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

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

Chef Daniel Bruce of the locally favoured Meritage the Restaurant created the event 25 years ago for Bostonians to savour some of the world's top labels.

BBC: Business trip: Boston