Lee Gross

Chef Lee Gross has been studying Macrobiotics, traditional cuisines and alternative health since 1999. Having received classical culinary training and undergraduate degrees from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, he pursued careers in the restaurant and retail food service industries. Lee gained experience under celebrated chefs from around the country, including such notables as Daniel Bruce at the Boston Harbor Hotel and Philippe Jeanty at Domaine Chandon in California’s Napa Valley. He also worked at Providence’s famed Al Forno Restaurant, under the tutelage of George Germon and Johanne Killeen. A chance 2001 meeting with Mina Dobic, the Macrobiotic counselor to Oscar award-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow in 2001, led to Lee being recruited as Ms. Paltrow’s Personal Chef. Lee then joined Executive Chef Tachibe from Chaya and came on board as the opening Chef de Cuisine at M Café in 2005. Lee decided to head back to the East Coast in the fall of 2006 to start a family, but has continued to remain a Consulting Chef to M Café. He returns to California several times a year to work at M Café with Executive Chef Tachibe.“I’m passionate about food”, Lee says. “Macrobiotics allows me to feel good about the food that I cook and serve. It brings integrity and wholesomeness to my cuisine. I hope this new concept can serve as a model for a sustainable future. Cuisine today should celebrate seasonal, locally procured produce, and be crafted with less reliance on animal products and processed foods. M Café offers a recipe for a better tomorrow”.