Background
Barbara Lynch was born on March 19, 1964, in Boston, Massachusetts. She grew up in South Boston during the era of desegregation busing.
Barbara Lynch was born on March 19, 1964, in Boston, Massachusetts. She grew up in South Boston during the era of desegregation busing.
Lynch did not complete high school. At the age of 13, got her first kitchen job cooking at a local rectory. It was in high school, however, that an influential home economics teacher and a job working with Chef Mario Bonello at Boston’s esteemed St. Botolph Club piqued her interest in one day becoming a professional chef.
During her early twenties, Barbara worked under some of Boston’s greatest culinary talents. After working with Todd English for several years at Michaela’s and Olives, Barbara traveled to Italy where she learned about Italian cuisine firsthand from local women. She returned to Boston and became the executive chef at Galleria Italiana, bringing national acclaim to the tiny trattoria when she captured Food & Wine's “Ten Best New Chefs in America” award.
In 1998, Barbara opened a restaurant of her own, No. 9 Park, in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. The restaurant immediately received rave reviews from publications around the country and was named one of the “Top 25 New Restaurants in America” by Bon Appétit and “Best New Restaurant” by Food & Wine.
Barbara expanded her presence in Boston by opening two restaurants in the South End in 2003: B&G Oysters, serving exquisitely fresh oysters and New England classics, and The Butcher Shop, a wine bar and full service butcher shop. Barbara continued to grow her culinary empire by opening three unique concepts in succession: in 2005, Niche Catour, a catering company; Plum Produce in September 2006; and next door, Stir, a demonstration kitchen and cookbook store in 2007.
In fall 2008 Barbara launched two concepts in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood: Drink, a bar dedicated to the craft of the cocktail, and Sportello (Italian for counter service), Barbara’s modern interpretation of a diner. Her catering company, 9 at Home (formerly Niche Catour), relocated to Fort Point in 2008 as well. In spring 2010 Barbara and her team opened an eagerly anticipated third concept in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood, Menton, a fine dining restaurant.
Barbara's first cookbook, Stir: Mixing It Up in The Italian Tradition, was published by Houghton Mifflin in fall 2009.
As the CEO of Barbara Lynch Gruppo, Barbara oversees the operations of eight concepts and employs over 200 people.
James Beard Award-winner Barbara Lynch is regarded as one of Boston’s- and the country’s - leading chefs and restaurateurs. In 2017 she was included in Time Magazines "Top 100 Most Influential People of the Year" for her pioneering contributions in the culinary world and her focus on local wealth creation through agronomy.
Her fine dining restaurant, Menton, has received several accolades, including being named one of both Bon Appétit and Esquire magazine’s best new restaurants in 2010, being nominated as a James Beard Foundation Awards 2011 finalist for Best New Restaurant, and a 4 star review from The Boston Globe.
Barbara’s talents have continued to garner numerous accolades over the years, both locally and nationally. In 2003, The James Beard Foundation named her “Best Chef Northeast” and Travel & Leisure proclaimed No. 9 Park one of the “Top 50 Restaurants in America.” For two consecutive years, No. 9 Park was named “Best Restaurant, General Excellence” by Boston Magazine and Gourmet included it as one of “America’s Top 50 Restaurants” in 2006. In 2007, Boston Magazine named Barbara “Best Chef.”
Barbara and her recipes have been featured in many publications including Saveur, Boston Common, Bon Appétit, The New York Times, and Inc. magazine. She was one of a handful of Bostonians to be profiled in the ABC-TV documentary series “Boston 24/7” and is the subject of a documentary film entitled “Amuse Bouche—A Chef’s Tale.” In 2009, Barbara was honored to join Doris Kearns Goodwin and Julia Child as a recipient of the Crittenton Women's Union's Amelia Earhart Award.
Barbara's first cookbook, Stir: Mixing It Up in The Italian Tradition, was immediately earned praise from both the media and home cooks and received a prestigious Gourmand award for “Best Chef Cookbook” for the US.
In addition to running her company, each year she dedicates time and resources to several neighborhood organizations around Boston as well as a number of local and national philanthropic missions. In 2011, she and the Gruppo team launched an initiative dedicated to cultivating healthy, sustainable eating habits through hands-on learning in gardens and classrooms at Boston's at-risk schools.
Quotations:
Having a balance in life: “You have to separate yourself. I love my space, so there are times I don’t want to talk to anybody. A lot of my chefs are young, and if I’m with them all the time then I see the bad things. In order to create menus and innovate so we can grow, I can’t be in the eye of the storm. I have to be out of it.”
Building a successful team: “I love my team, I love my staff. I started with 30 employees, now I have 280, and they’re great! I call them “misfits.” It’s so powerful that, if you don’t love food, you don’t love hospitality, then you’re going to stick out like a sore thumb. You’re not going to work as hard as everybody else, and you’re not going to make it.”
The customer experience: “I hope there’s a wow factor with all my restaurants. I’m not an over-the-top kind of a person, so if you have dinner here, you’re going to notice that our silverware is beautiful but it’s not too extravagant and there aren’t so many of them that is too overwhelming. If Joe Schmo has never gone out eating before, he’s going to get luxury and elegance here but not be intimidated.”
On the brilliance of molecular food: “I’m not molecular, it’s not how I cook or how I like to eat. But I love Ferran Adria, I think he’s brilliant. But it would take me another 25 years to learn how to cook that way, because I don’t know science that well. I love what they’re doing, they’re pushing the envelope. I feel so lucky I get to witness molecular food, it’s like when haut cuisine became haut cuisine.”
Dealing with sexism in culinary industry: “There is some, timing is everything and I don’t play a game. Some people don’t come around, so it’s almost like being an artist. I can’t appeal to everybody, but I know I appeal to my staff, I know it resonates with them. I know I appeal to a lot of winemakers in the world, and that’s what makes me tick. For me, I’m confident enough in my industry with the people I like to surround myself with, good people with similar views and values. If I don’t get recognized, it’s okay, I’m happy with it. But the fact that I do get the recognition from people like Thomas Keller, who comes in for dinner. That means to me: I’ve arrived.”
Respect for an amazing staff: “I’m very proud to create a culinary profession, not a temporary restaurant job. I’m so proud of everyone that I work with, they are my success. I’m simply the visionary person, they’re the ones who believe in it. They sell it, they push it. Why wouldn’t you want to treat them with respect and dignity?”
She is a member of distinguished industry organizations including the Bocuse d’Or USA’s Culinary Council, Women Chefs & Restaurateurs, and Les Maîtres Cuisiniers.
Her favorite food is spicy hummus and cucumbers and lettuce. But she loves fried clams and French fries too.
Barbara married Charles Petri in 1997.
