As a teenager cooking his way through some of the most illustrious kitchens in Europe, Paul Liebrandt worked under Marco Pierre White and Pierre Gagnaire at their eponymous three-star Michelin restaurants. He also worked under Raymond Blanc’s at his Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and at the London outpost of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Vong. Still seeking to expand his culinary repertoire, Liebrandt looked to yet another continent, and yet another innovative chef, traveling to New York to work with David Bouley as chef de cuisine at Bouley Bakery.

In fall 2000, Liebrandt left Bouley Bakery for an executive chef position at Atlas, where he became the youngest chef to ever earn three stars from The New York Times. In 2001, Liebrandt become director of Papillon, where his innovative cuisine delighted the crème de la crème of high society, including Lord Rothschild and His Royal Highness, Prince Andrew. Liebrandt continued honing his skills and culinary style at Gilt—where he won a 2006 StarChefs.com Rising Star Chef award—before finally opening his own restaurant, Corton, in 2008.

Since opening, Corton’s modern French menu—melding tradition of classical cuisine with a contemporary, personal approach to ingredients and technique and a graphic visual style—has earned Liebrandt well-deserved attention. In its inaugural year alone, the restaurant was honored with two Michelin stars, three stars by The New York Times, and was named one of Esquire’s “Best New Restaurants” of 2009. More recently, Corton was nominated as “Best New Restaurant” in the United States by the James Beard Foundation.