Marc Murphy (chef)

Early career

Marc graduated from Fryeburg Academy in 1988 and then attended school at The Institute of Culinary Education and he started as a line cook at Prix Fixe in New York. By the mid-1990s, he was a sous-chef at Layla in New York and in 1996 became the executive chef at Cellar in the Sky, also in New York. From 1997 to 2000, he was the co-owner and executive chef of La Fourchette. In 2000, he also became the executive chef at Chinoiserie as well as the partner and co-owner of Le Couteau, both of which are in New York.

In March 2004, Murphy opened his first solo enterprise with Landmarc [Tribeca], which won rave reviews both for its eclectic French and Italian menu as well as its highly untraditional wine list. Following its success, Murphy opened Ditch Plains in the West Village in 2006 serving casual, beach-style cuisine such as lobster rolls, fish tacos and the infamous ditch dog as well as other comfort food favorites. In 2007, Murphy was given the opportunity to open another Landmarc restaurant in the prestigious Time Warner Center where he brought his bistro-style cuisine midtown. In October 2013, Murphy opened Kingside at the Viceroy New York hotel on New York’s iconic West 57th streets serving his interpretation of New American cuisine. And in Fall 2015, Murphy opened Grey Salt, a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa, Florida. Murphy’s restaurants now fall under the Benchmarc Restaurants by Marc Murphy name, where he acts as Executive Chef and Owner. In addition to the restaurants, Murphy also heads up the company’s catering division, Benchmarc Events by Marc Murphy, where his signature style of accessible contemporary cuisine transcends the boundaries of what is offered in his restaurant locations.

Today, Murphy’s involvement in the industry moves beyond the restaurants as well, with a regular role as a judge on The Food Network’s highest rated hit, Chopped, as well as appearances on Iron Chef America, Guy's Grocery Games, Beat Bobby Flay, Worst Cooks in America, Unique Eats, The Best Thing I Ever Ate, The Best Thing I Ever Made, The Rachael Ray Show and The Today Show among others. He is the President of the Manhattan chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association, a board member of City Harvest as well as a member of the Food + Finance High School’s Industry Advisory Board, a member of the Leadership Council for Share our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign and was the national spokesperson for Share Our Strength’s Dine Out For No Kid Hungry. In 2012, Marc joined the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Culinary Partnership, where he takes part in public diplomacy programs that engage foreign audiences abroad as well as those visiting the United States. Marc’s debut cookbook, Season with Authority: Confident Home Cooking was released in April 2015.

Personal life

He is the son of a "globetrotting" diplomat; and he has lived all over the world as a boy in cities such as Milan, Paris, Rome, Genoa, and Washington, DC—all before the age of 12, which he says served as an excellent education in French and Italian cooking. He opened his restaurant with his wife, Pamela Schein, and resides with her and their two children, Campbell and Callen, in New York.

In a question and answer interview with The New York Times, Murphy has also attributed his cooking influences to his mother and grandparents, as he has recounted experiences of enjoying leg of lamb and ratatouille in the south of France. He has also credited French chef Jean-Louis Palladin's first cookbook for having the biggest impact on him, as well as the "strength" and "leadership" of Winston Churchill's My Early Life: 1874–1904.