John Besh

Infobox Chef
name = John Besh


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birthplace = Meridian, Mississippi, USA
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education = Culinary Institute of America
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restaurants = "August", New Orleans, Louisiana
La Provence, Lüke, and Besh Steak (located in Harrah's New Orleans Casino)
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John Besh is the owner and executive chef at Restaurant "August" in New Orleans, Louisiana (twice on "Gourmet Magazine"’s list of Best Restaurants), and owns three other restaurants: La Provence, Lüke, and Besh Steak (located in Harrah's New Orleans Casino). [ [http://www.travellady.com/Issues/May07/4118BeshFamily.htm The Besh Family of Restaurants] .] He is working on his first solo-authored cookbook, "Ma Louisianne".cite news | title=John Besh | url=http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/john_besh/index.html | work=New York Times]

Biography

Besh was born in Meridian, Mississippi, and raised in southern Louisiana. He loved to hunt and also fish. John graduated from Pope John Paul II high school, in Slidell, Louisiana. He studied at the Culinary Institute of America, graduating in 1992. [ [http://www.ciachef.edu/admissions/spotlight/spotlight.asp?iSpotID=593 Culinary Institute of America: CIA Spotlight, John Besh] .] In the early 1990s, he was a non-commissioned officer (NCO) in Operation Desert Storm in the Mideast, serving on active duty with the Marine Corps Reserves [http://www.foodandwine.com/bestnewchefs/?year=1999&chef=F0B2C57C-14D2-4729-87F69E38964796A5 Best New Chefs - 1999 - John Besh] .] for 10 months, and led a squad in the company that liberated Kuwait International Airport. [cite news | url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_10_36/ai_83744720 | title=John Besh: Switching gears from leading troops to leading cooks | first=Bret | last=Thorn | work=Nation's Restaurant News] He studied in Germany with Karl Josef Fuchs at the Michelin-starred Romantik Hotel Spielweg. Besh has also studied in the south of France with Alain Assaud.

Career

Besh was named one of the Ten Best New Chefs in America by "Food & Wine" in 1999. In 2006, he won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in the Southeast. [ [http://www.jamesbeard.org/awards/awards.php?year=2006&category=3 2006 James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Awards] .] He opened Restaurant August in 2001 in Central Business District, New Orleans. Since then he has opened two more restaurants: Lüke and Besh Steak. When his mentor, Chris Kerageorgiou, died in 2006, Besh took over La Provence, the restaurant Kerageorgiou had founded.

Television Appearances

* Chefs A' Field
* Iconoclasts - Episode 17, to be aired November 22, 2007
* Food Network Challenge - Judge
* Iron Chef America [ [http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ia/episode/0,1976,FOOD_16696_42589,00.html Episode IA0301, Batali vs. Besh, 'Battle Andouille'] .]
* The Next Iron Chef - Runner-Up

Bibliography

* "New Orleans Program: Eat, Exercise, and Enjoy Life", with David A., M.D. Newsome, 2006, ISBN 978-1589803442.
* Introduction to "Military High Life. Elegant Food Histories and Recipes" by Agostino Von Hassell, 2006, ISBN 978-1931948609.

Contributions

Chef Besh has contributed recipes or been featured in the following books:
* "The Heirloom Tomato Cookbook" by Mimi Luebbermann, Robert Holmes, and Dan Mills, 2006, ISBN 978-0811853552.
* "The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine" by John D. Folse, 2004, p. 786, ISBN 978-0970445711.
* "The Pleasure of Your Company: Entertaining in High Style" by Kimberly Schlegel, 2004, p. 122, ISBN 978-1586853143.

References

External links

* [http://www.restaurantaugust.com/ Restaurant August] - official site