Dan Barber isn’t a TV celebrity chef; he probably doesn’t even consider himself a celebrity. But he has achieved guru status in the restaurant world. Instead of hamming it up in front of cameras, Barber has been cooking, farming, writing, educating, and advocating his way into the upper echelons of culinary stardom. He’s not only the recipient of numerous multi-star reviews, and chef and writing awards, but also a respected proselytizer of sustainable agriculture.
Barber began farming and cooking for family and friends at Blue Hill Farm in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. In May of 2000, Barber opened Blue Hill restaurant with family members David and Laureen Barber; in 2002, Food & Wine Magazine named him one of the country's Best New Chefs.
Since then, he has addressed local food issues through op-eds in The New York Times and articles in Gourmet, Saveur, and Food & Wine; his writing has been incorporated into the annual “Best Food Writing” anthology for the past five years.
In the spring of 2004, both Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture opened their doors in Pocantico Hills, New York. As the restaurant's executive chef/co-owner and a board member of the Stone Barns Center, Barber works to blur the line between the dining experience and the educational, bringing the principles of good farming directly to the table. His efforts to create a consciousness about the effects of everyday food choices have led him to numerous projects with Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment, the Kellogg Foundation, and New York City's Greenmarkets. In 2009, Time Magazine featured him in their Time 100, an annual list of the world’s most influential people.
Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns both received Best New Restaurant nominations from the James Beard Foundation. In spring of 2006, Barber received the James Beard award for Best Chef: New York City, and in 2009 he was named James Beard’s Outstanding Chef and was given StarChefs.com’s Innovator Community Award.
