Meet The Team

Our team is comprised of more than 100 staff, representing 25 countries and a shared passion for hospitality. While you may not meet all of us face-to-face on your visit, know that we take pleasure in delivering the highest quality of service to you and ensuring that you enjoy your experience at Bar Boulud. We’re family and treat you like you are as well.

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Joe Stevens
General Manager
Dieter Samijn
Executive Chef
Ian Smedley
Head Sommelier
Joe Stevens
General Manager

On New York’s Upper West Side, General Manager Joe Stevens brings his vast hospitality experience and strong work ethic to Chef Daniel Boulud’s casual French bistro.

The child of a Sicilian restaurateur, Joe started working at his family’s business since the age of 12. From dishwashing and bussing, to cooking and waiting tables, he learned every aspect of the restaurant industry. Having found his calling, Joe enrolled in the French Culinary Institute (known today as International Culinary Center) to learn the art of fine cuisine. Accustomed to a busy schedule, he worked throughout his studies in various high-end restaurants and continued to do so post-graduation.

Gaining exposure and experience, Joe spent five years as the dining room manager and beverage director at Beacon Restaurant in New York. Later moving on to join Colicchio & Sons, he began as a captain and climbed the ranks to bar and restaurant manager in the span of three years. In 2012, Joe landed at the exclusive Gary Danko in San Francisco, where he served as assistant general manager and helped the restaurant achieve the highest-rated service in the country.

Upon his return to the East Coast, Joe joined Daniel Boulud’s Restaurant Group in 2016. Ever adaptable, he started as operations manager at Café Boulud, followed by stints at Restaurant DANIEL and Boulud Sud before settling into his current role as general manager at Bar Boulud. Equipped with his tasting spoon, Joe often stops by the kitchen to taste Chef Dieter Samijn’s cuisine, ensuring both food and service are reaching the highest of standards.

Ultimately for Joe, “every meal is not just fuel for the body, it’s enjoyment.” In his off time, he enjoys visiting his parents, smoking meats and relaxing on the boat. Passionate about food, Joe is always planning what he’s going to cook next.

Dieter Samijn
Executive Chef

Dieter Samijn never knew he wanted to be a Chef growing up. Born and raised in Antwerp, Belgium, he began his career as an Electrician after graduating from The Technical School of Duffel in Belgium. He quickly realized this was not his destined path and decided to follow in his younger sister’s foot steps to Culinary school, Hotelschool Ter Duinen in Koksijde in Belgium, where he learned to become a diverse chef.

Following his training at Hotelschool Ter Duinen, where he won an award for Best Belgian Cheese Maître d`Hotel, Dieter worked with world-renowned Chef Alain Ducasse around Europe for two years, specifically at Le Louis XV in Monte Carlo, Commis at Plaza Athenee in Paris, Spoon des Neiges in Gstaad, Switzerland serving as Tournant, then finally returning to Le Louis XV as Commis de Cuisine.

After learning from one of the most respected French Chefs, Dieter moved back to Belgium and worked at Restaurant Hof Van Cleve for four years under, Chef Peter Goossens. There he served as Chef de Partie and moved his way up to Sous Chef. Throughout his time at Restaurant Hof Van Cleve, Dieter worked hand-in-hand with Chef Peter Goossens to develop exciting new menu items. He also oversaw all aspects of the kitchen, ran restaurant operations, and organized private parties. Restaurant Hof Van Cleve has a special place in Dieter’s heart as he feels it was the restaurant that made him a real Chef. This restaurant allowed him to develop his own culinary niches and experience a large amount of team spirit in the kitchen. Restaurant Hof Van Cleve also received three Michelin stars when he was on the team.

Dieter’s life took a professional turn when he entered the world of catering, working as the Executive Chef and General Manager for Delicious Catering in Oostkamp, Belgium. After catering high-end events for four years, Dieters decided he wanted to return to restaurants and move to the United States.

