Le Jeune Chef Restaurant

Lifelong Education Center, Rm. B107 · For reservations phone (570) 320-CHEF or (570) 320-2433

Visiting Chef

* This biography was accurate at the time of the chef's appearance on campus. (February 21, 1997)

Traci Des Jardins

One of the country's top female chefs, Traci Des Jardins, formerly of Rubicon in San Francisco, was the featured chef in Pennsylvania College of Technology's popular Visiting Chef Series for Spring '97. During her visit, Des Jardins has worked with hospitality students in preparation for tonight's dinner and participated in a panel discussion focusing on women in the hospitality industry, hosted by Penn College in collaboration with the International Association of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs.

Des Jardins grabbed the culinary spotlight a few years ago and been heralded by USA Today, among others, as "one of the nation's best chefs." At only 30 years of age, Des Jardins was named the 1995 James Beard Rising Star Chef of the Year and one of Food and Wine Magazine's ten "Best New Chefs."

Des Jardins is a native of Firebaugh, Calif, located in the rich farmland of the San Joaquin Valley. Raised with her Cajun and Mexican grandparents' love for their native foods, she knew at an early age that her passion in life was to cook. Guided by her aunt and uncle who were well-versed in the cutting-edge restaurants of France, she discovered the challenges of French cuisine. While never abandoning her fondness for the culturally diverse foods of her childhood, she has focused her career on French cooking. Her hands-on training includes four apprenticeships in France and ten years of cooking at French restaurants in the U.S.

At Rubicon, she created a modern, accessible cuisine firmly grounded in French tradition and strongly influenced by the magnificent products available in Northern California and the Bay Area's love and appreciation for fine food and wine.

Des Jardins' national reputation has grown to an international audience. In 1996, she completed a week-long promotion for California Cuisine at The Amstel-Intercontinental Hotel in Amsterdam, cooked a luncheon honoring Francis Ford Coppola at Veuve Clicquot in Reims, France, and promoted women chefs at a series of dinners in Santiago, Chile. She also is active in many charitable organizations and is on the board of the International Association of Woman Chefs and Restaurateurs.

Chef Des Jardins is currently working with partner Pat Kuleto to open a new restaurant in San Francisco during the summer of 1997; Jardiniere.