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Curtis Duffy knew at a young age that he had a passion for cooking: a middle-school home-economics class sparked his tremendous love of the kitchen. After completing culinary school in Ohio, he relocated to Chicago and diligently worked his way through the city’s top dining establishments, starting with three years in Charlie Trotter’s kitchen. He proceeded to become the pastry chef at Trio, the chef de cuisine at Grant Achatz’s avant-garde Alinea, and the executive ch…

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Lee Wolen’s menu at Boka in Chicago’s Lincoln Park is often characterized as “approachable”—an unusually subdued descriptor considering the Chicago Tribune named Wolen as the 2014 Chef of the Year. Yet the allure of Wolen’s cuisine relies less on offbeat ingredients and preparations than the wonder he is able to draw from the familiar. The succulent roasted chicken, for instance, stuffed with lemon-thyme brioche under its crisp skin, drew raves from critics who were as…

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Technique is imperative—in fact, it must be flawless. But the food still comes first. So declares the unconventional Christopher Kostow of the Restaurant at Meadowood, who became a Michelin-starred chef before the age of 30 and was named Best Chef in the Western United States by the James Beard Foundation in 2013. “Some chefs use technique to make things look unbelievably unique,” he says. “We put that on its head and say, ‘We have all this ability and know-how and too…

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Kim Floresca and Daniel Ryan’s combined 30 years of experience in restaurants reads like a food lover’s fantasy tour. They have held positions at the world’s most celebrated restaurants, among them Per Se in New York City, the French Laundry in Napa Valley, Alinea in Chicago, and El Bulli in Spain. The power couple met on the job in 2002, at the Charles Court restaurant at the Broadmoor hotel in Colorado Springs, and has been inseparable in and out of the kitchen ever …

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When Barbara Lynch opened No. 9 Park in Boston’s historic Beacon Hill in 1998, the elegant French-Italian restaurant was an immediate success that kicked off a string of highly acclaimed culinary ventures for the plucky chef. Today she is the owner of eight diverse venues—among them the fine-dining establishment Menton, the conceptual demonstration kitchen Stir, and her tribute to artisanal meats and the old-world boucherie, the Butcher Shop. In 2014, Lynch won the Jam…

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Even as a youngster, Patrick Campbell could not deny his attraction to the fundamental pleasures of food. The scent of the freshly baked baguettes and the taste of the rich, aromatic soups he encountered at age 3 on a family vacation at a French resort in the Bahamas still live on in his memory. That fascination with flavor and aroma would eventually drive the Massachusetts native to study at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts while learning the ropes at kitchens on…

The Istanbul boatbuilder Numarine has let fly its newest creation, the 70 Flybridge motor yacht. Captains have their pick of pilot stations, steering from either the main deck or the 70-foot yacht’s namesake feature for a more panoramic perspective. Versatility also abounds when it comes to leisure space, with ample seating on the flybridge (which also finds room for a teak dining table and wet bar), a sun bed on the foredeck, another dining area aft, and a bathing platform outside of the personal watercraft s…

Looking to vivacious 19th-century stage siren Sarah Bernhardt as a muse, Lalique has developed six new capsule collections within the new Lalique La Divine line: Adrienne, Lili, Lily-of-the-Valley, Parrot, Beetle, and Vesta. The designs, which range in price from $3,450 to $48,500, are as extraordinary as Ms. Bernhardt, who became a client of Parisian goldsmith René Lalique near the turn of the century when he began creating stage jewelry for the actress. Bernhardt went on to lead an intriguing, unusual life, …

In 1953, Tenzing Norgay wore Bally fur hiking boots as he accompanied Sir Edmund Hillary to the top of Mount Everest. More than 50 years after the legendary pair first set foot on the world’s tallest mountain, Bally continues to produce high-quality hiking boots for today’s modern explorers. The Swiss brand recently collaborated with rapper J. Cole to unveil the J. Cole for Bally collection, an exclusive new line of hiking boots and backpacks for pioneers looking to blaze new trails.

J. Cole shared his visi…

The contemporary American figurative artist Alex Katz is known for painting large-scale portraits of his wife, friends, and other muses against monochrome backgrounds. Imbuing bold, bright pops of color into each painting, Katz has been hailed as a precursor to the Pop Art movement. A permanent installation of a $2-million collection—featuring 11 original works, as well as 229 reprints of 15 additional works—will be on display at Langham Place, New York, Fifth Avenue, starting on September 1. The vibrant image…