Food & Wine

‘I’m really excited to go to Ireland’: YouTube chef Brad Leone on his new path

The former Bon Appétit chef and New Jersey native talks local legends, fermentation and more ahead of his appearance at the Big Grill festival in Dublin

Brad Leone: “Getting into cooking was a pretty ambitious, borderline naive, dream of mine.”

To a legion of cooks and internet fans, Brad Leone is a big deal. Born in New Jersey, he became a chef after working a variety of jobs, including as a carpenter, a caterer, a deli worker and more. Leone then studied at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City before becoming widely known in the late 2010s for his YouTube videos and recipes.

“Culinary school wasn’t my favourite thing. I wasn’t a ...