Jean-Georges

Jean-Georges’ childhood home was like a mini restaurant. Every day, his mother prepared lunch and dinner for 12, 20, 40 guests at a time (for her family and her husband’s employees), while her children peeled potatoes. From her, Jean-Georges learned to appreciate quality ingredients, avoid waste, and the art of building flavor. But as a child, he was a “bad altar boy” — stealing cigars, and once, a motorbike, skipping school, and rebelling at every turn.

On his 16th birthday, his parents took him to Auberge de l’Ill, a three Michelin-restaurant, where his father asked the celebrated chef Paul Haeberlin if his “no good” son could help do the dishes. Jean-Georges began an apprenticeship that would set the course of his life. Briefly stationed on an army boat, the young chef was introduced to new spices and ingredients that sparked a lifelong love of exploration.

Jean-Georges continued his culinary education in Southern France at another Michelin-starred restaurant, L’Oasis, under revered chef Louis Outhier before heading to Lyon to train under chef Paul Bocuse. He was recruited back to Outhier, who sent him to open restaurants in the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, the Meridien Hotel in Singapore, and the Mandarin Hotel in Hong Kong, experiences that defined his cross-cultural cooking style.

In the 1980s, Jean-Georges opened 10 restaurants under chef Outhier, including Lafayette, in New York, in 1988, which earned a rare 4-star review from The New York Times. In 1991, he ventured on his own with JoJo (his childhood nickname), which became an immediate sensation, followed by Vong, Jean-Georges, The Mercer Kitchen, Prime in the Bellagio Las Vegas, Spice Market, Perry Street, and the list keeps going. At each new project, he explored new concepts and inventive menus, creating restaurants with their own unique character. Unlike the French chefs who came before him, Jean-Georges refused to be confined to his homeland cuisine, cooking with the rebellious and playful spirit of his childhood. His canonical 1990 cookbook, Simple Cuisine, inspired a generation of chefs.

As he continued to expand his reach across the country, Jean-Georges was declared the most influential chef of the decade by New York Magazine in 2005. He wrote award-winning cookbooks, earned a constellation of Michelin stars, and developed a reputation as remarkable as his food by tapping his deep understanding of the restaurant world and pairing it with his forward-thinking vision. 

Untethered to tradition, his next projects reached beyond the typical restaurant structure, with ABC Kitchen — a farm-to-table restaurant inside a luxury home furnishing store — hotel partnerships, a fast-food chicken brand, and destination restaurants such as The Sand Bar in St. Barths and Le Dock in Fire Island. 

As Jean-Georges evolved his business over the years, many pillars remained consistent: a commitment to organic, locally sourced ingredients, sustainable practices, and an obsession with quality and guest experiences. He made waves with the opening of abcV in 2017, a revolutionary plant-based restaurant that upended the standard for vegan dining in New York.

Recently, in the city’s seaport, he conceived a sprawling culinary destination in the Tin Building with 12 dining venues, a gourmet market, fishmonger, butcher, and flower shop. The lively space, inspired by both the French markets of his childhood and the historic New York fish markets, is constantly crowded with shoppers seeking the freshest catch, fine cuts from the butcher, and tables at the restaurants. Yet with 60 restaurants worldwide, Jean-Georges still can’t help but keep asking: What’s next?

For the first time, Jean-Georges is imagining not only how guests will enjoy the space for one meal, but how residents will live alongside it at Miami Tropic, with a restaurant with an engrained community and neighborhood. The food market will anticipate their needs and desires, with a coffee shop and bakery, flower shop, easy takeaway options, and impeccable, personal service. The dining options will offer a table for casual family dinners, special occasions, or a quick drink — there will be everything, for everyone. And it will all be right downstairs