Wolfgang Puck

Wolfgang Puck is a chef and restaurateur born in Austria who learned cooking from his mother, a pastry chef, in Sankt Veit an der Glan. He trained under Raymond Thuilier at L'Oustau de Baumanière, worked in Monaco and at Maxim's in Paris, and moved to the United States in 1973. He spent two years at La Tour in Indianapolis before becoming chef and part owner of Ma Maison in Los Angeles. His first cookbook, Modern French Cooking for the American Kitchen, appeared in 1981. He opened Spago on the Sunset Strip in 1982 and later moved it to Beverly Hills. Spago Hollywood entered the Fine Dining Hall of Fame of Nation's Restaurant News in 1993 and won the James Beard Restaurant of the Year Award the following year. Puck received a Daytime Emmy in 2002 for his service show, joined the Culinary Hall of Fame in 2013, and earned a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2017.