Richard Olney’s book “Simple French Food” is one of my favorites. This exploration of “simple” food has a 40-page introduction explaining in detail what the author means by simple — clearly, simplicity can be complicated. The idea of the book — focusing on preparing simple foods very, very well — was made clear to me during a trip to France, years before I opened my restaurant Chanterelle.

Anything worth having is worth waiting for, and that’s especially true with bread. “Bread baking, especially when using wild yeast, is a faith-based enterprise,” says Chef Sim Cass, dean of bread baking at the Institute of Culinary Education. “You need to believe that the bread will rise. Then you have to have the patience required to get your perfect loaf.”

Major Food Group is headed by the trio of Chef Rich Torrisi, Chef Mario Carbone, and business partner Jeff Zalaznick. In 2010, the two chefs created the “New York Times” three-starred Torrisi Italian Specialties in NYC’s Nolita. Within a year, they’d had partnered with Mr. Zalaznick to create a popular sandwich chain, Parm.

Australian-born chef Shaun Hergatt took the Financial District by storm when his restaurant, SHO Shaun Hergatt at the Setai Hotel, received two Michelin stars and a solid 29 across the board in the Zagat Survey when it opened back in 2009. That same year, he was honored with the spot for “best new restaurant” in New York Magazine and Esquire, and in 2010 New York Times reviewer Sam Sifton awarded him two stars.

From her days as a chef in Berkeley during the 1970s' California food revolution to her tenure as editor in chief of Gourmet - a post held since 1999 - Ruth Reichl has been one of the most significant culinary personalities of the last 30 years.