Wylie Dufresne

One of the edgiest modernist chefs, Whylie Dufresne, born 1970, grew up on Rhode Island. He trained at the former Culinary Institute now known as The international Culinary Centre. Initially he worked with Jean-George Vongerichten 1994-99, taking on the role of chef de cuisine at Jean-Georges.

WD50 his experimental restaurant where he explored the outer reaches of molecular gastronomy opened in 2003. His food was playful, witty, full of wizardry and ingenuity. He was constantly questioning and had no boundaries. His restaurant was huge inspiration for chefs globally. As Rene Redzepi has said of his friend: “he was so ahead of the curve that there was a time when chefs internationally were constantly checking his website in awe.” Dufresne won the James Beard Foundation for best New York Chef in 2013. Alder playfully cubist version of pub grub. Unfortunately, real estate plans close to his restaurants forced him to close WD50 in 2014 and Alder in 2015.

Most recently Dufresne has returned to his familial roots, albeit with his own inimitable offbeat approach to flavour and technique. Du Donuts, is, in part, in homage to his great, grandfather Wallace Dufresne who run Ever Good Donut Shop on Rhode Islands six decades ago. What started as a pop-up doughnut and coffee shop within a hotel in Williamsburg and was swamped by fans of flavours as diverse as Grahams banana, peanut butter yuzu has set up twoDu Donut stores selling his interpretation of doughnuts to wild acclaim from both customers and wholesale customers..