Chef Dominique Crenn Talks Planting Trees In Haiti, Microwave Popcorn And Returning To LA

Chef Dominique Crenn is a woman. Now get over it. No, really. She may have won the title of World's Best Female Chef from the London-based World's 50 Best last year, but she's doing much more than simply being a female in the kitchen. In 2013, her modernist French San Francisco restaurant, Atelier Crenn, was awarded two Michelin stars. She opened a second San Francisco restaurant, a French bistro called Petit Crenn, in 2015.

She's also one of the leading forces behind the Root Project, a joint effort with former journalist Michaƫlle Jean and other chefs to rebuild the infrastructure for farmers in Haiti following the devastation of Hurricane Matthew last year. Part of that effort includes traveling to Haiti to help plant trees for coffee and cacao farmers.

You may have seen Crenn, who is from the Brittany region of France, featured on Season 2 of the Netflix documentary series "Chefs Table." Or maybe you caught her TED talk. She's also the author of the cookbook "Atelier Crenn: Metamorphosis of Taste."

It seems her career is teetering on the edge of critical mass, without any sign of slowing.

Read the complete interview with Dominique Crenn in the Los Angeles Times here.