The World's Most Influential Chefs

After taking over the French Laundry the year before, the relatively unknownKellertransformed the Napa Valley restaurant with a nine-course tasting menu, expert service, and elegant new decor (spending the then-enormous sum of $1.2 million in the process). Keller's formula—local ingredients cooked with an inventive French hand, Michelin-style exclusivity and service, obsessive attention to detail—became the template for upscale American restaurants for years to come.