Lucy Field works at Per Se in New York City and a 2026-27 S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy U.S. Regional Finalist. Still in the early stages of her career, Field is developing a culinary perspective shaped by classical French technique, Japanese ingredients, seasonal produce, and the cultural breadth of the city where she grew up.
Field graduated from Le Cordon Bleu Paris in 2025 before spending a year at The Musket Room in New York. There, she worked closely with chef Noah Ponjuan, who became an important early mentor and encouraged her to enter the Young Chef Academy Competition. She later staged at chef Daniel Berlin’s VYN in Sweden before joining Per Se, Thomas Keller’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant in New York.
Her interest in cooking began at home. Field grew up watching her mother prepare dinner for Field and her brothers almost every day, with the Food Network playing in the background. Her mother’s roast chicken, a dish passed down from Field’s grandmother, was the first thing she learned to cook and remains the meal she most closely associates with home. As a teenager, Field began cooking regularly for her family, including the many versions of steak and fries she made for one particularly selective brother.
Those experiences taught her to see food as a way of caring for people. Culinary school introduced another source of motivation: the discipline of professional cooking and the knowledge that even familiar preparations can always be improved. Field describes her emerging style as bright, intentional, and refined, with French technique providing its foundation and Japanese flavors and methods offering new avenues for exploration.
Field’s signature competition dish, Pekin duck, cherry, and plum, brings those influences together. The duck breast is seasoned with togarashi and paired with a summer cherry gastrique flavored with sansho pepper. A salad of cherries and plums marinated in cherry kosho is finished with charred shallot and shiso.
The dish begins with the classical French pairing of duck and cherry but introduces Japanese heat, fermentation, and aromatic complexity. It also reflects Field’s experience of growing up in New York, where different culinary traditions coexist and influence one another. Rather than placing French and Japanese elements side by side, she wants the dish to feel unified, balanced, and personal.
For Field, the competition offers an opportunity to step outside the structure of a restaurant kitchen and present work that is entirely her own. She also sees it as a chance to learn from chefs beyond her immediate circle and become a more confident cook as her point of view continues to evolve.
Lucy Field is one of 10 chefs competing in the 2026-27 S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy U.S. Regional Final. Meet the other finalists vying for a place at the global Grand Finale.
