Laurent Quenioux

Growing up in Sologne, France, Chef Laurent Quenioux developed his love of game and wild strawberries with his parents; hunting duck, partridge and hare with his father, and cooking with his mother in their home kitchen. When he completed his education, he entered into a culinary apprenticeship in the South of France where “everything is about duck and goose fat, and foie gras.”

After working in some of the finest kitchens in France, Laurent moved to the United States with a team from L’Oasis at La Napoule to open The Regency Club in Los Angeles. In 1985, he introduced the celebrated and award-winning 7th Street Bistro in downtown Los Angeles, serving groundbreaking French Nouvelle California cuisine, which became a favorite spot for city dignitaries and Hollywood celebrities. After a decade, subway construction led to the closing of the Bistro and Laurent spent the late 1990’s as the Executive Chef for Dodgers Stadium.

In the early 2000’s, he returned to his restaurant roots with the debut of the popular Bistro K in Pasadena, earning accolades for his originality and precision with a revolutionary menu designed to open the senses and minds of his guests to new tastes and textures. With the opening of Bistro LQ in July 2009, Laurent brought his edgy style and creativity to a broader audience in central Los Angeles.

Feeling a need to take new risks and expand his vision, Laurent closed Bistro LQ in 2011 for a culinary and creative sabbatical to work on a biographic book project while cooking at his experimental Bistro LQ “Foodings” Supper Club @MaMaison around Los Angeles, London, Paris and Amsterdam; combining unique culinary offerings and beautiful, art inspired seasonal ingredients for exceptional dining events.

Chef Quenioux finds inspiration daily from tasting any new ingredients he can find from across the world, but mostly from local markets, fishmongers, ranchers and farms.