Tandy Wilson to Leave City House After 19 Years
Nashville's first James Beard Award winner will hand his Germantown restaurant to new operators at the end of the year. The name, the staff and the belly ham pizza stay.
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The Culinary Institute of America has honored the chef with a bronze by Gordon Huether. Keller's own words say what he hopes it will teach.
The Culinary Institute of America has unveiled a statue honoring Thomas Keller. The dedication took place on Oct. 8, according to the dedication plaque shown in Keller's post. The chef announced the honor on his verified Instagram account on Oct. 10, and the post had drawn more than 6,500 likes by late Saturday morning.
Keller thanked the school, its president Michiel Bakker, and Chancellor Dr. Tim Ryan, along with the donors whose generosity made the statue possible: Pat and Bill Anton, Camille and Larry Ruvo, Michael Meldman, Velma and Ted Balistreri, Ty Warner, and Jennifer and Peter Goldman.
I hope they see what is possible for themselves and are reminded that excellence is not a destination.Thomas Keller, via his verified Instagram
Keller, who wrote that he never attended culinary school, credited his mother, his brother, Chef Roland Henin, and the many others who taught him over his career. That spirit of generosity, he wrote, has guided the Culinary Institute throughout its history.
The statue is the work of Gordon Huether, the Napa-based artist behind several of the school's most visible artworks. "The Rooster and The Egg" went up in 2024 at the New York campus. "The Mitchell Gate," a 17-foot sculpture of giant asparagus stalks holding a filigree arch crowned with an artichoke, was dedicated in 2025 in front of the Tim Ryan Student Commons and named for CIA alumnus Cameron Mitchell.
In Napa, Huether's work already stands at the CIA at Copia: the rooftop sculpture "Is that Bob & Margrit?" and an 18-foot "Fork." The Keller statue continues that run.
Keller has been the chef and owner of The French Laundry, at 6640 Washington St. in Yountville, since 1994.
The Culinary Institute of America says the statue stands at its Hyde Park campus in New York, just inside the Keller Gate at the school's main entrance, where the school describes it as a daily reminder to its students. Keller's original post had not named the campus. (Updated Oct. 19, 2026, to add the confirmed location.)
Filed from the Chefs desk.
Nashville's first James Beard Award winner will hand his Germantown restaurant to new operators at the end of the year. The name, the staff and the belly ham pizza stay.
Straker’s opened at 59 Grand Street on October 10, in the former Lucky Strike space: the chef’s first restaurant outside London.
The former Kiln head chef opens Pam, her first standalone restaurant, in Farringdon on 3 November. A second, Aree, follows in Notting Hill next year.
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