Phaidon and S.Pellegrino are pleased to present Today's Special: Chef Conversations, a virtual event celebrating the launch of Today's Special: 20 Leading Chefs Choose 100 Emerging Chefs.

Today's Special is a who's who of today's international dining scene, created by those who know best. Phaidon assembled an all-star roster of the world's leading chef-curators — 10 men and 10 women — to each select five emerging chefs from around the world, showcasing a variety of styles of food, restaurants, and personalities.

Watch Live Today | 1:00pm ET / 6pm GMT

Join leading chef Hugh Acheson (Five & Ten, Empire State South, By George; Georgia) in virtual conversation with emerging chefs Flynn McGarry (Gem, NYC) and Mei Lin (Nightshade, Los Angeles). Moderated by Fine Dining Lovers, editor-in-chief Ryan King.

Today's Special

Hugh Acheson is a world-renowned chef and food writer who lives in Athens, Georgia. He is the co-owner/partner of 5&10 Restaurant in Athens, as well as Empire State South, By George, and coffee shop Spiller Park Coffee, all located in Atlanta, Georgia. Food & Wine magazine named him Best New Chef in 2002 and the James Beard Foundation awarded him Best Chef Southeast in 2012. He has written 5 cookbooks, starred in various cooking shows, and has his very own podcast called Hugh Acheson Stirs the Pot.

Born in China, chef Mei Lin grew up Michigan working alongside her mother and father at their family-owned and -operated Chinese restaurant; and where she learned the fundamentals of being a well-rounded cook and how to run a restaurant. At Nightshade, opened in 2019, the menu features a concise point of view, showcasing an elegant elevation of classic Asian dishes. Nightshade is the culmination of Lin’s personal culinary history and has garnered rave reviews including Food & Wine.

Flynn McGarry began cooking at the age of ten. He started a supper club operating out of his mother’s home at twelve, and staged in top restaurants in Los Angeles, New York and Seattle before he was sixteen. In 2014, he was the cover story of the food and drink issue of the New York Times Magazine. In 2018, at the age of nineteen, he opened his first permanent restaurant, Gem, in New York City's Lower East Side, which received a glowing two-star review from the New York Times. In November that same year, he was the subject of a documentary called Chef Flynn that debuted in theaters nationwide.

Today's Special: 20 Leading Chefs Choose 100 Emerging ChefsPhaidon Editors

Price AUD$79.95 Price CAD$79.95 Price £39.95 Price USD$59.95 Price T59.95

‘Expansive in scope, Today's Special aims to capture a snapshot of what the future of dining around the world will look like.’ – Salon

Be ahead of the curve and get to know 100 of the most exciting rising-star chefs from around the world, as selected by 20 global culinary masters – featuring more than 300 recipes and 500 images

The international dining scene is a vast, ever-shifting landscape, and Today's Special is perfectly positioned to help readers to navigate it. Twenty of the globe's leading chef-curators – 10 men and 10 women – have each selected five emerging chefs from around the world, showcasing a variety of styles of food, restaurants, and personalities. Each of the 100 selected chefs is profiled, with recipes, photographs, and menus, plus original commissioned essays that shed light on what makes a standout star in today's culinary realm.

Today's Special is packed with more than 300 recipes and 500 images celebrating finished dishes, chef portraits, restaurant interiors, and more.

The broad geographical reach of chefs and cuisines includes: Jeremy Chan of Nigeria-inspired Ikoyi London; Toyomitsu Nakayama of Toyo, Tokyo, Japan; Afro-fusion chef Dieuviel Malonga; Manoella Buffara of Brazil; New York-based British chefs Clare de Boer and Jess Shadbolt; and Slovenian chef Luka Košir.

Specifications:

  • Format: Hardback
  • Size: 290 × 214 mm (11 3/8 × 8 3/8 in)
  • Pages: 440 pp
  • Illustrations: 500 illustrations
  • ISBN: 9781838661359

Phaidon Editors

"Celebrated food industry veterans from Daniela Soto-Innes to Yotam Ottolenghi herald the greatest up-and-coming culinary talent from around the world." - New York Times Book Review

"A fascinating snapshot of the new wave and a bucket list of destination restaurants for the most intrepid gastronomes." - The Financial Times, How To Spend It

"[A] gastronomic tome, Today's Special, inspires food-loving globetrotters... Giving a snapshot of who is shaping the future of fine dining." - Forbes

"The premise of this book is simple but captivating... a great way to get familiar with the world's next class of top chefs" - TimeOut

"Just about every page will have home chefs sharpening their knives and globe-trotting gourmets updating their restaurant bucket lists." - Hemispheres

"What's next for hospitality? It's a question nobody can answer in these uncertain times. But thanks to Today's Special, we do have an idea of what the future might be - or at least who might be the future - in the world of leading chefs." - The Caterer

"A celebration of the next generation of culinary leaders." - Fabric Magazine

"The ultimate inspiration for when we can travel and visit restaurants again." - Sheerluxe MAN

"A beautiful tome." - Foodism

"[Today's Special] hopes to capture our culinary imaginations with the work of up-and-coming chefs." - The Herald

"This book will keep you entertained for hours on end." - Olive Magazine

"Impressively diverse." - Big Hospitality

"The world's best and brightest new chefs." - Stylist

"An inspiring book." - The Cooking World

"[An] extraordinary cooking book which is an inspiring project and a source of who's next in the global dining world." - cent

"Expansive in scope, Today's Special aims to capture a snapshot of what the future of dining around the world will look like." - Salon