Camille Becerra

Chef, Food & Design Stylist

Camille’s magic comes from her knowledge that a food experience is more than the sum of its ingredients. For Camille any meal must look good, taste good and make you feel good afterwards. This is a belief she’s put to practice in her nearly 20-year career ranging from appearances on Top Chef to heading up celebrated New York kitchens such as Navy, Cafe Henrie and (most recently) Nolita’s James Beard Award–winning De Maria.

Much of her graceful approach stems from her “hippie phase” (her words), when she studied macrobiotic cooking, went vegan and prepared meals for monks in a New Mexico monastery. She’s serving meats again, but still meditates most mornings, and rides her bike to work, where she uses light, airy designs to foster an outdoor “plaza”-like vibe in sometimes compact interiors. All this certainly strikes a chord for many, including us. Her devoted Instagram followers, for instance, helped her track down a New York apartment recently (as profiled by the New York Times) and Gwyneth Paltrow picked her to head up food of her Hamptons “summer soiree” this year (“elegant and Insta-worthy” per Vogue).