About Chef Quenioux

Growing up in Sologne, France, Bistro LQ Owner & Executive Chef Laurent Quenioux developed his love of game and wild strawberries with his parents: he would hunt duck, partridge, rabbit and hare with his father, and practice cooking his mother’s recipes at home in the kitchen. When he completed his education, he entered into an apprenticeship in the South of France where, according to Laurent, “everything is about fat duck, goose liver and foie gras.”

After working and honing his skills in some of the finest kitchens in France, Laurent moved to the United States with a team from L’Oasis at La Napoule to open The Regency Club in Los Angeles. In 1985, he introduced the celebrated and award-winning 7th Street Bistro in downtown Los Angeles, serving groundbreaking French Nouvelle California cuisine which became a favorite spot for the mayor and Hollywood celebrities. Subway construction led to the closing of the 7th Street Bistro after a decade, and Laurent spent the late 1990s as the Executive Chef for Dodgers Stadium.

In the early 2000s, he returned to his restaurant roots with the debut of the cozy Bistro K in Pasadena, earning accolades for his originality and precision with a revolutionary menu designed to open the senses and minds of his guests to new possibilities, tastes and textures. With the opening of Bistro LQ in July 2009, Laurent brought his edgy style and ingenuity to a larger & more central location in Los Angeles near West Hollywood.

Feeling a need to take new risks and expand his vision, Laurent closed Bistro LQ in Spring of 2011 for a culinary and creative sabbatical. Presently Laurent is working on a biographic book project while cooking at his popular experimental “Fooding” Supper Club @MaMaison and around Los Angeles, London, Paris and Amsterdam.