Meet The Team

Our team is comprised of more than 100 staff, representing 25 countries, with a shared passion for hospitality. We strive to deliver 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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Vincent Cortese
Executive Chef
Elvir Dzananovic
Regional Manager
Victoria Taylor
Head Sommelier
Vincent Cortese
Executive Chef

Vincent Cortese grew up in Edison, New Jersey and began working in the restaurant industry after high school. After working as a host, server and bartender, he made his way to the back-of-house, where he “immediately fell in love with the energy of the kitchen,” marking the start of Vincent’s culinary journey.

Vincent went on to graduate from the Art Institute of New York with a diploma in Professional Culinary Arts. Upon graduation, he worked at two restaurants in New Jersey where he was first exposed to fine-dining. In 2011, Vincent ventured to the “Big Apple” where he landed his first job as junior sous chef at New York’s renowned Italian restaurant, Del Posto, learning the importance of regional Italian cooking. Vincent was eager to take fine-dining to the next level, which led him to the acclaimed kitchen of Chef Daniel Boulud in 2012. As a tournant at DANIEL, Vincent had the opportunity to work his way through the entire kitchen, learning each station, under executive chef Jean François Bruel – who remains one of his mentors to this day.

After a few years, Vincent went on to help open celebrity chef Bryan Voltaggoi’s restaurant, Aggio, in Baltimore, and then returned to the team at Del Posto. As executive sous chef, and then chef de cuisine under Chef Melissa Rodriguez, Vincent earned the freedom to be creative and innovative, while simultaneously managing the culinary team and creating a positive kitchen culture.

In September, 2020, Vincent was reacquainted with the Boulud family at Bar Boulud, Chef Daniel’s French bistro on the Upper West Side. As executive chef, he is excited to dive into the history of French cooking, while still putting his creative touch on dishes with unique, seasonal ingredients. Vincent’s ultimate goal is to push Bar Boulud to be the best French bistro in New York through his approach in hospitality: “to bring the passion and love to work every day; not just in what goes into the food, but how we treat each other in the restaurant…that positive energy is contagious and the guests can feel it.”

Elvir Dzananovic
Regional Manager

Elvir Dzananovic has been a member of the Daniel Boulud family for more than 20 years. Originally from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Elvir started as a Server Assistant at Restaurant DANIEL in 2000, and since, has risen to the positions of Service Director at DANIEL followed by General Manager at Bar Boulud, and now Regional Manager for the Upper West Side.

After leaving war-torn Bosnia, Elvir and his family had been living in the Czech Republic since he was fifteen years old. In an effort to support his family, Elvir worked at his uncle’s local bar and deli. Foreign to the Czech language, he worked behind the scenes, and quickly progressed to the front-of-house. Elvir and his family were not able to go back to Bosnia. Instead, Elvir moved to America through the International Rescue Committee, where he met Chef Daniel and got his first job. Over the years he learned the intricacies of fine-dining and steadily progressed, moving up to food runner, lounge server, assistant captain, captain, and eventually one of the floor maître d’s in 2010. During his eight years in that capacity, Elvir worked tirelessly with the team to ensure a polished and efficient service infused with a warm sense of hospitality at every turn.

In 2018, Chef Daniel asked Elvir to oversee the dining room staff at Café Boulud. He was a familiar face to the clientele there and was a mentor to the team. But his heart remained at DANIEL and he returned in July 2019 as the Service Director. “Elvir is family to me and the rest of the Dinex family,” says Daniel, “It has been my privilege to work with him and see him grow as a person, a husband and father, and my friend.”

In 2021, Elvir accepted the position of General Manager at Bar Boulud, Chef Daniel’s French brasserie, and eventually became the regional manager for the Upper West Side, overseeing Bar Boulud, Boulud Sud, and Épicerie Boulud. In his newest position, Elvir is very excited for the opportunity to guide the service team and partner up with the culinary team to ensure an excellent guest experience. On the daily, he reminds his team, “every guest that walks through the front door deserves to have that ‘home away from home meal experience.’” Ultimately, Elvir’s goal is to position the restaurant in the heart of the community – “I want Bar Boulud to reflect the essence and spirit of the Upper West Side through our staff, the physical product and the guest experience.”

When he is not leading the service team and the restaurant, Elvir can be found spending quality time with his wife and two young boys watching as much sports as possible.

Victoria Taylor
Head Sommelier

Victoria Taylor grew up moving around depending on the season, as her family split most of their time between New York in the summer and fall in South Florida during the winter and spring, with visits to Kentucky, California, and Europe sprinkled in. Victoria also spent time in West Elks, Colorado, where her family owned a fruit and vegetable farm. She views her upbringing as every child’s dream, a balance of both city and farm life.

In her teen years, Victoria worked at local restaurants in Jupiter, Florida, where she enjoyed being part of a collaborative team. Throughout college, Victoria worked at Bamboo Sushi, a sustainable restaurant in Portland, Oregon, where she learned about their suppliers and how the best cuts of fish begin with hard work from fishers and farmers. Eventually, Victoria moved on to work at Quaintrelle, another restaurant in Portland, committed to hyper-local fare. There, Victoria learned that the true goal of hospitality should not only be to provide an exceptional experience, but to act as a curator between the farmers and the guests sitting at the table.

Victoria was initially focused on becoming an environmental lawyer and studied Economics and Classical Studies at Lewis and Clark College, a liberal arts school in Portland, Oregon. At the time, she didn’t realize how apt Classical Studies would be to her future career. During college, Victoria helped work harvests and in a few cellars in the Willamette Valley where she fell in love with the vineyards and the hands-on process of making wine.

In 2018 Victoria moved to Bordeaux and studied hospitality at CAFA Formations, a wine-focused business school, where she gained practical knowledge about the industry, working the floor, and about wine itself. While in Bordeaux, she learned how to manage tastings, dinners, and parties, as well as the importance of making guests feel at home, from sommeliers Stéphane Boutiton and Marie-André Gagnon, both of whom remain Victoria’s mentors to this day. Recently, she has become more curious about high-altitude regions nestled into the Alps, where the purity of the grape and land are refreshingly clear in the bottle.

Following undergrad, Victoria recognized her calling and in September 2021, she joined Dinex Group as a sommelier at Bar Boulud. In early 2022 Victoria was promoted to head sommelier of Bar Boulud and Boulud Sud, Chef Daniel’s two Lincoln Center restaurants that offer an impressive and unique wine list. With her holistic approach to hospitality and exceptional service skills, Victoria is thrilled to integrate her understanding of the cultural and personal history to each bottle of wine. Victoria looks forward to creating great pairings for her guests and curating a selection of bottles from winemakers that have worked so hard to produce, in her words, “such a magical thing.”

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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, including Outstanding 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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