What is the story behind Monique Feybesse’s restaurant? Top Chef contestant co-founded company with her husband

Monique Feybesse is one of the 15 contestants to participate in Bravo’s Top Chef Season 19. She is a talented chef from Vallejo, California, who runs her own restaurant, Tarts de Feybesse.

She co-owns the eatery with her husband Paul Feybesse, who is also a chef by profession. They first thought of opening their own pastry business in 2016 when Feybesse was expecting her first child. It all started when Paul made their iconic apple rose tart which Monique then posted on social media to see if it garnered any attention. Thanks to word of mouth and direct messages, Tarts de Feybesse was soon launched.

The “Our Story” section on the restaurant’s website reads:

“They started with only 8 breads the first week, swearing that would be the maximum. It quickly turned into a complete pastry menu, selling out every day and weeks in advance to the Bay Area clientele, staying true to French classic roots and creating pastries that are beautiful, modern, and most of all, delicious.”

Who is Monique Feybesse?

Born in San Francisco, Feybesse began her career at Madera restaurant in Rosewood Sand Hill and at Masa’s in 2007. The California Culinary Academy graduate later worked under Bocuse d’Or Legend, Rasmus Kofoed, at Geranium Restaurant in Copenhagen.

Her passion for cooking then took her to Paris at Chef Yannick Alleno’s Pavillon Ledoyen, followed by Atera in New York, Ninebark in Napa Valley and Cavallo Point’s Murray Circle restaurant in the Bay Area. The chef is now all focused on her own eatery, Tarts de Feybesse.

She met her husband Paul in 2013 at Copenhagen’s Geranium restaurant. They were initially in a long-distance relationship as both of them were working at some of the world’s best restaurants miles away from each other.

A year later, they got married and now share two beautiful sons, Louis and Yann.

All about Top Chef Season 19

Feybesse will be accompanied by 14 other talented chefs during her journey in Top Chef. The winner of the competition will take home a grand prize of $250,000 and a feature in Food and Wine magazine.

Throughout the season, multiple celebrity chefs will join the judges’ panel as guest judges. The head judges on the panel will be Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons along with Padma Lakshmi who will also be hosting this new season.

Also Read
Article Continues below

Top Chef premieres on March 3 at 8.00 pm ET on Bravo.