Dominique Crenn’s Café Dior Debuts as Fashion’s Most Delicious New Address

As the only female chef in the country to hold three Michelin stars, Dominique A Crenn is a beacon of culinary excellence. Known for her namesake San Francisco restaurant, Atelier Crenn, she is now partnering with Dior for a collection of in-boutique eateries dubbed Café Dior, broadening her reach alongside other collaborations with Air France and Les Bateaux Belmond.

An advocate for sustainability heralded by Time as one of the world’s 100 Most Influential People, Crenn continues to innovate in a male-dominated industry.

Michelin-starred Dominique Crenn partnered with Air France / Photo: Courtesy of Air France

Born in Locronan, a commune in Brittany in northwest France, Crenn enjoyed a childhood surrounded by food. Her mother and grandmother introduced her to world cooking at Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese, and Japanese restaurants, while her politician father took her to Michelin-star establishments with a friend who was the food critic for the newspaper Le Télégramme.

A tomboy with a fantastic humor and sharp tongue, she imagined a future in America and was encouraged by her dad to move to California. After landing a few jobs, she set her sights on cooking for legendary chef Jeremiah Tower, who famously worked with Alice Waters at Berkeley’s Chez Panisse and was then helming San Francisco’s Stars, a crucible of California cuisine. “Tower changed my life,” she says. “He made me look at food differently. And then we became very good friends, which has lasted till today.”

On her first day, Crenn walked up to Tower and told him, “I don’t have any credentials, but man, you need some woman in the kitchen.” To his nonplussed reaction, she replied, “I’m like you. I never went to school. You wanted to be an architect, right? But then you were doing all those dinners, and Alice Waters was looking for a chef, and you went to work for her.” Finally, Tower sighed, “You little sassy. Come on, go on the line tonight. We’ll see if you can last.” And she did.

After two years with Tower, Crenn moved on to Campton Place before joining the InterContinental hotel in Jakarta, where she became Indonesia’s first female head chef. Unfortunately, she had to flee the country due to civil unrest.

Pastry chef/co-owner Juan Contreras and Dominique Crenn / Photo: Courtesy of @Harry Eelman

Back in San Francisco, in 2008, the InterContinental offered her a position at Luce, where she was awarded her first Michelin star the following year. But the economy was in crisis, and a freak accident almost ended her life when she fell in a bathtub and sliced through a main artery. She realized she wanted to build an independent life with purpose, with food as the connector. All she needed was a space, and in 2011, Atelier Crenn opened on Fillmore Street, earning two Michelin stars within two years.

From there, a flood of accolades began to roll in: In 2016, she was named Best Female Chef by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and two years later won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: West, an honor that coincided with her third Michelin star.

Meanwhile, with former partner Katherine Keon (the co-parent of their twin daughters), she found a five-acre piece of land in Sonoma where she developed Bleu Belle Farm, a sustainable facility whose bounty of fruits and vegetables inspires her menus.

Montaigne Garden at Café Dior, Dallas / Photo: Courtesy of Kieran Le

Last February, the first Café Dior by Dominique Crenn opened in Dallas. Before or after shopping, patrons can enjoy a variety of Dior-inspired culinary interpretations, including tuna violette, a celebration of bigeye tuna bathed in dashi and crowned by sweet purple potato chips. She calls this “a dish of contrast and nuance—the deep umami of the ocean against the crisp sweetness of the harvest.”

Photo: Courtesy of Harry Eelman

The drapé tart—roasted beets, feta cheese, and leche de tigre in a delicate shell—is “bold yet composed, draped in color and flavor like a Dior silhouette.” Montaigne Garden, which features thin ribbons of zucchini and crisp apple dressed in sherry vinaigrette, resembles a plain-woven fabric, highlighting the arduous process of preparing this dish.

But a favorite for its impactful yet simple presentation is the Miss Dior consommé, a floating field of colorful seeds, flowers, and herbs.

Photo: Courtesy of Harry Eelman

Meanwhile, as the first-ever culinary director for Les Bateaux Belmond, she is curating two signature menus for boats in Burgundy, Champagne and the South of France. Celebrating the seasonality, heritage and culture of these regions, Crenn says, “I hope to create lasting memories through unforgettable cuisine.”

When asked about her happiest moments, she admits, “There have been many. But perhaps the deepest joy has come not in grand moments, but in quiet ones: spending days at Bleu Belle Farm, cooking at home, and spending time with my  team and guests at Atelier Crenn.”