Dominique Crenn: The three Michelin-starred chef on grief, finding unexpected inspiration and making culinary history
As the first female chef in the United States to earn three Michelin stars, Dominique Crenn has secured her place among the greats of the culinary world.
Even with all her accomplishments, recognition isn't what she values the most.
'I want to be remembered as a human that gave back,' she said.
And she has done just that, transforming one of her restaurants into a community kitchen during the Covid pandemic, developing an initiative to help farmers in Haiti, and taking a stance against factory farming.
But her journey to this point has been anything but easy.
In a deeply personal conversation with CNN's Kyung Lah, Crenn opened up about the grief she experienced after losing her mother, her own fight with cancer, and the powerful lessons she learned from both.
Born just outside of Paris in 1965, Crenn was adopted as a baby by a politician father and a mother who worked in finance.
Both of her parents were from Brittany, a region on France's Atlantic coast. Crenn spent much of her childhood by the sea, where she says she developed a deep connection to nature, tradition, the Breton people and landscape. This region continues to shape the way she honors tradition through her cooking.
Despite her culinary accolades, she never planned to become a chef.
After earning a degree in economics and international business in Paris, her dream was to become a photographer. But the bureaucracy in France felt too confining for the kind of freedom she was searching for.
Her father knew someone in San Francisco, so she decided to take a chance and moved there.
She arrived with no job, no plan, and no clear direction — just a feeling that she needed something different. 'I was taken by the beauty of San Francisco,' she said. 'The freedom of it and the community that really accepted me.'
She had always loved to cook – alongside her mother and grandmother, and through the influence of her father's best friend, a food critic. 'I loved the artistry of it, the emotion,' Crenn recalled.
'I'm French – I should cook,' she decided.
After working at Jeremiah Tower's acclaimed California restaurant, Stars, Crenn was captivated. 'From that I just had this vision. One day, I will open a place, with no walls. And I will fill it with creativity.'
Years later, in 2011, she opened the doors to her first restaurant: Atelier Crenn. By 2018, it had earned the coveted three Michelin stars, considering among the most prestigious honors in the culinary world.
'The vision happened because I created a community of people around me that believed in it,' Crenn said. 'And then when I had three stars, as the first female chef in the United States, I had to understand that those stars were not mine. They were a platform for others to have a voice.'
Just months after winning the three stars, her world was turned upside down in early 2019, when she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer.
'I had to shift to a mindset of positivity and resilience,' said Crenn, whose twin daughters were aged four at the time. 'There is no plan B. You have to keep going,' she told CNN.
After 16 rounds of chemotherapy, Crenn was declared cancer-free at the end of 2020.
She would face another loss when her mother died a few years later.
'Before my mom passed away, I was sitting with her in the hospital. She took my hand and said: 'Remember that you can cry, but let your tears be tears of joy. Remember, I will always be with you.''
Dominique Crenn preserves her mother's memory through her food — including the menus at Atelier Crenn, which arrive in the form of a poem. The latest is a tribute to her mother, each line and dish a reflection of love and loss.
'I've been in a state of grieving for the last two years,' said Crenn. 'This menu was a celebration of the passing of my mom … saying goodbye to someone who anchored me all my life. She was the one who gave me love, who welcomed me into a new life after I was adopted. She guided me as a woman through this life.'
'We have to honor our parents,' added Crenn. 'We have to honor our grandparents, our ancestors because they are the reason why we're here and who we are today.'
After turning 60 earlier this year, Crenn sees 2025 as a year of transformation.
'When you go through cancer, you experience a kind of rebirth. This is a year of finding yourself,' she said. 'And I'm proud of myself.'
She is excited to continue her journey and surround herself with inspiring people. At the heart of that evolution is her deep belief in the beauty of humanity and the irreplaceable soul of food.
'Food can't be replaced by AI,' she told CNN. 'It holds the knowledge of our ancestors. You learn so much through food — through your grandmother's cooking, through the stories she used to tell. We have to keep food alive. And that also means valuing the farmers, the winemakers. None of this should be taken for granted.'
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