Anne Kearney is an American chef and restaurateur.
38 years of studies, cooking on the line, assisting stellar chefs, and Anne’s private trials, have matured her cuisine into an Americanized version of classically styled European fare…heavy on the French flare. Her passion for quality ingredients and the “sense of place” she feels in the kitchen, will always be the cornerstones of her dedication to her chosen career.
She is ever mindful to incorporate her mentor, Chef John Neal’s legacies whenever possible: from cuisine (“Respect for the food and proper preparation from start to finish was expected at all times. Nothing marginal was accepted.”) to the dining experience itself. " It was my intent to create a very personal dining experience. This was important to the staff and even more important to my guests. Due to these disciplines, I was able to experiment with new recipes, work with the cooks on the line, and visit the guests”.
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Chef Anne Kearney
Awards & Accolades
2021-2022 Oak & Ola - Creative Loafing - Best Restaurant - Tampa Heights
2019 Oak & Ola - Creative Loafing - Best New Restaurant - Tampa
2019 - Present - Founding Chef Partner “Oak & Ola” Tampa, FL
2012 Rue Dumaine - James Beard Foundation
Annual James Beard Foundation Awards
Best Chef Great Lakes Region Finalist
2011 Rue Dumaine - Food Arts article - When Pigs Fly, Part Deux, Mystery Basket
2011 Rue Dumaine - Open Table Diners Choice Award
2010 Rue Dumaine - The SAVEUR 100 - Chef Anne Kearney, not to be missed.
2007 - 2017 Chef/Proprietor Restaurant “Rue Dumaine” Dayton, OH
Chef Anne continued the success she achieved at Restaurant Peristyle (New Orleans 1995 - 2004) when she moved back to Ohio (birthplace) to open Rue Dumaine. Again, achieving national recognition and awards from James Beard Foundation, Saveur magazine, and Zagat Guide.
2004 Peristyle - Zagat - America’s Top Restaurant Survey
“Ambrosia from the hands of a goddess” is how admirers acclaim chef/co-owner Anne Kearney’s “amazing” French-Contemporary Louisiana cuisine, which was voted No. 1 for Food in the Survey once again; set “on the fringe of the Quarter,” the “bistro-esque” scene (with sublime vintage bar) bustles with “cordial, unobtrusive” servers; true the “small” size makes it “tough to get a reservation, but it’s worth fighting for.” P.S. “It’s not cheap, but it shouldn’t be.”
2003 Peristyle - Lagniappe - Brett Anderson November 2, 2003
“In someone’s idealized imaginings, New Orleans is overflowing with places like Peristyle, romantic, special occasion restaurants writ small, with a brilliant chef/co-owner in the kitchen, an urbane tribe of regulars, and a vibe worthy of bottling. Everyone would have his own favorite. In the real world, there’s only one such place. It is Peristyle and nothing else really compares.”
2003 Peristyle - Nations Restaurant News - NRN Fine Dining Hall of Fame Inductee
2002 Peristyle - James Beard Foundation
American Express Best Chef Winner: Southeast 2002
2002 Peristyle - Zagat - America’s Top Restaurant Survey
“As per the No. 1 Food ranking in this year’s Survey, ‘Anne Kearney is the best chef’ in town, and ‘if anything, she’s gotten better since reopening after the fire’… ‘focused flavors’… ‘outstanding’ French-American cuisine with ‘perfectly matched’ wine ‘beautifully presented’ by a ‘spectacular staff.’ You’re bound to agree with locals who insist ‘trying to imagine a better dining experience would make my head explode’.”
2001 Peristyle - Lagniappe - “5 Beans” Brett Anderson October 5, 2001 -
“…Chef-owner Anne Kearney balances sophistication and warmth, tradition and invention in essentially every French-accented dish served at Peristyle.” “With finesse, focus and attention to the smallest detail, Peristyle chef Anne Kearney puts it all together.”
“She’s worked to become one of the city’s great chefs.”
2001 Peristyle - InsideNewOrleans.com
Tom Fitzmorris September 2001 - “It’s French, but in a casual, generally southern country French way. They use great ingredients, but nothing will puzzle you either by its identity or the way it is used. When the food arrives, the promise of the menu and the server will be met and exceeded and that goes a long way in explaining why eating here is such a pleasure.” “It’s new-old. My favorite kind of restaurant.”
2001/2002 Peristyle - The Chef’s Guide To America’s Best Restaurant
“Elegant flavors, relaxed atmosphere, great bar.” “A charming French Quarter bistro with creative, well-executed food, and one of the nicest chefs you will ever meet.” “Anne is one of the 10 hottest new chefs in America…need I say more?
2000 Peristyle - Zagat
America’s Top Restaurant Survey 2000 - “Brilliant”, “delicious” Louisiana-French cuisine that’s as “good as it gets” is what surveyors say about chef-owner Anne Kearney’s French Quarter “classic bistro”; in fact, had not a fire destroyed its interior, temporarily closing the restaurant, it would have won the New Orleans Survey’s No. 1 spot for Food; the good news is, it’s undergone a spiffy renovation and re-opened on the same site.”
1999 Peristyle - Restaurant Business
March 1, 1999 - The Lady is a Champ; Saluting Women of the Industry—legends, leaders, and Stars of Tomorrow.
1998 Peristyle - Gourmet
America’s Top Table October 1998 - Voted Top Food, New Orleans. “The restaurants you voted for this year, with their dedication to seasonal, fresh food that’s been cultivated with care and respect—and prepared that way, too—have certainly raised the level of cooking in this country.”
1998 Peristyle - Robert Mondavi
September 1998 - Culinary Award of Excellence, Top Bistro/Casual Chef in America
1998 Peristyle - Food & Wine
July 1998 - America’s Top Chef - 10 Best New Chefs in America
1998 Peristyle - Wine Spectator
America’s Rising Star Chef - March 31, 1998 - “…In just two short years, Anne Kearney has made “Peristyle” one of New Orleans’ hottest destination restaurants.”
1998 Peristyle - Lagniappe - “5 Beans” - Craig LaBan - February 27, 1998 -
“…Finding this level of culinary pleasure is rare. And after a year of intense searching, I’ve not found another working chef in the city who is cooking at this high level with the consistency of Kearney…Superior…Chef Anne Kearney elevates the lusty taste of bistro cooking to a new level…I am long under the spell of Chef Anne Kearney’s food.”
1998 Peristyle - Zagat
America’s Top Restaurants Survey Rated #2 in New Orleans for food.
“…Wonderful, innovative, fit for the gods.”
1998 Peristyle - Lagniappe “The Power Lunch: An Insider’s Guide…” - Craig LaBan -
“…another set of leisure power lunchers have begun congregating across the Quarter within the cozy bistro confines of Peristyle…academics to lawyers to brokers, judges, and radio station executives…many associated in some way with the local art world…What unites them all…is the remarkable cooking of Chef Anne Kearney, whose refined bistro food is at its most innovative for Friday lunch…a chance to try new things on her loyal clientele. ‘This is the foodie power lunch,’ says [a regular].”
1999-2001 Peristyle - James Beard Foundation
American Express Best Chef: Southeast, Finalist
9th, 10th 11th Annual James Beard Foundation Awards-1999, 2000, 2001:
1997 Peristyle - James Beard Foundation
7th Annual James Beard Foundation Awards, 1997. Perrier-Jouet Rising Star Chef of the Year, Finalist
1995- 2019 Founding Chef/Proprietor “Peristyle”