Eric Ripert

If ever there was a poster child for the at home gourmet cooking community, it would be chef Ripert. The softspoken chef de cuisine at Le Bernardin in New York, he does amazing things with sauces and fish (so i hear... and see pictures of). He was in the French Laundry episode of No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain (he was the one gushing in a thick accent and grinning ear to ear during every course of the tasting menu), and he has been a guest judge on a few cycles of Top Chef. Not to mention he runs a very thoughtful blog called Avec Eric which started out with recipes and video tutorials of unfussy-yet-delicious food using nothing but a toaster oven. It has since morphed into a community site surrounding dinner parties and socials using a set menu that he gently walks you through. Everyone posts their finished courses and talks a little bit about how things went or things they would change for next time. Every few months a new dinner menu is set using seasonal ingredients. Interesting concept!

Here's a great interview with him.