Born and raised in New York City, Barber spent summers on his family’s farm, Blue Hill, the eponym of his culinary establishments. There he developed his love of the agrarian life, something he would come back to, however, not before graduating in English and Political Science. Cooking was calling Barber and a stint at Alice Waters' Chez Panisse set him on a road to the French Culinary Institute and on to Paris where he worked under chef Michel Rostang. In 2008, Barber teamed up with his brother David and his wife Laureen to open Blue Hill Restaurant in Greenwich Village, awarded a Michelin star the same year. Barber's flare for gourmet cuisine coupled with his dedication to high-quality, locally produced ingredients proved such a winning formula that a certain David Rockefeller charged him with the running of a 1500-hectare farmland in Westchester, New York. With an investment of $30 million, the Stone Barns Center was established, a food and agriculture experimentation lab, with the Blue Hill at Stone Barns Restaurant attached.
Restaurant(s)
Blue Hill at Stone Barns was soon recognized as one of the most important restaurants in the US. Barber, considered a natural heir to the farm-to-table movement of Waters et al., used the restaurant's success as a platform to advocate for a different way to view food and its production. Accolades followed with the James Beard Foundation bestowing the title of Outstanding Restaurant to the Greenwich Village location in 2013 and on the Stone Barns restaurant in 2015. In 2019 Stone Barnes ranked 28 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list and was awarded two Michelin stars, followed by a Green Star a few years later. Blue Hill at Stone Barns was hit with a public scandal in 2022 over working conditions, something Barber has always strenuously denied. In response to the Black Lives Matter protests, Barber announced that he would stand down as chef of Blue Hill and instead install a diversity-based management program.
Family Meal at Blue Hill was opened in York City in 2021 and welcomes guests to enjoy a menu-less dining experience of shared plates, made from the best of natural produce from the Blue Hill Farm.
Recipes and dishes
Dan Barber’s cuisine, instead of focusing on creativity on the plate through cooking techniques, is the fruit of a creative process that involves the entire food chain, starting with soil health, agriculture, harvest, processing, and culinary execution. Instead of iconic signature dishes, Barber is known for the simple, respectful and artful presentation of the best of nature on a plate.
Barber's food advocacy saw him join the Obama administration as President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition, and he is a widely published author with a column in The New York Times, The Nation and others, and a bestselling book, The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food. Barber sits on an advisory board to the Harvard Medical School Center for Health and the Global Environment. He also co-founded Row 7 Seed Co. along with collaborator Michael Mazourek. In 2008, Barber's TED Talk on sustainable foie gras went viral reaching millions of viewers around the globe.