He served as the Executive Chef and General Manager at B Too in Washington D.C., a Belgian Inspired restaurant By Bart Vandaele, for four years. Dieter oversaw sales, menu design, staff training, payroll, special events, outside catering, and more. Bart taught Dieterall the facets to running a kitchen and restaurant in the United States, and for that, Dieter is extremely grateful.

Now Dieter spearheads the kitchen as the Executive Chef at Daniel Boulud’s Upper West Side French bistro, Bar Boulud. Dieterrespects traditional French cuisine and has a special love for Charcuterie. When he is not in the kitchen, he spends time with his wife and two young children, cycling in Central Park, or riding his motorcycle around town. Chef Dieter is fluent in Dutch, English and French.

Ian Smedley
Head Sommelier

Ian Smedley fell in love with wine while majoring in Comparative Literature at Bard College. As a writer, Ian focused on universal interconnectivity, drawing connections between seemingly disparate things. This became a foundation for his thoughts on wine and how a wine could evoke an emotion or a memory of people and places. How coincidental that Ian, with his self-diagnosed “Proustian” interest, would end up working with Daniel Boulud and his signature madeleines.

During college, Ian juggled shifts at the Hudson Valley’s Tousey Vineyards. Upon graduation in 2013 he moved to New York City, and got his foot in the door as a backwaiter at Boulud Sud. During the day, Ian also worked at Flatiron Wines helping cellar and manage bottles in the Rare Wines department. As Ian grew with the team at Boulud Sud, he caught the eye of former Chef Sommelier, Michael Madrigale, who promoted him to the bar team at both Bar Boulud and Boulud Sud.

In 2016, Ian was appointed as Sommelier at DBGB in the East Village. There he learned how to purchase and manage a large program and was instrumental in expanding the wine and beer list to include interesting labels from all over the world. One year later, he shaved his beard and headed uptown. His career took a sophisticated turn working as a sommelier at Restaurant DANIEL under Raj Vaiyda, where he was trusted to open legendary wines almost every night.

Ian likes to recommend wines by telling a story. “Trying to explain the sense perception of fermented grain or grape juice is a challenge. But finding those descriptors – and delving into that space where taste can stop time for a little – that’s what I love about both good drink and great literature.”

In June 2019 he returned to Bar Boulud and Boulud Sud as Chef Sommelier of Daniel’s two Lincoln Center restaurants. In that capacity, Ian offers sincere hospitality and a passion for wine as well as for his guests and coworkers. He enjoys mentoring and looks forward to working with such a large team of professionals, presenting a memorable and diverse wine experience to all guests and growing the impressive wine program to an even more exceptional one. But what keeps Ian most interested is the element of service – and metaphor. “It is easy to lose sense of this, but at the heart of everything is the joyous gift of life, and the beauty of what human hands can craft. To subtly control the chemical process a fruit undergoes, to transform sugar into alcohol that flows so purely through us, is an art.”

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Daniel
Boulud

Chef / Owner

Daniel Boulud, a native of Lyon, France, is today considered one of America’s leading culinary authorities and one of the most revered French chefs in New York, the city he has called home since 1982. Daniel is chef-owner of db Bistro Moderne, DBGB Kitchen and Bar, Bar Boulud, Café Boulud, Boulud Sud and Épicerie Boulud. In all his restaurants you’ll find the warm welcome the chef is renowned for, combined with traces of the soulfully satisfying traditional cooking he grew up with on his family’s Rhône Valley farm. Yet Daniel Boulud is best known for New York’s exquisitely refined DANIEL, the three Michelin-star Relais & Châteaux restaurant. You’ll also discover the chef’s ingredient driven seasonal French-American cooking in Miami and Palm Beach, FL and internationally in London, Singapore, Beijing, Montréal and Toronto. Boulud is the author of seven cookbooks, the recipient of three James Beard Foundation awards, includingOutstanding Chef and Outstanding Restaurateur and was named a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur by the French government, as well as Chef of the Year 2011 by The Culinary Institute of America. He is a generous and energetic supporter of Citymeals-on-Wheels, serving on their board of directors since 2000 and is also co-founder and Chairman of the Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation.

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