Laurent Tourondel is a French-trained chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author who helped found the group that owns the BLT restaurants. Laurent recently parted ways with his former partners and has turned his attention to LT Burger, his newest restaurant, located in Sag Harbor, NY.

He is the author of three cookbooks: Bistro Laurent Tourondel, Go Fish: Modern Seafood Cooking for the Home, and, most recently, Fresh from the Market.

Laurent grew up on the coast of France, fishing with his grandfather and baking alongside his grandmother in her kitchen. Even today, he remembers his grandmother’s potato pie with great fondness. He studied cooking in Montluçon, France, at Saint Vincent Ecole de Cuisine. From there, he went on to cook at some of the most renown restaurants in Europe and the United States.

One of his early jobs was as Chef to the Admiral in the French Army. He later worked under Jacques Maxim at Restaurant Ledoyen. He has said the Maxim has the greatest influence on his cooking. “He taught me the importance of  discipline in the kitchen, the honoring of the ingredient and earning the respect of your co-workers,” Laurent told the New York Times.

For two years he was the chef for Maison Troisgras, a Michelin 3-star Relais & Châteaux restaurant in Roanne, France. From there, he traveled to New York to become executive chef for CT, Claude Troisgros debut New York restaurant, which earned three stars in the New York Times with Laurent at the helm. Eventually Laurent took a leave of absence from CT to stage under Joel Robuchon in France. When he was ready to return to the US, and after CT closed, he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, to head up the kitchen of the Palace Court Restaurant at Caesar’s Palace. While he was there, Food & Wine Magazine named him one of the best new chefs of 1998.

The next year found the chef back in New York, where he took charge of the kitchen as Cello, a new seafood restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Not surprisingly, the chef earned three stars from the Times.

When Cello closed, Laurent decided to travel the world, sampling the foods of different countries. Eventually, he came back to New York and opened BLT Steak, which earned two stars from the New York Times and accolades from many other publications. Esquire magazine listed it among the “Best New Restaurants of 2004.”

Between 2004 and 2009, Laurent and his partners opened 18 BLT—for “Bistro Laurent Tourondel”—restaurants. As well as the steak houses, there were seafood and burger restaurants. During this time, in October 2007, Bon Appétit magazine named Tourondel Restaurateur of the Year.

Today, the chef divides his time between BLT Market at the Ritz Carlton in New York City, LT Burger in Sag Harbor, NY, and serving as the Executive Chef at Brasserie Ruhlmann in New York City. He continues to oversee operations for restaurants around the world in destinations such as New York, Miami, Les Vegas, Scottsdale, Atlanta, Charlotte, Honolulu, and Hong Kong. He lives in the New York metropolitan area.