Debra Ponzek

Debra’s cooking quickly received wide acclaim in culinary circles. At the age of 28, she was selected one of the “Ten Best New American Chefs” by Food & Wine magazine. In 1990, Debra was named “Chef of the Year” by the Chefs of America Association, and a year later was the recipient of the coveted “Rising Chef of the Year” award by the James Beard Foundation. Debra was also the first American to receive the prestigious “Moreau Award” for culinary excellence from the Frederick Wildman and Sons Company.

Debra left Montrachet in June 1994 to move to Connecticut with her husband to open Aux Délices, a gourmet prepared food shop, café and catering business in Greenwich, Connecticut. Aux Délices Events, a full-service catering and event planning division, handles parties of all sizes, from corporate galas, fancy balls, grand openings and fund raisers to weddings, and private dinner parties. A second retail store was opened in downtown Greenwich in the fall of 2000. In 2004 a store was opened in Darien, Ct and in 2012 a store was opened in Westport Ct.

Debra’s first cookbook, French Food, American Accent: Debra Ponzek’s Spirited Cuisine, was published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House, in the Spring of 1996. Her second book, The Summer House Cookbook, was released in May 2003 to glowing reviews (“However gloomy or rainy the weather, a peek into ‘The Summer House Cookbook’…is like a ray of sunshine.” – Barbara Albright, Associated Press). Her third book The Family Kitchen was published in 2006 by Clarkson Potter. Her most recent book The Dinnertime Survival Cookbook was published by Running press in 2013.