Chef-Proprietor

Terrance Brennan is the Chef-Proprietor of Picholine Restaurant and Artisanal Bistro and Wine Bar, two highly acclaimed restaurants in New York City, and the founder of Artisanal Premium Cheese, a wholesale and online gourmet cheese company and education center.

The son of Annandale, Virginia restaurateurs, Brennan began cooking at the age of 13 and rose steadily through the ranks of America's most celebrated restaurants. Following positions at several Washington, D.C. restaurants and hotels, he served as a saucier and sous chef at the renowned Le Cirque restaurant and worked in many of Europe's greatest kitchens including Taillevent, Le Tour d'Argent, Moulin de Mougin, Gualtiero Marchesi and La Gavroche. Brennan'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,'' Brennan 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, Brennan opened his first restaurant, Picholine, which quickly earned three stars from The New York Times for its sumptuous French-Mediterranean fare. For the past decade, it has been the highest rated Mediterranean restaurant in the New York edition of Zagat Survey. Brennan introduced the traditional European cheese course to American diners at Picholine, and in September 2006, he re-designed the restaurant's décor and menu, earning the restaurant another three stars from The New York Times, four stars from Crain’s New York Business, and four stars from New York magazine. The restaurant received a James Beard Foundation nomination for the country's Outstanding Restaurant in 2007.

Brennan extended his groundbreaking cheese service in 2001 with the opening of Artisanal, a fromagerie bistro-wine bar which was awarded Best Brasserie Cuisine in the 2002 Zagat Survey. Over 160 wines by the glass are available to pair with an enticing selection of cheeses, seasonal fondues, and the city's finest French brasserie cuisine.

Further demonstrating his passion for hand-crafted cheese, Brennan founded Artisanal Premium Cheese, a 10,000-square-foot facility dedicated to the selection, maturation and distribution of the world's finest artisanal cheeses in 2003. Home to five custom-designed cheese caves where more than 300 expert-selected cheeses are aged to their peak flavor for distribution to America's top-rated restaurants and connoisseur, the cheese center also hosts educational classes for consumer and professional audiences.

A frequent contributor to The TODAY Show, Brennan has also appeared on the Television Food Network, PBS, The Martha Stewart Show, CBS's The Early Show, MSNBC and Live with Regis and Kelly. Named a Best New Chef by Food & Wine magazine in 1995, Brennan is a four-time nominee for Best Chef: New York by the James Beard Foundation. He shares his love of artisanal ingredients in his cookbook, Artisanal Cooking: A Chef Shares His Passion for Handcrafting Great Meals at Home (Wiley, 2005).