Thomas Keller, author of The French Laundry Cookbook, Bouchon, Under Pressure, Ad Hoc at Home, and Bouchon Bakery, has eleven restaurants and bakeries in the United States. His two Michelin Guide three-star-rated restaurants, The French Laundry and per se, continue to vie for best restaurant in America and for ranking among the top five eateries in the world. He has been honored with innumerable awards, from an honorary doctorate to outstanding restaurateur to chef of the year (for successive years).
Susie Heller, executive producer of PBS's Chef Story , has produced award-winning television cooking series and co-authored numerous award-winning books, among them The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller and Bouchon by Thomas Keller and Jeffrey Cerciello. She lives in Napa, California.
Michael Ruhlman was born in 1963 in Cleveland and graduated Duke in 1985 with a BA in literature. His first book, Boy's Themselves (1996), revealed life at an all-boy day school. His second, the Making of a Chef came in 1997 and was re-released in 2009 in a new paperback edition. Michael's other published works include The Soul of a Chef (2000), Wooden Boats: In Pursuit of the Perfect Craft at an American Boatyard (2001), and Walk on Water (2003). He co-wrote The French Laundry Cookbook (1999) with Thomas Keller and A Return to Cooking (2002) with Eric Ripert, chef-owner of Le Bernardin. His latest works include Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing (2011) and Salumi: The Craft of Italian Dry Curing (2012), both with Brian Polcyn.
Deborah Jones's recent honors include Best Photography in a Cookbook from the James Beard Foundation for her work in Bouchon. A frequent contributor to national magazines, she conducts a parallel commercial career from her San Francisco studio.
