A restaurant
built on the
word no.

Elena grew up on a working farm in Vermont and spent her early twenties cooking through Europe — stagiaire stints in Copenhagen, Lyon, and Barcelona before landing a line position at Per Se at 26. She became sous chef at Eleven Madison Park at 29.

She returned to New York in 2018 determined to open a restaurant that did not need to be explained, but did need to be felt. Maren opened the following year to a Michelin star in its first eligible season.

Marcus's background is in architecture, and you can see it in every dessert — a preoccupation with structure that yields the moment before collapse. He trained under Jacques Torres before spending four years at The French Laundry and two at Alinea.

At Maren, he is responsible for the final three courses and the mignardise programme. His constraint is the same as Elena's: nothing from one week's sweet courses can appear in the next. He has not repeated himself in five years.