When Charlie Palmer took over the kitchen at Brooklyn’s The River Café in 1983, he was just 23 and a recent graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. But he was at the vanguard of a transformation of fine dining in the U.S. Five years later, he opened his first restaurant, Aureole, and graced the pages of The New York Times Magazine, which declared him at the “forefront of those who are trying to redefine American cuisine.” Twenty-seven years later, the James Beard Award–winning Palmer kept true to his approach, even as his empire has expanded across the country to include 18 restaurants, a chain of wine stores and four hotels.