Biography of Terrance Brennan

The son of Annandale, Virginia restaurateurs, Terrance began cooking at the age of thirteen and rose steadily to the ranks of America's most renowned and imaginative chefs. Following positions at several Washington, D.C. restaurants and hotels, Terrance served as a saucier at Le Cirque under Alain Sailhac and worked in many of Europe's greatest kitchens, including Taillevent, Le Tour d'Argent, Moulin de Mougin, Gualtiero Marchesi, and La Gavroche. Terrance's signature culinary style took form while working under Chef Roger Vergé at Le Moulin de Mougins in the south of France. Inspired by the region's "cuisine of the sun," Terrance returned to New York City and refined his art as Chef at Annabelle's, the Hotel Westbury's Polo restaurant, and Prix Fixe.

In 1993, Terrance opened his first restaurant. Named after the petite green olives indigenous to the Mediterranean coast, Picholine earned three stars from the New York Times for its sumptuous French-Mediterranean fare, received the Zagat Survey's Highest Overall Ratings distinction from 1997-to the present, and is a perennial award winner for its 600+ wine selections. Picholine was also Terrance's launching pad for the introduction of the traditional European cheese course as standard fare for fine dining in America. Picholine's cheese plate continues to set the standard for insightful selection and incomparable flavor, and is lauded by gastronomes throughout the world.

Terrance extended his groundbreaking cheese service in 2001 with Artisanal, a bistro-fromagerie-wine bar that gained immediate prominence as a shrine to the pleasures of fine cheeses and was awarded Best Brasserie Cuisine in the 2002 Zagat Survey.

Paying the ultimate "homage to the fromage" in the spring of 2003, Terrance launched the Artisanal Premium Cheese Center-a 10,000-square foot facility dedicated to the selection, maturation and distribution of the world's finest artisanal cheeses. The Cheese Center is home to five custom-designed cheese caves-the first of their kind in the United States-where more than 300 expert-selected cheeses are affined (aged) to their peak of flavor and made available to America's top-rated restaurants and connoisseurs alike through www.artisanalcheese.com. The Cheese Center also hosts a wide variety of educational classes for consumer and professional audiences year-round and is available for private events.

A frequent guest on the Television Food Network, Terrance has also appeared on PBS, Martha Stewart Living Television, "The Today Show," "CBS Morning News," "The Early Show" and "Live with Regis and Kelly." Terrance shares his love of cooking in his upcoming cookbook, Artisanal Cooking: a Chef Shares His Passion for Handcrafting Great Meals at Home, which is scheduled for release in September 2005 (Wiley).