🇺🇸 United States · Korean cuisine · b. 1977
Korean-American chef-owner of three-Michelin-star Benu in San Francisco.
Corey Lee is a Korean-American chef, born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1977 and raised in New York from the age of seven. He attended Skidmore College in upstate New York and trained in a series of important New York kitchens before moving to London to cook at Marco Pierre White's The Restaurant and at The Square under Philip Howard. He returned to the United States to join Thomas Keller's The French Laundry in Yountville, California, where he spent nine years, rising to chef de cuisine — one of the most senior positions in the most celebrated American restaurant of its generation.
In 2010 he left The French Laundry and opened Benu in the SoMa neighbourhood of San Francisco. Benu's project from the start was unusual: a tasting-menu fine-dining restaurant explicitly built on Korean and broader East-Asian techniques and ingredients — soy sauce aged for years, doenjang, faux shark-fin soup made from hand-cut conpoy and ham, xiao long bao reinterpreted with foie gras — but with the operational rigour and service style of a French three-star kitchen. Benu earned its first Michelin star in 2011, its second in 2012, and its third in 2014, making Lee, at thirty-six, one of the youngest American chefs ever to hold three Michelin stars.
He went on to open the casual French bistro Monsieur Benjamin in San Francisco's Hayes Valley (2014), and the unusual concept restaurant In Situ inside the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) in 2016 — a restaurant whose entire menu is composed of reproductions of dishes from other chefs around the world, served under formal license, in a museum format that treats restaurant dishes as a form of culinary curation. In Situ earned a Michelin star in its first year of eligibility and remains the only restaurant in the world to operate on that licensed-reproduction model.
Lee was named James Beard Best Chef West in 2017 and has been the subject of an episode of PBS's The Mind of a Chef. His cookbook Benu (2015) was widely reviewed as one of the most beautifully produced restaurant books of the decade.
Korean fine dining does not have to perform Korean-ness. Lee has been explicit throughout his career that Benu is not a Korean restaurant in any traditional sense — it is an American fine-dining restaurant that uses Korean and East-Asian ingredients and techniques because those happen to be his deep knowledge, in the same way a French chef would use Burgundian ingredients. He has rejected the framing of Benu as 'fusion' or as a Korean-American restaurant; he prefers 'a San Francisco restaurant cooked by Corey Lee'.
Three Michelin stars since 2014. Tasting-menu East-Asian-influenced fine dining.
Restaurant inside the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Menu composed of licensed reproductions of dishes from chefs around the world. One Michelin star.
Casual French bistro opened 2014.
Korean barbecue restaurant opened 2021 with chef Jeong-In Hwang; one Michelin star.
These recipes from our database reflect the korean cooking tradition that Corey works in. They are not direct reproductions of Corey's copyrighted recipes, but traditional dishes inspired by the same culinary heritage.
“Benu is not a Korean restaurant. It is a San Francisco restaurant cooked by a Korean-American chef. There is a difference.”
— Interview, San Francisco Chronicle
“A dish is not a closed object. It can be reproduced, licensed and re-cooked, in the same way a piece of music can be performed in different concert halls.”
— In Situ: The Cookbook (2020)
Trains in New York kitchens after Skidmore College.
Moves to London; works at Marco Pierre White's The Restaurant and at The Square under Philip Howard.
Joins Thomas Keller's The French Laundry in Yountville, California.
Rises to chef de cuisine of The French Laundry.
Leaves The French Laundry and opens Benu in San Francisco.
Benu earns its first Michelin star.
Benu earns its second Michelin star.
Benu earns its third Michelin star; Lee opens Monsieur Benjamin in Hayes Valley.
Publishes Benu with Phaidon.
Opens In Situ inside the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).
Wins James Beard Best Chef West; In Situ earns a Michelin star in its first year.
Opens San Ho Won in the Mission with chef Jeong-In Hwang.
Corey Lee is a Korean-American chef and the chef-owner of Benu, Monsieur Benjamin, In Situ and San Ho Won in San Francisco. Benu holds three Michelin stars and Lee is one of only a small number of American chefs to hold three Michelin stars in his own name. He was previously chef de cuisine at Thomas Keller's The French Laundry for nine years.
Benu serves a tasting menu built on Korean and broader East-Asian techniques and ingredients — long-aged soy sauce, doenjang, dashi, hand-cut conpoy, Korean fermentation — applied with the operational rigour and service style of a French three-star kitchen. Lee has resisted the labels 'Korean' or 'fusion' and prefers to describe Benu as an American fine-dining restaurant whose deep knowledge happens to be East-Asian.
In Situ is a restaurant inside the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), opened by Lee in 2016. Its entire menu is composed of reproductions of dishes from chefs around the world — René Redzepi, Wylie Dufresne, David Chang, Albert Adrià, Jeong Kwan and dozens of others — served under formal license from the original chefs. It is the only restaurant in the world that operates on this curated-reproduction model and earned a Michelin star in its first year of eligibility.
Yes. Lee joined The French Laundry in Yountville, California, in 2001 and stayed for nine years, rising to chef de cuisine — one of the most senior kitchen positions in the most celebrated American restaurant of its generation. He left in 2010 to open Benu in San Francisco.
Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1977 and moved to New York with his family at the age of seven. He attended Skidmore College in upstate New York, then trained in New York and London kitchens before joining The French Laundry in 2001.
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