Ron Siegel

History

Ron Siegel, an American chef who spent much of his career in San Francisco, was born in Manhattan on August 12, 1966. When he was seven, his family relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area. After attending Palo Alto High School, he entered the culinary world at sixteen by working as a butcher in a local grocery store in Palo Alto. He later studied at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco.

In 1991, he began working as a line cook at Aqua, a seafood restaurant in San Francisco, where chef George Morrone became his first mentor. Siegel moved to New York in 1993 to work at Daniel, then returned a year later to serve as an opening sous-chef to Thomas Keller at The French Laundry in Yountville, California. In 1996, he left to become chef of Charles Nob Hill in San Francisco, a restaurant known for blending French and California cuisine.

While executive chef there in 1999, Food & Wine Magazine named him one of America’s ten Best New Chefs. He moved on to become executive chef of Masa’s in San Francisco in 2001, staying until June 2004, when he took over the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. There, he focused on French cuisine with Japanese influences, naming his venture Parallel 37 after the latitude near San Francisco. In 2012, he left to become executive chef at Michael Mina.

During 2016, he served as executive chef and partner at Rancho Nicasio in Nicasio, California. In April 2017, he announced he would open Madcap in San Anselmo, California, that summer. In 2023, Madcap earned a Michelin Star, the only restaurant in Marin County to receive one. Siegel is best known for his 1998 appearance on Iron Chef, where he became the first U.S. citizen to win in Kitchen Stadium.

He faced Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai in a lobster battle, producing five dishes: Egg Royale, Lobster Cream Soup with scallops and truffles, California Salad with lobster, basil oil, tomato concassé and avocado, Lobster ravioli with sweet corn sauce, and Lobster and foie gras in fig sauce, winning 4–0. His cooking style blends haute French cuisine with subtle Japanese touches.