The Versailles, France-born chef, who flew under the wings of Jeremiah Tower at the venerable Stars in San Francisco, is known for her bold and creative culinary techniques at her three-starred Atelier Crenn in the Marina neighborhood in the Golden Gate City. Describing her cuisine as “poetic culinaria,” Crenn is an unstoppable force to be reckoned with, continually championing her fellow female chef comrades in the midst of changing the Bay Area’s dining scene with her one-Michelin-starred Bar

French-born Annie Féolde is the first Italian woman to lead a restaurant—Enoteca Pinchiorri—to achieve three Michelin stars. While her husband looks after the wine cellar—the restaurant is well-stocked with over 70,000 bottles—Féolde holds court in the kitchen, serving Tuscan cuisine with a modern twist in the heart of Florence. Spelt soup, for instance, is served with a skewered red prawn wrapped in Parma ham and a bay leaf.

Hélène Darroze's parents ran a one-Michelin-starred restaurant in the small town of Villeneuve-de-Marsan in France, sparking her commitment to using only the best produce, such as local white bamboo shoots and foie gras. Darroze’s first stint at a restaurant was under acclaimed chef Alain Ducasse, who spotted her talent. Today, Darroze owns three restaurants, including three-Michelin-starred Hélène Darroze at The Connaught in London, and two-starred Marsan in Paris.

Anne-Sophie Pic is the third-generation chef/owner of this restaurant in hotel Maison Pic in Valence, France. Pic first earned three Michelin stars in 1934. After her father’s death in 1992, the restaurant lost its third star. With no formal training, Anne-Sophie took the reins in 1997; the restaurant regained three stars a decade later and continues to be an exemplary establishment.

Twenty-nine-year-old Clare Smyth took over Gordon Ramsay’s eponymous restaurant along Chelsea’s Royal Hospital Road in 2007, earning praise from the notoriously difficult chef and and maintaining its three Michelin star status until she departed in 2015. Smyth opened her 60-seater restaurant in Notting Hill in the summer of 2017. Smyth was awarded two Michelin stars in the MICHELIN Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2019 selection and three MICHELIN stars in the 2021 selection.

As the fourth-generation successor of three Michelin-starred restaurant Arzak in San Sebastián, Spain, Elena Arzak runs a tight ship with her 74-year-old father, Juan Mari. Having trained at top restaurants such as at La Maison Troisgros and Le Louis XV under Alain Ducasse, Elena prepares modern Basque cuisine, a refined take on traditional Northern Spanish fare such as meats and fish grilled over coals and hearty lamb stews. Under her leadership, nearly three-quarters of her chefs are women.

Dal Pescatore, a traditional Italian bistro in Runate, Italy, has held three Michelin stars since 1996. Incredibly, head chef Nadia Santini never went through formal culinary training. Chef Santini holds vivid memories of being in the kitchen with her mother, as well as learning recipes and techniques from her husband’s grandmother. Santini has since refined the “mama’s cooking” style; dishes available all year round include tortellini di zucca, agnolini in brodo and anguilla alle braci.

Gresham first found her passion for the culinary arts while planting vegetables and fruits and canning and preserving with her French grandmother in her hometown of San Carlos, California. In 1989, Gresham and Giancarlo Paterlini opened Acquerello. Known as one of the best fine dining restaurants in the U.S., Acquerello gained its first Michelin star when the guide arrived in the Bay Area in 2007, and earned a second in 2015.

Stéphanie Le Quellec's passion for cooking began as a child and carried through years at Le Cinq at the Hotel George-V in Paris, then to Terre Blanche in the south of France, and on to the show Top Chef. Today at Two MICHELIN star La Scène, Le Quellec serves an incredible range of seemingly simple dishes that are actually thought out in greatest detail: magnificent Dublin Bay prawns with buckwheat and a blancmange made from the claws.

Douce Steiner practically grew up in the kitchen at Hirschen, her parents' hotel and restaurant in Sulzburg, Germany. Steiner trained as a chef and then cooked alongside chefs such as Georges Blanc, Fritz Schilling, and Harald Wohlfahrt. Steiner and her husband, Udo Weiler, then joined her family in the kitchen. oday the restaurant has two MICHELIN stars. Enjoy a glass or bottle from the extensive wine menu, with some 500 different wines, then stay in one of the lovingly decorated guestrooms.