Mourad Lahlou

Arriving in California from Marrakesh in 1985 to go to college, a homesick young Mourad Lahlou began to channel memories of watching his mother and aunts as they prepared traditional Moroccan dishes at home. He started to cook for himself, then for friends, and then for friends of friends. He completed a master’s degree in macroeconomics, but the lure of the kitchen pulled him from his doctorate, and he opened his first restaurant, in San Rafael, California, in 1997. He then opened the decidedly modern Aziza, named after his mother, in San Francisco in 2001, to international acclaim. In 2009, he won Iron Chef America by the largest margin in the history of the show.