About Justin Cogley

Justin Cogley is the king of Californian coastal cuisine. Since taking over the reins at Aubergine, the fine dining restaurant of the luxury L’Auberge hotel in the picturesque beach city of Carmel-by-the-Sea on the Monterey Peninsula, Cogley has scooped up numerous awards for his modern, inventive cooking. Not bad for a former professional international figure skater.

Cogley skated away from touring Asia, Australia and Europe with Disney on Ice with a wealth of culinary experiences, picked up from visits to restaurants and food markets during his travels. On his return to the US, he enrolled at the Western Culinary Institute and began working in restaurants in Portland, Oregon. After graduating with honours in 2005, he went to work for the late Charlie Trotter at his fine dining restaurant in Chicago, one of the most acclaimed and influential in the history of American cuisine, where he rose to the position of Chef de Cuisine. Cogley went on to become executive sous chef of the high-end Elysian Hotel in Chicago (now the Waldorf Astoria) before relocating to Carmel.

With the ocean just five blocks from his kitchen door, Cogley is a keen forager, collecting seaweeds and wild mussels from the shore and even stopping during his tri-athlete training runs from Carmel to Big Sur to pick red sorrel,nasturtium and mushrooms along the trail. Such is his passion for the bounties of the sea, Cogley created the Rediscovering Coastal Cuisine culinary event where he invites chefs from around the US to collaborate on a 12-course tasting menu that celebrates the biodiversity of the California Central Coast.

Cogley’s contemporary and sophisticated seafood-led dishes served in the hotel’s intimate and smartly appointed dining room might include oyster with seawater and caviar; crab with green strawberry and mussel ‘frost’ and abalone with lettuce and white tea. Forbes Travel Guide describes a meal at Aubergine as a gastronomic adventure’ in which Cogley displays ‘artistry and imagination’ while Travel and Leisure said dinner at Aubergine is a ‘Don’t miss’ on a trip to Carmel.

Forbes Travel Guide describes a meal at Aubergine as a ‘gastronomic adventure’

Cogley’s numerous accolades include Grand Chef Relais and Châteaux, Food and Wine magazine’s Best New Chef and James Beard Foundation Awards Best Chef nominee. Under Cogley’s direction Aubergine has won Wine Spectator’s Best of Award of Excellence and Forbes Travel Guide’s highest ‘five-star’ rating.