Chef Barbara Lynch<\/a> is regarded as one of the world\u2019s leading chefs and restaurateurs.<\/p>\nWhile growing up in South Boston, Barbara, at the age of 13, got her first kitchen job cooking at a local rectory. It was in high school, however, that an influential home economics teacher and a job working with Chef Mario Bonello at Boston\u2019s esteemed St. Botolph Club piqued her interest in one day becoming a professional chef.<\/p>\n
During her early twenties, Barbara worked under some of Boston\u2019s greatest culinary talents. After working with Todd English for several years at both Michela\u2019s and Olives, Barbara traveled to Italy where she learned about the country\u2019s cuisine firsthand from local women. She returned to Boston and became the executive chef at Galleria Italiana, bringing national acclaim to the tiny trattoria when she captured Food & Wine’s \u201cTen Best New Chefs in America\u201d award.<\/p>\n
In 1998, Barbara opened a restaurant of her own, No. 9 Park, in Boston\u2019s Beacon Hill neighborhood. The restaurant immediately received rave reviews from publications around the country and was named one of the \u201cTop 25 New Restaurants in America\u201d by Bon App\u00e9tit and \u201cBest New Restaurant\u201d by Food & Wine.<\/p>\n
Barbara expanded her presence in Boston by opening two restaurants in the South End in 2003: B&G Oysters, serving pristine oysters and New England classics, and The Butcher Shop, a wine bar and full-service butcher shop. Barbara continued to grow her culinary empire by opening Stir, a demonstration kitchen and cookbook store, in the South End in 2007. In the fall of 2008, Barbara launched two concepts in Boston\u2019s Fort Point neighborhood: Drink, a bar dedicated to the craft of the cocktail, and Sportello (Italian for \u201ccounter service\u201d), her modern interpretation of a diner. In the spring of 2010, Barbara and her team opened an eagerly anticipated third concept\u2014Menton, a fine dining restaurant\u2014in Boston\u2019s Fort Point neighborhood.<\/p>\n
Menton has received numerous accolades since opening, including praise from both Bon App\u00e9tit and Esquire as one of the best new restaurants in 2010, a James Beard Foundation Award nomination for \u201cBest New Restaurant,\u201d and a four-star review from the Boston Globe. Menton is the only Relais & Ch\u00e2teaux property in Boston, and each year since 2012 it has been awarded AAA\u2019s Five Diamond Award and Forbes Travel Guide\u2019s Five-Star Award. Barbara is currently the only female in the United States to hold the distinguished title of Grand Chef Relais & Ch\u00e2teaux.
\nIn the summer of 2017, Barbara partnered with fellow historic Boston brand, Boston Harbor Cruises, to elevate food and beverage options on the Boston Harbor Islands with her new company Salt Water, Inc.<\/p>\n
Barbara\u2019s talents have continued to garner praise over the years, both locally and nationally. In 2003, The James Beard Foundation named her \u201cBest Chef Northeast,\u201d and in 2007, Boston Magazine named Barbara \u201cBest Chef.\u201d In 2011, she was named Distinguished Chef by Johnson and Wales University. In addition, she was the recipient of the \u201cWomen Chefs & Restaurateurs (WCR) Barbara Tropp President’s Award.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2013, Barbara was inducted into the James Beard Foundation\u2019s Who\u2019s Who of Food and Beverage in America, a prestigious group of the most accomplished food and beverage professionals in the country, and she also received an honorary doctorate in public service from Northeastern University in recognition of her culinary and philanthropic contributions. In 2014, Barbara received her second James Beard Foundation Award and named \u201cOutstanding Restaurateur.\u201d She is the second woman ever to receive this honor. In 2017, she was named to the TIME 100, Time Magazine\u2019s annual list of the world\u2019s most influential people.<\/p>\n
Barbara’s first cookbook, Stir: Mixing It Up in the Italian Tradition<\/em>, was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in Fall 2009. Stir was received enthusiastically by both the media and home cooks and received a prestigious Gourmand award for \u201cBest Chef Cookbook\u201d for the United States. Barbara\u2019s second book, her memoir, Out of Line: A Life of Playing with Fire<\/em>, was published in April 2017.<\/p>\nBarbara is a member of several notable organizations including Women Chefs & Restaurateurs; Les Ma\u00eetres Cuisiniers, the international association of Master Chefs; and the Ment\u2019Or (formerly Bocuse d\u2019Or USA) Culinary Council.<\/p>\n