On Monday, the two were jointly honored as the nation's most outstanding chefs by the James Beard Foundation, an exclamation point on circuitous careers that began in other fields Chang in finance and Kahan in computer science but saw them quickly ascend to the top of the restaurant world.

WSJ: David Chang, Paul Kahan tie for top chef honor

The 35-seat Schwarzwaldstube has repeatedly been rated as one of the top restaurants in the world (most recently in 2009 by the British magazine, Restaurant), and holds 19.5 stars (out of 20) from Gault Millau, a French restaurant guide similar to Michelin.

BBC: The fruits of Germany��s Black Forest

Some ingredients are sold to the Danish restaurant Noma, which has taken the top spot in a list of the world's best 50 restaurants for the past three years.

BBC: Norway's Roros keeps reindeer recipes under wraps