Wylie Dufresne

Wylie Dufresne was born in 1970 in Providence, Rhode Island moving to New York in 1977. In 1992 he completed a B.A. in philosophy at Colby College, Maine. After college, Wylie enrolled at the French Culinary Institute in New York and was then employed in various Jean-Georges restaurants from 1993 until 1999. In 1999 he became the first chef at 71 Clinton Fresh Food. Dufresne opened wd~50 in April of 2003. Frank Bruni of the New York Times awarded wd~50 three stars in March of 2008. In 2006 wd~50 received one star from the Michelin Guide, which it retained in each subsequent year until its closing in November of 2014. Alder, Dufresne’s second restaurant, opened in Manhattan’s East Village in March 2013. Wylie has been nominated for multiple James Beard Awards, including “Best Chef New York” for seven consecutive years, winning the award in 2013. In 2015, he was a recipient of the James Beard Foundation’s “Who’s Who” award. In September 2015, Dufresne closed Alder. He is currently working on a restaurant slated to open in Manhattan’s financial district in early 2016.