NECI Grad Gavin Kaysen wins Rising Star Chef of the Year Award

Gavin Kaysen, a 2001 graduate of New England Culinary Institute, won the prestigious “Rising Star Chef of the Year Award” from the James Beard Foundation on June 8, 2008. Known as “the Oscars of the Food World”, the gala event shines a spotlight on the best and brightest talent in the food and beverage industry.

The “Rising Star Chef of the Year Award” is given to a chef age 30 or younger who displays an impressive talent and who is likely to have a significant impact on the industry in years to come.

Covering all aspects of the industry — from chefs and restaurateurs to cookbook authors and food journalists, to restaurant designers and architects and more — the James Beard Foundation Awards are the highest honors for food and beverage professionals working in America.

Kaysen — now a chef at Café Boulud in New York City — decided to attend NECI because it offered real world training in working restaurants. He graduated from NECI in 2001 and has worked as a chef in several fine dining restaurants in Switzerland, London and the United States.

“I would not have been able to be successful in this position of responsibility without the skills I learned while at NECI,” said Kaysen. “The small classes, hands-on experience and the support of my amazing chef-instructors were the best preparation I could have had.”

As an up-and-coming young chef, he has garnered other awards for his culinary skills including: Food & Wine magazine’s top ten list of the “Best New Chefs” for 2007, a “Best Chef Award” from San Diego Magazine in 2004, and the National Trophy of Cuisine and Pastry in 2003.