuisine and dining. Later that year, she published her debut cookbook: Atelier Crenn: Metamorphosis of Taste.

In March 2018, Chef Crenn opened Bar Crenn, a wine bar situated right next to Atelier Crenn. Bar Crenn pays homage to the Parisian salons of the early twentieth century, luxurious locations in the French capital that sought to inspire political, social, and cultural conversations around fine wine and classic French food. Bar Crenn received one Michelin star in November 2018, adding yet more luster to Chef Crenn’s luminous career.

Crenn and her teams at Atelier Crenn and Petit Crenn were featured on Netflix's second season of the popular Netflix series "Chef’s Table." Crenn was nominated in 2016 and 2017 by the James Beard Foundation for Best Chefs in America and received recognition from World’s 50 Best Restaurants. In 2017, Atelier Crenn debuted at no. 83 on the organization’s list of the world’s best restaurants, in 2018 Crenn was honored with the award for Best Chef: West by The James Beard Foundation, and in 2019 Atelier Crenn was named to the World's 50 Best Restaurants at no. 35. In 2021, Atelier Crenn ranked no. 48 on the list and Chef Crenn was honored with the World’s 50 Best Icon Award.

Crenn continues to be an outspoken and active member of the international culinary community, promoting innovation, sustainability, and equality through her collaborations with organizations such as the Basque Culinary Center and Pan American Development Foundation, as well as her frequent participation in various panels and summits. After years in the culinary world, Crenn has long since evolved from the little girl who sat and dined, entranced by the intricacies and beauty of fine cuisine, although it is still the memories of her childhood that continue to define and extend into her artistic culinary style.

On this episode of What's Burning, Dominique Creen's chat with Host Mitchell Davis includes conversation around building a team that has answers you don't, poetics of food and the expansive responsibilities of a chef.