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"From a very young age, my day off, I will be traveling all around. Like, I was working outside of Lyon [France] and I would be driving miles just to eat frog legs from that lady who was making frog legs or the other direction and eat escargots or eat particular lamb," says Chef Daniel Boulud in a thick French accent. "Because in France, they were really regional speciality and restaurant who made their fortune and their reputation on one ingredient." He laughs. "People will drive to just go and have that. To me, it's what food is about." Yes, Daniel has been a foodie all his life. Daniel's affinity for extraordinary fare coupled with his coveted apprenticeships at Michelin-starred restaurants have garnered him a number of impressive culinary awards, including, six career James Beard Awards; three Michelin stars; Lifetime Achievement Award - World's 50 Best Restaurants (2015); and Elite Traveler's prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award (2018)— and a collection of incredibly-successful restaurants. For over fifty years, Daniel has proved to be a master of the culinary arts, yet, he shows no sign of slowing down —in fact, he's opening his 19th restaurant this year. It's a chilly afternoon in November. Daniel and I are seated across from one another in a booth within the "skybox," his intimate office which overlooks the kitchen of his two-Michelin star restaurant, DANIEL (ranked in Elite Traveler's Top 100 Restaurants in the World). On the table between us, a pot of tea steeps. To my surprise, Daniel, who is dressed in a traditional white double-breasted chef's jacket embroidered with his initials, is holding a printed out page of notes on me, pulled from the internet. He pours me a cup of hot tea, which I fervently relish (the room is quite cold), almost as much as the stories he shares with me during our hour-long conversation The French chef-turned-restaurateur has restaurants all over the world —in London, Singapore, Toronto, Montréal, Washington, D.C., Boston, New York City, Palm Beach, and Miami. In Miami for over twelve years now, his first restaurant here was French eatery, DB Bistro. "But we didn't have Boulud Sud at the time. After Boulud Sud opened here in New York, we felt that Mediterranean cuisine was definitely a connection with Miami and the lifestyle there, so we did Boulud Sud." Situated downtown, inside of JW Marriott Marquis Miami, Boulud Sud serves up the freshest, most delicious Mediterranean fare along with exceptional service. Their noteworthy dishes include, Mediterranean Sea Bass "En Papillote," Octopus à la Plancha, and Grapefruit Givré. "The location is definitely getting better. Now it's almost finished, the theater across the street, Whole Foods next door, all the condominium. There's the Aston Martin Tower going across the street and all that. Finally, it's turning into its own little neighborhood. We're not so lonely, so it's nice." Daniel travels to South Florida often for events and to visit his restaurants, Café Boulud and Boulud Sud. He was recently in Miami during Art Basel to cook for a few events with Brazilian artist, Vik Muniz and an affair at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden. He plans to return for The Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival this month. "Hopefully, Miami keeps growing, we hope to grow there, too." Every December, Daniel's Palm Beach restaurant, Café Boulud, hosts a sold-out black and white truffle dinner attended by regulars and foodies alike. "We do two-course with white truffle. Two-course with black truffle… I even make baked potatoes, crushed potatoes with black truffle. Bake a whole potato and I crush it with olive oil, butter, and truffles and then put it back in and cover it with truffles, that's a dish, I think, I have it here." He pulls a cookbook from his bookshelf and flips through it. "I did this cookbook when I was the [executive] chef at Le Cirque [where he honed his culinary skills from 1986-1992] like, thirty years ago." His baked potato with truffle became all the rage. "Voila!" He points to the recipe. "The people who come to the truffle dinner, they are very open-minded and they just like to make sure that there is some real cooking going on around truffle," says Daniel, who at the time of our interview planned to serve a tartare of langoustine with white truffle, a black truffle and patridge consommé, a ravioli of sweetbread and truffle and braised tongue and cheek. "The foodies are always looking for an opportunity to have an experience… You can go to the theater or the ballet or the opera in Palm Beach every day, so at least there is one more entertaining evening for everyone there. I love truffle, caviar, champagne," he says with a smile. "People love truffle… Once in awhile you have to make yourself a good indulgence." The legendary chef plans to open a new restaurant at One Vanderbilt in Midtown Manhattan this year. "This is a wonderful opportunity to partner with one of the best developers in town and they have built what will become, I'm sure, an iconic building in New York City: One Vanderbuilt. The building is, I think, taller than the Empire State Building by a few feet. I guess it's a question of how big the needle is," he says with a laugh. Near Grand Central Station, his second-floor restaurant will be the only restaurant inside the modern office building. "I really love the building, love the location, love the new restaurant. It's sort of a forward design compared to all my restaurants," Daniel tells me. The restaurant will feature a sophisticated garden of greenery to bring nature indoors, a fantastic bar… "Something very different than what I've done. We want to create an homage to the great places in New York." Daniel shows me a few renderings of the space on his phone. "The restaurant will be French, but subtly more contemporary...with a certain focus on ingredients, the season, lightness, health. I'm not opening a spa," he says with a smile, "but at the same time, I like the food to feel healthy, I mean, the food I like to eat as well, it's very important."