chef de cuisine

noun

chef de cui·​sine ˌshef-də-kwē-ˈzēn 

plural chefs de cuisine ˌshef(s)-də-kwē-ˈzēn 

: a chef who manages a professional kitchen

… chefs need chefs de cuisine to run their kitchens, from hiring and firing to choosing between chives and chervil as the garnish for a new dish. And some do a great deal more than that.

—Julia Moskin

And the titles change with each restaurant. The top chef might be called an executive chef or chef de cuisine. The second in command might also be known as chef de cuisine (if there's an executive chef) …

—Phil Vettel

Tony Bilson, who has had a succession of artistically successful but financially rocky restaurants in Sydney, has his name on the door, but Manu Feildel, the young chef de cuisine from France, does the day-to-day cooking, and he is good.

—Harvey Steiman

compare executive chef

Examples of chef de cuisine in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Hollingsworth, who was Thomas Keller’s chef de cuisine at the French Laundry, co-owned the restaurant with Carl Schuster, a founding partner of Wolfgang Puck catering and CEO and founder of Cast Iron Partners. —Cindy Carcamo, Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2024

Dig in: Much of the menu at Saint John 2.0 will be the same, Cook says, like the Creole beef daube and the oysters Saint John, with some updates inspired by the restaurant's rebirth and chef de cuisine Darren Chabert. —Chelsea Brasted, Axios, 26 Sep. 2024

On Wednesday, Zehnder's celebrated the squash with a post on its Facebook page of their chef de cuisine, Lance Buchinger, standing amid 20 tons of the squash. —Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press, 13 Sep. 2024

Another major question mark is Sydney, who’s torn between staying in a toxic yet familial workplace environment and the opportunity to be chef de cuisine at chef Shapiro’s new restaurant. —Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 11 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, "head of the kitchen"

First Known Use

1798, in the meaning defined above